Staff Picks: Movies
Staff-recommended viewing from the KPL catalog.
The history of cinema is a rich and varied one that can be enjoyed and understood by engaging in works that dot the historical timeline and cross geographic borders. If you’re a film buff who loves discovering classic films and pioneering directors like I am, you’ll certainly want to keep an eye on our collection of historically significant foreign language films. Many of the greatest films to reach the big screen came about in European, Asian and Latin American countries, where filmmaking represents a fundamental piece of their cultural identities. Below, you’ll find a brief list of foreign language films made from the mid 1950’s through today that are transformative works of art that are crucial touchstones in the development of world cinema. Many of these rule-breaking films are now available from the Criterion Collection.
Essential directors:
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Francois Truffaut
- Carl Dreyer
- Robert Bresson
- Frederico Fellini
- Ingmar Bergman
- Wong Kar-wai
- Ranier Werner Fassbinder
- Werner Herzog
- Wim Wenders
- Akira Kurosawa
- Michangelo Antonioni
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Roberto Rossellini
- Pedro Almodovar
- Jean Renoir
- Milos Forman
- Fritz Lang
- Krzysztof Kieslowski
- Claude Chabrol
- Louis Malle
- Luis Bunuel
- Bela Tarr
- Agnes Varda
Essential Films:
- Ashes and Diamonds
- Werckmeister Harmonies
- Aguirre, The Wrath of God
- Umberto D
- Bicycle Thieves
- L'avventura
- The Conformist
- Breathless
- Contempt
- Vivre sa vie
- Pierrot le fou
- Tokyo Story
- City of God
- Amores Perros
- El Topo
- Cinema Paradiso
- Breaking the Waves
- Insomnia
- My Life as a Dog
- Fanny and Alexander
- Battleship Potemkin
- All About My Mother
- Red, White and Blue Trilogy
- Wild Strawberries
- Persona
- Wings of Desire
Movie
Masculin feminin
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The writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson takes his time and thoughtfully chooses the kinds of stories he wants to tell. To this end, his patience has left fans of his dynamic pictures with only a handful to ponder and obsess upon. Luckily, the small number of films to which he’s made (6 in all) in no way diminishes the artistic strength of the work. In fact, one might argue that with the possibility of a minor hiccup in Punch Drunk Love (a decent but not great film) that both his reputation and talent continue to grow. He is among a small number of my favorite directors working today who make powerful, smart and compelling films that eschew Hollywood conventions. His films are not easy to emotionally or intellectually abandon, as they have a unique way of sticking to your pyschic bones well after the roll of the end credits. His newest success, The Master, already christened as a tour de force by some, opens nation-wide today. We’ll have to wait a few months before it becomes available for purchase but you can always take a look back at his previous films (There Will Be Blood, Hard Eight, Magnolia).
Movie
There Will Be Blood
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I was pleasantly surprised by the young Detective Endeavour Morse! This episode was not another overly done remake. In the PBS's newly released episode of Endeavour, the melancholy Inspector Morse’s past comes alive through the role of young Detective Endeavour Morse (played by Shaun Evans). I thought Shaun Evans did a great job of introducing the demons from Morse's past. It was a new beginning.
Inspector Morse has always seemed like a lonely, solitary sole without true friends that went home alone and drank alone and in Endeavour I saw the heartbreak build. I saw when he went from not drinking to being a drinker. I never knew Morse's first name and now I know it was Endeavour. Jesse Stone played by Tom Selleck is our American version of the British Inspector Morse in, of course, our more brutish American way. I like both characters, though. There are other British examples, such as, Jane Tennison from Masterpiece's Prime Suspect played by Helen Mirren and then there's Wallander, the Swedish TV version played by Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh. If you are a Masterpiece Mystery buff and haven’t already seen Endeavour, you can find a copy at one of our KPL branches.
Movie
Endeavour
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Technically, I've missed the mid-year mark but here's a list of my picks for recommended film viewing. I'm sure other titles will end up on the year-end tally (I suspect P.T. Anderson's The Master will be my number one) but here's a start.
Beasts of the Southern Wild
In no way deserving of the hype that this buzzed about indie has received but certainly warrants watching. A five year old protagonist's cute face and acting chops can't save this picture's flaws but many will find its story uplifting and moving.
Damsels in Distress
Indie darling and pre-Wes Anderson autuer of the twee aristrocracy, Whit Stillman returns with a film that will no doubt divide audiences along love/hate lines.
The Turin Horse
Bleak, hopeless, painfully unfolded end of the world fair shot in a sumptuous black and white that will appeal to the existentialist-leaning devotees of Bresson, Bergman and Tarkovsky. No Michael Bay stuff here.
The Deep Blue Sea
A somber story of heartache and loss expressed through the fine acting of British actress Rachel Weisz.
Gerhard Richter Painting
A straight forward documentary that will likely appeal to those familiar with the world's most famous living painter's role in the shaping of post-war art.
Movie
The Turin Horse
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There are quite a few similarities between the 1945 British drama Brief Encounter and the newly released Deep Blue Sea. Both stories are set in post-war England, a drab and darkly lit place where background buildings show the ill effects of Germany’s bombing raids and where the sun rarely shines. Both tales bring to light the inner frustration of women caught in difficult situations where the sum of their choices and regrets, understood as matters of the conflicted heart, may lead them down the road toward unhappiness or social stigma. Rachel Weisz is simply brilliant at playing the unhappy wife who falls for a younger, ex-fighter pilot to escape her bland, loveless marriage, only to find out that life is rarely forgiving when the comforts of privilege and stability are stripped away. I’ve always enjoyed the acting of Weisz and I’m hoping her performance receives some attention come award season. The film’s reoccurring score is also a lush and beautiful lament that captures the somber tone perfectly.
Brief Encounter, directed by the great British director David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago, Bridge on the River Kwai) also tackles the subject of temptation and fidelity (see also: In the Mood for Love). A lonely but relatively content housewife meets a stranger at a railway station, sparks fly and the two develop a romance that may or may not lead to something further. Both films have very straightforward, traditional plots that rely heavily upon the authentic, emotional turmoil of conflicted characters and the choices they make and their subsequent consequences.
Movie
Deep blue sea
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I don’t often use the superlative ‘masterpiece’ when describing movies but Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 film Stalker warrants such a descriptor. This enigmatic allegory that routinely finds its way onto ‘Best Of’ lists was almost never made due to the careless corruption (it has been suggested that Soviet authorities were responsible for the film’s destruction) of the original film stock, which then forced its brilliant director to reshoot most of the film a second time even as his health declined.
Stalker, a parable film known for its long, beautifully developed scenes and cryptic plot, delves as deep as any film before or after into the murky, existentialist terrain that one finds in the cinematic work of masters Robert Bresson and Ingmar Bergman (Tarkovsky’s major influences). One of the most gorgeous films you will watch, Tarkovsky blends vibrant colors with sepia toned silver, with each shot meticulously filmed and edited to emphasize both nature’s beauty and its mysteries.
The film’s three characters (the Stalker, the Writer, the Professor) journey into a mysterious, quarantined off area referred to as The Zone for different reasons. Rumors abound of a secretive room that exists at the heart of this depopulated area that Soviet authorities have surrounded and barred entrance. The room will allegedly grant you a wish of your making. The Stalker, who is paid by The Scientist and the Writer to sneak them past the Soviet guards into The Zone may or may not be who he says he is. With a famous ending that rewards the patience of the viewer, Stalker is like no other film you will experience.
Movie
Stalker
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From time to time, a film buried long ago, unknown to most, emerges from its cult status to reclaim its proper place in the pantheon of great cinema. The 1956 documentary On the Bowery is one such film that can make that claim. Introduced by the legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese, who explains why he identifies with the film both on a personal and historical level (he grew up a few blocks away from where the film was shot), Lionel Rogosin’s On the Bowery takes the viewer to the famously impoverished New York City street known for housing the destitute and those suffering from alcohol abuse. While there is a very simplistic plot setup that frames the film’s three day course, most of the film captures the essence of the Bowery by employing a kind of impressionistic realism that gives the film its gritty, naturalistic look. Rogosin sought to portray his subjects sympathetically, simply showing their persoanl struggles without preaching or romanticizing their plight. The film was added to the prestigious National Film Registry in 2008 because of it groundbreaking stature.
Movie
On the bowery
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Can you imagine your wife has a brain injury and does not remember being married to you? That’s the premise of the movie The Vow and it is based on a real live wife who had a brain injury and forgot her husband. She never did get her memory back, but she is still married and has two children. The movie has a car crash causing the brain injury and then to keep us interested tosses in issues with in-laws, a bit of infidelity, and old flame who she does remember. Rachael McAdams plays Paige the wife of Leo played by Channing Tatum (and yes he does take off his shirt showing his magnificently sculpted abs). The movie starts off with the car crash and the hospital scene, then does a flashback to show us how much in love they were. I thought they did a good job with her waking up and seeing Leo for the first time. She assumes he is her doctor, a very reasonable thought. Paige has lost the last 4 years, and in her mind she was still in law school, and engaged to Jeremy, not an artist and married to Leo. The movie unravels for us the tale of why she left law school and ditched her fiancé Jeremy. Leo faced with having a wife who does not remember him at all, tries to spark her memory, failing to make that happen he tries to re woo her and make her fall in love with him all over again. Paige's parents want to control Paige and take her back to their home and try to mold her back into the person they want her to be. This is a good romantic movie, a good one to watch with your special someone.
Movie
The Vow
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Albert Nobbs is a movie set in the 19th century. Glenn Close plays Albert Nobbs a woman posing as a man in order to find work in 19th century Dublin, Ireland. What I loved about this movie is what a fine job the makeup crew did making Glenn Close into a man. Glenn Close play a mousey man to be sure and others in the movie thought him to be strange but you could not even guess that he was a woman. Albert kept to himself and personally I think he was a bit off in his dreams for the future. He was working as a waiter in a hotel and saving his money to buy a shop. He had visions of running a Tobacconist shop but he does not smoke, does not even know how to roll a cigarette.
The movie starts out showing us the hotel staff and their roles and shows us Albert. We do not know Albert is female until one night he is forced to share his room with the painter and a tic starts biting him. In an effort to get rid of the tic he removes his clothes and exposes his breasts. The Painter sees this and Albert is in a panic that he will be exposed. The Painter assures Albert he will not give him away and later in the movie after being pestered by Albert to keep his secret, the Painter (Spoiler Alert) opens his coat showing Albert that the he also is a woman and tells Albert his story. Albert is then fascinated with the fact that Hubert Page (the painter) is living her life as a man and has a wife. Albert fixates on this aspect and wonders how they sleep and did Hubert tell her before or after marriage that he was a woman. Albert wanting companionship decides that Helen, one of the maids, would be a good wife for him and asks her out for a walk. Helen uses Albert to get presents for her. Albert proposes marriage and Helen tells him he doesn't have a clue what it is to date a woman or even how to kiss one. After Typhoid sweeps through Dublin and kills off many including Hubert Page's wife Cathleen, Albert says to Hubert that he could take the place of Cathleen and Hubert and he could run the Tobacco shop together. Hubert tells Albert that that's not going to work that Cathleen was his universe. The movie is not a Disney happily ever after movie. Spoiler Alert. The movie does not end with Albert finding his own Cathleen, instead he winds up dying never getting his shop and all the money he as saved up does not go to the painter which would have made a bit of a happy ending or even to Helen to help with the baby. Instead the hotel owner finds it. Course this helps her keep the hotel open and everyone employed so not a dismal ending at least. The end scene shows the painter holding the baby and talking with Helen about the future. She tells him she is going to be tossed out and the baby taken away, he tells her we can't let that happen insinuating that they will become a unit and Hubert will take care of Helen. An ok ending for all except Albert who died. Course in my opinion he would have failed as a Tobacconist and would have just wasted all his money. I kept thinking the winner is the real estate agent with whom Albert gave deposit of a 100 pounds for the shop and would lose if he did not sign the contract by Monday. Albert saved for years to get enough money to buy a shop. Being dead and all the real estate agent gets to keep 100 pounds free and clear. This movie was about a lot of things, life in the 19th century, woman's rights etc. but I was thinking Hey, become a real estate agent and make some real money.
Movie
Albert Nobbs
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Every December, the National Film Preservation Board, established by Congress in 1988, chooses up to 25 movies to be added to the National Film Registry (NFR) List. The “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” films chosen must be at least 10 years old, though not necessarily of feature length, nor must they have been released to a theatrical audience (though you will recognize many that have.)
KPL has a great many of these films in our collection. I was intrigued to find a wide variety of movies, such as Halloween, El Norte, Toy Story (I) and Marian Anderson: the Lincoln Memorial Concert (produced in 1939.) Watch several of the shorts from the NFR list in Treasures from American Film Archivesand More Treasures from American Film Archives
To learn more about NFR films, check out 2 books from our collection, both with the main title of America’s Film Legacy. The older edition focuses on the first 500 films on the list, while the newer version updates readers about 50 movies more recently added to the list.
To find NFR films in the KPL catalog in the future, choose Movie Search on the horizontal menu, and type “National Film Registry” in the Word or Phrase search field.
Movie
Treasures from American Film Archives
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