12 Movies Meme

When Nick at Fataculture listed a 12 movie meme that he had been inspired to participate in by Lazy Eye Theatre, I knew I just had to take a stab at it as well! The idea is to imagine that you have your own film festival, and pick twelve movies that you think best exemplify your hypothetical film festival.

My festival includes travel films, period pieces, sci-fi epics, and movies that pay respect to the golden age of cinema. Without further ado, here it is.

1. Donnie Darko: I love this film because of its 80's homage, great soundtrack, and engaging characters. Jake Gyllenhaal is amazing as the lead character Donnie, a troubled teen who is haunted by apocalyptic premonitions and visions of a creepy bunny.

2. Children of Men: An utterly bleak film, yet also a stunning example of cinematography. Clive Owen stars as Theo, a man trying to make it in a dystopian world where no one is able to bear children anymore. When he discovers a teenage
girl with a shocking secret, he suddenly becomes the guardian of hope for the entire human race. With its grim yet insightful meditations on the future of the human race, this film is very relevant to our times.

3. Metropolis: The original sci-fi epic, this movie paved the way for other great films such as Star Wars and Blade Runner.

4. The Beat that My Heart Skipped: A fast-paced French film with an amazing soundtrack and exquisite cinematography. This film explores two intriguing themes: music appreciation; and the conflict between family duty and loyalty to oneself. Romain Duris stars as a young man torn between his desire to become a concert pianist, and his obligation to help out his gangster father.

5. The Darjeeling Limited: This movie explores several themes that are dear to my heart: travel as a means of self-discovery, dysfunctional families, and the dichotomy between first and third world countries. It's also my favorite Wes Anderson film.

6. Lost in Translation: If The Darjeeling Limited is a film about the hope and sense of connection that travel can bring, then Lost in Translation can be seen as the direct opposite. This film directed by Sofia Coppola centers on the story of Charlotte (Scarlett Johanssen), a young woman who travels to Japan to accompany her husband on a photo shoot. She discovers upon her arrival that while travel is exciting and breathtaking, it can also be incredibly lonely and isolating. The soundtrack (partially composed by Kevin Shields), and the pristine shots of Tokyo help emphasize the sense of distance and isolation that permeates the film. Bill Murray rounds out the film as Bob Harris, an aging actor whose path intersects with Charlotte's during his time in Japan.

7. Almost Famous: For me, this film encapsulates a time period as well a biographical story. William Miller (played wonderfully by Patrick Fugit) is a precocious writer who goes on tour with Stillwater (a fictional version of the rock group Led Zeppelin). As William goes on a journey from innocence to experience--led down this path by frenzied groupies--we get to see the world as it was back in the early 70's. This film also has an incredible soundtrack, and includes stunning supporting performances from actors such as Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Frances McDormand, and Billy Crudup.

8. Cinema Paradiso: For me, this film describes what it feels like to truly care about movies and the lost art of moviegoing. We live in an age where technology has transformed moviegoing into a very individualistic experience. In other words, it's quite easy to experience any film from the comfort of your own home, and never have to interact with another human being in the process. Cinema Paradiso takes us back to a time when going to the theater was a community event, in which the local theater became a social gathering place, and the premiere of the newest film was heralded as a monumentous occurrence. In an era before television and the Internet, the movie theater was the community's gateway to the outside world.

The film chronicles the life of Salvatore, a boy growing up in a Sicilian village in the 50's. Throughout the film, we see how the local movie theater and its employees directly impact Salvatore and his life choices.

9. A Very Long Engagement: This period film stars Audrey Tautou in one of her lesser known roles, as a French woman during World War 2 who is waiting for her boyfriend to come home from the war. I would argue that the cinematography in this film is equal to--if not better than--the cinematography in Amelie. This film has everything: suspense, romance, violence, despair, and hope. Also, there's a brief cameo by Marion Cotillard, who would later go on to win an Oscar for her performance in La Vie en Rose.

10.All About Eve: This movie about bickering actresses during the golden age of cinema is a stinging indictment on the duplicity and transparency of Hollywood. Several decades before tabloids, paparazzi, and the Internet, actresses still managed to accomplish plenty of backstabbing as they clawed their way to the top of the Hollywood food chain. Bette Davis and Anne Baxter are amazing in their respective roles as the established actress and the doe-eyed ingenue.

11.The Great Debaters: For me, this film is an example of African American cinema at its best. The story centers around four black students during the 1930's who are attending Wiley College--at the time one of the few colleges in the South for African American students. When the four students are recruited by Professor Tolson (Denzel Washington) to be part of a debate team, they find that they are up for a challenge that will not only test their ability to spout rhetoric, but will also challenge their beliefs about love, truth, and justice.

12. The Science of Sleep: This artsy movie might be difficult for some people to comprehend, but for me it is an amazing treatise on the surreality of the dreamworld. Gael Garcia Bernal stars as Stephane, a young man who has trouble distinguishing between reality and the dreamworld. When he falls in love with a woman named Stephanie, he must fight through the uncertainty in his head in order to make his relationship with Stephanie work.

I love this film because it takes risks. Michel Gondry is unafraid to mix standard shots of Paris life with surreal dreamscapes made of cardboard and yarn. He also mixes languages, with characters that randomly jump between French, English, and Spanish during mid-conversation. At times the plot meanders or seems unclear, but in reality this only plays into the theme of the film: that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between dreams and reality, truth and fantasy. The soundtrack is also a plus, a mix of dreamy French tunes and more familiar songs from groups such as The
White Stripes.