Top three favorite films. That is difficult to answer and can change with the mood. But I will name three that are always dear to me,
- Faust: Eine deutsche Volkssage. 1926, directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. Maybe not as well known as Nosferatu this silent film still has all the elements of Murnau's german career and it's influence by expressionism. With for the time impressive and today still watchable special effects and use of many if the camera tricks Murnau innovated it is fun to watch and well acted in a silent film way. A time capsula of german cinema at it's zenith. But also a euology to it. Murnau and many other did leave Germany in the next years and the expressionist style died. Even Murnau did not return to it in his american works. Taking one of the great german tales as it's inspiration, like Goethe did and it's motives of an old man selling his soul to the devil seems almost prophetic now. Since Emil Jannings who plays Dr.Faust later in life did work for the Nazi's because his career was dying with the advent of sound in film. The adaptation of classic german tales also was with a trend of the time. Fritz Lang did his version of the Niebelungen just two years before. But Faust for me is way more impressive in scope, special effects, camera and the great set design.
- Velvet Goldmine. 1998, Directed by Todd Haynes. Is not as much of a classic for sure and probably not as good a movie. Still i always like to watch it. Painting a picture of the glam rock period of pophistory and it's influence without naming any of the people really involved. It is more about transporting a feeling than facts. But if you are like me well knowledged in popmusic trivia and artist biographies you can find many many hints and winks in there. The soundtrack plays a great role too and is mostly perfect to the scenes, the tracks from the era as well as the newly composed or recorded ones. Wihout background knowledge you would not be able to tell the difference too. The script also impressed me with it's many frameworks and layers, from faerietale to journalistic investigation. It also is a lovestory and a deconstruction of the glam era as well as a requim to it. All of the in my eyes works and comes together. Similar to Faust it also is a highpoit of Todd Haynes career and he brings all his themes and techniques together. A sequence told with barbie dolls and analysis of the risks of fame like he did in Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story. The feelings of not belonging, of being an outsider as a teenager whose sexuality is different from others told in elaborate set design and costume with dreamlike qualities that overstylize an era, which Velvet Goldmine share with Dottie gets Spanked (spanking happens in there, so you can seek that out if you want to see a short film). I can watch Velvet Goldmine often and always find something interesting in it again, sometimes it is a faerietale and sometime a history piece or just a big music video.
- Flashdance. 1983, Directed by: Adriane Lyne. I want to mention because how underrated it is. This is one of the most self aware dance-flicks out there, not wasting much time on the story you allready know and could guess anyway. Even if it brings something new to it, like a working woman that is good at her job and not doing a menial task as our Cinderella. Who is held down by economic stress and not an evil antagonist. Nobody dreams of being a steelworker. Even if the film shows us there is beauty even in industrial yards full of spraying sparks. Where Flashdance shines is lighting and choreography. So it is aptly named I would say. Critics scolded it for it's music video like structure and aesthetic but the film embraces it in a way I like to see. It shows of all the facettes of modern dance in the 80s. From some kids breakdancing on the streets to comedians prancing around in costumes. Strippers and ballerinas. But not only the dances are choreographed but every movement of cameras and actors seems like it was planned that way and yet often very natural. I would advice to look at all the dinner scenes to see what i mean. From the cuts to the faces and the way a plate is handed over. Sitting and waiting is just as beautifully arranged as the final ballet number to contemporary music. The lighting also is worth mentioning and something that really makes the film. From reflecting floors to the flickering of sparks. The faint shadow of a railing in the background behind the window at the famous final dance. Yet it is not purely beauty but also shows some of the problems and the decay of the rusty town it is set in, different from many contributors to it's genre. The music and dialogue are what date Flashdance mostly but it is a movie i can watch mute and still be fascinated by what goes on on screen. It suceeds where many dance flicks fail. The dance scenes do not seem out of place in a way that they are over choreographed but the whole movie is choreographed the right amount and the attention put to lighting and looks that we find in musicvideos is applied to the whole, even slow and quiet scenes. Also the film is a guilty pleasure of mine
My favorite author of all time. Indeed is a hard question. Because I can't look intot the future. If it is about the author I have enjoyed the longest and since my childhood I would have to say Terry Pratchett. I still liked him when i grew out of most fantasynovels and like him still. Most classical authors I came to to late or I rather like single books more. I could mention Brecht here and Schiller. Also Wittgenstein, who is not a novelist but authored important philosophical texts that I admire as an art historian also for their blend of content and form. Still Terry Pratchett it is for all time.
The great and terrible Ask Ellen thread!
Peace be still
