My Top 10 Criterion Collection Films

Spurred on by a friend, I have decided to list my current favorites from the Criterion Collection dvd library.

1. THE SEVENTH SEAL
dir: Ingmar Bergman

Choosing between Bergman's Winter Light and this film was difficult, however, this story of questioning the existence of God and the meaning of Life trumped the other masterwork for its injection of occasional humor and exhaling of Life's bright gusts of intermittent brightness. Both exude beautiful photography that I can never forget.



2. MY NIGHT AT MAUD'S
dir: Eric Rohmer

Rohmer is my favorite French New Wave director. His static style, his dialogue and intelligent ideas enthrall me. No flashy camera work is needed to show human beings talking and relating and trying to find happiness. And there is talking. Lots of talking. Wonderful words and thoughts. Rohmer's characters visit bookstores and talk about what they read. This film is my favorite in his canon.




3. DAYS OF HEAVEN
dir: Terrence Malick

One of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. A story filled with images and sounds and music. Malick is one of the most enigmatic directors in my experience of watching film. I can't really describe what he does ... but what he does is spellbinding. His dialogue is simple, the images simple, the story simple, the experience of letting his film flow over you is not so simple. The experience is transporting. True cinema. It's like entering a dream.



4. HARAKIRI
dir: Masaki Kobayashi

Defiance of authority is one of my favorite themes in film and Kobayashi's film slams you in the face with its rage filled defiance. I have never experienced a film that builds so magnificently to a bloody climax of the most artful action sequences I have ever seen. It feeds my pessimistic outlook and theory that Life is ultimately hopeless. It gave me that satisfying feeling after a good meal; not so bloated, but content with my melancholy digestion.




5. LATE SPRING
dir: Yasujiro Ozu

One of the most difficult things a director can do is show simple life in an interesting and involving way. Ozu does it. You watch life unfold for an elderly father and his doting daughter ... and you see how life changes for them and how it will change for us. One of the saddest films I have ever seen.




6. SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER
dir: Francois Truffaut

Truffaut takes the American noir film, does it in his style and everyone has copied it ever since. The story of a cafe piano player with a dark past who gets involved with gangsters. This film mixes all genres into one great film.





7. UNFAITHFULLY YOURS
dir: Preston Sturges

A jealous concert conductor devises several ways to dispose of a wife he thinks is cheating on him; all plans set to classical compositions. Brilliant fast talking script by Sturges ... sight gags galore and fantastic comic timing. I like my comedy mostly dark and this one is lit only by a dim night light.



8. SEVEN SAMURAI
dir: Akira Kurowsawa

A movie that incorporates a western, a love story, a comedy, a tragedy, a historical epic all in one. The structure of this film is perfect. Long and involving, but never boring for one second. Idiot directors of so-called action films should be forced to watch how Kurosawa worked.

9. IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE
dir: Wong Kar-wai

This is one of the most beautiful sad love stories I have ever seen. Such beautiful cinematography and set design and music embellish this story of unrequited love. The ending still has not left my mind.




10. METROPOLITAN
dir: Whit Stillman

The story of a very intelligent New York outsider to the "debutante scene" who is invited to join a clique of rich kids during the Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday "coming out" season. This movie is dryer than a saltine cracker, but I love that kind of humor. I love it beyond words. I tend to dislike snobs who know they are snobs, but love eccentrics who don't realize they are snobs. In that case, I truly wished Christopher Eigeman's character Nick Smith was my friend. Whit Stillman is the WASP version of Woody Allen. I only wish he made more films.