The “Magnolia” thread got me thinking about those really arty movies. I love a film where I can spend some time discussing the themes and metaphors and stuff, not just “Boy, it sure was cool when Arnold blew up that space station” (though I like those films too). Anybody else like sounding like some Film Major geek? And what movies do you like? A couple from me:
Pulp Fiction
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
Cinema Paradiso
“Art Film” is such a difficult term to define, much like “alternative music”. I don’t consider Pulp Fiction an art film, for example. But to each his/her own.
My favorites:
*Titus
Run Lola Run *(foreign=art in the US)
Twin Falls Idaho
Last Night
Guinevere
Red Violin
Some that I have seen recently that are good:
Sunshine
Croupier
I’m so excited that there is a new art theater opening 15 miles from me so I don’t have to drive to downtown Chicago to see them as much. Hooray!
I hear what you’re saying Joey. I tried to avoid defining “art film” myself in the OP for just that reason. Plus I figure it’s best to try to be more inclusive.
Another one from me - My Own Private Idaho
City Of Lost Children
Delicatessen
Brazil
And one of my all time favorites which was big enough to cause quite a stir but small enough to be “artsy”: Trainspotting.
Would you count Taxi Driver as an art film?
Are we counting foreign films, really? Because Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is one of my all time favorites, but it sure as hell isn’t artsy.
Waiting for Guffman. It’s Christopher Guest/Eugene Levy written, and it’s the Spinal Tapp of regional theater.
Rosencranz and Guildenstern is definately high on my list.
Resevoir Dogs.
Hey, does Three Kings count? Not independant, but definately artsy. The whole friggen movie is purposefully overlit.
That’s enough for now. I could go on and on…
Is that the one that’s either sped up double time or slowed down half time or something, and it’s not released on video and it’s impossible to get a hold of? They showed it at Woodstock, and I meant to go, but forgot. Dammit.
I second My Own Private Idaho.
And what about Drugstore Cowboy?
I also liked Albino Aligator.
But, alas, I know not whether any of these qualify as “art” films.
Last night I watched Topsy-Turvy, (about Gilbert and Sullivan) it had kind of an “art-house” feel to it, but it’s probably too big-budget to hack it as an art film.
Swiddles:
Koyaanisqatsi is sped up, but it came out circa 1984. It IS available on video (I’ve got it), and I’ll sometimes play it to annoy Mrs. Cal, who hates it. It ran forever when I lived out in Salt Lake, and was was played at least once a year at the art cinema The Blue Mouse, until it closed.
The title supposed means “Life out of Balance” in a Southeast Indian language, and features sped-up and other arty shots of natue and modern life. It’s supposed to show how messed-up modern life is, but I’ve always felt that even its images of sped-up modern life have beauty to them.
A sequel, Powwiqatsi, didn’t do as well.
Gomez - Are you talkin’ to me?
Feel free to define “art film” for yourselves, people. I strive to be liberal here. For my own view I use two guidelines:
and
Precilla goes into catagory 1 and Taxi Driver into catagory 2.
But these are just my guidelines. Feel free to ignore them.
Lots of good suggestions already.
Swiddles, (to expand on what Cal said):
Yes, it is indeed sped up with an extremely intense, brilliant score by Philip Glass. It’s a film that gives a whole new perspective on life, causing you to just sit and ponder for a few days.
5 definitions are given for the word ‘Koyaanisqatsi’ including 1) crazy life 2) a way of life that calls for a new way of living; and most notably as Cal pointed out 3) life out of balance.
Now Cal, I don’t know how and where you’ve seen it obtainable on video commercially, unless it has just become available very recently (like in the last few months) but to my knowledge it is extremely rare and long out of print. I bought my copy on ebay for $50 (well worth it).
I had the absolutely blissful pleasure of seeing a showing of the movie at BAM with the Philip Glass ensemble performing the score live. It was part of a movie/film festival featuring Philip Glass. I was also lucky enough to see Powaaqatsi, Anima Mundi, and Evidence that week.
(BTW, all those films were created and directed by Godfrey Reggio)
Powaaqatsi is also brilliant, but pales so much in comparison to Koyanisqatsi. It means - an entity that furthers its own existance by feeding off of another entity. Both words come from the language of the Hopi Indians. BTW, some of the music for Powaaqatsi is in “The Truman Show”.
There is also a 3rd film in the making called “Naqoyqatsi” IIRC - meaning “war life”, which they are currently trying to raise a budget for.
“Evidence” was a particular interesting 10 minute short film. spoiler coming. For 10 minutes all we see are children starring mindlessly into space, all facing the same direction, about 10 children in all, just starring, eyes wide, brain dead it seems, while we hear hypnotic Philip Glass music playing, and we sit and wonder what is on these kids’ minds? what are they looking at? are they sick or something? we don’t know. At the very end we are presented with the caption “Children watching television”. Very powerful.
I found out about a rental-by-mail video house today called http://www.homefilmfestival.com. They list Koyanisqatsi as one of their titles. Now that I look, it has Powaaqatsi, too. Might be worth checking out. I’m in now way affilaited, blah blah blah.
I’ve never seen them, but I will!
Wow! I really hope that rent-by-mail thing takes off. Whatta great idea!!
Well, Pulp Fiction played in my local art theater and it will definitely be studied in film classes, so is it an art film?
Here are some of my arthouse/foreign film faves:
[ul]
[li]My Dinner With Andre[/li][li]Diva[/li][li]Ran[/li][li]Kagemusha[/li][li]Les Enfants du Paradis[/li][li]Amarcord[/li][li]Hollywood shuffle[/li][/ul]
goboy: Big tip o’ the hat for Amarcord. Call me crazy, but it’s my fave Fellini, over more conventional choices like 8 1/2 and La Dolce Vita. La Strada and Nights of Cabiria are pretty good, too.
Last year’s Titus was pretty cool; good call, JoeyHemlock.
Others:
Proof. Not sure if this is really an “art” movie, as it’s pretty straightforward story-wise and doesn’t have wacky acting or photography. But it’s small, quiet, and very thought-provoking (and occasionally hilarious), so it’s probably more “art” than ordinary. (It’s also from Australia, so it’s “furrn.”)
The films of Hal Hartley. Some of them are fairly accessible; others are pretty strange. The one I usually recommend to people to start with because it’s a good compromise between the two sides is Flirt. I’m not going to say too much about it; just watch it.
True “art house” moviemakers: the Brothers Quay. I’ve mentioned them before in other threads; here they are again. Don’t ask anything about their work; just go to a big video store and ask for their movies by their name.
Another true “art house” filmmaker: Jan Svankmajer. Again, just go by name. Start with Conspirators of Pleasure.
An art filmmaker from a while back: Jacques Demy. His Umbrellas of Cherbourg is probably his best known work (although Donkey Skin was more famous ten years ago, prior to the Umbrellas restoration). It’s impossible to describe, except that it’s a full-length musical in French, it’s tons of fun, and the end is very moving.
And one last observation on “art films” – Isn’t it funny that almost any movie more than forty years old or so that still has a reputation and gets watched on a semi-regular basis is called an “art” movie? Take Fritz Lang’s M or Metropolis, for example, or Dreyer’s Passion of Joan of Arc, not to mention most of Kurosawa’s earlier work (Ikiru is a flat-out masterpiece). And of course, there’s the granddaddy of them all, Citizen Kane. They weren’t necessarily art movies in their day, but we’ve gained sufficient distance from them that it’s almost like watching a movie from another country. (Hey, what? Most of those movies are from other countries? Well, gawrsh. You know what I meant.)
Does Six-String Samurai count as an art film? It’s a personal fave.
Eyes Wide Shut
Pulp Fiction
Armageddon
Oops scratch the last one.
Also, Natural Born Killers