First off, for renting…I guess I do just go for the current “cool” ones, but I go to the alternative video stores to rent the really amazing foreign ones “criterion” series, etc… and then I tape them. though not always.
Then I go by Director: Scorsese, Sir David Lean, John Huston, Stanley Kubrick, Billy Wilder, Abel Ferrara, Sidney Lumet, Dario Argento, David Cronenberg, Brian De Palma, Roman Polanski, Luc Besson, Warren Beatty, Tim Burton, Nicolas Roeg, Peter Weir, Lucino Visconti, Margarethe von Trotta, Francis F. Coppola, Charlie Chaplin, Pier Paolo Pasolini etc. There’s more women, I just can’t think of them right now. Asia Argento. (yes, she makes films.)
Then I go by the Actors and Actresses I like, though if there’s a combination of one good, one “bad” (one I dislike) I don’t get it, unless it’s a really amazing film.
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse
I really like documentaries. If you want to see something that will knock you out of your seat- get this film. hopefully, a large percentage of you will have seen it already. I loved it. Though it is harsh. It is narrated by Eleanor Coppola. (his wife) It is just brilliant.
Paris Texas. Wim Wenders
I have too many to count- well, over 200. Some of my all time faves:
(Tho I think they are all amazing, I will make some small notes)
Marianne & Julianne
Franny & Alexander
The Man who fell to Earth
Death in Venice/ movie & book.
Lolita / movie & book.
A Pure Formality (Pura formalità, Una) - Roman Polanski, Gérard Depardieu.Dog Day Afternoon
The Verdict
And Justice For All
Serpico
Dance With a Stranger
Man Bites Dog
Moulin Rouge
Gallipoli, Peter Weir. (1981)
The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)
The Killing Fields.
The Hunger
Bonjour Tristesse
Goodfellas
Les Diobolique- Henry George Clouzot. 1955.($60-CDN)
Simone Signoret.
remakes:
Reflections of Murder (TV)
Sam Waterston & Tuesday Weld. Pretty good. 1974
Diabolique 1996 / Just to watch Isabelle Adjani & Sharon Stone. (the ending was awful.)
Été meurtrier, L’ - 1986. Isabelle Adjani.
Also known as “One Deadly Summer”
Camille Claudel, Gérard Depardieu.
Anything with /directed by/ or starring…
Roman Polanski, Gérard Depardieu & Catherine Deneuve & Jean Reno.
(That would be a great cast!)
Roman Polanski:
Knife in the water
Repulsion.
Chinatown
Bitter Moon
Tess
The Pianist
Belle Du Jour
The Hairdresser’s Husband
Danton.
Then I go for the fluff. Comedies, and such. The list is only SOME of the ones I like/love. 