edkrak wrote:I guess I might have a little problem differentiating between Mainland and HK productions. Especially when it's a co-production I have a tendency to think about it as a Hong Kong. But still, from your examples - isn't "In the Mood for Love" a HK-France co-production?
Zozan wrote:Haven't heard of this until now, looks funny enough but again if the goal is to give an idea about the look and feel of Turkish cinema or the country, I wouldnt go with this 3 Dev Adam.
yeah I was (mostly) kidding.
Trust the guy who's actually from Turkey to pick a movie from there.
Coppola shouldn't be there imo. I was the first to name him but not really as a distinct director, he didn't really develop a style of his own but, in the peak of Hollywood's new approach to cinema, made three (arguably four) of Hollywood's most memorable masterpieces in its best decade, before tragically becoming a perfectly mediocre director. But these films should probably be considered in the genre category as they're easily the best of each genre ('Apocalypse Now' in War and 'The Godfather' in crime). If you do choose to include Coppola then only include 'Jack' as a reminder of how deeply can Hollywood corrupt one's soul.
Other than that it's a good division, will probably help me narrow down some films.
I would personally lessen some of the "genre" categories in favor if giving some directors two films. How to choose between "8 1/2" and "La dolce vita" for Fellini? Would it be a just world if "Taxi Driver", "Raging Bull", and "Goodfellas" were not all included? I would probably decrease the "Adventure" category to just one: I can't think of a very notable "Adventure" film other than "Raiders of the Lost Ark". Animation isn't really a genre, but if you're going to have just three, I'd make sure classic Disney (probably "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves", simply because it's checks all the boxes as a historically, culturally, and aesthetically important film), Pixar (even if it's not my favorite, "Toy Story" is arguably the most famous and most important), and Miyazaki (probably "Spirited Away" simply because, apart from being a great film, it contains many tropes of Japanese animation) are represented. I would also reduce "Horror" to five, simply because there are very few historically compulsory viewings - "Psycho", "Silence of the Lambs", and "Nosferatu", maybe. Just some thoughts.
You should post this as a collection once the list is finalized. This seems like a great list for anyone knew to Criticker. I've only been seriously watching films for about two years now but would have loved to have this list when I had first started out. There are still a lot of films on here that I haven't watched.
With Tarkovsky you could pick either Stalker, The Mirror, Andrei Rublev or Solaris really - I suppose Solaris would be the most popular choice in America to watch but my personally preferred choice would be The Mirror. Ivan's Childhood is great but I don't think it's quite as mature as his other work. The Sacrifice is a bit different from the four I mentioned but it'd still be a good choice - really, you can't really go wrong with any of them but if I had to pick one it would be one of the first four I mentioned.
Kiarostami I don't know, I've only watched Certified Copy and I suppose it would be a decent choice even if I'm not much for that film.
Kurosawa, as people have said, Seven Samurai is essential then I think Rashomon would be the best choice.
Wilder, definitely Sunset Blvd. Then probably Some Like it Hot or The Apartment even if I haven't seen the latter.
Keaton, The General seems like the definitive choice. Even if a prefer a film like Sherlock Jr. myself.
For an African film my choice would go to the Egyptian Cairo Station . I don't know at all about the Nigerian film industry or any other from mainland Africa or really Africa other than Egypt. I'm sure someone will be able to dig up some classics though but Cairo Station is fantastic.
Hopscotch wrote: Seeing as how three are figured out, I'll post the next three:
Carl Theodor Dreyer Charles Chaplin David Cronenberg
For Dreyer it's tricky I think, I have only seen two and those are The Passion of Joan of Arc and Ordet which are I think his most essential work. There are of course others which I'm sure are fantastic and many here will have great things to say about like Day of Wrath, Gertrud and Vampyr etc. Given the status that the Joan of Arc film has it might be better to go with it even though Ordet isn't a bad choice.
For Chaplin, City Lights is the definitive choice - to call it the pinnacle of his filmography doesn't do the other great films justice but that's what it basically is.
Cronenberg I don't know about, I suppose Dead Ringers or Videodrome are good choices.
