The Age of Listicles: my top ten movies & books (part 1 of 3)
How do we make meaning out of the chaos?
Lists of course.
It's one way to assert our identity I suppose.
What are we if not a collection of likes and dislikes.
A composite of genes and experiences.
The books and films we've imbibed.
Since I've done a few of these for hire I might as well do some for my own personal archive.
Cinema is dear to me, so much so that I went and got not one but two degrees in the field. So what to others may be a simple 10 fave films post stirs in me oh-so-many questions.
Primarily:
How on earth can I choose only 10?!
I started with one that happened to come up in conversation yesterday.
He's brutal.
But "Breaking the Waves" left a lasting impression. "Dancer in the Dark" and "Dogville" I'd rather forget.
This masterpiece -- "Melancholia" -- is perhaps the most accurate portrayal of Depression I've ever seen on the silver screen. And I thank him for that. Because it makes me feel less alone.
It also reminds me of another favourite filmmaker, Andrei Tarkovsky.
I will nominate someone each day to do as they wish. Today I nominate my fellow cinephile, partaker in movies-as-medicine, dispenser of balm, Jason.
Oh and because film is not a static art I have to include a clip:
Simultaneously I dust off the mighty book shelf in my mind to meet another Facebook challenge (and some think these social networks are a good for nothing waste of time! LOL).
Lists of course.
It's one way to assert our identity I suppose.
What are we if not a collection of likes and dislikes.
A composite of genes and experiences.
The books and films we've imbibed.
Since I've done a few of these for hire I might as well do some for my own personal archive.
 |
| Film Challenge currently doing the rounds on Facebook |
Primarily:
How on earth can I choose only 10?!
I started with one that happened to come up in conversation yesterday.
Film 1. Melancholia
I'm not exactly a fan of Lars Von Trier.He's brutal.
But "Breaking the Waves" left a lasting impression. "Dancer in the Dark" and "Dogville" I'd rather forget.
This masterpiece -- "Melancholia" -- is perhaps the most accurate portrayal of Depression I've ever seen on the silver screen. And I thank him for that. Because it makes me feel less alone.
It also reminds me of another favourite filmmaker, Andrei Tarkovsky.
I will nominate someone each day to do as they wish. Today I nominate my fellow cinephile, partaker in movies-as-medicine, dispenser of balm, Jason.
Oh and because film is not a static art I have to include a clip:
Simultaneously I dust off the mighty book shelf in my mind to meet another Facebook challenge (and some think these social networks are a good for nothing waste of time! LOL).
Book 1. To the Lighthouse
If I had to choose just one of
Virginia Woolf's books, which I'll do otherwise this whole thread will
belong to her, it would be "To the Lighthouse."
It's just perfect and the only book I've ever read repeatedly. Usually I'm too hungry to read more books to allow myself to reread even my favourites.
“What is the meaning of life? That was all - a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years, the great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead, there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark; here was one.”
― Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse
I'll limit myself to one silent film (oh the extraordinary agony of this). I've gone with one film not only to represent all the many silent films from so many different countries and genres that I've relished, but to represent my deep and abiding love for documentary film.
So many silents are pure cinematic poetry, including just about everything by the genius Chaplin, "City Lights" being one of my absolute favourites. All the silent comics are profoundly moving -- Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Harry Langdon, etc...
I adore the German Golden Age -- "Metropolis," "Nosferatu", oh and what of director Murnau once he fled to Hollywood -- his "Sunrise" is breathtaking.
Don't even get me started on the Russians! Dziga Vertov's "The Man with a Movie Camera" is pure self-reflexive genius.
I'm mad for Lilian Gish ("The Wind" is awesome!) and Louise Brooks and Clara Bow and and and....
The good news is that you can watch ALL of these for free online. As well as brilliant documentaries about the Silent Era.
So what are you waiting for?!
Another story about family life...this time under extraordinary circumstances. Barbara Kingsolver doesn't always get it right, but when she does, wow, does she ever. I absolutely love her autobiographical account of living sustainably in "Animal Vegetable Miracle" #goals
I read "The Poisonwood Bible" while eking out an existence in Afghanistan. So it resonated. Since Africa is home, Afghanistan was my Africa. If that makes sense? Since I'm simultaneously listing movies I love, it can't help remind me of "At Play in the Fields of the Lord," "The Mission" and "Mosquito Coast." All brilliant analyses of some similar themes.
An Aside:
This project reminded me that I've embarked on a Facebook listicle previously, 7 years ago to be exact:
Oh what a bitter-sweet nostalgia it is to see my old favourites lined up. So much of who we are is decided in our formative years.
It's just perfect and the only book I've ever read repeatedly. Usually I'm too hungry to read more books to allow myself to reread even my favourites.
“What is the meaning of life? That was all - a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years, the great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead, there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark; here was one.”
― Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse
Film 2. Nanook of the North
I'll limit myself to one silent film (oh the extraordinary agony of this). I've gone with one film not only to represent all the many silent films from so many different countries and genres that I've relished, but to represent my deep and abiding love for documentary film.
So many silents are pure cinematic poetry, including just about everything by the genius Chaplin, "City Lights" being one of my absolute favourites. All the silent comics are profoundly moving -- Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Harry Langdon, etc...
I adore the German Golden Age -- "Metropolis," "Nosferatu", oh and what of director Murnau once he fled to Hollywood -- his "Sunrise" is breathtaking.
Don't even get me started on the Russians! Dziga Vertov's "The Man with a Movie Camera" is pure self-reflexive genius.
I'm mad for Lilian Gish ("The Wind" is awesome!) and Louise Brooks and Clara Bow and and and....
The good news is that you can watch ALL of these for free online. As well as brilliant documentaries about the Silent Era.
So what are you waiting for?!
Book 2. The Poisonwood Bible
Another story about family life...this time under extraordinary circumstances. Barbara Kingsolver doesn't always get it right, but when she does, wow, does she ever. I absolutely love her autobiographical account of living sustainably in "Animal Vegetable Miracle" #goals
I read "The Poisonwood Bible" while eking out an existence in Afghanistan. So it resonated. Since Africa is home, Afghanistan was my Africa. If that makes sense? Since I'm simultaneously listing movies I love, it can't help remind me of "At Play in the Fields of the Lord," "The Mission" and "Mosquito Coast." All brilliant analyses of some similar themes.
An Aside:
This project reminded me that I've embarked on a Facebook listicle previously, 7 years ago to be exact:
Film 3. Anything by Wes Anderson
If I have to choose just one work by this auteur of perfectly controlled design it's still "The Royal Tenenbaums." It just works. Sometimes ol whimsical Wes can get a wee bit twee and one man's perfectly presented meatballs on symmetrical vintage place settings is another man's poison.
I love the truth in this one. It hurts, but you can also laugh about it. What a blessed relief that is. I watched "Darjeeling Express" again, granted I'd been flying cattle class for 24 hours so my judgment may have been impaired, but I wept more than once.
Book 3. Jane Austen's oeuvre
Will I be forgiven for lumping the Bronte's in with her? Lord I love these ladies. They were my best friends of adolescence. Though I'm sure they didn't do me a lick of good.
"Wuthering Heights" and all of Austen has been read and reread. So witty, so astute, such good fun is our Miss Austen. The Bronte's life story I found as intriguing as their novels. And since I'm throwing authors together willy-nilly, I'm going to chuck the Romantic poets into the mix. I have a very well-worn copy of Keats that used to live nestled in the crook of my arm. It was read in every park in Pretoria and on many a hike in the Magalies and Drakensberge.
You can imagine the paroxysms of pleasure I went into when one of my favourite directors, Jane Campion, made "Bright Star"...oh rapture! Oh swoon!
Some of my favourite film adaptations of this lot include this delightful interpretation of "Mansfield Park,"
this sexy "Pride and Prejudice,"
the award winning "Sense and Sensibility" with our dearly departed Alan Rickman
and this beautiful rendition of "Jane Eyre".
Well I think this trio of books & films (ya, I cheated big time, but in this case more is definitely more, I'm sure you'd agree) is enough to chew on for now...
Don't miss Part Deux & the triumphant conclusion to our trilogy Part III
Don't miss Part Deux & the triumphant conclusion to our trilogy Part III
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