I wrote this up for another online venue, but I might as well put it (lightly edited) here. The idea was to recommend five movies that you think are “good” and that people are less likely to have seen. I chose these:
From the Heist/Caper/RomCom Of The Old School pile, I’d choose O’Toole and Hepburn in How To Steal A Million. It’s a classic, but one that a surprising number of people haven’t seen, at least in my anecdotal experience. Also, it’s both a heist film and the kind of romantic comedy that pleases your inner 12-year old girl. And the banter… it just flows. O’Toole/Hepburn works better than Grant/Hepburn (and I like Charade).
“There’s the bathroom, take off your clothes.”
“Are we planning the same sort of crime?”
Lovely.
From the Won A Pile Of Awards But I Never Hear People Discuss It pile, I have to go with Mike Leigh’s Naked. While there is sex in the film (and disturbing violence of both physical and emotional nature), I think that title is more about the kind of naked that Burroughs meant–the moment of being shorn of all illusions and pretenses and revealed as what you really are under it all. The movie follows Johnny (David Thewliss’ career-making performance), the kind of bastard that smart, perceptive people sometimes turn into when they see too much of the real world, on a journey through millennial London’s underbelly. The dialogue is shattering in places. This is not a fun film–its one that leaves marks on you. My favourite quote about the film was from critic Jonathan Romney who wrote that the experience of watching Naked was like “being trapped for two hours in a railway carriage with a charismatic preacher who might possibly have an axe under his coat”.
Was I bored? No, I wasn’t fuckin’ bored. I’m never bored. That’s the trouble with everybody – you’re all so bored. You’ve had nature explained to you and you’re bored with it, you’ve had the living body explained to you and you’re bored with it, you’ve had the universe explained to you and you’re bored with it, so now you want cheap thrills and, like, plenty of them, and it doesn’t matter how tawdry or vacuous they are as long as it’s new as long as it’s new as long as it flashes and fuckin’ bleeps in forty fuckin’ different colors. So whatever else you can say about me, I’m not fuckin’ bored.
From the Canadian Movie That No Other Nation Saw pile, I’d have to chose Whale Music, the cinematic version of Paul Quarrington’s brilliant novel. The book is better, obviously, but hey it’s a pretty decent movie too–and the author did do the screenplay, so it’s pretty true to the book. Essentially it’s the story of a shut-in former rock star of the crazy Brian Wilson type (played ably by Maury Chaykin) who lives alone in a mansion, haunted by ghosts, making music for whales, and how his life changes when a messed up girl on the run from institutions essentially breaks in and becomes part of his life. The girl is played by Cynthia Preston (calling herself Cyndy at the time), who I find oddly attractive in the role for some reason. If for no other reason, it’s worth it just for the “it’s about cars” line. The Rheostatics provide the soundtrack, and all the music for whales, in their second album called Whale Music (they had earlier released a studio album with that title, because they were huge fans of the book), and the soundtrack is also pretty cool, both the old school pop tunes that made our protagonist famous, and the music for whales.
From the I Didn’t See It On Stage pile, after a tight battle, I have to go with The Search for Signs of Inteligent Life in the Universe. Yes, it’s a one-woman Lily Tomlin show. Yes, the movie is essentially like seeing the stage show with really good seats. These are pluses. Tomlin does a lot of characters, creating more than a dozen different people (including Lily Tomlin) in a series of vignettes that come together as the show progresses into a thing larger than the sum of its parts. It builds, and you don’t notice because you’re too busy laughing, or being impressed with Tomlin, or getting immersed into one of the little stories, and then there’s an offhand, ironic, one-liner that hits you in the head like a hammer, the apparently out of context statements becoming something very different in the larger context, something that communicates a truth to you, makes something real in a way that it wasn’t before. Look, the writing is genius–I repeat GENIUS–and Tomlin’s performance is a thing to behold.
And finally, from the Just To Make Conservative Heads Explode pile, Bob Roberts, a mockumentary about an apparently squeaky clean conservative politician and folk singer, and his media management techniques, which, like all the best satires, has a very serious point. Probably only funny from the Left, but hilarious from over here. Also, you won’t believe the cast–check it at imdb; it’s ridiculous how many “names” are in there, many in cameos and walk-ons. And, of course, there’s a serious point. Some people will think the ending goes over the top, but for me it’s note perfect.
