The Ascent (1977, dir. Larisa Shepitko)
"During a freezing WWII winter, two Soviet partisans on a mission to gather food contend with the temperature, the occupying Germans, and their own psyches."
The Ascent is one of my first forays into Soviet cinema, and it was a fantastic one. The first half of the movie is appropriately gritty and tense, but I was not expecting just how moving yet harrowing the second half would be. The film is not exactly subtle with its biblical symbolism, but it works perfectly for such a setting. Apart from the literal opening credits scene there is only one real 'action sequence' in this war thriller, and I love how it is done in such a grounded, almost clumsy way which really puts you in the moment. Just so much different than how a similar scene would be shot in a Hollywood WWII movie. This was unfortunately Larisa Shepitko's final film before her death in 1979 at only 41 years old. I haven't seen any of her other work yet, but I can only imagine how much more she had to give us. May she rest in peace.
Bullet in the Head (1990, dir. John Woo)
"Three childhood friends from the slums of Hong Kong flee to war-time Saigon after accidentally murdering a gang leader, but their troubles only escalate."
I've always appreciated his signature style when watching some of his Hollywood productions (Face/Off, Mission: Impossible 2) but getting into John Woo's Hong Kong films from the 80s and 90s has been some of the most fun I've had with movies in a long time. Hard Boiled, The Killer, and A Better Tomorrow are all amazing but there is something about the sheer ambition of Bullet in the Head that makes it my favourite. All of Woo's movies are filled with over-the-top, no-reloads action (literally), and crazy melodrama, but here he fuses it with genuinely brutal depictions of violence on both sides of the Vietnam War. I promise that if you watch this you will not be able to predict where the plot goes at all. It almost feels like you've watched two movies in one by the end, in the best way possible.
Paris, Texas (1984, dir. Wim Wenders)
"A man wanders out of the desert not knowing who he is. His brother finds him, and helps pull his memory back of the life he led before he walked out on his family and disappeared four years earlier."
Paris, Texas was one of the very first films I watched after getting my CC subscription, so it isn't as fresh in my mind as the others in this list. That being said, what can I say? It is masterfully shot, beautifully acted, and made me cry. Harry Dean Stanton is un-fucking-believable in this movie.
The Battle of Algiers (1966, dir. Gillo Pontecorvo)
"Paratrooper commander Colonel Mathieu, a former French Resistance fighter during World War II, is sent to Algeria to reinforce efforts to squelch the uprisings of the Algerian War. There he faces Ali la Pointe, a former petty criminal who, as the leader of the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale, directs terror strategies against the colonial French government occupation. As each side resorts to ever-increasing brutality, no violent act is too unthinkable."
To quote Letterboxd user 'alewatchesfilms', "The Battle of Algiers doesn't feel like a film, it feels like history unfolding right in front of your eyes." Shot only a decade after the events it depicts, filmed in a very documentary-esque style, and even featuring acting performances from FLN members who fought in the war, it is easy to see why. Although there are important characters that recur throughout the story, we aren't really following any of them like you would a normal protagonist. Rather, the nation of Algeria herself is our main character. It would be hard for a film like this not to have an impact at any time, but especially now it truly strikes me to the core. The Battle of Algiers certainly doesn't romanticize or sanitize armed resistance to imperialism, but it does rightfully glorify it. In a time where we are gaslit into believing that the excesses of resistance to apartheid and genocide are worse than apartheid and genocide themselves, a movie like this cuts right through to the truth of the matter. Everyone should watch this.
La Haine (1995, dir. Mathieu Kassovitz)
"After a chaotic night of rioting in a marginal suburb of Paris, three young friends, Vinz, Hubert, and Saïd, wander around unoccupied waiting for news about the state of health of a mutual friend who has been seriously injured when confronting the police."
Honestly don't know what to say about this one. It takes place over the course of just a day or so, but if La Haine kept going for the characters' entire lives I think I would be enthralled every second. This is a strange comparison to make, but it kind of reminds me of Trailer Park Boys just in the sense that it's hard not to view these characters as real people, that is just how perfectly natural both the writing and acting are here. On a side-note, watching French films is interesting because it is the one time while watching foreign cinema that I can actually notice when the translation (even with Criterion's great official subtitles) can't quite capture the subtlety of all the lines. Not to sound like a broken record, but just like The Battle of Algiers, La Haine hits especially hard in our current political climate. "Le monde est à vnous."
Before my favourite, and the final entry in our list, here is a list of honourable mentions I've given a 9/10 since getting my CC subscription, just in order of when I watched them:
- Brief Encounter (1945)
- Harakiri (1962)
- The Wages of Fear (1953)
- Seven Samurai (1954)
- Ikiru (1952)
- Yojimbo (1961)
- A Better Tomorrow (1986)
- The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)
- Cape Fear (1962)
And finally:
The Elephant Man (1980, dir. David Lynch)
"A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his 'owner' as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity. Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick, a severely deformed man in 19th century London. "
I think Blue Velvet will always be my favourite David Lynch movie, but paradoxically I'll also die on the hill that The Elephant Man is in the running for the single greatest film of all time. For starters it is simply perfect from a filmmaking standpoint. Every performance is monumental, the production and cinematography is amazing, and of course the prosthetics are so good they single-handedly caused the creation of the Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling the following year. But beyond all that, this is truly one of the greatest depictions of humanity in the face of tragedy ever artistically conceived, let alone put to film. It is beyond heartbreaking, and it really never lets up. I sobbed twice when I watched it for the first time, and then cried three more times when I watched it again the next night, and during completely different scenes. But ultimately it is a story of hope and human connection. The scene where John (at the time the movie was made, it was actually believed Joseph Merrick's name was John Merrick) meets Mrs. Kendal for the first time, she gifts him a book of Shakespeare and they read an excerpt from Romeo & Juliet is one of my favourites in any narrative, period. I'm genuinely close to tears just thinking about it while writing this. Rest in peace to David Lynch, John Hurt, and of course Joseph Merrick.
Thank you for reading! I hope at least one of these films that you haven't seen piques your interest and you are able to check it out :) Peace and love <3
