Friday, January 18, 2019

5 Off My Head: Righting Scorsese's Wrongs

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Making lists is a futile sort of business. The second you've made one, and every single second thereafter, ten things you totally forgot about stampede across the roof of your brain, having their way with you. It's utter torment. It's probably one of the mid-levels of Hell, like the staircase between the third and fourth ring. So I forgive Martin Scorsese for forgetting some vitals when he listed "The 39 Essential Foreign Films"...
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Before you ask no, I do not know the context of that note - who he was sending it to or why. I guess it's to "educate" someone - hence there being no films later than the 1970s. Anyway laying the blame on forgetfulness when it comes to the titles "missing" is awfully brassy of me - perhaps it stands to reason that Martin Scorsese, a 76 year old heterosexual film-maker from Queens, might have different tastes than I do? I suppose it's possible! Anyway I figured I'd take a little of Marty's torment on and make my own (far less substantial) list and give us...

5 Foreign Films I'd Add To Marty's List

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
-- directed by Jacques Demy --

In the Mood For Love (2000)
-- directed by Wong Kar-Wai

Persona (1966)
-- directed by Ingmar Bergman -- 

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080 Brussels (1975)
-- directed by Chantal Akerman -- 

Belle de Jour (1967)
-- directed by Luis Buñuel -- 

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Of course I could go on and on,
which is part of the problem in the first place.
So y'all give me your five in the comments to keep it going...
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8 comments:

Pierce said...

Scorcese’s choices:
Metropolis
Nosferatu
Napoleon
Grand Illusion
Rules of the Game
Children of Paradise
Open City
Bicycle Thieves
La Belle et la Bete
Tokyo Story
400 Blows
Shoot the Piano Player
Breathless
Band of Outsiders
Blow-up

Your additions:
Umbrella of Cherbourg
Persona
Belle de Jour

Mine:
The Bride Wore Black
Nights of Cabiria
Aguirre: the Wrath of God
La Strada
Wings of Desire
Battleship Potemkin
Pather Panchali
Throne of Blood
The Last Metro
The Seventh Seal
Smiles of a Summer Night

larry said...

Looks like he's not into Bergman at all... My choice would be "Winter Light".

Scott said...

In the spirit of what you said about the futility of lists, I'll simply list the first 5 movies that came to my mind that neither you nor Scorsese mentioned:

2046
La Dolce Vita
L'Eclisse
Summer Hours
In the House

The Bad-Ass Penguin said...

I would add "Au Revoir Les Enfants" and "Hiroshima, Mon Amour"

Anonymous said...

Sei donne per l‘assassino - Mario Bava
Un tranquillo posto di campagna- Elio Petri
Satyricon - Federico Fellini
Rosso Profondo - Dario Argento
Saló - Pier Paolo Pasolini

Bonus round
Viridiana - Luis Buñuel
Black Narcissus - Powell & Pressburger
Black Lizard - Kinji Fukasaku
Le Locataire - Roman Polanski
Hour of the Wolf - Ingmar Bergman

Brad said...

No Wong Kar Wai is a disappointment.

Anonymous said...

Which "Weekend" do you think he's referring to?

Jason Adams said...

The Godard