becoming a filmie

[pryor15]

Oh, this is gonna be a fun thread, methinks.

the potential problem, as i see it, with starting someone on the 70's auteur films (Scorsese, et al.) is that a large majority of them can be be tough films for someone to digest right off the bat. Taxi Driver can have a bit more violence than some people are willing to embrace, for example.

So, you run the risk of turning someone off to a crucial segment of film before you've really even started.

I'm toying with a couple of ways you could go about this, but all of them have one thing in common: you want to get to 2 key people as quickly as possible, as they've got the highest potential success rate for the uninformed: Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock.

I think the sooner you get to one of Grant's comedies, like His Girl Friday, the quicker people realize that not all black and white films are "boring" (since truly great comedy is timeless).

Hitchcock just did suspense so well, and was so influential, while at the same time making the types of films your grandmother might watch.

then you branch out from here.

[Enrique]

Yes, Hitchcock is definitely a good way to start. That is how I started watching a lot of movies. I started with Hitchcock and Kubrick and then started broadening my picks.

As you mention that Taxi Driver might be too violent for some, the same holds true for A Clockwork Orange, one of my favorite movies, but not that universal.

Another of my all time favorite movies is "The Great Dictator" by Chaplin. If the person likes history, that could be a good movie to show in the black/white era. The fact that Chaplin is famous might convince the person to sit through it all.

[John Cole]

In a sense, I try to make a few converts every semester. Last night I taught my first class of the year, and I simply tried to get the students to begin to look carefully. I showed clips from Day for Night, In the Mood for Love, Sullivan's Travels, Le Samourai (one student had seen it) to open the class, and then we looked at Lumiere, Melies, Porter, and Ralph Steiner's wonderful abstract film H20.

I have had some students who have loved The Passion of Joan of Arc and Mr. Hulot's Holiday because those films surprised them. (Of course, some hated these.) Overall, though, I think the classes I've taught favored Pennies from Heaven, with North by Northwest running a close second.

By the way, you must reads Stanley Cavell's Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedies of Remarriage as soon as possible. It will only confirm your love for the thirties and forties screwball comedies.

[WhoIam]

When I was in maybe 8th grade, the American Film Institute came out with their list of the top 100 American films ever made. I set out to watch as many of these as I could and I credit this to increasing my appreciation of quality cinema.

I would suggest watching a bunch of these because they're generally entertaining (especially compared to Tarkovsky or something) and don't have the subtitles so many Americans find annoying. After this you could move into some of the more accessible european directors like Truffautt.

edit: and no Citizen Kane

[vulturesrow]

[ QUOTE ]
In a sense, I try to make a few converts every semester. Last night I taught my first class of the year, and I simply tried to get the students to begin to look carefully. I showed clips from Day for Night, In the Mood for Love, Sullivan's Travels, Le Samourai (one student had seen it) to open the class, and then we looked at Lumiere, Melies, Porter, and Ralph Steiner's wonderful abstract film H20.

I have had some students who have loved The Passion of Joan of Arc and Mr. Hulot's Holiday because those films surprised them. (Of course, some hated these.) Overall, though, I think the classes I've taught favored Pennies from Heaven, with North by Northwest running a close second.

By the way, you must reads Stanley Cavell's Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedies of Remarriage as soon as possible. It will only confirm your love for the thirties and forties screwball comedies.

[/ QUOTE ]

John,

Is there a distance learning option for your course? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[FortunaMaximus]

Kubrick is a must. 2001, A Clockwork Orange. There's a very non-American touch in his films. Full Metal Jacket has to be one of the better films about the Vietnam War.

Eyes Wide Shut is weird, and may not be for most audiences. But if you get where he was going with the film, it's worthwhile.

Include some silent-era films. Valentino, I think, has never been matched for sheer acting talent. Never. He died very young of perionitis, which may have added an unneeded lustre to his legacy.

Any filmie should include a wide range of films from every era, from any culture.

And so much more. That's the beauty of filmmakin'. Just get away from the commerical stuff sometimes, root around in history.

And don't just watch films. Read up on silent-era Hollywood, the eras after that. It isn't just the films itself, but the whole Hollywood culture that can give you a broader idea of the motivations.

[SL__72]

This may be tough to do without sounding like a dick, but people miss a lot when they are watching movies. They usually follow the story, action, jokes etc. but there is a lot more to film then that obv. Start with something they've already seen, know, like, watch it with them, talk about it as you are watching it and try to show them how much more there is to their favorite films then they had previously noticed. Godfather could be an obvious example.

Then move into different genres and start with something that is very accessible. I think it would be important to start with foreign films because there are SO many great films that people ignore simply because they are in a different language. Start with something like Amelie, then maybe Tae Guk Gi.

For Classics, I think you can start right in with like... North by Northwest, Casablanca, His Girl Friday was a really good suggestion.

For me I might try having them watch something like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance as I love Westerns and that is a great film to both get them into B&W and Westerns at the same time.

/Edit eh... I had to stop here and get back to work.
/Edit again: Lots of Hitchcock movies work obviously, N by NW was just an example.

[MrMon]

Personally, I don't think that Kubrick is all that accessible, and you will certainly turn off a newbie with "Clockwork Orange" or expecially "2001". "Paths of Glory" or "Dr. Strangelove" would probably work, but even they're a little tough.

For all it's brilliance, most people who see "2001" are going to be lost in the first 15 minutes and by the end are going to run screaming from the theater regretting they ever agreed to do this. The average person (you know who I mean) thinks "2001" is crap, or a drug-induced trip at best.

[FortunaMaximus]

Hmm. Good point. But, hey. For every several people that get turned off by it, you're gonna get one nugget.

Why else would they overcrowd school classes with 30 students and 1 teacher? Most teachers pale at the effort of reaching every student, and often have to focus on a certain circle.

OP's trying to broaden the experience of his friends, not be high-faultin' snobby. Sit along with the friend, explain the contextual issues that a filmie sees, discuss what he/she notices in the movie that didn't make sense, or that he thought the audience wouldn't notice.

I'm not suggesting you toss the fella a DVD, shrug, say, "This is why you should watch it." Then walk away.

[Duke]

I don't think you can create a filmie. Either someone is willing and excited about finding the good in pretty much any movie, or they're not. If they don't like it, they'll want to be able to quantify why it's bad. If they do, they'll want to be able to explain why.

The first time I saw Local Hero, I didn't really enjoy it, and kinda thought it sucked. I couldn't say why, so I watched it again a little more closely. And again. At some point I realized that it wasn't a bad film at all, and that I had merely overlooked the meat of why it was good. I was a kid at the time, so that was to be expected.

I think that mindset is what allows people to appreciate all art. Starry Starry Night is a horrible painting if you're always looking for photorealism. The Marriage of Figaro is the most boring way you can possibly spend 4 hours if you're unable/unwilling to appreciate the musical details.

If watching any one film can turn someone off from a genre, they're never going to be a "filmie." Maybe I don't know what a filmie is, though.