I think the problem with The Music Salon was that it was getting into a rut, so the solution seems to be to simply widen the horizon a bit. To that end, let's consider some outstanding movies of the last fifty years.
I'm not going to do a numbered list, that's too clickbaity, so I will go from well-known to obscure. The star of three of the best-known and frankly best movies of the last fifty years is, of course, Bill Murray. In order of well-knownness they are Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day and Lost in Translation. They combine real wisdom with great entertainment value and not a trace of pretentiousness.
Two really good movies from a French director are Le Grand Bleu (The Big Blue) and Leon, The Professional, both by Luc Besson. He did a lot of other movies, some specifically for the English-speaking market, like The Fifth Element, but I think these are the most interesting.
Another great director is Australia's Peter Weir whose really great films include Gallipoli, The Year of Living Dangerously and Dead Poets Society. Every one of his films is utterly different from every other--no formulas!
I have to mention a couple of Japanese directors: Masaki Kobayashi who did Hara-Kiri and Akira Kurosawa who directed Seven Samurai, the inspiration for The Magnificent Seven western.
Finally, the most remarkable film I have seen in recent years, La Belle Noiseuse by Jacques Rivette.
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| A still from La Belle Noiseuse |
Hm, never heard of La Belle Noiseuse, will try and find it! Agree strongly on Murray. And Harakiri is an amazing film! Re Japanese directors, Ozu is also outstanding; An Autumn Afternoon, Floating Weeds and Tokyo Story in particular.
ReplyDeleteWith these Japanese films I think we've gone well beyond 50 years... But within the last 50 years a handful of others immediately come to mind: Babette's Feast, Strange Days, The Tree of Life... and of course the great Galaxy Quest! (Honestly, a perfect comedy -- it's only possible flaw is that it lacks Bill Murray.)
(Of course Harakiri also has a soundtrack by Takemitsu, as outstanding a film composer as concert)
ReplyDeletePer Steven If you are going to do movies I would suggest some discussion or mention of their soundtracks. There are a gargantuan number of film related blogs per se on the net.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great comments! Yes, I could talk a bit about the soundtracks. To say very much I would have to do some research, though. Just off the top of my head, Peter Weir uses music very effectively. In his recent Master and Commander he makes great use of the fact that the two leading characters are amateur musicians and the movie ends with them knocking off a rousing dance as they chase an enemy vessel. In The Year of Living Dangerously he uses Javanese gamelan very effectively for the soundtrack. And in Green Card, the very ambiguous standing of one lead character as composer (maybe?) is used to good effect. In La Belle Noiseuse a soundtrack is only used as a framing device--music by Stravinsky. The other movies I haven't thought much about the soundtracks.
ReplyDeleteFilm-related posts always seem to get comments, maybe a sign of the current culture. Perhaps there is an acceptance that someone can enjoy trashy B-movies and auteur cinema without being labelled either high- or low-brow. Anyway, re. soundtracks, I've always enjoyed Philip Glass's work, as well as Carter Burwell (most recognisable for his frequent collaborations with the Coen brothers).
ReplyDeleteI'm not nearly the rebel voice I think I am, because I actually expected a lot of pushback on my claim that the star of three of the greatest movies of the last fifty years is Bill Murray. Maybe I should have said that I find Al Pacino and Robert de Niro unwatchable?
ReplyDeleteBryan, if you'd picked The Razor's Edge and The Man Who Knew Too Little and Charlie's Angels I'd have disagreed. But Murray has been as many great movies as bad and that's fairly normal for any actor who has worked as long as he has. I only remember The Man Who Knew Too Little because of Alfred Molina going 200% into his ridiculous role.
ReplyDeleteEvery actor has done bad movies and some of the best have done a LOT of bad movies!
ReplyDeleteBryan, can we add Picnic at Hanging Rock to the Peter Weir best list? Where do you stand on Zombieland with Bill Murray in the cast?
ReplyDeleteDavid, yes, absolutely. A most remarkable movie. But I'm sad to say, I have never seen Zombieland! Have to rectify that.
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