Battleship Potemkin (1925)

Wow! I have never seen a movie like this. The stampede on the steps to the mutiny on the ship was so expressive even without dialogue.


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Grand Illusion

Iconic film by Jean Renoir set in World War 1. Dealing with issues of class and nationalism, by demonstrating the irony of it through the friendship of the leader of the French regiment having more in common with his German counterpart than with his own soldier.
The film is sublte and the characters are excellent. While the overall look of this feel cannot be described as anything other than beautiful.

The Lovely Bones

Interesting, disturbing and visualy stunning at the same time.
A very moving piece on a dificult and depressing story.

This is England

Sensational low budget film dealing with skinheads, identity and coming of age.

I think ugliness was the winning aesthetic of this film. Which is of course a strange thing to enjoy, but I found the ugliness really complimented and enhanced the story. Ugliness in terms of setting, costumes, hair, context, etc. It felt more authentic with this aesthetic.

Think Billy Elliot meets Romper Stomper

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Happy Tears

Blah!

I found this film was trying to hard to be funny.

Metropolis (1927)

This is one of the best films I have ever seen. The movement, the graphics and the story were engaging. It reminded me of Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World' and I can see how much Tim Burton has borrowed from this film as he has with the Weine's 'The Cabinet of Dr Caligari'

I cannot believe I had never seen this film before and I am planning to get a copy of this on DVD.


Amazing film!

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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Very dark on the screen however, I'm glad I persevered because this was such a remarkable film and I would have missed the twist at the end.

I was rather surprised by the surreal and Gothic like elements of this film. I don't know why but seeing such an aesthetic challenged my understanding of what film was like back then. The ideas seemed explicit in a way I ignorantly didn't understand film was capable portraying in that period.

Definitely made me a fan of German Expressionism.

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Osama

Deeply moving film. I felt so powerless after watching this film. I honeslty believe more films need to come out of this region as they must have so many more poignant tales to tell.

L'enfant

Realist Belgium film. Depressing yet must see!

A young teenage couple have a baby and the Boy sells that baby for money.

Interesting story.

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Remember Me (2010)

This film was not too bad, however, I would not watch it again as it's not the type of film I really enjoy watching. But other than that I think this film was fine and I didnt think it was badly made.

Birth of a Nation

This may be a groundbreaking film in terms of cinema technique. However, I did not like this. I find it very upsetting to see this type of rascism on the screen. Especialy without the use of resolution such as that seen in American History X.

Lumiere, Trip to the Moon and Great Train Robbery

Rather poignant seeing the first ever films. They are obviously lacking in the technology we enjoy today, yet still worth watching if only to see the ingenuity of these early cinema pioneers.

Great Train Robbery (1903)

The first Western

Lumiere (1895)

Simple film obviously reflective of what people had initialy wanted to see -anything!

Trip to the Moon (1902)

Amazing to think how old it is and how exciting this would havve been for audiences viewing it for the first time.

Bright Star

I tried so hard to like this but I found it to be a series of shots of a girl brooding, a man coughing and few pretty frocks.

All in all I think the film lacked stimulus. Something extra to make this story more enjoyable. But it was just boring.

Delicatessen

Its vegetarianism vs cannibalism in this offbeat film.

I would describe this as a morbid comedy similar to Denmark's Green Butchers. A butcher hires handymen and when they fatten up he then chops them up so that they can eat meat in a world were meat is scarce.

However, I thought this was a clever film and although the subject was weird I appreciated the absurdity of this film that has slight nods to German Expressionist films.

Another point I noticed was the striking similarity between this and other Jeunet films. He certainly has a unique and offbeat style that is visually beautiful.
The lighting and colours are very consistent and beautiful.