In Honor of Oscar
Yes, it's Oscars time. I thought I would list my top-five favorite movies. This list changes constantly. But each one, for me, is chosen not just for the acting, but for the scripts . . . .
1. My number one is The Lives of Others. It's a German flick with subtitles, and won the Oscar for best foreign picture in 2006. It should have won for Best Picture--period. For those of you who don't ever watch foreign films, I suggest it for a very real reason as a writer. When you watch an American film, it all blends together--the performance, the score, the setting, the dialogue. When you watch an intense foreign film, you READ the script as it unfolds and you gain a very real sense of the process of writing . . . at the same time, you also gain a sense of just how incredible the acting is because you are forced to see it through the lens of a foreign language and just watch the nuances and acting. The script for this film is amazing.
2. Choice number two is also a foreign flick. Danish. After the Wedding's script is not quite as amazing as The Lives of Others, but for a pure emotional punch and an incredible bunch of performances . . . this one is terrific. What I especially like is that if this was an American movie, the lead character would be a saint and the industrialist would be a sinner. Instead, they are both flawed characters in full three dimensions.
3. You Can't Take It With You . Directed by the same man who brought the world It's a Wonderful Life, this is a lesser-known flick, but no less wonderful for me. It's in my top-five for largely sentimental reasons. This is the film I watch when the world has me down and I need to be lifted up by the spirit of truly good but eccentric people.
4. The Seven Samurai. Okay, another film with subtitles. This one, to me, gets my nod for its themes. It's an epic . . .
5. Rushmore. Remember Rosebud in Citizen Kane? This Wes Anderson film has the line "She was my Rushmore." It's one of those films that, like all Wes Anderson films, is likely an acquired taste. If you like sccentric, then it's for you. Bill Murray delivers an amazing performance, but it is Jason Schwartzman, playing aspiring film director Max Fischer that is the heart of the movie. It's about grief and redemption, and most of all about what you would do for love.
So that's my list. As I said, it changes almost daily. I love films . . . and now, after years of watching films, have a very clear idea of what I look for in a movie. I could add a hundred for faves. I loved 2006's Once. I like obscure films . . . Heavenly Creatures. The Krays. But I'll stop listing mine now.
In honor of the Oscars, what are your faves and why?
