TexanAvenger

Velvet Goldmine is another good one. Bisexuality, glam rock, Oscar Wilde, and a hint of aliens. It really is great.

Scheme

Sin City, it just looks awesome

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fatbob

ok i hate to be picky but is guthmund not looking for a film and topic from the list that is provided rather than just asking what films people like?

attention to details and all that, it is an exam after all and the first rule is 'read the question'!

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ktspktsp

Actually he's asking for a movie not on this list, so it's pretty much wide open.

Glory's Sun

This is a great movie if you can get past Ewen McGregor's part ( I found him incredibly dull in this movie)

Another vote for <i>the bicycle thief</i> great flick.

Any John Waters flick would work although I think Pink Flamingos would be a little over the edge.

A Clockwork Orange has probably been done so many times the prof. would find it old hat.

fatbob

classic! my bad fucking read the question!!! hahaha

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flstf

Donnie Darko.....directed by Richard Kelly

theycallmelisa

if it were me, the first movie that comes to mind is Requiem for a Dream http://www.flipsidemovies.com/requiemforadream.html . There are a few themes you can touch down on; the main one being addiction, followed by desperation and consequence, or you can look at the cinematics of it; the various camera angles rarely used in major pictures, the score, the different ways the director tries to keep the viewer captivated.

Okay, now I'm sounding like I'm plugging and writing a review for it (sorry), but if you haven't seen the film, or even if you had, I think it'd be an easy and definitely interesting target for the type of paper you have to do.
It's one of those movies that you can watch 10 times, and still, at the end of it, feel like you need to take a breath and process it all.

thats another good suggestion, alot to analyze and interpret.

Sorcha

We watched The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman. Absolutely riddled with symbolism, and quite brilliant really. http://imdb.com/title/tt0050976/

I also recommend Memento, Million Dollar Baby, Strangers on a Train. I think it might be cool to do Cruel Intentions. It's based on a book set in the 1700's, oddly enough. lol. Also perhaps Harvey, Arsenic and Old Lace, Bringing Up Baby...

Gah I'm so jealous. I'm thinking of all these topics to go with these movies...and now I want to take a film class :P

Glory's Sun

Requiem for a Dream is my fav all time movie. It's always interesting to see the various reactions people have about it. Then, I'm also obsessed with Jared Leto.

what? can't a guy be obsessed with another dude? :P

How about a Marilyn Monroe movie?? Some Like It Hot would be a good one. ha.

caver

Xiu Xiu the Sent Down Girl

Breaking_the_Waves

I Second "The City of Lost Children"

OR Calendar by Atom Egoyan. This should be a film analysis profs wet-dream,
because I could not see a point in it. If you find one, let me know.

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ObieX

Clerks 2 is now out on DVD

Donkey love ftw

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ktspktsp

Actually, speaking of Egoyan, I loved 'The Sweet Hereafter'. Very beautiful and sad movie. There's a recurring parallelism with the story of the Pied Piper throughout the movie, so that can be interesting to analyze.

Sgoilear

I think doing an analysis of some foreign films could be interesting in particular Hero, Shanghai Soccer or Kung Fu Hustle. Hero would probably be the best suited to an academic analysis but the two comedies also have some of the same themes.

You might also try some of the Bollywood movies coming out of India. A friend of mine showed me Monsoon Wedding and I thought it was pretty interesting. He also recommended Sholay to me.

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dlish

'Of Mice and Men with Johm Malkovich and Gary Sinise would be my pick.


or maybe try something like Motorcycle Diaries. That'd be interesting to do i think.

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Charlatan

Do people outside of Canada actually watch Atom Egoyan?

If you are going to watch anything by Egoyan... avoid his latest film. It was terrible. For an interesting slice of Canadian 80s and 90s arthouse see his early works like Family Viewing, Next of Kin or the Adjuster.

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guthmund

Wow. This is quite the collection...

There's a lot of good stuff here; it's going to be difficult to single one film out to work on. There's also a lot of stuff I haven't seen, which should keep me busy for the immediate future. I've got until Monday to make the decision, so, keep the suggestions rolling.

Oh, and thanks for the link, roachboy. Facets does indeed appear to be "the shit."

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Charlatan

I can agree with you on this to a point and that point is what is the actual topic of the paper and what year is guthmund in? If he's writing a first year paper in Introduction to Film Studies, about Narrative Film Editing, Mise en Scene, etc. Then I would strongly suggest staying with a classic Hollywood film like Casablanca or It's a Wonderful Life. I would do a compare and contrast with something that breaks the rules or uses a different set rules like the films of Jean Luc Goddard or Sergei Eisenstein.

The main reason I suggest this is that in an introductory course the whole point is to learn how to conform your arguments and discussions to Films Studies speak. To show that you know how to recognize the basic language of film and how to apply it to concrete examples. Basic stuff. Using the films I've suggested allows you to keep it simple.

However, if he is writing a more advanced paper and explore genre, an auteur, post modern or post structuralist theory, historical, interdisciplinary, etc. then yes, I would say some of the films on your list (and many of the films above are ripe for use). In the case of more advanced papers, points are scored not only for your ability to apply the theories you have learned but also to do so in novel ways with interesting films. In other words you are an advanced student who must bring more to your work than the basics.

In first (and second year papers) it is very important (unless you are willing to risk it because you really know what you are doing) to follow the KISS rule of thumb -- Keep It Simple Stupid.

Trust me on this. I spent more time than I ever want to again taking film studies courses and marking first year film studies papers.

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jorgelito

Ah good point Charlatan. You definitely have a good reasoning from a film studies perspective. I lost sight of the actual assignment. Instead, my reflex was to immediately roll my eyes at the pseudo/quasi film culture that has infected wannabes everywhere. I live in LA where this disease is rampant and out of control. You really have to see it to believe it and understand what I am talking about.

Anyways, at the end of the day, all that really matters is if you like or enjoyed the movie or not. Not whether or not some film snob tells you it's profound or cool etc.

Intense1

Actually, Plan Nine from Outer Space is the perfect film! In addition to being my favorite B grade movie, it's also the one in which the major star (Bela Lugosi) died halfway through the filming, so they just had another actor come in and film his "vampire-like" scenes, with a cape pulled over most of his face. It is one of the most hilarious movies I've ever seen, even though it probably was supposed to be "scary".

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Charlatan

I completely agree. You don't have to live in LA to experience this phenomena.

Your last point is what I used to tell my students all the time. It's one thing to enjoy the films of Bergman or Fellini but to do so at the expense of all the other great films that are out there is myopic. People who say they "love" film but then go on to ignore or view popular films with disdain drive me nuts.

There are gems to be had from around the world in all genres and all forms. You just have to have an open mind.

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snowy

My favorite foreign movie is "La fille sur la pont." It is a film I think most people will find entertaining yet somewhat serious. It features one of my favorite French actors, Daniel Auteuil, as well as Vanessa Paradis--Johnny Depp's partner.

My second favorite is "Wings of Desire", the first movie recommended in this thread. I have loved this movie since I first saw it in German class. If you're doing a project on a movie, perhaps an interesting topic would be an analysis between the original and the imitation (City of Angels). Let me say that Wim Wenders wins, hands down.

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zed wolf

Hmm, I have never seen this one but based on this description I think I will have to look it up!

izzzzy

cat on a hot tin roof cool hand luke the good the bad and the ugly the sting the wild bunch easy rider

bobdave

Perhaps something by Bernardo Bertolucci? I was thinking The Last Emperor, Last Tango in Paris, or The Dreamers for something a bit newer.

The Dreamers has quite a few references to New Wave filmmakers which could help contribute to an interesting paper.

guthmund

Sorry, I haven't been back lately...

I made a short list of films I'd like to look at and submitted it. The actual subject of the paper to be determined later.

Rear Window, Dr. Strangelove, Brazil, and Hero all made the list. For a lark, I threw in Groundhog Day. A friend of mine thought that maybe an exploration of existentialism in the film might be fun.

I await my professor's reply....

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