Just in case you're interested. Was trawling the Tarkovsky threads and it had a link to his top 10 favourite films (as featured in a recent issue of Sight and Sound). Made for very interesting reading. Chaplin's 'City Lights' was on there too!
"Come on Homer, you might like Japan. You liked Rashomon."
"That's not how I remember it."
I'm so proud that I've already seen all the movies he mentioned. =D
Great choices, though I find "Woman in the Dunes" a tad bit overrated. (It's still an amazing film, though).
I was not able to find the list - could you, please, post link to it here? I've heard Diary is Tarkovkij's favorite movie before, but I would like to check the rest.
Ymdb
http://www.ymdb.com/kotas-frantisek/l32468_ukuk.html?movieUp=0087803
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his list makes me want to weep in a corner. i shall give him a hug!
shareSorry...I was out of station. would you please tell me which are those 10 movies? I could not read it anywhere
Humans don't know what is love...they only possess, intimidate or dominate...and they call it love.
01. Le Journal d'un curé de campagne
02. Winter Light
03. Nazarin
04. Wild Strawberries
05. City Lights
06. Ugetsu Monogatari
07. Seven Samurai
08. Persona
09. Mouchette
10. Woman of the Dunes (Teshigahara)
the list along with the article is on andrei's board: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001789/board/inline/14419343?d=19789190#19789190
I'm not at all surprised to see three Bergman's on his top ten. I have long suspected he was a disciple of Bergman, but here is the proof in writing. I imagine it must have been a moment of great pride for him to hear Bergman speak so highly of him, calling him the greatest filmmaker, and the man who had the keys to the room that Bergman had been trying to enter for years, but could only view through a keyhole...
It is interesting that no Russian films made his top ten, though not entirely suprising given that he borrows much more from the northern europeans than from his own comrades in style.
I know that he respected Kurosawa very much, and its intersting to see him highlight one of Kurosawa's more action-packed films, rather than one of his more meditative ones.
Tarkovsky also saw Bergman as a father-figure. The affection was very mutual.
Top 20; favorite movies:
http://www.ymdb.com/phille/l24694_ukuk.html
Seven Samurai is very meditative. That's a very believable list, I can see Tarkovsky's touch. I'm surprised he didn't list Parajanov's Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors which he admired.
shareThe best list ever to come out by a director. I'm not a huge Tarkovsky admirer but this list pay hommage to 3 of my very favourite movies of all time: Le Journal, Winter Light and Woman in the Dunes.
shareInteresting thing about the top three all being similarly-themed.
share'his list makes me want to weep in a corner. i shall give him a hug!'
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you're almost a decade too late to do that, my friend. unless you feel like getting quite dirty, that is.
the best hugs are the dirty ones ;)
shareTarkovsky is a genius. Andrey Rublyov is a cinematic masterpiece. Tarkovsky actually got me more into Bresson. I love this, Mouchette, A Man Escaped, and Pickpocket. I'd like to add Fellini, Truffaut, Bergman, , Kubrick, Herzog, and Kurosawa as the elites. I love this movie, but I'd say I prefer Bergman's 'Winter Light'. (Which I think is Tarkovsky's 2nd favorite).
shareHow many other Tarkovsky films have you seen? The original Solyaris, for instance? Nostalghia? Stalker? The Mirror?
Herzog is also one of a kind. If you're familiar with the Russian formalist idea of ostranenie, nobody exemplifies it better, IMHO.
I can see he's a great Bergman and Bresson fan :) Great directors who truly admired each other!
"I did cramps the way Meryl Streep did accents" - Calliope (Middlesex)
Can´t say I´m surprised. At all.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
So did you finally fall in love with a Bresson film?
Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.
Not sure if I´d describe it as a love story, but Diary sure made its big, fat mark with me. Unlike most other films heavy on Real Serious Talk (like, for instance, Rohmer´s Claire´s Knee I saw earlier yesterday - although this one, unlike that Maud number, leaves out broader philosophy as well as religion), this one´s handled with uncommon grace and power, with the visuals and the general feel of the thing giving all the ruminations a special gravity; I particularly like the way, in the first half of the film, the story is told in relatively short scenes preceded and followed by fadeouts. By and large, it´s indeed not too much unlike a Tarkovsky (I did sort of wonder why he was so big on Bresson on the basis of A Man Escaped or Pickpocket... not anymore). Meanwhile, that Claire picture struck me as merely pretty.
But I´m also thinking if I really might be more receptive, or more inclined than I thought, towards this kind of more overtly tragic material - after all, both this as well as Balthazar are much more emotionally charged than those Escape & Pickpocket... After all, I was no less taken with De Sica´s Umberto D just a few days ago (although, of course, neither Diary nor Umberto aren´t what one would call "sentimentalist", exactly... Diary, for one thing, is far too austere & clinical for that).
Have you seen any Tati btw? Playtime´s outstanding (I ´have´ been pretty lucky with my film selections lately... but perhaps that´s just the kind of thing that might happen when you give 1950´s B-horror a rest for a while...)
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
Well, I always had a strong feeling that it could be the one Bresson that you could end up loving the most - it has way too much going for it (for one, it doesn't stumble for a second with the weight of those "overtly serious" topics resting firmly on its back). Reading your praises for it convinces me I need to experience that again.
Of Tati, I have only seen Mon Oncle (on your recommendation, I think) and I thought it was an amusing satirical portrait of an upper-class family. Great stuff. You reckon I should check out Play Time next?
Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.
I viewed Balthazar and Umberto D. back to back and the experience was divine. Two absolutely stunning films.
Tat's great as well.