I don't post much; mostly interested in obtaining useful production material on collecting my very favorite films on DVD. And since Criterion has so many of them, here I am.
I got into classic and art film in college where I ran the school film series,
booked the films (from Janus and Brandon), wrote promotional articles, and ran the 16 mm projectors. I remember (it was decades ago) having fare such as "The Big Sleep", "Devi", "L' Avventura", "Jules and Jim", "La Strada" and many, many others. My greatest triumph was running a double bill of "Night and Fog" and "Triumph of the Will." It made a big impression.
And fueling my film series work, was a new found interest in still photography. I quickly gravitated toward some of the art/foreign films whose images seemed so much more sensitive to people and places than the Hollywood films of the time. And I have maintained this life-long interest in both photography and cinema. Of course, I was fortunate to reside in the Greater Boston area during its heyday of art cinemas.
Panda
How did you get into older, obscure films?
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Michael
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 4:09 pm
I was very fortunate to grow up in a small college town called Clinton in upstate NY. Because at Hamilton College, there were foreign/art/cult/classic films playing every week and I used to ride my bike up the hill to see whatever was playing for a buck. But what really started the whole thing for me was the special midnight showing of Eraserhead at the local cinema. I questioned why they would be showing a film at midnight. So I sneaked out of my bedroom window and caught the screening of Eraserhead which changed my life forever. Thinking about it now, I'm amazed that the lady at the cinema allowed a 10 year old boy to attend the midnight screening of not only Eraserhead ...also lots of crazy ones such as Andy Warhol's Frankenstein in 3-D, Parasite in 3-D, Pink Flamingos, Suspiria, etc. (what a wonderful era that was for cult films - late 70s til early 80s) It was the whole "midnight" concept that got me curious in the first place.
Plus my mom had always confirmed that I was born with a very particular taste in just about everything. Anyway, back to Hamilton College, I attended hundreds of screenings.. and I remember disliking 8 1/2 which became my all time favorite film 20 years later.
Plus my mom had always confirmed that I was born with a very particular taste in just about everything. Anyway, back to Hamilton College, I attended hundreds of screenings.. and I remember disliking 8 1/2 which became my all time favorite film 20 years later.
Last edited by Michael on Tue Mar 22, 2005 11:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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mmacklem
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 11:32 pm
Quite honestly, I think the first movie I ever saw was Schindler's List in '93(?), and that was only because a couple of friends of mine dragged me out to the theatre the night it opened. I was not much of a movie guy at that point (obviously), and likely would not have pursued it further, except that in my last year of high school the following year, I fell sick with mono and was stuck at home for the first six weeks of the school-year. I fell into a bit of a depression, and to raise my spirits my parents decided to rent me some movies to keep my mind occupied.
At around the same time, th eUniversity of British Columbia was showing a series of movies on Public Television as part of a film course they were offering that semester, and just at random I happened to tune into Blow-Up and Marianne and Julianne. So when my parents were looking for recommendations for rentals, my thoughts were directed more towards the art-house/international. The second and third movies that they picked up were Hiroshima Mon Amour and L'avventura, still two of my favorite films. However, the first movie was Patrice Leconte's Monsieur Hire, which just struck a nerve for me at the time: the main character was ostracized from his surroundings, and very isolated socially, while at the time I was stuck at home sick and unable to see any of my friends during the beginning of my graduation year. It just struck a nerve that has never really gone away since then.
At around the same time, th eUniversity of British Columbia was showing a series of movies on Public Television as part of a film course they were offering that semester, and just at random I happened to tune into Blow-Up and Marianne and Julianne. So when my parents were looking for recommendations for rentals, my thoughts were directed more towards the art-house/international. The second and third movies that they picked up were Hiroshima Mon Amour and L'avventura, still two of my favorite films. However, the first movie was Patrice Leconte's Monsieur Hire, which just struck a nerve for me at the time: the main character was ostracized from his surroundings, and very isolated socially, while at the time I was stuck at home sick and unable to see any of my friends during the beginning of my graduation year. It just struck a nerve that has never really gone away since then.
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davida2
- Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2004 12:16 pm
- Location: chapel hill, nc, usa
Where did my interest in classic and world cinema come from?
I recall three films I saw as a kid on the big screen:
1) Close Encounters Of The Third Kind - Which fascinated me, especially the more psychological side of the story. My parents were divorcing, and the scenes with Teri Garr and Richard Dreyfuss became my favorite part of the movie, because I could idenify with it, and I though the film was complex, but still enjoyable (to a kid), and (in retrospect) the refusal to seperate the majestic and the mindane in that film was a big influence upon later taste.
2) Being There - Which showed me that films could be 'serious' and 'philosophical' and still interesting. A lot of it was over my head at the time; I still loved it, and watched it whenever it was on cable growing up. Another massive influence on later taste.
3) Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid - Steve Martin flick with splices from dozens of classics. Very silly, but very affectionate, and I loved the atmosphere, and got very curious about the older films referenced in it. I started consciously seeking older films to watch.
With foreign films, it was far more random: my first viewings of Truffaut (Small Change), Kurosawa (Dreams) and Fellini (Amarcord) were unpremeditated, I just stumbled acoss them and was knocked out, and decided to dive more into world cinema, just to see what I was missing. After discovering Ozu, Mizoguchi, Satyajit Ray, Godard and Italian neo-realism, it turned into my biggest movie passion...
And more recently, my curiosity about certain figures (Sadao Yamanaka, Mrinal Sen, Youssef Chahine, Mikio Naruse, Rtiwik Ghatak all spring to mind) arises from either having seen none, or very little of their work, and knowing how well regarded they are by critics or other filmmakers.
I recall three films I saw as a kid on the big screen:
1) Close Encounters Of The Third Kind - Which fascinated me, especially the more psychological side of the story. My parents were divorcing, and the scenes with Teri Garr and Richard Dreyfuss became my favorite part of the movie, because I could idenify with it, and I though the film was complex, but still enjoyable (to a kid), and (in retrospect) the refusal to seperate the majestic and the mindane in that film was a big influence upon later taste.
2) Being There - Which showed me that films could be 'serious' and 'philosophical' and still interesting. A lot of it was over my head at the time; I still loved it, and watched it whenever it was on cable growing up. Another massive influence on later taste.
3) Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid - Steve Martin flick with splices from dozens of classics. Very silly, but very affectionate, and I loved the atmosphere, and got very curious about the older films referenced in it. I started consciously seeking older films to watch.
With foreign films, it was far more random: my first viewings of Truffaut (Small Change), Kurosawa (Dreams) and Fellini (Amarcord) were unpremeditated, I just stumbled acoss them and was knocked out, and decided to dive more into world cinema, just to see what I was missing. After discovering Ozu, Mizoguchi, Satyajit Ray, Godard and Italian neo-realism, it turned into my biggest movie passion...
And more recently, my curiosity about certain figures (Sadao Yamanaka, Mrinal Sen, Youssef Chahine, Mikio Naruse, Rtiwik Ghatak all spring to mind) arises from either having seen none, or very little of their work, and knowing how well regarded they are by critics or other filmmakers.
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Rufus T. Firefly
- Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2004 8:24 am
- Location: Sydney, Australia
The earliest film I can recall seeing on original release was The Vampire Lovers (though I'm told I saw Dr Zhivago OOR as well). After that I was enamoured of horror films of the Hammer era and before. Reading about these films led me into reading about non-horrors, though it wasn't until I was about 18 that I started seeing classic foreign films on SBS (Australian multicultural TV channel): Seven Samurai, Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Nosferatu, Ozu, the more obscure films of Luis Bunuel, 50s/60s Italian cinema etc etc.
I also have a completist obsession. If I start reading an author's work, I track down all of his/her stuff, no matter what it is. Which is why I read Tolstoy's religious works or Sartre's philosophical writings, even though in both cases I became interested in their stuff through fictional works. When I purchased Ephraim Katz's Film Encyclopaedia in the mid-80s I determined to see every film mentioned in it, an obsession which became worse after acquiring the various volumes in David Quinlan's illustrated guides to actors and directors. In recent times I have found it liberating to get away from lists, in exploring the less travelled byways of Japanese cinema e.g. Fukasaku, Suzuki, Gosha, Zatoichi et. al.
The other thing that pushes me towards classic and world cinema is that modern American film, with a few exceptions, no longer connects with me. Neither does television, so if I watch something on the TV it is going to be a movie, preferably something that challenges my intellect, and often silent, subtitled, pre-1960 or all three.
I also have a completist obsession. If I start reading an author's work, I track down all of his/her stuff, no matter what it is. Which is why I read Tolstoy's religious works or Sartre's philosophical writings, even though in both cases I became interested in their stuff through fictional works. When I purchased Ephraim Katz's Film Encyclopaedia in the mid-80s I determined to see every film mentioned in it, an obsession which became worse after acquiring the various volumes in David Quinlan's illustrated guides to actors and directors. In recent times I have found it liberating to get away from lists, in exploring the less travelled byways of Japanese cinema e.g. Fukasaku, Suzuki, Gosha, Zatoichi et. al.
The other thing that pushes me towards classic and world cinema is that modern American film, with a few exceptions, no longer connects with me. Neither does television, so if I watch something on the TV it is going to be a movie, preferably something that challenges my intellect, and often silent, subtitled, pre-1960 or all three.
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pianocrash
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 3:02 pm
- Location: Over & Out
One Sunday afternoon, I went to a matinee with my parents, who were visiting on an extended weekend. I can't remember which movie it was, or if it had been any good, but 2 minutes stuck in my mind: the trailer for punch drunk love. At the time, I had just dropped out of art school in favor of a literature degree, much to the chagrin of my family (present) and friends (who were just as lost). But those two minutes mesmerized me so that I delved farther into why I enjoyed movies in the first place. In middle school my pals and I would religiously see movies at the dollar theaters nearby, sometimes up to five a week, some films five or six times over. All these instances (the collective standstill of a sold-out first night show of eyes wide shut years before, magnolia being worth every second of its three hours but not really knowing why, rushmore inspiring countless viewings, seeing edward scissorhands eleven times in the theater as a kid, and so on) began to add up, the whys/ifs began to appear more tangible. With pdl, I realized that all the feelings I had about art could be expressed in such a succinct way. Soon after, on a whim, I saw the bitter tears of petra von kant, thankfully without any knowledge/introduction/critical hampering, and I was thrown into obsession from then on. Thrift store books, university library raids, video stores in nearby towns, flea markets, all followed. With the internet, the possibilities almost seem infinite. But every film class I've ever taken was a joke, or just pandering, or simply lost in the AFI/BFT Greatest Films of All Time abyss. They are for somebody, just not me, I suppose. And that's why I'm here, for the most part.
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wendersfan
- Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2004 2:59 pm
- Location: Columbus OH USA
In the fall of 1984, when I was 21 years old, I moved to Lexington KY. The only person I knew there was my girlfriend, who moved there with me. Not having much of a social life other than her, I discovered that the Kentucky Theater was within walking distance, and I started walking there a lot. Some of the films I caught within the first year of living there were Fellini: Satyricon, The Virgin Spring, The Seventh Seal, Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Pasolini's The Canterbury Tales, La Dolce Vita, and a little film called Paris, Texas. At some point during that period the first edition of David Cook's A History of Narative Film fell into my lap. I've never been the same since.
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Harold Gervais
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 6:09 pm
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Morbii
- Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2004 7:38 am
Ok, so here's a sort of strange one: as a kid, I wasn't allowed to watch a whole lot of TV, and I don't think I ever really saw an R-Rated feature (at least uncut on the big screen) until I was maybe 14? I didn't see a whole lot of them regardless until I was probably 18, even so. I was always more into mainstream, and I used to even dislike older movies completely (!!! - part of this had to do with the film stock used and how it showed up on VHS, I believe, and with the advent of DVD, it didn't really bother me as much). I would say that I probably liked a lot of stupid action flicks and whatnot (and to some extent, I still do, but I now see a LOT more in movies like that that I think is completely stupid and worthless.) Even in those days (and my tastes grew and changed as time went on), I did watch a lot of movies.
Moving on, my first Criterion Collection disc was Armageddon. I thought I'd gotten quite a deal on this old disc when I got it free through Columbia House (and the list price was $50). I loved this film back then (and, I still actually do, much to the chagrin of some of the users here, I'm sure - but don't get me wrong, I don't think it's some sort of huge landmark film or the "best film ever made" or anything - it's entertainment). I have an amazing memory, and I remembered the Criterion name, because I assumed that if you were to sell a DVD at that price, there must be SOME reason why. Maybe around the same time, or a little later, I had some friends that were into movies that I was NOT into. I remember one friend showing me a Suzuki, Night of the Living Dead, and Tetsuo the Iron Man.
I like to collect things, and a while down the road I decided I had to have Tetsuo, because it was so odd (got one after it was OOP for $100 :O). I blind buy a lot (do it with music too, but I'm a metal head, so it's much easier to blind buy as not a ton of people like metal). I started to like more and more "obscure" things, and even took a horror genre class (and ended up falling in love with Dario Argento, who is now probably my favorite director). I got heavily into Japanese and Italian horror. About a year or two ago, I decided I wanted to start collecting Criterions. I had bought 8 1/2 as I heard it was so good (and at the time didn't care for it - but I might have to rewatch it now, I might actually like it now). I don't know exactly what made me do it... maybe I started out buying a few and thought it would be cool to have them all - and then I found some that I thought were so amazing I had to get more (one of the early ones I got that blew me away was Le Corbeau). In any case, I am a huge collector now - it probably doesn't help that I am obsessive compulsive in a big way, but I also collect because I LIKE them (my OCD behavior doesn't really concern buying things, but I wouldn't be surprised if it at least had some influence, as I love to buy stuff
. I have found so many good movies in the collection (very few would I say I didn't really care for and/or hated). I have probably about 200 of them now, and around 1000 DVDs total.
Anyway, I'm babbling - my tastes have grown considerably, and now I am even a film student. Like the topic starter, I think that I, too, am a bit amazed at all of the films some of the people on this forum know about and have seen (I'm 26 now to put the other age mention in context).
Moving on, my first Criterion Collection disc was Armageddon. I thought I'd gotten quite a deal on this old disc when I got it free through Columbia House (and the list price was $50). I loved this film back then (and, I still actually do, much to the chagrin of some of the users here, I'm sure - but don't get me wrong, I don't think it's some sort of huge landmark film or the "best film ever made" or anything - it's entertainment). I have an amazing memory, and I remembered the Criterion name, because I assumed that if you were to sell a DVD at that price, there must be SOME reason why. Maybe around the same time, or a little later, I had some friends that were into movies that I was NOT into. I remember one friend showing me a Suzuki, Night of the Living Dead, and Tetsuo the Iron Man.
I like to collect things, and a while down the road I decided I had to have Tetsuo, because it was so odd (got one after it was OOP for $100 :O). I blind buy a lot (do it with music too, but I'm a metal head, so it's much easier to blind buy as not a ton of people like metal). I started to like more and more "obscure" things, and even took a horror genre class (and ended up falling in love with Dario Argento, who is now probably my favorite director). I got heavily into Japanese and Italian horror. About a year or two ago, I decided I wanted to start collecting Criterions. I had bought 8 1/2 as I heard it was so good (and at the time didn't care for it - but I might have to rewatch it now, I might actually like it now). I don't know exactly what made me do it... maybe I started out buying a few and thought it would be cool to have them all - and then I found some that I thought were so amazing I had to get more (one of the early ones I got that blew me away was Le Corbeau). In any case, I am a huge collector now - it probably doesn't help that I am obsessive compulsive in a big way, but I also collect because I LIKE them (my OCD behavior doesn't really concern buying things, but I wouldn't be surprised if it at least had some influence, as I love to buy stuff
. I have found so many good movies in the collection (very few would I say I didn't really care for and/or hated). I have probably about 200 of them now, and around 1000 DVDs total.Anyway, I'm babbling - my tastes have grown considerably, and now I am even a film student. Like the topic starter, I think that I, too, am a bit amazed at all of the films some of the people on this forum know about and have seen
(I'm 26 now to put the other age mention in context).-
sherlockjr
- Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2004 12:34 am
- Location: Mississippi
I was born in 1959 to parents who enjoyed movies--all movies--but especially those featuring actors and actresses they grew up on: Hepburn, Wayne, Grant, Stewart, Fonda. I remember having nightmares for weeks after my mom took me to see Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte, thinking it was some romance. To this day I can't see a hat box without flashing back to kindergarten. Anyway, I learned to love the classics even if I did block out their incessant stories of movies for a dime, popcorn for a nickel, and such.
While at Memphis State, an art house opened up near the university. I had know I idea what was what but remember being intrigued by certain titles: Wild Strawberries, Hiroshima Mon Amour, 8 1/2. What revelations! Turned on, I bought a book by Pauline Kael and stumbled across a listing of the Sight and Sound survey results by decade. I've never turned back. Also, as stated by another poster, it's not difficult to get sucked in when so much of what is currently being churned out doesn't connect with me at all.
While at Memphis State, an art house opened up near the university. I had know I idea what was what but remember being intrigued by certain titles: Wild Strawberries, Hiroshima Mon Amour, 8 1/2. What revelations! Turned on, I bought a book by Pauline Kael and stumbled across a listing of the Sight and Sound survey results by decade. I've never turned back. Also, as stated by another poster, it's not difficult to get sucked in when so much of what is currently being churned out doesn't connect with me at all.
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Costas
- Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 12:22 pm
My introduction to Bergman and Fellini was via Woody Allen too. I saw 'Sleeper' and 'Bananas' on TV in my early teens (the early 90s) and sought out every VHS of his that I could get my hands on. A book that I purchased about his films ('The Films of Woody Allen', which covered up to 'Scenes From A Mall') pointed me towards filmmakers that had influenced him, and when 'Husbands and Wives' was recently a couple of years after that, I took an interest in Cassavetes too.jorencain wrote:For me it was through Woody Allen. I saw "Mighty Aphrodite" on TV in high school (or college maybe), and then started getting into his movies. Then, from his references to Fellini and Bergman, I moved on to checking out "8 1/2" and "Wild Strawberries." It has just slowly grown since then, mostly thanks to Criterion, and now, this forum. It's been about 8 years since then and I've just been trying to catch up on what I've missed over the years.
Simultaneously, stuff like 'Goodfellas' was becoming available on VHS and being the youngest child of six with relatively laid back parents when it came to watching 'adult' (not porn!) films meant that my early tastes were influenced a lot by what my brothers and sisters rented. The flipside to getting to see some great stuff was having to sit through anything that had Mickey Rourke or Bruce Willis in it - both were adored by the females in my house.
As some other UK-based posters have mentioned, C4 and BBC2 also had a big influence on me. After having seen 'Au Revoir, Les Enfants' on TV by channel hopping, a season of earlier Louis Malle films shown on C4 acted as an introduction to the French New Wave and my love of French cinema can be directly traced to Malle films being shown on TV and the appearance of 'Betty Blue'.
These acted as starting points - after that I went backwards and sideways with the help of books and magazines (those being pre-internet times). Nowadays, it's mainly Sight & Sound and net-based resources (this forum being one of the best) that expand my knowledge and interest.
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colinr0380
- Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 8:30 pm
- Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK
Ah yes I remember a season of Louis Malle from early 1997 that Channel 4 showed introducing me to his films: Lift to the Scaffold, Le Feu Follet, The Lovers and Zazie Dans Le Metro, Le Souffle Au Coeur and during Christmas 1996 the UK premiere of Vanya on 42nd Street (as well as later in 1997 showings of My Dinner With Andre and Atlantic City!) - beautiful!Costas wrote:As some other UK-based posters have mentioned, C4 and BBC2 also had a big influence on me. After having seen 'Au Revoir, Les Enfants' on TV by channel hopping, a season of earlier Louis Malle films shown on C4 acted as an introduction to the French New Wave and my love of French cinema can be directly traced to Malle films being shown on TV and the appearance of 'Betty Blue'.
Sadly I missed Au Revoir Les Enfants when it was last shown on C4 in 1994, so I'm looking forward to the Criterion release!
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kevyip1
- Joined: Sat Nov 06, 2004 11:07 pm
The day I really got into films and was the day when it dawned on me that films can be more than just popcorn entertainment that you don't give a second thought to after watching it. They can actually be something you can admire, be proud of, and remember forever, because they move you, shatter you, consume you, leave you breathless, and leave you with moments of epiphany. Like one character in the Taiwanese film Yi Yi says, films allow us to live several lifetimes.
Not one single film did it for me. It was a period of months when I gradually discovered my love for the movies. And it was pretty recent too, about 10 years ago, when I was well into my 20s. When I was younger I had absolutely zero interest in movies, even though my parents took me to see a lot of classic films (they were movie fans too).
Not one single film did it for me. It was a period of months when I gradually discovered my love for the movies. And it was pretty recent too, about 10 years ago, when I was well into my 20s. When I was younger I had absolutely zero interest in movies, even though my parents took me to see a lot of classic films (they were movie fans too).
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porquenegar
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 11:33 pm
I'm from a desert town where it gets over 110 degrees in the summertime so we used to watch a lot of TV. My aunt was/is a devoted Cary Grant fan and used to take me along with her to any local screenings of his movies. We also used to watch bunches of classic films on TV. We had a weekly ritual of going through the TV guide to come up with a viewing schedule for the week. In those days (early 70's) I loved musicals especially the Astaire/Rogers and Rooney/Garland ones. I can remember getting really excited whenever Top Hat or Follow the Fleet came on.
In those days I also used to accompany my Grandmother to Mexicali when she would make her weekend shopping forays and we would invariably see a movie there. We usually watched Jorge Negrete and Pedro Infante movies but she would occasionally indulge me with one of the Mexican wrestling movies.
I didn't see my first foreign film (not counting the Mexican ones) until college. The local arthouse was having a Hitchcock fest and was showing 3 of the Cary Grant movies. While there I picked up the monthly calendar which piqued my interest. One of the first I can remember seeing is Yimou Zhang's Raise the Red Lantern. Since that time, I've been regularly viewing foreign films.
More recently, (last 3 years) I've been reading boards like this which has increased my knowledge quite a bit. My Criterion purchases are almost always blind buys. I now try to sample movies from different countries and try to have a nice mix of genres in my collection.
In those days I also used to accompany my Grandmother to Mexicali when she would make her weekend shopping forays and we would invariably see a movie there. We usually watched Jorge Negrete and Pedro Infante movies but she would occasionally indulge me with one of the Mexican wrestling movies.
I didn't see my first foreign film (not counting the Mexican ones) until college. The local arthouse was having a Hitchcock fest and was showing 3 of the Cary Grant movies. While there I picked up the monthly calendar which piqued my interest. One of the first I can remember seeing is Yimou Zhang's Raise the Red Lantern. Since that time, I've been regularly viewing foreign films.
More recently, (last 3 years) I've been reading boards like this which has increased my knowledge quite a bit. My Criterion purchases are almost always blind buys. I now try to sample movies from different countries and try to have a nice mix of genres in my collection.
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mmiesner
- Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2005 2:02 pm
this is a pretty cool topic that always interests me. i am always intrigued by how people got into films before home video and the internet, since that has always been what i thought my introduction was. but i realized while really thinking about this that it was primarily books and friends that got me into it the most. although some of it was simply my own curiosity.
after going through a bad breakup with a girlfriend and a fallout with friends i spent a good amount of time watching movies at home, and noticed 'pi' and 'requiem for a dream' were by the same director one night. i had never paid attention to directors, but decided to see how they would be similar. and those two definitely made me realize 'hey, this is really different, and i could do something really different as well...' thus sparked me wanting to be a film director and a dedicated cinephile.
as far as books, i worked at a bookstore, so i would just grab a leonard maltin movie guide and browse through it looking for 4 star or interesting titles. this was where i discovered Dreyer and Antonioni. but the Criterion Collection has always been a big one as well, especially for world cinema. i would probably not have the love affair with Bergman or Bunuel that i do without Criterion. and having friends introduce me to Kubrick, Herzog, Cronenberg and Lynch helped as well.
after going through a bad breakup with a girlfriend and a fallout with friends i spent a good amount of time watching movies at home, and noticed 'pi' and 'requiem for a dream' were by the same director one night. i had never paid attention to directors, but decided to see how they would be similar. and those two definitely made me realize 'hey, this is really different, and i could do something really different as well...' thus sparked me wanting to be a film director and a dedicated cinephile.
as far as books, i worked at a bookstore, so i would just grab a leonard maltin movie guide and browse through it looking for 4 star or interesting titles. this was where i discovered Dreyer and Antonioni. but the Criterion Collection has always been a big one as well, especially for world cinema. i would probably not have the love affair with Bergman or Bunuel that i do without Criterion. and having friends introduce me to Kubrick, Herzog, Cronenberg and Lynch helped as well.
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atcolomb
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:49 pm
- Location: Round Lake, Illinois USA
I live in the chicago area and in the late 70's when i was in my teens
our local PBS and WGN station would show classic films like Citizen
Kane, Best Years of our Lives, The Red Shoes, The Third Man, and
foreign films like Shadows of our Forgotten Ancestors, Wild Strawberries,
La Strada, M, and The 400 Blows. Watching these films made me into
a film buff with close to 800 movies in my collection!
our local PBS and WGN station would show classic films like Citizen
Kane, Best Years of our Lives, The Red Shoes, The Third Man, and
foreign films like Shadows of our Forgotten Ancestors, Wild Strawberries,
La Strada, M, and The 400 Blows. Watching these films made me into
a film buff with close to 800 movies in my collection!
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Billy Liar
- Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2005 12:03 pm
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Cinesimilitude
- Joined: Tue Jul 09, 2013 4:43 am
When I was 7 years old, and I remember this like it was yesterday, My Grandparents spoiled my younger brother with football related gifts, because that was what he was into. I really wasn't into anything, so I got spoiled when we went out to eat, which, looking at me now, had some negative effects. But I specifically remember one day that I threw a fit that my brother always got toys and I didn't. That night, my grandparents bought me an action figure. Luke Skywalker in X-Wing Gear. and the trilogy. Since that night in which I watched the entire trilogy straight through, I knew what I wanted to do for a living. make movies. from the age of 7-13, I watched every movie I could get my hands on, which were all approved for me by the MPAA. thats right, I never watched a PG-13 movie until I was actually 13. then my 14th birthday came, and My parents got me... THE INTERNET. I downloaded Pulp Fiction, and the rest is history. If it weren't for that, I'd probably still be listening to pop music, doing drugs like so many of my friends in high school did. As for foreign cinema, It was two films. Malena, and Cinema Paradiso. I will admit to renting malena wanting only to see Bellucci naked, but it changed something in me. I needed more italian cinema. I purchased cinema Paradiso, And When the end of that film had me bawling... I was hooked.
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htdm
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 7:46 am
This reminds me of the Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax Ave in Hollywood back in the 1970s when John Hampton ran it. At that time, it was about the only place where one could really see silent films (remember this was before videos or cable TV, you know, when the earth was still cooling). The place was always a bit spooky - the back row was where male prostitutes would take their "clients" and John either didn't know or care about what was going on. The old 78s that he would play to accompany the films never quite drowned out the sounds from the back row.rossbrew wrote:When I was an adolescent , a much older male use to pay me for sexual favors and while I was there I used to check out his cool artsy VHS film collection...
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yukiyuki
- Joined: Sat Sep 17, 2005 2:06 pm
- Location: Jakarta
well for me it all began from the top 50 Cult Movies by Entertainment Weekly (odd enough)...That's when I first saw the title of Aguirre and Un Chien Andalou, then started reading those movies reviews on amazon....Then suddenly found James Berardinelli site and love his top 100 favorite movies...I started buying movies that listed there....Then I found Ebert and Rosenbaum , they opened my eyes about old and art-house movies.
It's harder for us in Indonesia to get old or art-house movies, because the DVD and VCD distributors mostly only release films doming from Hollywood or well-known european movies such as Amelie and Life is Beautiful...
It's harder for us in Indonesia to get old or art-house movies, because the DVD and VCD distributors mostly only release films doming from Hollywood or well-known european movies such as Amelie and Life is Beautiful...
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Polybius
- Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 2:57 am
- Location: Rollin' down Highway 41
I started off with a healthy respect of films in general, a legacy from my movie-loving mother. Between her and my cinephille best friend from the ages of 12-22, I got a solid grounding in the basics.
Less pivotal, but still important, was a small Penguin paperback entitled The Contemporary Cinema: 1945-1963 by Penelope Houston. I picked it up because it looked interesting and I liked the cover pic of Jeanne Moreau. (Don't underestimate the role of crass sex appeal, at least at times.) It put me on the trail of Ashes and Diamonds and La Dolce Vita, among others.
Also, don't underestimate sheer random chance. I stumbled across a showing of Stalker on The Movie Channel late one night in 1995 and was enthralled, which started my investigation into Andrei.
I've been assisted greatly, since late '98, by a couple of channels that came along with my DirecTV package: IFC, The Independant Film Channel; Sundance Channel and, especially, Turner Classic Movies. They've allowed me to see any number of films that I've fallen in love with and wouldn't have seen otherwise, outside of a blind buy
Utterly huge for me, as well. Read the first one in '83 or so, picked up it and Cult Movies 2 in '89 and the third volume a few months later. Gave me a starting point and a set of targets to seek out.bcsparker wrote:Six or seven years later, during which time I became an intermediate video hound, I stumbled across a book at the library. Cult Movies by Danny Peary. It and it's two sequels changed much of my movie taste. They introduced me to a galaxy of titles I'd never heard of - El Topo, Pink Flamingos, Beauty and the Beast, Emmanuelle, Eraserhead, The Wild Bunch, Freaks....I could go on and on.
Less pivotal, but still important, was a small Penguin paperback entitled The Contemporary Cinema: 1945-1963 by Penelope Houston. I picked it up because it looked interesting and I liked the cover pic of Jeanne Moreau. (Don't underestimate the role of crass sex appeal, at least at times.) It put me on the trail of Ashes and Diamonds and La Dolce Vita, among others.
Also, don't underestimate sheer random chance. I stumbled across a showing of Stalker on The Movie Channel late one night in 1995 and was enthralled, which started my investigation into Andrei.
I've been assisted greatly, since late '98, by a couple of channels that came along with my DirecTV package: IFC, The Independant Film Channel; Sundance Channel and, especially, Turner Classic Movies. They've allowed me to see any number of films that I've fallen in love with and wouldn't have seen otherwise, outside of a blind buy
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The Elegant Dandy Fop
- Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 7:25 am
- Location: Los Angeles, CA
When I bought read up on Pulp Fiction, I would always hear about one director that was a major influence, Godard. So I saw Band of Outsiders at the Tower Records close to where I use to work, and bought it. I ended up falling in love with the movie, and started my obsession with Godard.
I was already introduced to the Criterion Collection at this point though. For a while I wanted to by the Rushmore DVD (I assumed it was special edition, I didn't notice the Criteiron part), but I was introduced to Criterion my brother, who's a big classical music buff. He bought me 8 1/2 simply because he loved Nino Rota. It took me a while, but I became obsessed with the film and ended up watching it 4 times over the weekend. I went to the Criterion website, and ended up reading on the films in their collection and the directors, and usually took gut moves and bought movies from the collection solely from what I heard, and was never dissapointed.
I was already introduced to the Criterion Collection at this point though. For a while I wanted to by the Rushmore DVD (I assumed it was special edition, I didn't notice the Criteiron part), but I was introduced to Criterion my brother, who's a big classical music buff. He bought me 8 1/2 simply because he loved Nino Rota. It took me a while, but I became obsessed with the film and ended up watching it 4 times over the weekend. I went to the Criterion website, and ended up reading on the films in their collection and the directors, and usually took gut moves and bought movies from the collection solely from what I heard, and was never dissapointed.
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emcflat
- Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2005 11:12 pm
- Location: Chicago
- Contact:
I think this thread might be an appropriate place for me to vent a little about how futile it sometimes feels to be a film lover. The problem is that there are thousands people (many of whom I'm sure are frequent posters on this board) who have never had the opportunity to formally study film, who have to rely pretty exclusively on video and television to see new movies. Living in a bigger city (New York, LA) makes things easier (art houses, festivals,) but even so, there are things that will never play there either. Can I get a shout out from all the frustrated film lovers stranded in the cruddy backtowns of America (or Canada, for that matter?) I am sure this is an obstacle for people all over the world (maybe more so) but America is the only country I can speak to.
There definitely seems to be a division on this board between people who have studied and been involved in film for many years, and people who are just diving in and trying to keep up. I would fall into the latter, and it's frustrating when there's something out there that others have seen and love and you just CAN'T HAVE IT. No matter how rabidly you seek out movies, you can only progress so far. I certainly do not envy any budding film lovers born in 50 or 100 years, having twice as many years of film to pour over, digest, study, etc., and probably twice as much content not available to them.
This is why it is great to be able to read and learn from forums like this one. Unfortunately, I can read all these great threads about Naruse or Oshima Nagisa or Kenneth Anger or Satyajit Ray or whomever, but for the most part, most people are never going to have a viable opportunity to a lot of this stuff unless it becomes available on video in their region (going the "Multi-region" route can be pretty hard on the wallet for someone young or with a limited income.) I suppose that if you can at least learn about these films and directors, you will be more likely to recognize and seek them out if they do become available on video or get shown in a cinema.
Sorry to get maybe a little too off topic. To speak briefly to the topic of this post, I got a job in a Video Store right out of high school (Big Blue, regrettably,) started reading the Videohound book we had there, and have been bouncing around in the Video business ever since.
There definitely seems to be a division on this board between people who have studied and been involved in film for many years, and people who are just diving in and trying to keep up. I would fall into the latter, and it's frustrating when there's something out there that others have seen and love and you just CAN'T HAVE IT. No matter how rabidly you seek out movies, you can only progress so far. I certainly do not envy any budding film lovers born in 50 or 100 years, having twice as many years of film to pour over, digest, study, etc., and probably twice as much content not available to them.
This is why it is great to be able to read and learn from forums like this one. Unfortunately, I can read all these great threads about Naruse or Oshima Nagisa or Kenneth Anger or Satyajit Ray or whomever, but for the most part, most people are never going to have a viable opportunity to a lot of this stuff unless it becomes available on video in their region (going the "Multi-region" route can be pretty hard on the wallet for someone young or with a limited income.) I suppose that if you can at least learn about these films and directors, you will be more likely to recognize and seek them out if they do become available on video or get shown in a cinema.
Sorry to get maybe a little too off topic. To speak briefly to the topic of this post, I got a job in a Video Store right out of high school (Big Blue, regrettably,) started reading the Videohound book we had there, and have been bouncing around in the Video business ever since.
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David Ehrenstein
- Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:30 am
Nothing mentioned so far that qualifies as "older/obscure" to me.
Anyone familiar with the following:
Chappaqua, Separation, Bariera, Daisies, Guns of the Trees, L'Amour Fou, Vanishing Point, Performance, Savage Messiah, Le Joli Mai, Je T'Aime Je T'Aime, L'Amour c'est gai L'Amour c'est triste, Der Leone Have Sept Cabecas, La Femme du Gange, Son Nom du Venise dans Calcutta Desert, La Cicatrice Interieure, Le Pere Noel a les yeux bleu, Hurlevent, Grandeur et decadence d'un petit commerce du cinema, Duelle, Noroit.
Anyone familiar with the following:
Chappaqua, Separation, Bariera, Daisies, Guns of the Trees, L'Amour Fou, Vanishing Point, Performance, Savage Messiah, Le Joli Mai, Je T'Aime Je T'Aime, L'Amour c'est gai L'Amour c'est triste, Der Leone Have Sept Cabecas, La Femme du Gange, Son Nom du Venise dans Calcutta Desert, La Cicatrice Interieure, Le Pere Noel a les yeux bleu, Hurlevent, Grandeur et decadence d'un petit commerce du cinema, Duelle, Noroit.
