Mike Mashon
Head, Moving Image Section, Library of Congress
USA
Voted for
| Film | Year | Director |
|---|---|---|
| The Last Picture Show | 1971 | Peter Bogdanovich |
| Fear Eats the Soul | 1974 | Rainer Werner Fassbinder |
| Notorious | 1946 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans | 1927 | F.W. Murnau |
| LETYAT ZHURAVLI | 1957 | Mikhail Kalatozov |
| Always for Pleasure | 1978 | Les Blank |
| The Battle of Algiers | 1966 | Gillo Pontecorvo |
| I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang | 1932 | Mervyn Leroy |
| Tokyo Story | 1953 | Yasujirō Ozu |
| Citizen Kane | 1941 | Orson Welles |
Comments
The Last Picture Show
Brilliant cast mixing beloved veterans and young actors at the beginning of their careers. Gorgeous black-and-white cinematography that captures the desolation and beauty of North Texas. A sensitive script that eschews the cliches of coming-of-age tales to achieve an emotional nuance that lingers in the soul.
Fear Eats the Soul
No director deconstructed and rearticulated a genre like Fassbinder and melodrama.
Notorious
A master class in how to balance suspense and surprise.
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
The poetic acme of silent cinema.
LETYAT ZHURAVLI
Impossibly beautiful film in an impossibly devastating time.
Always for Pleasure
A soft spot for this because it's home.
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
No final line of dialogue has ever landed with such existential hopelessness.
Tokyo Story
A film of enormous sentiment without being sentimental.
Citizen Kane
I don't want to but I have to.