Paula Felix-Didier

Comments

Daisies

Politically charged and deceitfully light, Daisies is an ode to freedom and femininity in the worst of contexts. Two young women just wanna have fun in this experimental, quirky, and seriously disruptive work that plays with all the ways in which film can be manipulated and used as a means of expression.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

A wonderful western in its own right, the film is also a dark reflection on myths and the relationship between cinema and history. If you "Print the legend", then what is the purpose of truth?

The joy of watching John Wayne and James Stewart on the same screen at the same time is also a huge plus.

Zama

A cinematic experience that engages all senses in a brilliant meditation on illusion and hope, the film showcases Martel´s unique and elegant style. Unafraid of experimenting both with form and content, her use of brutal and beautiful locations, brilliant casting and acting directions and signature sound design, make Zama an example of the ways in which film as an artform still has incalculable creative paths to explore.

Sherlock Jr.

A clockwork machine of craftmanship, Sherlock Jr. is Keaton at his best. Precise gag construction, lots of laughs, and a personal point of view make this film not only one of the best comedies of all time, but also an early reflection on the role of cinema and storytelling in our personal lives.

The Gospel According to St. Matthew

Pasolini made films the same way he lived his life: with passion, contradiction, empathy and rage. The Gospel is probably the one in which he brings together most of the elements that define his idiosyncratic blend of neorealist roots, love of poetry and myth, leftist ideology, and his contradictory relationship with religion.

His "desperate vitality" perspires in a film that mixes the sacred and the profane with the intention of both reinventing the aesthetics of cinema, and retelling the biggest story of all through his raw and compassionate view of the world.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

The simplest of stories and the richest use of cinematographic techniques make Sunrise the perfect film. Murnau explored the cinematic form and elevated the filmmaking craft to sublime heights by making sure the image tells everything we need to know.

Mothlight

The beauty and conceptual deepness of Mothlight remind us that cinema is not "supposed" to tell stories, it just chose to do so. It doesn´t even need a camera. But what it needs is creativity, something to say, and the passion to say it. The material aspects of analog film are used as a canvas to work with light, projection and color in the articulation of his "moving visual thinking" and the expression of subjective ways of seeing.

Vertigo

Technicolor and melodrama are a combination made in heaven. Add Hitchcock´s uncanny ability to build suspense into any and all scenes, Jimmy Stewart´s screen presence and understanding of the duplicitous nature of Scottie, and you are in for the film experience of a lifetime (provided you see it on a large screen, with the red and green hues restored to their glorious vibrancy).

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

In the hands of Weerasethakul, film transforms and molds itself like a piece of clay adopting beautiful organic shapes and forms. Myths, nature, and poetry are the materials of this work of utter beauty that could only be put together in film form and no other artistic means. I watch it when I need reminding that cinema can be an out-of-body trance-like experience of magic and light and peace.

La Grande Illusion

Jean Renoir´s faith in human beings sips through this anti-war war movie that manages to be warm, funny, and moving, without naivete.Von Stroheim and Jean Gabin are a joy to watch, and Renoir´s nuanced style might seem easy to accomplish until you pay attention and realize that nothing is simple in his delicate and careful mise-en-scene.

Further remarks

Any list this short is by definition an exercise in anxiety management. After sorting out a few different criteria for choosing from such a huge pool of options, I ended up throwing all drafts away and just putting together a very personal list of films that are very close to my heart but would also pass any attempt to test their historic significance. All of them marked different ways in which film affected my life, my growth as a person and as a professional, and my understanding of the world.