Four Flicks, Vol. II
I’m a film neophyte, probably like yourself. It wasn’t long ago when I could count how many foreign films I had seen on one, maybe two hands. I wasn’t interested in the Academy Awards for a ton of reasons, and I was content with watching Scorsese reruns. But I was curious.
I long wished for a film junkie to pop into my life - perhaps a gnome dressed like Woody Allen in corduroys, a tweed jacket, and horn-rimmed frames. He’d act as a tour guide through the labyrinth of IMDb’s 649,692 movies and elucidate the peculiarities of esoteric film movements. But alas, my pint-sized cinephile didn’t appear, so I threw on my tweed jacket and educated myself.
As I explained in Vol. I, I dove into film like Thornton Melon on the tail end of a Triple Lindy. And I haven’t looked back.
The point of this is to introduce you to films that the average moviegoer wouldn’t stumble into - at least I wouldn’t have.
I picked the following categories to explore: foreign, documentary, independent, and arthouse. The first two are self-explanatory; the last, not so much. An indie, or independent, film isn’t backed by a major movie studio, whereas an arthouse film is typically experimental or artistic (they’re usually independent too).
Famous indies include Pulp Fiction, Clerks, and The Big Lebowski. Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, and the greatest film of all time, Citizen Kane by Orson Welles, are arthouse films.
Here are four flicks that I fell in love with:
Foreign
La Piscine (The Swimming Pool) - 1969
Set on the beautiful Côte d'Azur, this French film is in English (which is great; I’m fine with subtitles, but it’s a treat when they’re done this way). This film is dripping with style; you could say it has a Slim Aarons aesthetic.
Documentary
Beyond the Visible - Hilma af Klint - 2019
What if I told you that Kandinsky, who’s recognized as the first abstract artist in the world, not only stole ideas but stole them from a woman who the MoMA in NYC intentionally refused to recognize for decades on end?
If you love art and hate injustice - this film is for you.
Independent
Paris, Texas - 1984
This film completely blew my mind. It’s singularly unique, terribly beautiful, and unforgettable - a masterpiece. If you’re looking to enter the world of independent films, start here. You will not regret it, and it may alter your expectations and relationship with movies. There’s no coming back from this one.
Arthouse
Trois Couleurs Trilogie (Three Colors Trilogy) - 1993, 1994
This trilogy consists of three separate films with different plots that are to be watched in order: Blue, White, and Red. Kieslowski is absolutely brilliant - that’s all there is to say.
