As I said in the previous post on the "Top Three" film list...I immediately started thinking of alternates to my "off the cuff" choices. I really feel its important to pay attention to where your mind immediately goes when posed with questions like these. I'm standing by my top three...but these came into my head so quickly, I felt it necessary to evaluate them as well.
Top Three take 2:
1. Chinatown
2. 400 Blows
3. Unforgiven
1.Chinatown
"Chinatown" was the first one to come into my head. I would have swapped this one out for "Taxi Driver".
This film might have one of the most perfect scripts ever written. I know how that sounds...but I've read it on paper...and it's pretty phenomenal writing. With direction from Polanski, whom I feel may be the most skilled director since Hitchcock (yeah...I said it!) you have possibly the best crime noir film of modern cinema.
There is a simple device used in the film, that is obvious when you mention it, but the genius is that you're oblivious to it when watching it happen.
Jake Gittes is in literally every scene of this film. And what that means is, all the information that is being given, reaches the audience at the same time it reaches our main character. We are learning and figuring out the mystery with Jake in "real time". This allows for a massive amount of intimacy to be created between us and the story.
And what a story...political upheaval, city corruption, a good guy with a bad reputation, a severely damaged leading lady with a big secret, falls for the somewhat damaged savior...I mean...come on...if you like crime noir done right...this is the last word.
"Forget about it, Jake. It's Chinatown." Best last line of a movie ever. (ooohhhh, I feel a new list coming soon)
2. The 400 Blows
I saw this at a very impressionable age. I sometimes feel I get my own sense of disillusionment and wanderlust from seeing this film really young (12-13yrs old)
This is probably one of if not the best "first time out" for a director. Truffaut used what most first time directors forget to use...their own experiences.
When starting out with writing a film, or directing, I feel it's a valuable asset to use one's own life as the basis for the story. It's so familiar that you understand the story like the back of your hand, and can focus more on technique, style, collaboration, because you will never lose sight of where the story should go.
I used this for my first short film. And I can say that, at least visually and tonally, I got exactly what I wanted. With that under my belt, it created the confidence I have now to use my personal emotions and experiences towards stories that aren't so much directly about myself. And the tree starts to grow. I have the 400 Blows to thank for believing in this method of discovery in filmmaking.
The "troubled" boy story who is not only poorly cared for and taught, but highly enigmatic and resourceful. But he lacks the knowledge to recognize the consequences of his actions before he actually does them. He is thrown into an adult world, expected to act as such, before he acquires the knowledge of life needed to do so.
It's beautifully honest filmmaking, very personal. The last haunting shot, creates a melancholy very few films attain over an entire run time...much less one shot.
3. Unforgiven
I've been having some very engaging conversations lately on the subject of "stereotypes".
This film is a beautiful examination of the idea of romanticizing the anti-hero. The thing that separates this from other films with the same idea is that the main character is basically the result of such romanticizing. The Clint Eastwood character is constantly being held up to the stories that others have of him. He uses it to his advantage, but you start to see those stories strip away...and the realities of the what the stories really are. It starts to show something of a truth.
Now this specific film deals with the idea of the cowboy, and the anti-hero stereotype portrayed specifically films specifically. But the idea, the device, can be applied to many different stereotypes in life overall.
The script, is also one of the best ever written. What's common about good scripts is that it's only comprised of what is absolutely necessary to move the story. You notice the lean nature of how things are moving, the smoothness, easiness.
It's almost simple as well as complex. It's a wise film, and shows it's thoughtfulness in a mature and direct manner.
Absolutely stunning work all around.
*"It's a hell of a thing, killing a man. You take away all he's got and all he's ever gonna have."
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