I am often dismayed when I come across "Best Films" lists. It's apparent how young many of the critics are by their choices. Most are within the last decade or two and tend to focus on loud, slick, big budget films.
The movies on this list demonstrate how style and direction have changed over the years. They are quieter, take their time and age well. Sometimes the best films are the small ones that leave a lasting impression without being a block buster.
Harold and Maude 1971 Dir. Hal Ashby Wr. Colin Higgins. Cast: Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, Vivian Pickles.
Harold, young, rich, and obsessed with death, finds himself changed forever when he meets lively septuagenarian Maude at a funeral.
Hal Ashby and Colin Higgins would go on to long successful careers starting with this first film. H&M ran forever in art houses and become a cult classic. Ruth Gordon had been around forever was meant to play this role. (As an aside my best friend's mother looked just like her). Shot around SF and the East Bay with a soundtrack by Cat Stevens.
Bagdad Cafe 1987 Dir. Percy Adlon Wr. Eleonore Adlon. Cast: Marianne Sagebrecht, CCH Ponder, Jack Palance.
A lonely German woman ends up at a desolate motel decides to make it brighter. Funny, quirky and the best performance by CCH Pounder, who is a favorite actor. Sagebrecht had a bright moment with fame and this was part of that shine.
The Challenge 1982 Dir John Frankenheimer Wr. Richard Maxwell, John Sayles. Cast: Scott Glenn, Toshiro Mifune, Atsuo Nakamura, Clyde Kusatsu.
A down-and-out American boxer becomes involved in a feud between two Japanese brothers over a pair of swords.
There is so much to unpack from this film. Frankenheimer was at his peak, Sayles would go on to write and direct films of his own. Scott Glenn being bad ass in Japan, old school Samurai vs. modern weapons, and fucking Toshiro Mifune. There are two realistic sword fights; one traditional and one with a clueless gaijin. Ignore the blatant racism, ridiculous love interest subplot and enjoy.
Copying Beethoven 2006 Dir. Agnieszka Holland Wr. Stephen Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson. Cast: Ed Harris, Diane Kruger, Matthew Goode.
Vienna, 1824. In the days before the first performance of the Ninth Symphony, Beethoven needs help with copying out the charts, so a promising student of composition, Anna Holtz, 23, is sent to assist him.
Largely fictious as there was no Anna Holtz but two male copyist who helped Beethoven with his score, having a young woman is a just a PC plot device. The real meat of the film is method actor Ed Harris capturing the personality of a genius, warts and all. Harris spent a lot of time researching the role and even plugged his ears to simulate the character's deafness. The film is worth hearing the ninth symphony- a masterpiece of classical music, and the reaction to it.
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter 1968 Dir. Robert Ellis Miller Wr. (novel) Carson McCullers (screenplay) Thomas Ryan. Cast: Alan Arkin, Sondra Locke, Percy Rodriguez, Chuck McCann, Cicley Tyson.
The story centers around a deaf-mute, Singer, and Mick, a teenager who lives in the house where he rents a room. The lives of the people Singer touches are varied including a deaf-mute friend, a drunk, and a doctor.
The superb acting from the entire cast saves this from drowning in sentimentality. We see how good Sondra Locke is at a young age and why Arkin is a master. I remember Chuck McCann as a comic actor so seeing him in a serious role is a surprise.
Hell in the Pacific 1968 Dir. John Boorman Wr. Alexander Jacobs, Erie Bercovici. Cast: Lee Marvin Toshiro Mifune.
During World War II, an American pilot and a marooned Japanese navy captain are deserted on a small uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean. There, they must cease their hostility and cooperate if they want to survive, but will they?
This intimate film is sparse of action and dialogue with just two great actors doing their thing. The uneasy relationship that develops between them in order to get off the island is obvious but powerful.
Powwow Highway 1989 Dir. Jonathan Wacks. Wr. David Seals ( based on his novel) Cast: A Martinez, Gary Farmer, Wes Studi, Graham Greene.
The story concerns an introspective and lovable Native American who has a traditional spiritual view of life, and his high school, a Vietnam War Veteran and social activist with some anger issues who has little patience with a mystical approach or the white man's world.
This sericomic road trip is a clever, sometimes joyful character study between the big lovable, naive, Gary Farmer and the slender, aggressive A Martinez to move the plot along. The rest of the mostly native American cast are equally authentic. This is a world view few of us get to see and it's worth the ride.
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