Post recommendations of movies that I haven't seen and might like. This might be challenging, because I find almost all movies to be mediocre or terrible and have already seen thousands of movies; however, I will award copious Mana if you can suggest something new to me that I rate >= 9.0/10 (this rating cutoff might represent the top 3% of all movies I've seen). Here are some examples of what movies currently fall into those rating categories:
9.0/10
Force Majeure
Dr. Strangelove
Ghost World
Swimming to Cambodia
Sideways
9.5/10
Fitzcarraldo
The Florida Project
Koyaanisqatsi
Synecdoche, New York
Do the Right Thing
10/10
Rosetta
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Upstream Color
The Seventh Continent
I don't think good movies are about enjoyment or having fun; rather, I want to be devastated by a character or an idea. Some examples of specific things I don't like:
Horror (counterexamples: It Follows and Midsommar; rarely, I find psychological horror to be decent)
Action/Thriller (car chase and fight scenes bore me; rarely, I will see an action movie that is maybe 7-8/10, but none I've seen to date would make the cut for any prize bounty, except, somewhat incomprehensibly, the 1971 Warren Beatty/Goldie Hawn movie $ [dollars])
Anything in a highly "American" film style (shallow or over-explained; I'm a massive snob, as should be obvious by now -- ***see note below)
Post ideas (a single well thought-out suggestion is worth more to me than an unconsidered shotgun approach) and I will watch as many interesting new suggestions as I can. If I've already seen what you've suggested, I will give feedback on those movies to provide more information on which to make further suggestions.
If you post something that sounds interesting enough to put onto a watch queue, I will immediately pay M100, even if I end up not liking it. If I do like it, I will pay out approximately as follows:
9.0/10: M1500
9.5/10: M3000
10/10: M6000
***A note on film styles (what is an "American" style movie?)
Note that movies created in the US don't universally suffer from such defects; this is perhaps more of a Hollywood problem in particular, and I am not specifically trying to encourage foreign movies. Anyway, here is the best case study imaginable between differing styles. I'm actually glad Hollywood made the flaming pile of dogshit that is Downhill (a very pathetic American remake of Force Majeure) because its flaws are completely laid bare (if you can't discern a quality difference between the two clips below then don't suggest movies here):
Force Majeure avalanche scene [Spoiler! (maybe)]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saNvY4tD3wA
Downhill avalanche scene [you can't spoil this piece of shit]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPq4lfrt0qw
Added to queue (unwatched; this is going to take a while to get through):
35 Shots of Rum
A Coffee in Berlin
A Short Film About Love
The Babadook
Beau is Afraid
Birdman
Blue Collar
Le Bonheur
Bridge of Spies
Burning
Cemetery of Splendor
Come and See
The Day of the Jackal
The Disciple
The Double Life of Veronique
The Draughtsman's Contract
Exit Strategy
Farewell Mr. Haffman
Grave of the Fireflies
I Heart Huckabees
Ikiru
Kiarostami's Close-Up
Last Year at Marienbad
The Man From Earth
Memories of Murder
Mississippi Burning
Past Lives
Remains of The Day
Repulsion
Roma
Roshomon
Run Lola Run
Schrader's Mishima
Short Term 12
The Silence
The Station Agent
Three Minutes: A Lengthening
Time Trap
[Getting through the list kind of slow right now because I'm relatively busy; looks like I've seen 9/48 so far...one more trip next week, and after that, I should be able to see 3+ per week again until mid May]
Added to queue (watched):
Red Sorghum - Opening sequence was great, but it felt a bit disjointed after that. I think for the Gong Li/Zhang Yimou pairing Raise the Red Lantern is superior in nearly every way.
3 Iron -- Refreshing in the non-verbal character building and progression of the story. The speaking parts with the abusive husband and corrupt cop were rather tropish, however, which weighed on what was otherwise a very relaxing movie. This one misses by a little bit.
Peppermint Candy -- There is some variability in the quality of the vignettes of his past life that led him to his current despair. However, the foreshadowing with his foot/leg problems (if you can call it that in a reverse-chronology) reinforces, in an interesting way, the deterministic outcome of his life from our initial perspective at the point of its ending. The prescribed nature of the destination of the railroad tracks, which are depicted during the time transitions, help emphasize in the set outcome we are (un)-building towards. I'm giving it an 8.5 score for now, but its one of those movies that I might revise later. Great rec! (oh, if anyone wants to watch, the link in the comments didn't have subtitles but this link does, though I had occasional buffering issues with the stream)
Funeral Parade of Roses -- An "experimental" movie that struck me as being far more style than substance. Some of the visuals and sounds were very harsh and I watched it not in the mood for that sort of thing, though I did admire its willingness to adopt an uncompromising style.
Gummo -- Ah yes, I hadn't realized this was a Harmony Korine movie until 30 seconds into it and being reminded of Julien Donkey Boy, the latter being perhaps a perfected version of what Gummo was striving for. Aimless and ugly, but also compassionate with the treatment of the characters, who sometimes veered too close to caricature for my taste.
The Match Factory Girl -- Like 3 Iron, this one is minimalistic with respect to dialogue, but also with a very nordic (nearly soviet) subdued quality. For how subdued its style, I found it very heavy handed with articulating a very conventional storyline.
Chunking Express -- In many ways, a cleverly done movie. I liked it at least as much as Peppermint Candy but also probably not quite a 9. [I just watched this tonight and usually take a few days to think about things with movies, so will see how I feel about it later]
Benny's Video -- A great (brief) setup up to the main incident, and then some disappointment afterwards. Haneke does suspense well when warranted, but here, it feels superfluous. I guess a not bad exploration of the morality around concealment of a crime (obviously applicable to a more general level in Austria), but lacking in some bite. I would have liked to have seen the father grinding up body parts for some time, though I fully understand the choice to show the opposite side of that coin.
Another Round -- I hate this, or at least, I think I did. It is a crushingly conventional approach to telling a story like this. I guess the pro-social benefits of alcohol are rarely on display in movies, but here, it is done in such a paint-by-numbers manner that I had a hard time caring about the characters. The "jazz ballet", or whatever, was nice at the end.
American Fiction -- Been out of the Oscar's loop and didn't know a thing about this nor realize it was getting such buzz. The story line is a clutter, and thematically, it's surprisingly anodyne, given the kinetic potential of the subject matter. Spike Lee already did this much bigger and better in Bamboozled (the biggest problem with Bamboozled is it is at least 20 minutes too long). Interestingly (speaking of recent releases), I also just watched The Holdovers which, despite my love of Alexander Payne and Paul Giammatti, was just awful. In this case, despite occasional moments of excessive melodrama, the 1951 movie The Browning Version is superior in every way, and in contrast to the 2h 13m running time of The Holdovers, is tight as a drum at 90 minutes. It's depressing to see such poorly executed derivative ideas get award nominations.
Related questions
The Draughtsman's Contract (1982) - Peter Greenaway's murder mystery masterpiece that unfolds like a puzzle box, with cloyingly careful sets, costumes, and music
Eat Drink Man Woman (1994) - Ang Lee's best film: an ode to Chinese cuisine, set in Taipei amid the backdrop of complicated family dynamics... slow-moving and rewarding
Pan's Labyrinth (2006) - idk, it's probably the best film ever made... Spanish civil war fantasy
Dogtooth (2009) - Unnerving Yorgos Lanthimos movie about kids kept apart from the world
Roma (2018) - Mexico City in the 1970's, character-driven, seems to have many of the qualities of the movies you like
A few more recs, this time with a theme of loneliness and isolation:
A Short Film About Love (1988): A Warsaw postal worker falls in love with a distant neighbor, and begins to watch her at a distance. Bleak. My favorite by the Polish director Kieślowski.
Repulsion (1965): An increasingly isolated woman falls into something akin to psychotic delirium due to her anxieties around being desired. A film greatly ahead of its time, really turns your stomach. The first English language film by the very problematic film director Polanski, and one of his strongest.
Tulitikkutehtaan Tyttö (1990): A poor woman from an abusive family works in a Finnish match factory and shyly dreams of compassion. All characters appear a bit detached, quiet, and poetic. Everyone speaks in a very literal dialect. Directed by Aki Kaurismäki.
I’d suggest “The Spirit of the Beehive” (1973) directed by Víctor Erice.
This Spanish film is a hauntingly beautiful and allegorical exploration of childhood, imagination, and the effects of war, set in post-Civil War Spain. Through the eyes of a young girl fascinated by the film “Frankenstein” and her quest to find the monster, Erice crafts a poignant narrative about innocence, loneliness, and the search for meaning in a confusing world. The film’s lyrical storytelling, combined with its atmospheric cinematography, creates a mesmerizing experience that delves deep into the psyche of its characters. It’s a contemplative film that might resonate with your desire for cinema that devastates with its depth and beauty.
Other suggestions:
Stalker (1979)
Happy Together (1997)
The Double Life of Veronique (1991)
Songs from the Second Floor (2000)
Anomalisa (2015)
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)
Do you like Michael Haneke? I found his film Caché (2005) to be a profoundly good, unnerving, and features some of the strongest charges of anxiety I have ever experienced in a film. The film starts with an upper middle class family getting footage of someone filming the outside of their house (similar to the earlier David Lynch film Lost Highway--another great movie). Caché is a fantastic meditation on guilt, memory, and class. I'd recommend not reading too much about it before going in.
There's enough overlap with the films you like and the films that I like that I feel comfortable recommending you to explore Haneke if you already haven't. He has a laconic, slow style, long takes that feature a very still camera, and a feel that almost resembles a quiet contempt for humanity. Some other films of his I'd recommend:
Funny Games (1997, the original Austrian version)--his most famous work. One of the most violent films I have seen, despite the fact that it does not show an ounce of violence on screen. A film focused on crushing the hopes of the viewer.
Benny's Video (1992)--a detached, sociopathic young kid has his life revolve around film cameras and recordings. He becomes fixated on a video of a pig getting slaughtered with a captive bolt pistol.
La Pianiste (2001)--a deeply unnerving psychosexual film about a dysfunctional masochistic relationship of a middle-aged woman who works as a piano teacher.
No spoilers.
Primer --- I wouldn't be surprised if you've already seen this, given you've rated Upstream Color 10/10, but Primer has the best depiction/presentation of time travel I've seen in a film to date. It's technically/mechanically very impactful: though not devastating *emotionally*, after watching it I drew out what just happened on a whiteboard, marvelling at it's creativity.
Schindler's List --- of course, this one is the classic when it comes to emotionally impactful. The ending in particular is something that sticks with me. It's never really gratuitous or exceedingly melodramatic (which might be an easy trap in this genre), but quietly devastating.