Sunday, November 29, 2009

After These 5 Movies You Will Never Be the Same.

By James Dolson

Ever seen a movie that changed your life? Not just in a superficial way, like "wow, I just saw a movie that I like more than all others!" No, I mean one that really changes the way you see the world.

It's hard to find a better list of films that are so unbelievably watchable, and yet say more about all those topics listed above. These movies will literally change your life.

#5: Riefenstahl's Disturbing Masterpiece, Triumph of the Will.

Leni Riefenstahl's chilling tribute to Hitler and the Nazi party will change the way you think about art that glorifies war and violence. When you realize that great film spectacle can be put into the service of something so terrible as Nazism, it changes the way you look at all heavily aestheticized works.

#4: Neo-Realism At Its Best -- Bicycle Thieves.

If you ever need to be reminded of the power contained in simple, straightforward stories, this is your film. It's entirely of its place -- set in post-war Rome when Italy was rife with poverty and hardship -- but it's also eternal. Proof that beautiful narratives can be made from anything and anywhere, if you're good enough.

#3: Chinatown.

Polanski, despite the mess he created for himself before leaving America, made what is undoubtedly one of the best American films of all time. This might just be one of those movies that says more about Hollywood than any other, which is important if you ever think about what the movies 'mean' to us.

#2: Vertigo.

There is no other film that tricks the viewer into thinking they are watching just a normal (albeit extremely brilliant) thriller, while simultaneously deconstructing everything about what an actual film director does on set. If you ever need to see a film that can have so much going on all at once without seeming overcrowded, this is it.

#1: America is Summed Up in The Godfather.

You can almost never get tired of this film, it is that good on first go -- nearly every scene is legendarily filmed, acted, and executed, and then the fact that it happens to convey some grand and great things about America is almost like a bonus, until that becomes the reason you return to it 50 times.

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