| Lately, a lot of fun movie-related memes have been floating around on Twitter, and among my favorites is one that asks people which five movies they’d tell another person to watch to understand them. The question has been bouncing around in my mind all week, especially as a break from how frightening and unhappy the rest of the world seems these days. So I thought I’d share mine with you, in no particular order, and with the caveat that these could always change. These aren’t necessarily the movies I think are the best, or even my favorite, but they are ones I respond to in some fundamental way. 1. “Bull Durham”: As a critic, I think this movie has a basically perfect script: There’s never a moment of needless exposition, the characters spring fully formed from their dialogue, and the whole thing is funny and sweet. As a person, I probably aspire to the style and intelligence of Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon) more than any fictional character. If I fall short, well, that’s okay; her life is probably a lot more exhausting than mine. 2. “Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back”: One of the things about Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) that I identify with most is the way her absolute revolutionary certainty is paired with a certain personal tentativeness. There’s no question in her mind that the Empire has to be defeated, which of course it does. But when she meets Han Solo (Harrison Ford), she’s justifiably uncertain about whether or not he actually sees her, or whether he just wants to conquer her. The reason their “I love you,” “I know,” exchange is one of the best in movie history is that it requires incredible bravery from Leia. 3. “You’ve Got Mail”: Yes, I know that Nora Ephron’s 1998 romantic comedy is a remake of Ernst Lubitsch’s “The Shop Around the Corner” and that its depiction of the early years of the Internet is hopelessly outdated, not to mention weirdly optimistic. But I respond so deeply to the movie’s sense that sometimes the most important things can be found in whimsy: in a perfect autumn day, a well-timed bunch of daisies or a reference to “The Godfather,” in writing actual letters or substantive emails to people, or in knowing exactly the right book for exactly the right child. 4. “The Weather Underground”: I’ve been obsessed with the 1960s and 1970s pretty much since I was old enough to understand that this was an era of massive social change. And this outstanding documentary is all about what feels to me like the central questions of the moment: How do you decide when the moment has come in a political emergency to go beyond routine civics, or even beyond the normal bounds of morality? If you decide you’re wrong, how do you make recompense and make your way back? I’ve probably watched it 20 times, including one day when I watched it three times back-to-back. 5. “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”: One of the many things I love about this glorious movie is the tension between Yu Shu Lien’s (Michelle Yeoh) reticence and Jen Yu’s (Ziyi Zhang) wildness. I think a lot of women, including me, feel torn between being appropriate at all times and doing the equivalent of chucking it all and running off to the desert. |
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