All My Stars (33)

By: Joanne McNeil
August 18, 2016

One in a weekly series in which Joanne McNeil recommends books, films, exhibitions, and more. You can also subscribe to the All My Stars newsletter here.

Over the weekend, Twitter was busy with the hashtag #fav7films. The week before that, some friends and I were talking about our top 5 films. So I already had a head start considering mine and also what I forgot.

So my 5: They shoot horses don’t they?, Possession, Dr Strangelove, Neverending story, Solaris
became 7 with: Synecdoche New York and What time is it there?

There are a few others that come to mind still: Paris Texas, The Conversation, The Science of Sleep, Scanners, Return to Oz, Lady Vengeance, All About Lily Chou Chou, Thief, Beginners, All About Eve….

Normally After Hours would be on the list, but it’s the film I used to watch when I needed to fall in love with New York again and now that I’ve left, I’d rather not. (Maybe LA Story will take its place?) Blade Runner seems too canon now. I mean, of course, and yes, Citizen Kane and Vertigo too. I haven’t seen any Fassbinder films in a while. Fox and His Friends and Ali Fear Eats Soul were the ones I loved, but I can’t remember why. Seeing other people’s lists reminds me that I have got to see McCabe & Mrs. Miller.

Really, any Kubrick will do. But I think Dr Strangelove is the best comedy ever made and that comedy is the hardest kind of film to do right. And that putting 2001 and Solaris on the same list seems wrong. (“Tarkovsky supposedly made Solaris in an attempt to one-up Kubrick after he had seen 2001 (which he referred to as cold and sterile).”) (Here’s Kubrick’s list of 10, then 93 favorite films by the way.)

They shoot horses don’t they? and Possession are at the top of my list because I don’t associate either with anyone. I found out about both at random, and turned them on, not knowing what to expect. I guess I can say the same about Neverending Story since I first saw it when I was five. Rare is the film, the book or record that comes without baggage of a shared experience in a past relationship, or the expectations of a critic, or someone else’s appraisal.

I guess I should spend more time looking through whatever the digital equivalent of a VHS cutout bin might be. The canon will always be there but it’s harder and harder to be taken by surprise.

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All My Stars (33)

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