Daniel Laverick picks his most wanted in our ongoing series.
Imagine the scene: you’re stranded on a strange desert island, no-one is coming for you and bizarre things are happening in the trees beyond the sands of the beach. Polar bears inhabit the island, you don’t trust the other survivors (and you’re sure one of them is a hobbit) and to top it all off, ‘the others’ are coming for you. If you were stuck in a place like this, which ten films would you take with you to block out the horror and while away the long hot days?
When faced with this question, I had to think carefully and tactically. Surely I would need a range of genres, national cinemas and films from various eras so I had a sense of variety as I slowly withered away and began talking to inanimate objects (“Wilson!, Wilson!”*)? So, I had to choose the best from within certain categories, eliminating many of my favourite films and causing me unnecessary stress. Deserving an honourable mention are the following: The King is Alive, Project A, Passport to Pimlico, The Omega Man, Audition and Battle Royale. Gone, but not forgotten.
My ten desert island movies are, in no particular order…..
LA GRANDE ILLUSION
Jean Renoir’s 1937 classic has been one of my favourite all-time films from the first time I watched it. Many viewings later, it still manages to pack a punch in the emotional stakes. The friendship between French upper-class officer Captain De Boeldieu (Jean Renoir) and working-class soldier Marechal (Jean Gabin) is a touching and refreshing look at class relations and honour. This was an anti-war film made when the outbreak of World War II looked inevitable. Renoir’s humanist approach to the subject of war and the duty to one’s country makes for a powerful and thoughtful piece of cinematic brilliance. Favourite scene: French prisoners of war find out that the Germans lose ground to the Allies and break out into a powerful rendition of the French national anthem - tremendously uplifting.
PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES
When Steve Martin was funny. Alongside The Jerk and The Man With Two Brains, this remains his best work. John Candy also gives an excellent performance as annoying, shower curtain ring-selling Del Griffith, a lonely widower with a wealth of irritating habits. Made in 1987, Planes, Trains and Automobiles is more than a ‘zany’ 80s comedy; it’s a buddy movie, a road movie and an attempt to make us question our tolerance levels and interaction with other human beings. It’s also incredibly funny with a number of memorable scenes (“Those aren’t pillows!”) and a character who makes me laugh every time I watch it (the weird, snorting hillbilly who gives them a ride into town - watch it and try not to laugh).
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST
Quite simply, the best Western ever made bar none. Forget the Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Westerns, this is the mother of all the Italian cowboy films. Henry Fonda simply oozes evil as Frank, Charles Bronson does a good ‘silent stranger’ routine and Claudia Cardinale as Jill McBain is officially the most beautiful actress ever committed to screen. Jason Robards deserves a mention as Cheyenne, an ambivalent character who walks the line of good guy and bad guy with charm and intensity. Ennio Morricone provides the superb musical score for Sergio Leone’s greatest work as he did with most of his films. Scripted by Leone with help from Dario Argento and Bernardo Bertolucci, this a testament to the Western genre and, well, it’s just really cool. Demands repeated viewings, so it’s perfect for a desert island movie.
DAWN OF THE DEAD
Not the remake, which I have grown to enjoy of late, but George A Romero’s 1978 horror classic. At the time, it was a profound critique on the American consumer culture of generic shopping malls and the ‘zombification’ of its people. Dawn of the Dead opens into a hellish modern world where the dead walk the earth and civilisation is on the verge of collapse. Everyone is looking to run and hide, and what better place than a shopping mall? Watching the characters become seduced by the material pleasures offered within their consumer prison is addictive viewing. The gore level is high with arms being torn off, torsos ripped open and intestines chewed, showing off the skills of long-time Romero collaborator Tom Savini. The best of all the zombie films in my opinion, and my horror choice for my desert island movies.
KING OF COMEDY
No, not the Robert De Niro one, but Stephen Chow’s parody of the Hong Kong film industry. Made in 1999 before he triumphed in the West with Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle, Chow’s King of Comedy follows the story of a hapless wannabe actor trying to make it in the movie world. His brand of comic kung fu has rocketed him to superstar status in his native Hong Kong and his films regularly out-perform Jackie Chan’s at the box office. This is his finest hour, with scenes that will make you laugh out loud rather than inwardly thinking to yourself “yes, that was funny”. The funniest scene, which would never have made it into a Hollywood film, shows Chow flicking the todger of a chubby naked boy while his friend gets beaten up by gangsters in the background. Sounds dodgy I know, but it has to be seen to be understood. Funnier than Kung Fu Hustle, especially if you get the swipes aimed at John Woo and the other Hong Kong action film directors and stars.
SUZHOU RIVER
A Hitchcockian, Wong Kar Wai-esque tale of ill-fated lovers directed by the talented Chinese director, Lou Ye. Set by the banks of the muddy Suzhou river which provides the film with its title, Ye’s film portrays Shanghai as a dirty and grey place, crime-ridden and dark. Shining out from amongst the darkness is the intense love of Mardar, a motorcycle courier on a never-ending quest to find Meimei, a girl who jumped into the river after he betrayed her trust and broke her heart. Essentially, this is a story themed around love, obsession and loss, and has drawn comparisons with the previously mentioned Hitchcock and Wong. Such comparisons are worthy for an underrated gem like this and it’s a film I can watch over and over again simply for the appeal of its sublime disjointedness.
WITHNAIL AND I
Ahhh, many a time have I seen this film, so many I’m sure I could recite the script word for word. We all know Withnail and I and we all know why its good and never loses its charm, but let me refresh your collective memories. Richard E Grant stars in his first feature film and gives a performance he hasn’t yet matched in his career as an actor. He plays the role of Withnail, a flouncing, melodramatic, alcoholic out-of-work actor living in squalor with ‘I’ (Paul McGann). The story is hardly worth bothering with, as all they do is go on holiday (“by mistake!”) to Penrith and encounter country folk. The beauty of Withnail and I lies in its script and the tetchy relationship between its two protagonists. Superb performances from Richard Griffiths as Uncle Monty (“I shall have you even it must be by burglary!!”) and Ralph Brown as original ‘stoner’ Danny (“all hairdressers are in the employment of the government”) create a film that captures the era it’s set in with memorable characters and an endless number of quotable scenes. Unfortunately, it has become something of a student ‘cult classic’, spawning ridiculous drinking games because hey, drinking lighter fluid is cool, right? If you’re put off by this reputation and somehow haven’t seen it yet, then I advise you to forget your prejudices and watch a British film that is actually good.
INFERNAL AFFAIRS
Starring Hong Kong’s biggest stars (Andy Lau and Tony Leung), Infernal Affairs was a huge box office hit in Asia and has even caught the attention of some of the Hollywood big boys. The remake rights have apparently been purchased, and names like Martin Scorsese, Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise are being bandied around at present. So, before the brilliance of the production is sucked out and replaced by pearly-white smiles and speedy car chases, I’d suggest you all seek out a film that exemplifies the best traits of the undercover cop genre. The premise isn’t exactly original; a cop (Tony Leung) goes undercover and infiltrates the Triads, and gradually, over many years, he earns the trust of the boss, Sam, (superbly played by Eric Tsang) and informs his police chief of their wrongdoings. At the same time, the Triads have infiltrated their own mole into the upper ranks of the Hong Kong police (Ming, played by Andy Lau) who informs the gangsters of action they intend to take against them. When both sides learn of the mole, it becomes a tense and frenetic race to see who is discovered first.
This isn’t your standard ‘cop drama’, nor is it your standard Hong Kong action film. This is gritty, noirish, deliberately paced and well acted. The score by Chan Kwong Wing has an elaborately intricate relationship with the narrative and image, building tension and creating a sense of panic and unease in the spectator. The shots from the top of the skyscrapers provide a cinematic visual identity for Hong Kong itself; the reflective glass of its buildings set against the ocean supplies visuals that linger on long after the credits roll. This is what Hong Kong cinema does best.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA
Jet Li’s Hollywood films have been rather hit and miss…mostly miss. His best work can be found in his Hong Kong days when he took on the role of Cantonese hero Wong Fei-hung in the Once Upon a Time in China series. Set in colonial times in a Hong Kong that has been invaded by Europeans, the first, and by far the best, film follows national hero and revolutionary Wong, as he attempts to protect his people and culture against the foreigners who threaten to swamp Hong Kong with religion and modernity.
This is a highly political film made when the 1997 handover was fast approaching and panic over change and assimilation ran throughout the consciousness of the island’s people. Jet Li (who is actually from the mainland) played a character who is distinctly Cantonese, a heroic national hero who provided the Hong Kong audience with a sense of individuality and national pride at a time when it was needed. Aside from the significant socio-political aspects of Once Upon a Time in China, it also contains some of the best martial arts sequences ever dedicated to celluloid. This is wire work at it’s best, Yuen Woo Ping (fight choreographer for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Matrix) turns violence into an art form, with a balletic sequence involving ladders, and fight scenes which display the physical prowess and speed of Jet Li as a martial artist. It has a story worthy of attention, elaborate and well-executed fight scenes, and significance for the time period it was made in. All in all, not your average martial arts film.
VISITOR Q
I wanted to take a slice of cinematic weirdness with me to the desert island, but who do I choose? Lynch is weird and annoying in equal measure, Godard I can only take in small doses, but I can’t get enough of Takeshi Miike. His most popular film is probably Ichi the Killer, a violent comic book style piece of excessiveness. Audition is great but not something I can’t live without. If I have to choose just one of his films, then it has to be his sickest, cruellest and most bizarre film so far. Visitor Q is wrong in so many ways. A film which concentrates on the life of a family with scenes of unmotivated violence, necrophilia, incest, a son physically abusing his own mother and so on. It’s as if Takeshi went all-out to piss off as many people as possible by delving into areas that make us all feel uncomfortable. Now, how you regard cinema and how you react to it will determine whether you turn it off after five minutes or sit through it until the end. I like to be made to feel uncomfortable and I also like to engage with films in various ways. This film is funny. Not laugh out loud funny, granted, but funny nevertheless. The ridiculousness of the extreme scenes will eventually become humorous after you recover from the horror of your first viewing (which feels all the more disturbing through the digital camera/documentary style way in which it was made). Takeshi is poking fun at modern living and the destabilised family unit in his native Japan. His idea of ‘poking fun’ might differ somewhat from everyone else’s but he still manages to raise a smile and provoke debate amongst those who love and hate his films.
I have my ten films. Although the years on this island will go slowly and there’s no chance of rescue, at least I’ll have my favourite films to keep me company. Wait! What’s that?!? They’re here…the others are coming…!!!
NOTE: Daniel Laverick is still missing…..
*That’s a reference to Tom Hanks in Castaway in case anyone was wondering. |
