In cinemas now! After a period mired in development hell - and quite honestly suffering as a result of an unforeseen 'writer's strike' - Agent Rob's second GFT blog finally, er, explodes onto your screens, um.... Of course, this list is by no means definitive in any way (nor exhaustive, given the heap of tickets waded through and the welter of films obviously missed). Rob has (and you your good selves have surely) seen plenty of great films elsewhere in our respective times.... but all come highly recommended regardless! Readers may expect a certain level of George Lucas-esque retroactive tinkering with the text too, so although the packaging won't necessarily change perceptibly over time the contents just might (but, in this case, only as a Force for good). To avoid any further "nailing of one's colours to the coffin" these favourite fillums are listed by year of release....
Bank Holiday (1938)
The earliest Sketch Sundays were drawn from the book Best of British: A Celebration of Rank Film Classics, which featured Box Office draws of yesteryear such as Patricia Roc, Phyllis Calvert, Virginia - "still alive and acting!" - McKenna and Margaret Lockwood. Naturally Rob has some(thing of an accidental) knowledge of that era, having gently absorbed the text and photos over the years. The opportunity to see Bank Holiday a wonderful slice of vanished pre-War British life at the GFT being simply too good to miss. Notable for a (then controversial) early scene where Margaret Lockwood sticks her head in a gas oven as she contemplates suicide...
(With forthcoming Sketch Sundays culled from the similarly themed The Big Book of British Films, 1939-1970 there's definitely a maker/scheduler to thank for the arrival of the Talking Pictures TV channel....)
M. Hulot's Holiday (1958)
Rob's first exposure to Jacques Tati was a scrappy (and incomplete) VHS of (the somewhat overlooked in his oeuvre) Trafic, but the above languid classic - the warmest, sunniest black and white film ever made? - is just perfect up on the BIG screen. Tati's later curio Parade was also an (unexpected if uneven) pleasure when it happened to stop by the GFT....
Dracula (1958)
A well worn - or should that be wearing well? - Hammer Films classic and, quite simply, one of those films that ought to be seen in the cinema for the sheer bygone "Technicolor Treat" of the experience. Also notable for James Bernard's menacing and unsettling score....
Yojimbo (1961)
A film certainly videotaped when screened on Moviedrome (at some ungodly hour) and finally caught on the BIG screen at last year's Glasgow Film Festival. The fact that they screened the (unknown to Rob) sequel, Sanjuro, the same week made this black and white treat doubly sweet....
From Russia With Love (1963)
Again, whether you (from Russia with) love them or loathe them, there's no denying the early, Sean Connery, Bond films pop off the BIG screen like no other, the dazzling Technicolor print, the exotic locations - easily accessible by plane to the many now but surely beyond the wildest dreams of Joe and Joanna Public back then - and John Barry's sizzling scores made Rob "pay attention" when these 60's classics rolled into town for their 40th anniversary screenings....
JAWS (1975)
Making it's 1975 summer debut shortly before Agent Rob emerged from the amniotic depths, JAWS is, of course, another BIG screen essential. Hitting their 30th birthdays at roughly the same time the occasion was duly marked as the pair met up at the GFT to celebrate. And, yep, the audience (still) all shat their pants at the scene when they find Ben Gardner's semi-sunken boat and Hooper takes to the water to investigate....
(If anyone missed it, Rob's visit to "Amity Island" was blogged here....)
Taxi Driver (1976)
The ultimate '70's film (with Mean Streets running it a close second)? Certainly this was probably the ultimate student film for us back in the day, Robert De Niro being the ultimate student's actor and Travis Bickle the ultimate (anti-social) student's anti-hero. Without question a truly powerful piece of filmmaking enhanced tenfold by the terrific and evocative score from Bernard Herrmann....
Apocalypse Now! (1979)
Another no-brainer to be seen on the BIG screen, Apocalypse Now drew an (apocalypse) "Wow!" from Rob when he finally had the opportunity to travel up the cinematic river, losing himself in the jungle with Captain Willard and crew. (Not to be confused with the uneven, overlong and frankly messy REDUX version - if it proved one thing it's that the editor of the '79 version brought the original safely back from 'nam in one (untouchable) piece.)...
Sonatine (1993)
We now enter the "Holy Trinity" beginning with "Beat" Takeshi Kitano's excellent Sonatine. John Woo may have blown the cinema doors off with his stylish HK action films but it was Takeshi Kitano's offbeat yakuza gangsters who sure made sure they stayed that way... for film after film... until he lost his UK distribution - immediately after 2003's stirring Zatoichi, no less - and so limiting his rather fine late period Outrage trilogy, amongst other (admittedly more obscure) films, to hard to find/afford limited European DVD releases....
Chungking Express (1994)
Rob had no idea the treat that awaited him when he took a punt on this strange Hong Kong import. (He even met a pal on the way to the cinema who reckoned it sounded pretty boring and didn't fancy seeing it). "Nae luck" as they say, for this film remains one of writer/director Wong Kar-wai's best, if not Rob's very favourite. Stylish, evocative, kooky, dreamy - it has it all (and Faye Wong)! (The following year's sequel/spin-off, Fallen Angels, which completely confounded Rob at the GFT, is actually pretty good too....)
(If anyone missed it, Rob's pilgrimage to Chungking Mansions was blogged here....)
La Haine (1995)
Completing this exciting world cinema triptych is La Haine, another incredible and evocative film that shone a brutal light on the stark reality of life in the housing projects of Paris. (Especially) notable for a memorable Dolly Zoom overlooking the city streets and, when first viewed, the fact that Asterix and Obelix were subtitled (by the American translators?) as Charlie Brown and Snoopy....
Battle Royale (2000)
Just mental....
Blue Gate Crossing (2002)
Rob can't recall much about this distinctly humid film other than, in an odd way, it's wistful and mannered approach to the subject of young people (falling in love and discovering themselves) stood in stark contrast to the sort of gritty/contrived "yoof" rubbish perpetually ground out to an audience of none by the British film industry, that curiously uneven mix of social realism and obvious lcd comedy - when he realised nothing this subtle, this perceptive could be crafted on these shores. This film and many like it may also succeed due to the fact that it's harder to tell if a young actor is poor when they're not speaking and emoting in your native language....
Ping Pong (2002)
One of those sincere and joyous world films about dreams, about friendship, about being yourself and never giving up. Some very fine moments and, as per just about every film on this list, at least one truly memorable and touching emotional peak....
Toni Erdmann (2016)
When GFT head honcho Allison Gardner stepped out in front of the audience to introduce (the actually much better than it looked) T2 Trainspotting she made a deliberate slip, accidentally welcoming everyone to a screening of Toni Erdmann. Agent Rob was certainly taking (mental) notes and saw this supremely bizarre film the following week. How best to describe this long, strange stroll through a life-affirming black and bleak comedy (like that, maybe)? Hmm, maybe best we all wait for the (then mooted) Jack Nicholson starring remake, er.... (Last year's The Square is quite similar in execution, the long running time allowing the characters and (clever comic) situations room to really breathe...)
Honourable mentions....
Before this epic completely runs out of steam Rob thought it better to cut to the chase and quickly showcase a further few film favourites that bubbled under the making of this list....
Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
Noi Albinoi (2003)
The Station Agent (2003)
Kontroll (2003)
Catch A Virgin Ghost (2004)
Is that it? Of course not! Everyone knows that franchises (and especially) trilogies are where it's at! So if this rough around the edges "assembly cut" of cinematic cult/ure has only served to whet your appetite then brace yourselves for more (of the same-ish) when we'll get to film documentaries, film flops, film discoveries, film fails and much more (as salvaged from this blog's cutting room floor), screening soon in Cinema 3....
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