Watching a good film is one of the great pleasures – whether it’s the communal, communicative experience in a packed cinema, of shared laughter at the same funny line or situation, or seeing tears in someone else’s eyes when you’ve felt moved yourself, or whether you’re at home, watching a DVD, late into the night, escaping the routines and confines of your own life without even leaving the house. Sometimes you’ll see a film whose impact on you will be as ephemeral as popcorn; some films, though, have the sort of lasting effect which makes you feel as though just an hour or two have changed how you see the world. A film like this can be watched again and again and again – and its beauty and its meaning will make your world seem better, in just the same way as it does when you bridge the connection of friendship with someone you’ve just met.
My favourite film of all time? Lost in Translation. This film is a bit like what they say about marmite: you either love it or you hate it. I know people who longed for an underground tunnel to almost anywhere when they were in the cinema watching this – but I could watch it again and again. I love how as much happens in what is unsaid as in what is said – as much meaning is in what is undone as in what is done. It’s the almost imperceptible details which define the characters and in this lies the film’s realism and its beauty. It’s also a very humorous film, making us laugh with its observation of people’s foibles, though always taking a step aside from cruelty in its satire. The ending of the film is based around some lines whispered between the two central characters, which the audience cannot hear – this sums up the film’s brilliance, in the air of mystery which is so true of how we view one another, and try to communicate with one another.
Second on my list is American Beauty. This clever, thought-provoking film begins with an aerial view of an American, suburban neighbourhood, and homes in on one house, one family – and really, that’s what the film does, as a whole: it shows us what lies behind the façade of the perfect house, the perfect family, the perfect composure of suburban life. It’s the basis of the scenario behind Desperate Housewives and behind a million twitching blinds in every neighbourhood. Full of ironic reversals and beautiful visual imagery, this film was thought out, written and shot with the finest possible eye for detail.
Film number three: Paris je t’aime. This isn’t just one film: it’s eighteen short films, all set in Paris, all subtly interconnecting in a pattern as intricately engineered as the Métro underground rail network. The films are all based on the theme of love, but that doesn’t mean cheese or, I suppose, fromage – the film is a subtle pattern of microcosmic, universalising experience. I lived in France for a year and, stepping out of the cinema in Dublin where I saw this film last summer, I thought I was back in France again – that’s just how atmospheric it was.
In fourth place: Romeo + Juliet. I love Shakespeare. His plays are so powerfully written, and tell such wonderful stories. What I like so much about the Baz Luhrman’s version of the play is that it retains the poetry and the beauty of Shakespeare’s words, while adding a modern context of costumes, settings and soundtrack. It demonstrates in great style how universal Shakespeare’s themes are, even hundreds of years after the play was written.
Fifth on my list: State and Main. This is a film about making a film. It has the Russian doll effect of metafiction and combines a convincingly touching love story with some sharp satire on the cult of celebrity, which has become one of the defining features of what we’ve seen of the twenty-first century. Combine all that with a fantastic cast of actors and you’ve got something very memorable.
And finally, in sixth place: The Commitments. I love music and love Dublin and this film – probably one that some people would call “vintage” by now – is a combination of the two, seasoned with the life-affirming humour of Roddy Doyle. The wonderful but doomed soul band in their trademark black stage costumes are the ultimate example of the dream which didn’t come true in the end, but which was really something while it lasted. Some great musical performances, and one-liners, along the way, in a film which celebrates the redemptive, uniting power of music.
(Previously published in Coleraine Times, winter 2008)
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