What films would you recommend to educate me in cinema?

May 21, 2013 2:28 AM

I feel very uneducated in 'important' cinema and I'd really like to know and understand more. If I knew how to properly define 'important' I probably wouldn't need to ask the question, but names like Kurosawa, Tartakovsky, Fellini that I know I don't know anything about. What I'm hoping the lovely hivemind can do is give me a good starting point - something equivalent to the five-foot shelf of books that contains an entire liberal education (http://archive.org/details/harvardclassics), but for cinema. DVD collections (or YouTube links) that form part of this would be welcome too. Basically, help me educate myself in cinema!
posted by Kirn to Society & Culture (19 answers total)

Best answer: The British Film Institute cinema magazine Sight and Sound has, every ten years since 1952, polled critics on the Best Films of All Time, publishing a top ten list: Here's the historical lists up to 2002 (on the old BFI site); Here's the 2012 list (on the new site). This page lists the films in terms of number of appearances in the poll (winner La Regle du Jeu, which has appeared in all seven).

You might get more out of delving further into the 2012 top 250. Every reputed classic of cinema is in there somewhere (and one or two classic movies, too).

Hope that helps a bit.
posted by Grangousier at 2:55 AM on May 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

Ah, that should be "polled critics and directors".

Also, if you dig down into individual critics' lists, you can find other gems. For example, a film that would definitely appear on my list, Koreeda Hirokazu's After Life was voted for by five people (including Anne Billson, Guy Maddin and Miranda July), which wasn't enough to get it anywhere near the top 250. Still, you can find people who have a taste that agrees with you and follow them outside the canonical list as well.
posted by Grangousier at 3:10 AM on May 21, 2013

Response by poster: That's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for, thanks very much Grangousier. I'm also looking for a good way to check out these kinds of films but I'm not sure there's anything online (MUBI seems closest but I think it's curated rather than providing a database?) I've got Netflix but it's generally much more mainstream.
posted by Kirn at 3:14 AM on May 21, 2013

Best answer: Mubi is indeed curated now. 30 movies. They add a new movie every day and remove a movie every day. So it forces you to actually watch these movies before they expire in a month.

However, the movies they do have fit well with a good film education. Eric Rohmer's "A Good Marriage" is a good intro to the French New Wave as is "La Rupture" by Claude Chabrol. Then there's "The Naked City" by Dassin as an intro to Film Noir. Plus throw in "an American Werewolf in London", "Day of the Dead" and Johnnie To's "PTU" and you've got a beginners course in film history.
posted by vacapinta at 3:30 AM on May 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

Our local library has an amazing collection of older and classic films. They're rarely on the shelves, but I get online and get in the queue and never have to wait very long. Not all libraries are so good, of course, but it's worth checking out.
posted by kestralwing at 3:50 AM on May 21, 2013

Seconding the Sight & Sound lists, and if you want to delve deeper, I also suggest taking a look at some of the suggestions Beyond the Canon (as well as the original, canonical list at that site).

Are you interested in reading some film criticism to accompany your viewing as well?

Great question, btw--this reminds me that I've been looking to fill in a number of gaps myself.
posted by tiger tiger at 4:09 AM on May 21, 2013

Response by poster: Thanks vacapinta and kestralwing! tiger tiger: thanks for your answer and yes, definitely interested in film criticism though coming from a very novice perspective, so anything too involved (or with too many prerequisites to being understood) is likely to be wasted on me.
posted by Kirn at 4:29 AM on May 21, 2013

Best answer: If I were doing this, I would take a light, condensed cinema studies approach and try and see one or two films from each era and cinematic movement to see what you're really interested in. Filmsite.org has a good break down of every decade which gives you a graspable article about the various filmmakers as well as the cinematic milestones by year, along with other information. I would also recommend taking a look at this list of cinematic movements on wikipedia, where each article will provide the names of a few films or filmmakers and give you some context to what they were doing. I would just try and track down one or two from any section via netflix, hulu (which sometimes has Criterion Collection stuff for free) and your local library. If any of the names seem recognizable to you, start there; it's for a reason and there is a very good chance you can find it streaming or your library will have it or can get it via ILL.
posted by itsonreserve at 4:47 AM on May 21, 2013 [2 favorites]

Best answer: My spouse and I have been on a similar endeavor for the last 20 years. The best of lists are helpful but running down a list has the potential of being somewhat joyless, I think because context is missing. Here are a few other suggestions how to keep the momentum and fun and self-education going.

--If you know a film is recognized as good, don't read about it beforehand. View it and mull it over. Then, seek out criticism, so easy to find nowadays. See the reviews section of IMDB.com. Don't feel dumb if you missed whole swaths of meaning. That is what critics are for.

--If a particular film really struck you, consider going on a director mini-festival of that director, again, but I would recommend you find the director's best.

--Pick up a used copy of one of the many collections of Pauline Kael's criticism. Seek out some of the films she really likes (she is dead now so these are not current films) and then see if you agree with her. It will get your own critical chops started in a way the really erudite critics might not.

--If a film noir film really strikes you, get a paperback guide to film noir. Watch a handful of film noirs. Annotate your guide because all film noir titles start to sound the same. If you are really moved by film noir, read more deeply because at this point, you will be able to understand what they are talking about. Consider that this same experience would likely hold true for other kinds of film.

--Have a film night at your house as a regular thing. It will inspire you to select carefully and it makes watching films social without too much responsibility (other than the film selection). We did this for two years and we made it clear that we are just a bunch of friends who don't know much about film who are watching a film together. Afterwards my spouse would send out links to helpful reviews. Of course, you could take a different tack if you have a friend who knows a lot and wants to moderate/organize.

--Watch high quality films in the sense that some have been restored or the director has taken a second cut. Criterion is a place to start. We recently watched The Grapes of Wrath in a remastered version and it was incredible. On the other hand, if you watch Blade Runner as it was released in the theater (with voice over) and the later director's cut, that can be an interesting lesson in itself.

This is so exciting! Happy watching!
posted by Prayless at 4:49 AM on May 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: There's a 15h series called The Story of Film - An Odyssey presented by Mark Cousins
"a semester-long film studies survey course compressed into 15 brisk, sometimes contentious hours"
posted by Akeem at 4:54 AM on May 21, 2013 [2 favorites]

I highly second Akeem's suggestion of The Story of Film, and it's currently available on Netflix streaming.
posted by FreezBoy at 5:02 AM on May 21, 2013

The late and great Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times had a (monthly?) column called Great Movies, his discussions and discourses on great movies of all times, and Ebert definitely knows his stuff. Through him more than any other single person (well, non-director, perhaps) I gained a significant appreciation for good cinema. He keeps the jargony film-theory stuff to a minimum, and keeps it all very accessible.
posted by Sunburnt at 5:40 AM on May 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

A word of caution. I am a voraciuos reader and have had much experience of literature "experts" recommending important books. I have been deeply disappointed by many of the reommendations but more so by the material that seems to be overlooked by such experts. If your goal is to watch films that are widely acknowledged to be classics the web is full of lists. If you want to find the diamonds that get little attention an online community such as the IMDB may help. I would subscribe to an unlimited download service and work my way through director by director and not be afraid to jump ship if it turns out to be not to my taste.

Good luck.
posted by BenPens at 5:50 AM on May 21, 2013

There's a telecourse called American Cinema, available online at that link, that provides a lot of helpful background about cinema. It might give you some things to focus on as you explore.

Also, I second Sunburnt's recommendation of Roger Ebert's Great Movies columns. Ebert was such an enthusiast, and such an enthusiastic educator. I love learning about film from him.
posted by kristi at 3:59 PM on May 21, 2013

Best answer: This thread might be helpful.
posted by latkes at 5:16 PM on May 21, 2013

Do you want "the classics" - which is what people seem to be recommending - or do you want an education in all of cinema?

Which is to say, "Crank" is a phenomenally well-scripted action film that's intended to be watched with beer and popcorn. It's the farthest thing from classic, but there's a lot to be taken out of it, from pacing to set design.

Same holds for a lot of other types of movies. Enthiran (Robot) is a good example of something where you can learn a good bit from watching, or you can drink three or four beers and laugh your ass off at it's awesomeness without bothering to analyze it.
posted by talldean at 11:07 AM on May 22, 2013

I'll add that I have had a similar project on and off for a few years now and what i do a lot is sort of randomly pick up old and "foreign" movies at the library and if I like them, then I watch everything I can by that director or within that film movement (which is easily researched on wikipedia). It's so much fun!

Also, if you have a university in your area, they may have film programs that could get you access to movies that are not on netflix or at the library.
posted by latkes at 1:20 PM on May 22, 2013

Best answer: I think I got linked to the USC Grad School Movie List from a similar question here before. It's kind of a nice mix of the classics as well as more recent films that did interesting and innovative things and/or became part of the cultural lexicon. Bonus, there are documentaries and TV shows too!
posted by sigmagalator at 7:49 PM on May 22, 2013

Response by poster: Thanks very much everyone - this is great and is going to keep me busy for a long time. Another user also kindly passed along this link to an online film studies resource of course notes: http://tonymckibbin.com/course-notes for others who are interested. I've already got started on some of the suggestions found from these links. Thanks!
posted by Kirn at 1:27 AM on May 29, 2013