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Post by spiderwort on Jul 4, 2017 0:53:17 GMT
Dramas, comedies, anything in between - films that are fundamentally about families and their struggles to survive as a family unit, with outside elements being secondary, however important to plot construction.
These are among my favorite, and I think among the best "family films":
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) - Elia Kazan
I Remember Mama (1948) - George Stevens
East of Eden (1955) - Elia Kazan
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) - Robert Mulligan
Little Women (1994) - Gillian Armstrong
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Post by mattgarth on Jul 4, 2017 1:12:03 GMT
LIFE WITH FATHER (1947 -- Michael Curtiz)
CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN (1950 -- Walter Lang)
THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946 -- William Wyler)
FATHER OF THE BRIDE (1950 -- Vincente Minnelli)
OUR TOWN (1940 -- Sam Wood)
MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE (1948 -- H.C. Potter)
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946 -- Frank Capra)
AH WILDERNESS (1935 -- Clarence Brown)
YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938 -- Frank Capra)
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Post by northern on Jul 4, 2017 1:24:47 GMT
Dramas, comedies, anything in between - films that are fundamentally about families and their struggles to survive as a family unit, with outside elements being secondary, however important to plot construction. These are among my favorite, and I think among the best "family films": A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) - Elia Kazan I Remember Mama (1948) - George Stevens East of Eden (1955) - Elia Kazan To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) - Robert Mulligan Little Women (1994) - Gillian Armstrong Ordinary People (1980). |
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Post by pimpinainteasy on Jul 4, 2017 2:13:34 GMT
THE STRAIGHT STORY - contains one of the best monologues about why a family is important.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Jul 4, 2017 2:42:46 GMT
I always return to this one: Make Way For Tomorrow (1937): When economic hardship leads to foreclosure on an aging couple's home, the internal demands and pressures of their grown children's own family units result in imperfect solutions to their plight, in which Pa Victor Moore must be accommodated by one, and Ma Beulah Bondi by another.
Among the things that make this film so rich, deep and untypical of the period are its candid depictions of the characters and the complex nature of family dynamics. There are neither heroes nor villains: conflicting priorities and the compromises they force render both parents and offspring as credible, multi-dimensional human beings, each doing what they think they're able to under difficult circumstances, but subject to their own self-interests and weaknesses.
Moore, best known for the sort of comically befuddled roles he played in films such as Swing Time and Louisiana Purchase, deftly nuances sympathetic helplessness and exasperating crankiness; Bondi is likewise skillful in her embodiment of maternal solicitude with tiresome passive/aggression. An excellent supporting cast featuring Thomas Mitchell, Fay Bainter and Porter Hall are equally effective in portraying warts-and-all humanity of both the noble and not-so-noble varieties.
Director Leo McCarey curbs his tendencies to mawkish and manipulative sentimentality, instead delivering in the film's gentler moments - such as Moore's and Bondi's brief "escape" from their situations to spend an afternoon and evening together on the town - sequences grounded in honest emotion and experiences, and sparing nothing in the way of that honesty as he negotiates Make Way For Tomorrow's gut-wrenchingly uncompromising climax, reminding viewers that no one can count on neat and easy resolutions or know what the future holds, and from which they can take whatever measures of optimism or pessimism they choose. He hits hard, but without resorting to either telegraphed or sucker punches.
It's a most unusual, thoughtful and worthwhile film, examining issues still resonant after 80 years, and guaranteed to touch a nerve or two in any viewer with an ounce of human sensitivity.
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Post by mortsahlfan on Jul 4, 2017 17:49:36 GMT
You Can't Take It With You
The Grapes of Wrath
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Post by teleadm on Jul 4, 2017 18:35:36 GMT
Let's see, and I'm sorry if I repeat any movies.
Heaven Can Wait 1945 Ernest Lubitch
The Yearling 1946 Clarence Brown
The Happy Time 1952 Richard Fleischer
Broken Lance 1954 Edward Dmytryk
A Dog of Flanders 1959 James B. Clark
Through a Glass Darkly 1961 Ingmar Bergman
The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band 1968 Michael O'Herlihy
Ugly, Dirty & Bad 1976 Ettore Scola
Novecento / 1900 1976 Bernardo Bertolucci
Kramer vs. Kramer 1979 Robert Benton
Author! Author! 1982 Arthur Hiller
The Kite Runner 2007 Marc Foster
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Post by london777 on Jul 4, 2017 20:20:25 GMT
Killer Joe (2011) William Friedkin
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Post by spiderwort on Jul 4, 2017 21:14:26 GMT
Killer Joe (2011) William Friedkin That's certainly not a family I'd want to live in, london (though the film seems to qualify for this thread). I do not know what Tracy Letts' problem is, but he definitely has one with "family." Compared to his works, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? seems like a Disney movie. |
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Post by camimac on Jul 4, 2017 21:29:02 GMT
My favorite family film is the Joy Luck Club.
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Post by marshamae on Jul 4, 2017 22:03:54 GMT
Teleadm thanks for the mention of AUTHOR! AUTHOR! By me Al pacino was a great comic actor who should have done more comedies. This has a terrific cast , led by Pacino , Tuesday Weld, Allen King and a surprise Dyan Cannon. Bits by Bob and Ray really top it off. The script is funny about the complexity of blended families, a modern piece of angst, and tge creative procès. The kids are a little too cute but the wisecracking Igor and tge two little girls make it work, the little sax player is cute enough to make his mugging acceptable and I'm glad there was one kid who didn't look like an actor.
The only really difficult thing was that dreadful Paul Williams song.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Jul 4, 2017 22:16:52 GMT
spiderwort Sometimes a "family" is people who are not related by blood but by circumstance and shared experience. I would say that the younger group of boys in Stand By Me rather come into that "self made family" category. TV but .... the cast of the Mary Tyler Moore show, Friends and The Golden Girls come into that same feeling of family. In the final episode of MTM show Mary said something about 'family making people feel less alone and loved'. Cannot find the exact quote. Help ?
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Post by dianachristensen on Jul 4, 2017 23:54:22 GMT
Parenthood (1989) - Ron Howard
Frequency (2000) - Gregory Hoblit
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Post by pimpinainteasy on Jul 5, 2017 0:53:18 GMT
Killer Joe (2011) William Friedkin lol. THE DEVIL'S REJECTS as well. that was one tightly knit family. |
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Post by gunshotwound on Jul 5, 2017 5:36:57 GMT
The Sound of Music Avalon The Lion in Winter
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Post by manfromplanetx on Jul 5, 2017 8:10:28 GMT
Feudin' Families ... The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936)
Musical Families ... Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
Noir Families ... Pitfall (1948)
Chekhovian Family ...Three Sisters (1970)
Crime Families ... The Godfather (1972)
Pinter Family ... The Homecoming (1973)
Caldwell Southern Family ... God's Little Acre (1957)
Douglas Sirk 50s' Families ... Written on the Wind, All That Heaven Allows, There's Always Tomorrow
Family Trilogy, Czech ... Behold Homolka (1970), Hogo fogo Homolka, Homolka a tobolka (1972)
Russian Families ... Dom, v kotorom ya zhivu , The House I Live In (1957)
Western land baron Family ... The Furies (1950)
British Families ... Secrets and Lies (1996)
Settler Families ... The Southerner (1945)
Japanese Families ... Hanaoka Seishû no tsuma , The Wife of Seishû Hanaoka (1967)
Gypsy Families ... Black Cat, White Cat (1998)
Black Comedy Family ... Where's Poppa ? (1970)
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Post by poelzig on Jul 5, 2017 8:26:57 GMT
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Psycho
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Post by sostie on Jul 5, 2017 9:13:47 GMT
Hope & Glory
Life Is Sweet
Secrets & Lies
Happiness Of The Katakuries
The Host (2006)
And of course who could forget the greatest franchise about family ever - Fast & The Furious (not entirely serious)
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Post by louise on Jul 5, 2017 10:50:06 GMT
What we Did on Our Holiday is very funny.
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Post by marshamae on Jul 5, 2017 11:30:31 GMT
Bat outta heck- here you go
I just wanted you to know that sometimes I get concerned about being a career woman. I get to thinking my job is too important to me, and I tell myself that the people I work with are just the people I work with. And not my family. And last night, I thought, 'what is a family, anyway?' They're just people who make you feel less alone... and really loved. And that's what you've done for me. Thank you for being my family.
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