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Post by london777 on Jul 30, 2017 14:18:39 GMT
So we know which it was in manfromplanetx's case.
And those who read my posts (all six of you) should know what mine is, as I keep banging on about Wild Strawberries (1957) dir: Ingmar Bergman (whatever the thread topic).
Having written that, it occurs to me that I must have seen at least a hundred high quality classics in the twelve years (from age 7) before I ever saw Wild Strawberries. It is just that I thought I was only watching "films" (or, as we always called them in England, "pictures" - and never "movies") and not "art cinema".
Being taken by friends to the famous Everyman Cinema in Hampstead to watch Wild Strawberries initiated me into the more discerning and knowledgeable brigade of film buffs who thought of "pictures" as art.
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Post by mikef6 on Jul 30, 2017 14:57:09 GMT
So we know which it was in manfromplanetx's case. And those who read my posts (all six of you) should know what mine is, as I keep banging on about Wild Strawberries (1957) Ingmar Bergman whatever the thread topic. Having written that, it occurs to me that I must have seen at least a hundred high quality classics in the twelve years (from age 7) before I ever saw Wild Strawberries. It is just that I thought I was only watching "films" (or, as we always called them in England, "pictures" - and never "movies") and not "art cinema". Being taken by friends to the famous Everyman Cinema in Hampstead to watch Wild Strawberries initiated me into the more discerning and knowledgeable brigade of film buffs who thought of "pictures" as art. Most of my early influences have been in the mystery and suspense categories. I've written before how, as a very young boy (pre-school-2nd grade), my did would let me stay up past bedtime to watch the 10:30-midnight-ish late movie with him. Two great mystery films, And Then There Were None (1945) and the noir D.O.A. (1950) gave me unforgettable experiences. Later, in early adolescence, came the triple punch of Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), Psycho (1960), and The Birds (1963). I call them my "art movie" introductions because they shook me up somewhere deep down. I sometimes think that all my decades of compulsive movie watching is an attempt to replicate my experiences with these five films.
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Post by bravomailer on Jul 30, 2017 15:41:36 GMT
Lawrence of Arabia, specifically this renowned cut shot. Saw it at the age of nine and never forgot it.
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Post by snsurone on Jul 30, 2017 16:21:19 GMT
Definitely, Zefirelli's ROMEO AND JULIET (1968). Just looking at it makes me think of great Renaissance artists like Titian and Raphael. It deserved its Oscar for Best Cinematography.
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Post by wmcclain on Jul 30, 2017 18:58:21 GMT
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Post by OldAussie on Jul 30, 2017 20:38:33 GMT
Lawrence of Arabia
has been my favourite for almost my whole life. Nothing else comes close. Blew me away as a youngster although I'm sure I didn't totally understand it at the time.
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Post by marshamae on Jul 30, 2017 20:51:32 GMT
I know I was in high school when I started looking at films more critically , rather than letting them wash over me, reacting to what was there. I still watch many films that way , only jarred into analytical mode by something that doesn't work, or that works so well and is so clever that it begs to be noticed. I think that analytical awareness of artistic process is what differentiates films I view as art from films I view as entertaining.
A few that I recall as being aha moments that awakened me to the artistic possibilities of film
Tom Jones a very funny very self aware film Passion of Anna- the first Bergman- that sent me out to find the others and remains one of my favorites. It's such a personal exploration of the Rashoman thesis, the idea that people inhabit very different realities. Re- seeing Snow White and Pinocchio the shattering beauty of the art work, the lovely scores and great scripts.
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Post by Terrapin Station on Jul 30, 2017 20:55:47 GMT
Probably either Wizard of Oz or Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
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Post by bravomailer on Jul 30, 2017 21:17:22 GMT
Lawrence of Arabiahas been my favourite for almost my whole life. Nothing else comes close. Blew me away as a youngster although I'm sure I didn't totally understand it at the time. My father gave my sister and me a dollar each and told us to go see Lawrence of Arabia. A buck back then covered bus fare both ways, the ticket, and some popcorn. We loved it and still do, though of course much of it was over our young heads. Intersting to note the film mentions the Sykes-Picot agreement which the news mentions from time to time today.
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Post by OldAussie on Jul 31, 2017 0:32:03 GMT
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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Jul 31, 2017 0:39:42 GMT
Probably either Wizard of Oz or Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Two of my favourite films as a kid, along with "Grease". I would like to thank the cathode ray tube for introducing me to those films.
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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Jul 31, 2017 0:42:56 GMT
With me, there wasn't a "eureka" moment. I grew up surrounded by old films, either from VHS tapes or from cable TV. There wasn't a single film which made me take notice of film as an art, it was a gradual thing with me.
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Post by london777 on Jul 31, 2017 11:29:32 GMT
Bergman has already cropped up three time in this thread. You may like to read this article. While I do not disagree with a word of it (including the title!), I do not think it is as illuminating as it could be or likely to encourage many new film-goers to sample Bergman. The "greatest film-maker who ever lived"
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Post by sostie on Jul 31, 2017 12:56:42 GMT
It was perhaps something like Jason & The Argonauts. I was intrigued with how they created the monsters on screen, and was a little obsessed with the whole stop motion process.
After that it was probably Halloween. Not only did I love the film when I first saw it, but really took an interest in how direction, light and shade, and music was used to create tension and atmosphere. To this day I still consider it a masterpiece.
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Post by marianne48 on Jul 31, 2017 19:05:24 GMT
Grand Illusion for me, too. I first saw it when I was about 12 on TV in the pre-VHS days (1974), when a few local and PBS stations were the only places to watch foreign films at home. Up to then I'd seen many movies that were good, but I'd watched them mainly for the stories, the comedy, the music, etc. Maybe because it was a foreign film, I had to concentrate more on the visuals and on the acting (the concept of the story was a little above my head at that point). I found it compelling and have watched it many times since, and I also began watching other foreign and older classic films with different eyes after that.
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Post by twothousandonemark on Jul 31, 2017 20:16:35 GMT
From Russia with Love
Plowing through the quirky Bond franchise only to land right into that near masterpiece. My #27 all time.
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Post by petrolino on Jul 31, 2017 22:43:39 GMT
Three films come to mind, all with special effects work by Ray Harryhausen. I became totally obsessed with the skeleton fight in 'Jason And The Argonauts' (1963), just couldn't work out how it was done, watched it any time it was on tv during school holidays. The sequence with the gorgon in 'Clash Of The Titans' (1981) terrified me, I thought Medusa was the scariest woman in the world. The encounter with the Cyclops in 'The Seventh Voyage Of Sinbad' (1958), again, just couldn't believe what I was seeing. I believe these were the films where it first dawned on me, the artistic possibilities and creative potential of the moving image, and the fact that art could be so entertaining.
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Post by bonerxmas on Jul 31, 2017 22:55:27 GMT
i still do not think it is an art
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Post by london777 on Jul 31, 2017 23:28:58 GMT
i still do not think it is an art Interesting. Do you think that no movies at all qualify as art? Do you think live theater is an art?
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Post by OldAussie on Jul 31, 2017 23:38:27 GMT
i still do not think it is an art I believe it is very much art - it's just that most of it is bad art.
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