Goodbye to Language by Jean Luc Godard
For a lover of film to come up with an all time favorite list of 10 movies is a pleasure and a burden. I love this medium, and this list is subjective. It´s like when someone asks: what are your favorite bands or writers? It depends on my mood, on the time of day, night on the memories they bring, on how they impacted my thoughts and on life itself. Presently these are my 10:
JLG/JLG Self-portrait in December by subversive French New Wave critic turned filmmaker, Jean Luc Godard. Every film by him from Breathless to Goodbye to Language have impacted my love and understanding of this medium. But it’s in his lyrical autobiography where the references to politics, history, science, film, literature, art come alive in beautiful sequences. It is an essential viewing in order to understand his work. We see his thoughts and reflections on life, on the news of the day, on the horrors of war. This movie shows how he continues to experiment, and push the boundaries of cinema. It´s a philosophical masterpiece.
The Mirror by Andrei Tarkovsky. A form of filming a movie I never knew existed. It left me wondering about the fluidity of memory. It goes into the very nature of remembering and makes the viewer question the essence of existence. The movie is a narration of a long poem. It starts in the past and the characters, images, dreams, dialogue intertwine with the present. Via the retrospections we arrive at the form that shapes the character’s life. It is simply a beautiful visual experience.
Shadows, by John Cassavetes is centered on three African American siblings. It is mostly improvised, shot on location in NYC, and tackles interracial relations. The brothers are musicians. The oldest is a jazz singer, the younger plays the trumpet and often gets into trouble. Beautiful Leila is their light-skin youngest sister. She is a young woman who hangs around with intellectuals and ends up meeting a man. He courts her, they fall in love. Her experience with him shatters her idea of what relationships are. Like a young person embarking in a new voyage she has too many expectations. Falling in love is certainly the issue, but what is heartbreaking about the movie is that love is not color blind. This movie shows you New York City at night and during the day. It opens its doors to the culture of those times. And, it is a graceful gem like Lelia and the music of Charles Mingus that will linger long after one sees, hears and feels it.
Hombre Mirando al Sudeste (Man Facing Southeast) by Eliseo Subiela. Imagine an extraterrestrial that arrives at a mental institution with the purpose to study human beings and ends up being destroyed by the system. This is the sci-fi you need to watch, it’s a condemnation of mankind. Rantes arrives one day on earth and checks into a mental where Dr. Denis works. At first the doctor doesn’t take him seriously, but a friendship develops between the two. Rantes also begins to grow bonds with the other patients. The rest of the doctors see him as a threat, and against Dr. Denis’s wishes they begin treating Rantes like the rest of the patients. They medicate him and give him shock treatments, and his deterioration begins. The end reflects our treatment of the most vulnerable and shows that despite the advances in science we have not advanced much in our sense of compassion nor humanity.
Sheer Madness is Margarethe von Trotta’s story about how a close friendship develops between an artist (Ruth) and a professor of Women’s Studies (Olga) who stopped her from committing suicide. Ruth’s brother hanged himself, and Ruth is traumatized by this event. She begins to open up to Olga after their encounter, they meet every day or at times she goes to hear her lectures. They unveil themselves to each other through words and very palpable emotions. Ruth’s husband begins to get jealous and begins to try to control Ruth’s life. At one point, angrily he asks her, “what does she give you that I don’t?” “She gives me time.” She answers. It’s a story of emancipation. Olga offers freedom, and it is only through this that Ruth can break her shell and kill her oppressive husband.
Soy Cuba (I am Cuba) by Mikheil Kalatozishvili where the imagery is wondrous and the plot an analysis of Cuba’s revolution with a mix of characters from farmers to university students. It influenced many American directors and viewers will soon understand why. The way Mikheil films heroic farmers like the one who set his cane fields on fire rather than give them to The United Fruit Co, or the brave students of the revolution, or those intoxicated American soldiers chasing Cuban women or the woman that still likes the materialistic things the U.S. offers. It´s a well-rounded anti-American movie and it’s beautifully filmed.
Blow-Up. Antonioni’s movie set in mod London about a fashion photographer who believes he was witness to a murder. Based on a story by Julio Cortázar Las babas del diablo. If you’re in the mood for great jazz music by Herbie Hancock, great photo shots of sexy models and a twisted plot, this film is calling you.
Memorias del subdesarrollo (Memories of Underdevelopment) is Tomas Gutierrez Alea’s masterpiece. Set in Cuba after the revolution, it is told from the perspective of an intellectual who did not fled to Miami like those around him.
Vagabond, here Agnes Varda tells the tale of a woman who freely wanders and drifts through life. She moves seeking freedom at all costs. But what can seeking liberation lead a woman to? She doesn’t care about the comforts in life she wants autonomy. Told in flashbacks from the time her frozen body is discovered to the people the documentarist interviews who met her in the last two weeks. Their words give shape to her existence, this is how we get acquainted with this vagabond. The intensity and exhaustion of life comes full circle in this documentary.
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Leticia Cortez is a teacher, writer, activist. She was born in Mexico, grew up in Chicago and has travelled the art world. She has worked at Truman College, Santa Fe H.S., and presently teaches Latin American literature at St. Augustine College.
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