Flipside Movie Emporium

The Third M?n · Posted: 09.18.2003 12:36 pm Post subject: Visually Striking films

Here's a list of films I've seen that have struck me with their sheer visual power:

The Seventh Seal

The Matrix

Hulk

Lawrence of Arabia

Requiem for a Dream

Pi

Vertigo

Batman

Se7en

2001: A Space Odyssey

The Third Man

Citizen Kane

The Shining

Fight Club

Unbreakable

I'm pretty certain there's more but that's all I can think of at the moment. Feel free to share your thoughts. Discuss.

juhsstin · Camera Operator Joined: 07 Jul 2003 Posts: 87

LOTR

i've always liked sam raimi's camera work, just to name one director
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matt header · Posted: 09.19.2003 4:59 pm Post subject:

Well, here are the ones I would add that just stunned me in terms of their sheer visual beauty:

"Apocalypse Now" (Francis Ford Coppola)

"Brazil" (Terry Gilliam)

"The Bride With White Hair" (Ronnie Yu)

"The Cell" (Tarsem)

"The City of Lost Children" (Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro)

"A Clockwork Orange" (Stanley Kubrick)

"Color of Paradise" (Majid Majidi)

"Dark City" (Alex Proyas)

"Days of Heaven" (Terrence Malick)

"Dead Man" (Jim Jarmusch)

"Diva" (Jean-Jacques Beineix)

"8 1/2" (Federico Fellini)

"Fantasia" (Walt Disney)

"George Washington" (David Gordon Green)

"The Girl on the Bridge" (Patrice Leconte)

"Hero" (Zhang Yimou)

"Japon" (Carlos Reygadas)

"Kill, Baby...Kill!" (Mario Bava)

"Le Samourai" (Jean-Pierre Melville)

"Little Otik" (Jan Svankmajer)

"Lost Highway" (David Lynch)

"M" (Fritz Lang)

"The Man with a Movie Camera" (Dziga Vertov)

"Metropolis" (Fritz Lang)

"Napoleon" (Abel Gance)

"Nosferatu" (F.W. Murnau)

"O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (Joel Coen)

"Punch-Drunk Love" (P.T. Anderson)

"Ran" (Akira Kurosawa)

"Run Lola Run" (Tom Tykwer)

"Sex and Lucia" (Julio Medem)

"Sleepy Hollow" (Tim Burton)

"Spirited Away" (Hayao Miyazaki)

"Stop Making Sense" (Jonathan Demme)

"Suspiria" (Dario Argento)

"Time Out" (Laurent Cantet)

"Titus" (Julie Taymor)

"Toy Story" (John Lasseter)

"Vampyr" (Carl Th. Dreyer)

"Variations" (Nathaniel Dorsky)

"Waking Life" (Richard Linklater)

"Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" (Robert Zemeckis)

"Winged Migration" (Jacques Perrin)

"Yellow Submarine" (George Dunning)

The Third M?n · Posted: 09.19.2003 9:29 pm Post subject:

beltmann · Posted: 09.19.2003 9:32 pm Post subject:

I agree with nearly all of your choices, Matt--and I love that you included Stop Making Sense!--but I haven't seen Suspiria (I know, I know) or Japon. I missed Japon when it played at UWM because their website wasn't up and running yet! I had been checking the site frequently for the fall listings, and it wasn't posted until this week. I had also been excited to see September 11th, a film which I now realize I have actually missed twice--once when it screened at UWM, and once when it aired on Trio. Man.

There are so many films to praise for their visual qualities. Right now, I'm still grooving on the color gifts of Pistol Opera.

Eric

the night watchman · Posted: 09.20.2003 2:31 am Post subject:

You know, "visually striking films" are a dime a dozen anymore. For example, I just got back from seeing Underworld, a very mediocre movie at best, but, damn, was it pretty to look at. I'd think I'd have to really sit down and think of some movies whose cinematography was not merely superficially beautiful, but had some purpose, as well. Some good choices already mentioned are Sleepy Hollow, Brazil, Bride With White Hair, Dark City ... all right, all of them. Off the top of my head I'd add Blade Runner, Barry Lyndon, Eraserhead, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Vertigo (like I mentioned in another thread, the restored version made my eyes pop out).
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beltmann · Posted: 09.20.2003 3:12 am Post subject:

matt header · Posted: 09.20.2003 4:52 am Post subject:

I've seen only two movies by Yimou - "Hero" and "Raise the Red Lantern," both excellent - and in both I was astounded by the use of color. I can think of no other director who uses color symbolism to enhance his stories, it's really astonishing (and I'm definitely no expert on him - I can't wait to see more of his movies).

Speaking of "Suspiria" and "Japon," both of them struck me with their sheer vibrancy of color. The colors in "Suspiria" are probably scarier than entire scenes in other horror movies. The washed-out look in "Japon" is basically incomparable.

And, yeah, I missed "September 11" too! I was quite pissed; I couldn't decide whether to watch that or "Cremaster 3," and I ended watching neither. Bummer.

beltmann · Posted: 10.12.2003 1:44 pm Post subject:

We should add Kill Bill: Volume 1, which in terms of visuals and use of color often reminded me of Suzuki's recent Pistol Opera.

Eric

Rick · Grip Joined: 11 Nov 2003 Posts: 6

Matrix Reloaded

Saving Private Ryan

Blade Runner

Lord of the Rings: Fellowship

Singin' in the Rain

Raging Bull

Schindler's List

Lawrence of Arabia

Gladiator

Red Sorghum

Apocalypse Now

A Touch of Zen

2001: A Space Odyssey

Still a lot more I cannot think of right now

LadyProphet · Grip Joined: 24 Nov 2003 Posts: 1 Location: Miami

hi i'm new to this forum.....

i think that Moulin Rouge, Romeo and Juliet, Finding Nemo, The Matrix Reloaded and The Nightmare Before Xmas are visually beautiful.
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dsongman · Grip Joined: 19 Dec 2003 Posts: 1

i recently netflixed the anime samurai x ova's. the first two (trust and betrayal) were among the most visually striking films i've seen. the other two didn't stand up for me, but you can get them together in a two-hour director's cut edition [netflix].

btw: love the site and board. :) i would love links to all your personal sites.

matt header · Posted: 12.19.2003 5:53 pm Post subject:

Welcome to the board!

I would love to have a personal site to post all of my reviews/ramblings, but I'm fairly computer-illiterate and wouldn't know where to begin starting one. I'll have to take a class one of these days...

a35mmlife · Grip Joined: 06 May 2005 Posts: 20

matt header · Posted: 06.16.2005 6:31 pm Post subject:

Yeah, I had heard it was not made for very much, which makes me like the film even more. Whenever anybody brings up cinematic poetry, "George Washington" is usually the first film I think of.

Have you seen "All the Real Girls" or "Undertow"?
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