I am afraid any list I compile will be seen as a little highbrow; but that is just me shooting very high and plucking true gems from the air.
This list is the absolue number one, and ten others ( I couldn't get down to 10, sorry) from a massive list . . . . . . . . . . .
1. Citizen Kane - 1941 - Orson Welles - Consistently voted best film of all time and for good reason - It IS!! A labyrinthine miasma of a script, filmed with fervour and a vision never before seen, and rarely since. Welles never read the a-z of filmmaking, and invented on the hoof. It's depths are unfathomable, it's span timeless. Kane has influenced films from The Godfather through Raging Bull to There Will Be Blood and beyond. The purest of all cinematic gems.
A Matter of Life and Death - 1942 - Powell & Pressberger - Fantasty and the unconquerable power of love writ large as only The Archers knew how . . .
Lawrence of Arabia - 1962 - David Lean - A wondrous life retold. The panoramas demand the 70 mm big screen and nothing less.
The Seventh Seal - 1957 - Ingmar Bergman - The alegorical take of a madieaval knights's search for the meaning of life - and death in the time of the black death. Broodily shot in striking black and white with a young and handsome Max Von Sydow in the lead. Much copied and parodied, it is subtly breathtaking......
Seven Samurai - 1954 - Akira Kurosawa - Possibly Kurosawa's masterpiece; though he created so many fine films it would be hard to choose an overall winner. An engrossing tale of self-sacrifice whose only reward is likely to be an honourable death. Set in 16th century rural Japan subtly blending human emotions with relentlessly exciting and innovative battle scenes it is an amazing film. It holds a speciial place in my heart as it was the first film I ever saw on the big screen at 6 years old, with my beloved Mum for whom it was a very special fim too. A re-run of a masterpiece in a gas-lit victorian cinema now long gone is an experience one never forgets.
Red Desert - 1964 - Michelangelo Antonioni - The dystopian view of a disaffected woman's life in a bleak industrial landscape. A simple tale of a woman, played by a radiant Monica Vitti hiding her disinitegrating grip on reality from her neglectful husband and those around her. Oddly spellbinding.
The Green Ray - 1986 - Eric Rohmer - a slow and beautiful narrative take, with much improvised dialogue, on youthful love and life - and, of course, the - Green Ray at sunset. A totally beautiful, gentle film.
Alphaville - 1964 - Jean-Luc Godard - A detective story set in a dystopian city of the future where love has been outlawed and life is controlled by a giant computer Alpha 60. More Orwell than P K Dick it is an enthralling ride. With the wonderfully laconic Eddie Constantine,, and the luminous Anna Karina...
Cyrano de Bergerac - 1990 - Jean-Paul Rappeneau - For everyone who has had an unrequited love Cyrano is the hero of the hour (2 hours and 17 minutes of sheer joy actually) A true swashbuckling hero and poet. Beautifully shot and acted. The english subtitles are by Anthony Burgess in the original Alexandrine rhyming couplets of 12 syllable lines. A beautiful film. If you don't cry at thee climax you have a heart of stone.
8 and a half - Federico Fellini - 1963 - Comedy drama about a famus film director's retreat into fantasy and memory - The remarkable Marcello Mastroianni and Claudia Cardinale - An absolute joy
The Conformist - 1970 - Bernardo Bertolucci - The story of a self-hating, sexually repressed/confused man desperate to fit into1938 fascist Rome, who is sent to Paris to kill his anti-fascist former college professor. One of Jean-Louis Trintingant's best performances in a chilling film full of vibrant colourscapes . Utterly compelling. But for this film Coppola, Scorcese, Spielberg et al may never have found a style to emulate.....
