[James Brancheau]

I saw the preview for A Ghost Story, Nemo, before some other movie I rented began. I was very intrigued, but had forgotten about it. Thanks for bringing it up. Will watch that for sure now. And Aaron, wow, really appreciate the links and recommendations. This is the kind of thing I was hoping for when I started the thread. Because I live in Asia (Taipei ), it is difficult to watch movies that aren't in Mandarin or English, unless I'm alone. So now I need to plan a trip for my girlfriend.

Maybe many of you are familiar with this, but I was surprised that I actually watched the whole thing. And enjoyed it.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koyaanisqatsi

[Aaron Novick]

Originally Posted by R. Nemo Hill

Godard is, ahem, well inside the ball park.

Nemo

I’ll put aside my impulse to indignantly disagree, and instead will simply note that it surprises me that you think this. Based on what you write, and what poems you’ve appreciated here, I would’ve expected that you’d much prefer Ozu to Godard.

[John Riley]

I was speaking of Godard's self-conscious style. How he does things such as not have the actors speaking face the camera and such. Much of it is brilliant and sometimes it isn't. Godard is a great director. He has a style different from Ozu and I prefer Ozu's but Godard made many great films if you're in the mood for him.

I agree about Bela Tarr, particularly the movies he made of Lazlo K.'s novels.

I have to mention Lubitsch and Preston Sturges. They made movies for the masses but "Little Shop" and "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" and "The Lady Eve" are brilliant and not as simple as they seem.

I remember being shocked deeply by Fassbinder's death in 1982. I was very enthusiastic about his work. Now I have a hard time making it through most of his films.

[Michael F]

I’m not as serious a cinephile as some of you, but I’ll pitch a few in. Good thread.

I know he’s reviled now, but Woody Allen made some great movies, “Hannah and Her Sisters” top among them, IMO. One of the best movies about love and relationships that I’ve ever seen. Giuseppe Tornatore's “Cinema Paradiso” is up there, too, as well as being seductively beautiful.

I try to see anything Almodovar comes out with. Part of it is nostalgia for when I lived in Spain and used to see him about Chueca, but I also admire his sense of humor, his irreverence, and his humanity. Not to mention his productivity.

Recent mainstream offerings I’ve really liked include “Boyhood”, “Trumbo” and “Maudie”. Going back a bit, Baz Luhrman’s “Strictly Ballroom” is still one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen, and Joe Wright’s theatrical “Anna Karenina” is two hours of visual ecstasy with an (obviously) great story, though audiences and a lot of critics hated it. “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” is good for whenever I need a cry, and to see DiCaprio and Depp in really fine performances.

[Brian Watson]

I'll throw in a couple recent films that have wowed me:
Heart of a Dog (Anderson, 2015). A discursive memoir/essay in the style of Chris Marker, loosely centered around her beloved Lolabelle. Affecting and strange. Some passages remain strongly hypnotic after seeing this twice in the theaters and twice more at home. Worth it, if nothing else, for the extraordinary stories of her childhood revealed toward the end! (Note there is another, differently sublime Heart of a Dog, Bortko's 1988 adaptation of the Bulgakov classic).
Certain Women (Reichardt, 2016). Perhaps Reichardt's best. A delicate interweaving of three short stories by Maile Meloy, who is recommended equally warmly. The effect of this quiet, somewhat rueful film is oddly tonic and buoying. Try it out.

[Cally Conan-Davies]

Well, I'll plunge in here by offering a list like my list on the poems thread. There are countless films I love -- that list would be inexhaustible. So I offer the films that rise up as films that have changed me. Somehow, I was a different human at the end of the film than I was at the start. That's what I ask of all art, really. Change me.

‎Krzysztof Kieslowski -- Dekalog. (This may be cheating -- it's ten one hour films. This work is formative, for me. If I had to choose one other of his, it would be Three Colours: Blue)

Terence Davies -- Distant Voices, Still Lives (I love him and everything he's done -- but this film? Again, formative)

Tarkovsky -- The Mirror (I can't stop seeing into it)

Bae Yong-kyun -- Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East? (Maybe this one altered something in me more than any other--it was the beginning of the learning of patience.)

Denys Arcand -- The Barbarian Invasions (I never expected the effect of this one)

David Lowery -- A Ghost Story (As deep and beautiful as poetry)

Stanley Kubrick -- 2001: A Space Odyssey (When I first saw it, the street was different when I came out into the light again)

Jane Campion -- An Angel at My Table (Something broke in me)

Looking at this list now that I've written it down -- makes me want to cry with gratitude.

[Jayne Osborn]

Ecky thump! ...as they exclaim in Yorkshire. So many good films... and only one lifetime!

I'll be coming back to this list for ages, following up on some of the recommendations/endorsements of many films I've never even heard of. Thank you all.

Jayne

[Quincy Lehr]

Count me as pro-Godard, especially in the lead-up to his Djiga Vertov phase. Vertov is also one good director. (As are Kuleshov and Eisenstein and Tarkovsky and many other Soviet directors.) As is Aki Kaurismäki, whose Leningrad Cowboys Go America is one of my very favorite films. I'd be lying if I said I didn't go back to George Lucas's original Star Wars trilogy a lot (and for that matter, didn't find the prequels to be interesting failures--The Force Awakens and Last Jedi were muck, though Rogue One and Solo were better). Bruce Robinson has done some brilliant films (Withnail and I is probably my second-favorite movie). Weird Al's UHF (dir. Jay Levey, if you were wondering) is also some fine cinema.

[Aaron Novick]

I enjoy Godard's films, to be clear. I simply think the gap between him and Ozu is substantial.

Cally, Mirror is my favorite film. I got to see Stalker on the big screen in Pittsburgh recently, too—astonishing.

[John Riley]

Early David Lean films of works by Noel Coward are sublime, particularly “Brief Encounter.”

Several movies from the Italian neo-realism movement.

Bresson, Tarkovsky, and Wenders’ “Winfs of Desire.”

There are so many great films