Run The Director Challenge (Official, February 2021)

[ChrisReynolds]

Dario Argento
13 films on official lists



3 Key Films:
Suspiria (1977) - 15 official lists
Profondo rosso / Deep Red (1975) - 6 official lists
L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo / The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) - 5 official lists

3 Key Auteurial Trademarks

• Almost exclusively works in the giallo and supernatural subgenres of horror.
• Intensely colourful and striking imagery combined with elaborate camerawork.
• A focus on suspenseful chases and protracted sadistic murder scenes.

Films watched for this challenge



1. Non ho sonno / Sleepless (2001) 273 checks, 0 official lists
The decline in quality towards the end of Argento's career is well-known, but there were three films in this 2000s period that I haven't watched. Sleepless was marketed as a return to form after his trashy Phantom of the Opera, and the first 20 minutes genuinely feels like it; a protracted stalk and slash sequence that isn't up there with his classic work, but is still a skilful series of scenes that consistently raise suspense and horror. Regrettably, the rest of the movie isn't nearly as good, with a few cool stylistic flourishes (mostly during the murder scenes), but a lot of bad acting and workmanlike directing that let it down.
5/10



2. Il cartaio / The Card Player (2004) 265 checks, 0 official lists
Do you remember that Diane Lane thriller Untraceable, where she has to stop a serial killer who's livestreaming his murders on the web? You probably don't either because you couldn't be bothered to see it or you did but forgot the details because it was rubbish. Anyway, The Card Player is very similar, but prefigures it by four years and isn't as good. It's like watching something from a totally different director: unthrilling suspense scenes, bad acting, and a central gimmick where the cops have to play online poker with the killer for the victim's lives, but it's totally botched because it's five card draw with no ante, reducing it to a childish game of pure luck, yet the film acts like there's massive amounts of skill involved. The only flashes of style I noticed were a sequence where the killer stalks the cop inside her house and a bit where Liam Hemsworth is walking through a garden filled with floating thistle seeds.
3/10



3. Ti piace Hitchcock? / Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005) 174 checks, 0 official lists
An improvement after The Card Player, this has a solid script that mixes together a lot of homages to classic Hitchcock films, which are fun to spot. It seems very remiscent of something Brian de Palma would make, except de Palma would probably have done it better. Argento though seems rather uninterested in the material, with the set pieces filmed in a competent but unambitious style. Like with the other films here there's a lot of bad acting, and unlike the other films here, the violence is toned down and brief. I might have rated this a bit higher, but it also suffers from a particularly unlikeable hero: a creepy and pretentious voyeur who spends a lot of his screentime whining at people.
4/10



4. La terza madre / Mother of Tears (2007) 780 checks, 1 official list Rewatch
I didn't like this the first time I saw it, but I'm inclined to appreciate it more on a revisit. I think this is the most ambitious of these four, and it seems to an extent Argento is trying to recreate the style of his classics but can't manage it. A scene where Asia Argento has to wade through a pool full of decayed corpses is a copy of the same scene with Jennifer Connelly in Phenomena, but the realisation in the original was so much better. At least the cinematography and lighting are above average throughout. It also has a few decent suspense scenes and some horrific murders, which make up for the lack of style but ramping up the gore and absurdity. Problems abound, however, including silly witches who look like a drunken gang of goths, a rushed and easy ending, and tacky CGI.
5/10

[frbrown]

Finally finished my first run


BLAKE EDWARDS

1. The Great Race (1965)
2. What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966)
3. Gunn (1967)
4. The Return of the Pink Panther (1975) [Christopher Plummer ]

Three comedies and one crime movie (Gunn), and even that one has a lot of humour. Unlike Obgeoff, I think Edwards is a great comedy director, and not so good with (melo)drama. I didn't watch any of the latter for this run, but I remember being underwhelmed by Breakfast at Tiffany's and Days of Wine and Roses when I watched them years ago. And judging from Gunn (and the TV show it was spun from) and Experiment in Terror, Edwards also had a talent for thrillers.

[AB537]

Director #1: Francois Truffaut (TSPDT #23)

1. La peau douce - The Soft Skin (1964) 8/10 ... now in a close contest with La sirène du Mississippi - Mississippi Mermaid for my favourite Truffaut
2. La Mariée était en noir - The Bride Wore Black (1968) 7.5/10
3. Vivement dimanche! - Confidentially Yours (1983) 7/10

A strong group from a director who continues to move up my list as I explore more of his filmography. He's too prominent to have films trickle down to the 500<400 list, but still quite a few underseen gems with less than 2K checks.

[flavo5000]

Masters of Horror Presents:
Larry Cohen

In the last Run the Director Challenge, I profiled several directors featured in the Showtime Masters of Horror series, and so I thought this year I would continue the trend starting with eccentric and devilish B-picture maven Larry Cohen. Cohen’s films have a creative energy that is rarely seen with budgets as low as he often works with. From a stop-motion prehistoric bird terrorizing New York in Q to The Stuff, his darkly comedic satire of consumerism that doubles as a riff on The Blob, to the messianic mass killings of God Told Me To, Cohen’s visions are wholly his and completely unique. While Cohen passed away two years ago, he leaves a lasting legacy of fun and inventive films that are sure to entertain anyone willing to check them out.


41. It Lives Again (1978)
The first It’s Alive film had an interesting release history. After initially being dumped onto the market with little advertising by Warner Bros. in 1974, it was re-evaluated after a change in leadership in 1977 and re-released in theaters gaining back a decent profit in its second life. This resurrection of that adorable mutant baby, a Rick Baker creation, gave Cohen the support to make a sequel which arrived a year later. It Lives Again basically picks up where the previous film left off with Frank, the father of the baby in the first film, heading to Seattle to help the parents of another mutant baby soon to be born. While the first film felt very localized as a one-off incident, the second film really opens up a world where mutant babies are cropping up on a more regular basis, hinting that it may be caused by an evolutionary trait as a result of chemicals, drugs and pollutants that humans have introduced into the populace over the years. It doesn’t really elaborate on that concept much unfortunately and instead is more of a seek-and-destroy film with three monster babies instead of one. It’s a fun film if you liked the first one but does end up feeling a little like more of the same toward the end.

42. Perfect Strangers (1984)
This is a bit of an odd one for Cohen. The film plays out like a cross between Sleeping with the Enemy and Ransom of Red Chief about a killer who attempts to ingratiate himself with a woman and child who witnessed him murdering someone. It has a strange tone that seesaws between Cohen’s usual tongue-in-cheek but played straight style, particularly when the kid is kidnapped, and a more overtly serious early ‘90s thriller. It is also shot with a very hazy soft filter not unlike Lucio Fulci’s Conquest that makes it look like it could turn into a softcore porn at any moment. Perfect Strangers isn’t without merit, but it feels like something of an anomaly in Cohen’s catalog.

43. Full Moon High (1981)
Man, the creators of Teen Wolf owe Larry Cohen some residuals. Basically Teen Wolf is ripped off wholesale from Full Moon High complete with the werewolf playing basketball in the big game in the climax. As far as Full Moon High goes on its own, it’s a decent effort being Cohen’s first full-blown comedy. Adam Arkin (son of Alan, who also shows up in here) has a nice sense of comic timing and Ed MacMahon as his blusterous father makes for a good counterpoint. As opposed to Teen Wolf, Full Moon High actually does have horror elements, landing it somewhere between the wacky antics of Teen Wolf and a more serious horror comedy like American Werewolf in London (released the same year).

44. Special Effects (1984)
Special Effects tells the story of a film director on the outs after a bomb and looking for new ideas to rescue his career. His state of mind leads him to murder an actress, giving him the idea to make a film that re-enacts the murder he committed while at the same time planting false leads to get the cops off his scent. This was something of a middling film for Cohen lacking his trademark humor and coming across more unfocused and sleazy than anything else. While Eric Bogosian does the best with what’s he’s given, the whole thing feels like some kind of Brian De Palma rip off with its voyeuristic themes of capturing murder and sex on film and dopplegangers which of course De Palma himself lifted from Hitchcock. While this might appeal to someone just looking for a few nasty kills or for fans of Bogosian, most Cohen fans can probably skip this one.

The Nexus of Power Compels Thee

Run #1: Steven Spielberg
1. Hook (1991)
2. Something Evil (1972)
3. The BFG (2016)

Run #2: Lamberto Bava
4. Body Puzzle (1992)
5. A cena con il vampiro a.k.a. Dinner with a Vampire (1989)
6. La casa dell'orco a.k.a. Demons III: The Ogre (1989)
7. Blasterfighter (1984)
8. Le foto di Gioia a.k.a. Delirium (1987)

Run #3: Terence Fisher
9. Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962)
10. Night of the Big Heat (1967)
11. Murder By Proxy a.k.a. Blackout (1954)

Run #4: Takeshi Kitano
12. Kikujirô (1999)
13. Ano natsu, ichiban shizukana umi a.k.a. A Scene at the Sea (1991)
14. Minnâ-yatteruka! a.k.a. Getting Any? (1994)
15. Autoreiji a.k.a. Outrage (2010)

Run #5: Steven Soderbergh
16. The Laundromat (2019)
17. Haywire (2011)
18. Eros (2004)

Run #6: Hershell Gordon Lewis
19. Scum of the Earth (1963)
20. Moonshine Mountain (1964)
21. The Ecstasies of Women (1969)
22. The Year of the Yahoo! (1972)
23. She-Devils on Wheels (1968)
24. Just for the Hell of It (1968)
25. How to Make a Doll (1968)

Run #7: Rintaro
26. Harmagedon: Genma Wars (1983)
27. Kamui no ken a.k.a. Dagger of Kamui (1985)
28. Down Load: Namiamidabutsu wa ai no uta (1992)
29. Yona Yona Penguin (2009)

Run #8: Steve James
30. No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson (2010)
31. Reel Paradise (2005)
32. Prefontaine (1997)

Run #9: Sidney Lumet
33. Night Falls on Manhattan (1996)
34. The Anderson Tapes (1971)
35. Daniel (1983)
36a. The Elgin Hour: Crime in the Streets (1955)
36b. The Challenge (1955)
37. Fail Safe (1964)

Run #10: Alexander Payne
38. The Passion of Martin (1991) #DDF
39. Citizen Ruth (1996)
40. Downsizing (2017)

Run #11: Larry Cohen
41. It Lives Again (1978)
42. Perfect Strangers (1984)
43. Full Moon High (1981)
44. Special Effects (1984)

[flavo5000]

Robert Bresson

Robert Bresson is considered one of the greatest French filmmakers who have ever lived. He crafted narratively simplistic films that were stripped bare of anything non-essential so as to convey the deeply humanistic emotional impact of the scenario envisioned. His films are often deeply tragic in nature but use the tragedy as an insight into man's spiritual nature. Bresson's aesthetic was as bare as his narratives with little in the way of fancy camera tricks and an emphasis on medium compositions so as to focus on dialogue and characters. He saw the actors more as models to be positioned and animated to create the parables in his mind. In fact, often his films relied on conveying the deep well of emotion in a given scene not by the actors emoting but by subtle actions and glances. Bresson's films are not always the easiest to watch and experience, but they leave a lasting impact on the soul.


45. Quatre nuits d'un rêveur a.k.a. Four Nights of a Dreamer (1971)
This film paints in subtle line work the story of a free-spirited artist who coaxes a girl from jumping off a bridge and befriends her. Over the course of four days as he aids her in attempting to communicate with her former lover who we see in flashbacks, he falls in love with her. It's a melancholy film that is as much about how fleeting joy is as it is about the stengthening of a relationship. Frankly while it has interesting ideas, I feel it is oddly unfocused at times for Bresson who is usually so measured with every line and shot as if his mind were elsewhere. Still it has many of Bresson's trademark touches and is still worth watching for those who have seen Bresson's more well-known films like Au Hasard Balthasar and Pickpocket.

46. Une femme douce a.k.a. A Gentle Woman (1969)
A Gentle Woman actually makes for an interesting pairing with Four Night of a Dreamer. Both were based on works of Dostoevsky and both feature prominently images of red scarves as a kind of symbol for fallow love. A Gentle Woman begins with a suicide, a melancholy and introverted woman. The film is constructed as a series of flashbacks as her husband thinks back on their relationship and what led up to the event. Their story is one of two puzzle pieces who don't quite fit despite their attempts to smash them together anyway. The woman feels internally empty, in a marriage that has trapped her, leaving her no outlets. I actually think between this and Four Nights a Dreamer that this is a better film. I feel like the narrative is very tight and by the end we understand everything needed to see the rationale for what transpired.

47. Procès de Jeanne d'Arc a.k.a. The Trial of Joan of Arc (1962)
It seemed inevitable that Bresson would tackle the story of Joan of Arc given his attraction to spiritual stories of tragedy. I think the biggest thing working against this film is Dreyer's absolutely masterful version of the story that overshadows all versions that have come after. Still, Bresson's version deals significantly with Joan's internal struggle. More than even Dreyer's version, Joan's submission and recanting of fealty comes across as a very human act which I think is at the heart of what Bresson is trying to do here. By showing Joan's humanity, we understand the weight of her eventual sainthood. We can relate to this person in a way we couldn't otherwise if she had been cast as a deeply devout and infallible acolyte. The allusions to the passion of Christ are I'm sure intentional and seem to be a way of Bresson working through his own internal spiritual feelings.

The Nexus of Power Compels Thee

Run #1: Steven Spielberg
1. Hook (1991)
2. Something Evil (1972)
3. The BFG (2016)

Run #2: Lamberto Bava
4. Body Puzzle (1992)
5. A cena con il vampiro a.k.a. Dinner with a Vampire (1989)
6. La casa dell'orco a.k.a. Demons III: The Ogre (1989)
7. Blasterfighter (1984)
8. Le foto di Gioia a.k.a. Delirium (1987)

Run #3: Terence Fisher
9. Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962)
10. Night of the Big Heat (1967)
11. Murder By Proxy a.k.a. Blackout (1954)

Run #4: Takeshi Kitano
12. Kikujirô (1999)
13. Ano natsu, ichiban shizukana umi a.k.a. A Scene at the Sea (1991)
14. Minnâ-yatteruka! a.k.a. Getting Any? (1994)
15. Autoreiji a.k.a. Outrage (2010)

Run #5: Steven Soderbergh
16. The Laundromat (2019)
17. Haywire (2011)
18. Eros (2004)

Run #6: Hershell Gordon Lewis
19. Scum of the Earth (1963)
20. Moonshine Mountain (1964)
21. The Ecstasies of Women (1969)
22. The Year of the Yahoo! (1972)
23. She-Devils on Wheels (1968)
24. Just for the Hell of It (1968)
25. How to Make a Doll (1968)

Run #7: Rintaro
26. Harmagedon: Genma Wars (1983)
27. Kamui no ken a.k.a. Dagger of Kamui (1985)
28. Down Load: Namiamidabutsu wa ai no uta (1992)
29. Yona Yona Penguin (2009)

Run #8: Steve James
30. No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson (2010)
31. Reel Paradise (2005)
32. Prefontaine (1997)

Run #9: Sidney Lumet
33. Night Falls on Manhattan (1996)
34. The Anderson Tapes (1971)
35. Daniel (1983)
36a. The Elgin Hour: Crime in the Streets (1955)
36b. The Challenge (1955)
37. Fail Safe (1964)

Run #10: Alexander Payne
38. The Passion of Martin (1991) #DDF
39. Citizen Ruth (1996)
40. Downsizing (2017)

Run #11: Larry Cohen
41. It Lives Again (1978)
42. Perfect Strangers (1984)
43. Full Moon High (1981)
44. Special Effects (1984)

Run #12: Robert Bresson
45. Quatre nuits d'un rêveur a.k.a. Four Nights of a Dreamer (1971)
46. Une femme douce a.k.a. A Gentle Woman (1969)
47. Procès de Jeanne d'Arc a.k.a. The Trial of Joan of Arc (1962)

[flavo5000]

Dario Argento
13 films on official lists




3 Key Auteurial Trademarks

• Almost exclusively works in the giallo and supernatural subgenres of horror.
• Intensely colourful and striking imagery combined with elaborate camerawork.
• A focus on suspenseful chases and protracted sadistic murder scenes.

Very nice write-up of Argento! I generally agree with you on all counts here. I think I might have given Sleepless maybe a 6/10, but while it was better than several of his other '90s efforts, it was a far cry from the likes of Deep Red or Suspiria. And The Card Player didn't even feel like it was directed by him. It just seemed so flat and lifeless, lacking in style.

[ChrisReynolds]

Previously watched...

1. Non ho sonno / Sleepless (2001) 273 checks, 0 official lists 5/10
2. Il cartaio / The Card Player (2004) 265 checks, 0 official lists 3/10
3. Ti piace Hitchcock? / Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005) 174 checks, 0 official lists 4/10
4. La terza madre / Mother of Tears (2007) 780 checks, 1 official list Rewatch 5/10

Jim Wynorski
1 film on official lists




3 Key Films
Chopping Mall (1986) - 1 official list
Not of This Earth (1988) - 0 official lists
Sorority House Massacre II / Night Frenzy (1990) - 0 official lists

3 Key Auteurial Trademarks

• Quickly and cheaply-made exploitation films aimed at hot trends in genre cinema.
• Comic-book-inspired visuals to emphasise excitement and energy.
• A focus on the female chest.

Films watched for this challenge


5. Chopping Mall (1986) 920 checks, 1 official list Rewatch
Often pointed to as one of Wynorski's best, I didn't think much of it when I first saw it, but this time I watched it on an Amazon Prime party and could appreciate it more. It's a very simple plot of teens staying overnight in a mall and battling killer robots, but it's done in a very fast-paced style that papers over the lack of characterisation. The best thing is how soaked in an eighties atmosphere the whole film is, with wall-to-wall pumping electronic music, neon and pastel colours, denim, mullets, you name it. A prime example of straight-to-video eighties genre film-making.
5/10



6. Deathstalker II (1987) 127 checks, 0 official lists
I maybe enjoyed this a bit more than Chopping Mall. It's a very generic eighties heroic fantasy at its core - a quest narrative with random fantasy encounters and a battle against an evil wizard at the end - but Wynorski's decision to play it as a comedy pays dividends, with a lot of tongue in cheek acting and cheesy lines that calls to mind the campiness of things like Xena Warrior Princess from the following decade. This contains the most female nudity out of the three Wynorski films here, but also seems to have an incongruous feminist subtext, with themes of female empowerment and self-determination. Possibly this is related to Wynorski's then-girlfriend, Monique Gabrielle, playing both the female hero and female villain (the wizard makes an evil clone of her).
5/10



7. 976-Evil II: The Astral Factor (1991) 78 checks, 0 official lists
The first 976-Evil was very bad and this isn't much better, with Wynorski taking over directing reins from Robert Englund, but the script pretty much ignores the plot of the first to do a Nightmare on Elm Street rip-off instead, complete with villain who is given cheap scar makeup on his face to imitate Freddy. Wynorski does seem to put in quite a bit of effort into this, staging some explosive action scenes and an inventive scene where one victim gets sucked into the black-and-white world of a television, but the script is so clumsy and predictable that that things never get going. Surprisingly, although there is a topless shower scene within the first minute, there is no other nudity in the film, but this film is towards the close of Wynorski's eighties genre phase, after which he moved into the straight-to-cable erotic thrillers of the early nineties.
3/10

[ChrisReynolds]

Very nice write-up of Argento! I generally agree with you on all counts here. I think I might have given Sleepless maybe a 6/10, but while it was better than several of his other '90s efforts, it was a far cry from the likes of Deep Red or Suspiria. And The Card Player didn't even feel like it was directed by him. It just seemed so flat and lifeless, lacking in style.

I do feel a bit bad writing up a bunch films from the decline of his career, though to be honest Sleepless and Do You Like Hitchcock exceeded my expectations. In case you're wondering, Argento knows these films are nowhere near as good as his best work. I've seen his biographer, Alan Jones, ask him on stage why he didn't pick any of his later films to show in a retrospective of his work and he just shrugged and smiled sheepishly. I think he lost a valuable collaborator when he split with Daria Nicolodi, and the modern Italian film industry doesn't have the resources he needs.

[Onderhond]

'Beat' Takeshi Kitano

Great introduction + review

[DudeLanez]

Nuri Bilge Ceylan

11. Kasaba [The Town] (1997) 7/10 #DDF
12. Mayis Sikintisi [Clouds of May] (1999) 7/10
13. Iklimler [Climates] (2006) 7/10

Spoiler

Kenji Mizoguchi
1. Genroku Chûshingura [The 47 Ronin] (1941) 7/10
2. Miyamoto Musashi (1944) 5/10
3. Uwasa no onna [The Woman of Rumour] (1954) 7/10
4. Saikaku ichidai onna [The Life of Oharu] (1952) 8/10
5. Yôkihi [Princess Yang Kwei-fei] (1955) 7/10

Herbert Achternbusch
6. Das Andechser Gefühl (1974) 7/10 #DDF
7. Die Atlantikschwimmer (1976) 6/10
8. Bierkampf (1977) 6/10
9. Das Gespenst (1982) 6/10
10. Heilt Hitler! (1986) 6/10

Nuri Bilge Ceylan
11. Kasaba [The Town] (1997) 7/10 #DDF
12. Mayis Sikintisi [Clouds of May] (1999) 7/10
13. Iklimler [Climates] (2006) 7/10

[sol]

Running on Directors

1. The House of 1000 Corpses (2003) Rob Zombie #DDF
2. The Devil's Rejects (2005) Rob Zombie
3. 3 From Hell (2019) Rob Zombie
4. Cop Land (1997) James Mangold
5. Logan (2017) James Mangold
6. Heavy (1995) James Mangold #DDF
7. The Roost (2005) Ti West #DDF
8. The Innkeepers (2011) Ti West
9. Trigger Man (2007) Ti West
10. Flodder (1986) Dick Maas
11. Quiz (2012) Dick Maas
12. Saint (2010) Dick Maas
13. Creep (2014) Patrick Brice #DDF
14. Creep 2 (2017) Patrick Brice
15. The Overnight (2015) Patrick Brice
16. Almost Human (2013) Joe Begos #DDF
17. The Mind's Eye (2015) Joe Begos
18. VFW (2019) Joe Begos
19. Bliss (2019) Joe Begos

20. Pod (2015) Mickey Keating
21. Darling (2015) Mickey Keating
22. Carnage Park (2016) Mickey Keating



Mickey Keating

Another indie horror director from whom I had seen nothing prior to this month, Keating caught my eye because of Carnage Park's placement in the TSZDT 1001-2000 list, and upon investigating what else he had done, I realised that one of those films was Darling (no, not the Julie Christie film), which I had heard tons of great things about.

The good news is that Darling is a fantastic film, easily among my top 10 first time viewings in 2021. For those who don't know, it is a Repulsion / Euradice tribute piece, but one that does its own thing with a bit of a Promising Young Woman vibe and some simply gorgeous and yet simultaneously unsettling visuals. Neither of his other films from this trio impressed me anywhere near as much, though I do think both are more worthwhile than their 4.something IMDb ratings.

Try to sum up Keating based on these very different films is tricky. One is a Repulsion tribute, another is a Most Dangerous Game riff and the third is X Files-ish. In all three films, Keating favours flashy editing though. He also strong on the general visuals; from Darling's stark black-and-white to the basement lighting in Pod, to the orange/brown filters in Carnage Park, these are all very distinctive-looking films. Thematically, all three films seem to have a pessimistic view on humanity. All three films though also have strong female characters, and in two of the cases, women who get the one-up over disgusting men.

[flavo5000]

Mickey Keating

Try to sum up Keating based on these very different films is tricky. One is a Repulsion tribute, another is a Most Dangerous Game riff and the third is X Files-ish. In all three films, Keating favours flashy editing though. He also strong on the general visuals; from Darling's stark black-and-white to the basement lighting in Pod, to the orange/brown filters in Carnage Park, these are all very distinctive-looking films. Thematically, all three films seem to have a pessimistic view on humanity. All three films though also have strong female characters, and in two of the cases, women who get the one-up over disgusting men.

Keating also has a way of making the most with a low budget, small cast and limited locations. I'm generally a fan of his stuff.

[jdidaco]

(Screenshots from 'Jungle Girl' & 'Saatvin Sair'),

Richard Myers

13. Deathstyles (Richard Myers, 1971) 9/10
14. Floor Show (Richard Myers, 1978) 9/10
15. Jungle Girl (Richard Myers, 1984) 8/10



Amit Dutta

16. Sonchidi (The Golden Bird, Amit Dutta, 2011) 7/10
17. Saatvin Sair (The Seventh Walk, Amit Dutta, 2013) 9/10
18. Agyat Shilpi (The Unknown Craftsman, Amit Dutta, 2017) 8.5/10

Spoiler

Johan van der Keuken

1. Dagboek (Diary, Johan van der Keuken, 1972) 9/10
2. De nieuwe ijstijd (The New Ice Age, Johan van der Keuken, 1974-79) 9/10
3. De tijd (Time, Johan van der Keuken, 1983) 8/10

R. Bruce Elder

4. She Is Away (R. Bruce Elder, 1976) 7.5/10 (13 min), Permutations and Combinations (R. Bruce Elder, 1976) 7/10 (7 min), Sweet Love Remembered (R. Bruce Elder, 1980) 7.5/10 (12 min), 1857 (Fool's Gold) (R. Bruce Elder, 1981) 8.5/10 (25 min), Work in Progress from Consolations (Love Is an Art of Time) (R. Bruce Elder, 1988) 7/10 (23 min) (Total: 80 min)
5. Lamentations a Monument for the Dead World (R. Bruce Elder, 1985) 9/10
6. Et Resurrectus Est (R. Bruce Elder, 1994) 8.5/10

Teo Hernandez

7. Corps Aboli (Teo Hernandez, 1978) 9/10 (16 min), Tables d'hiver (Teo Hernandez, 1979) 9/10 (29 min), Gong (Teo Hernandez, 1981) 9.5/10 (39 min) (Total: 84 min)
8. Cristaux (Teo Hernandez, 1978) 10/10
9. Lacrima Christi (Teo Hernandez, 1980) 9.5/10

Boris Lehman

10. Magnum Begynasium Bruxellense (Boris Lehman, 1978) 8.5/10
11. Couple, regards, positions (Boris Lehman & Nadine Wandel, 1983) 8/10
12. À la recherche du lieu de ma naissance (Looking for My Birthplace, Boris Lehman, 1990) 8/10

[jeroeno]

13. Manji (Yasuzô Masumura, 1964)
14. Nise daigakusei (Yasuzô Masumura, 1960)
15. Kyojin to gangu (Yasuzô Masumura, 1958)

Next up...a LOT of Johan van der Keuken films

[sol]

Keating also has a way of making the most with a low budget, small cast and limited locations. I'm generally a fan of his stuff.

I think you have a point about minimal locations. While none of the three films that I watched could be mistaken for a single location movie, they certainly all largely take place at one particular location. As for Keating overall, yeah I guess I'll check out more of his stuff when it becomes available. These three were all streaming on Shudder, so it was a no-brainer for me to check them out this month.

[flavo5000]

Keating also has a way of making the most with a low budget, small cast and limited locations. I'm generally a fan of his stuff.

I think you have a point about minimal locations. While none of the three films that I watched could be mistaken for a single location movie, they certainly all largely take place at one particular location. As for Keating overall, yeah I guess I'll check out more of his stuff when it becomes available. These three were all streaming on Shudder, so it was a no-brainer for me to check them out this month.

I've got the DVD of his last film Psychopaths but haven't had a chance to watch it yet (and it probably won't be this month since his first two films are harder to come by).

[flavo5000]

Hammer's House of Directors Presents:
John Gilling

John Gilling began his career in the late ‘40s directing, like many of his contemporaries, a series of B-pictures, mostly in the horror and crime genres until garnering the attention of Hammer with his film The Flesh & The Fiends which, while not produced by Hammer, did have many of the hallmarks of the studio with its lurid subject matter (based on the case of Burke & Hare) and the presence of Peter Cushing in the lead. Gilling would go on to direct several memorable films with Hammer including Plague of the Zombies and The Reptile. He would all but retire from the industry in 1975 but left a solid string of competent genre films that showed an economy of storytelling and an ability to stretch a budget. He may not have been among the most celebrated of Hammer’s directors, but his films still hold up after all these years. He must have been doing something right, yea?


48. The Night Caller a.k.a. Blood Beast from Outer Space (1965)
Scientists discover what seems to be a meteorite that has crashed in rural Britain but in the shape of a smooth sphere. After further analysis, they find it is actually an emissary from a moon of Jupiter. Before long, an alien is kidnapping women to use for nefarious breeding purposes and the scientists are at a loss on how to stop it. This one is interesting as being a film that feels very much like a Hammer film (much of it feels like a lost Quatermass film in fact) but was actually produced by Armitage, another UK studio. The directing is actually quite good in places with effective use of light and shadow to convey the mystery of the creature as well as odd camera angles to disorient the viewer at times. The film is a little too exposition heavy in places, but for British sci-fi veterans, this isn’t going to be a dealbreaker. John Saxon acquits himself well in his first of many sci-fi/horror roles, and I think in general this one is worth checking out.

49. The Mummy's Shroud (1967)
If you’ve seen the first two Mummy films from Hammer, you can probably guess how this one plays out. Some archeologists discover a forgotten pharaoh’s tomb after ignoring a local’s plea to turn back and that it’s cursed. Of course they cart the mummy back to the museum for further study, and naturally, someone reads the cursed oath that brings the mummy to life, leading to a killing spree of everyone involved in the expedition. The final act of this film is fine if you like some mummy murder action, but the film is agonizingly slow-paced in the first half. The directing also feels somewhat lifeless, strange since Gilling actually wrote this one himself. I would think he would feel a little more invested in the material.

50. The Shadow of the Cat (1961)
Beginning with a quote from Poe’s “The Raven”, Shadow of the Cat wears its Poe influence on its sleeve. While it isn’t a direct adaptation of Poe’s “The Black Cat”, the similarities are obvious with both this film and the original story using a cat as a plot device to convey the lead’s nagging guilt at a heinous act committed. In this film, a rich old woman is murdered by her butler after he forces her to make a new will leaving him her inheritance. The butler notices that a cat witnessed the murder and begins to obsess over his sole witness to his crime. As other deaths start to occur involving the cat, the butler’s paranoia begins to escalate, his fear of the cat growing with each act. The history of this film is a bit murky. Some sites including Wikipedia label it as a Hammer production but then others dispute this, declaring it an independent Bray Studios release. Either way, it’s a pretty entertaining film albeit a little on the silly side. Gilling’s direction is capable and well-suited to illustrate the protagonist’s growing mania.

The Nexus of Power Compels Thee

Run #1: Steven Spielberg
1. Hook (1991)
2. Something Evil (1972)
3. The BFG (2016)

Run #2: Lamberto Bava
4. Body Puzzle (1992)
5. A cena con il vampiro a.k.a. Dinner with a Vampire (1989)
6. La casa dell'orco a.k.a. Demons III: The Ogre (1989)
7. Blasterfighter (1984)
8. Le foto di Gioia a.k.a. Delirium (1987)

Run #3: Terence Fisher
9. Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962)
10. Night of the Big Heat (1967)
11. Murder By Proxy a.k.a. Blackout (1954)

Run #4: Takeshi Kitano
12. Kikujirô (1999)
13. Ano natsu, ichiban shizukana umi a.k.a. A Scene at the Sea (1991)
14. Minnâ-yatteruka! a.k.a. Getting Any? (1994)
15. Autoreiji a.k.a. Outrage (2010)

Run #5: Steven Soderbergh
16. The Laundromat (2019)
17. Haywire (2011)
18. Eros (2004)

Run #6: Hershell Gordon Lewis
19. Scum of the Earth (1963)
20. Moonshine Mountain (1964)
21. The Ecstasies of Women (1969)
22. The Year of the Yahoo! (1972)
23. She-Devils on Wheels (1968)
24. Just for the Hell of It (1968)
25. How to Make a Doll (1968)

Run #7: Rintaro
26. Harmagedon: Genma Wars (1983)
27. Kamui no ken a.k.a. Dagger of Kamui (1985)
28. Down Load: Namiamidabutsu wa ai no uta (1992)
29. Yona Yona Penguin (2009)

Run #8: Steve James
30. No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson (2010)
31. Reel Paradise (2005)
32. Prefontaine (1997)

Run #9: Sidney Lumet
33. Night Falls on Manhattan (1996)
34. The Anderson Tapes (1971)
35. Daniel (1983)
36a. The Elgin Hour: Crime in the Streets (1955)
36b. The Challenge (1955)
37. Fail Safe (1964)

Run #10: Alexander Payne
38. The Passion of Martin (1991) #DDF
39. Citizen Ruth (1996)
40. Downsizing (2017)

Run #11: Larry Cohen
41. It Lives Again (1978)
42. Perfect Strangers (1984)
43. Full Moon High (1981)
44. Special Effects (1984)

Run #12: Robert Bresson
45. Quatre nuits d'un rêveur a.k.a. Four Nights of a Dreamer (1971)
46. Une femme douce a.k.a. A Gentle Woman (1969)
47. Procès de Jeanne d'Arc a.k.a. The Trial of Joan of Arc (1962)

Run #13: John Gilling
48. The Night Caller a.k.a. Blood Beast from Outer Space (1965)
49. The Mummy's Shroud (1967)
50. The Shadow of the Cat (1961)

[klaus78]

Spoiler

1.-5. Stan Brakhage

The Wonder Ring (1955) 6/10
The Dead (1960) 7/10
Two: Creeley/McClure (1965) 6/10
23rd Psalm Branch: Part I (1967) 7/10
23rd Psalm Branch: Part II (1978) 7/10
Scenes from Under Childhood Section #1 (1969) 8/10
The Machine of Eden (1970) 8/10
Star Garden (1974) 6/10
Desert (1976) 8/10
The Process (1972) 7/10
Burial Path (1978) 6/10
Duplicity III (1980) 6/10
The Domain of the Moment (1977) 6/10
Murder Psalm (1980) 6/10
Arabic Numeral Series 12 (1981) 7/10
Visions in Meditation #1 (1989) 7/10
Visions in Meditation #2: Mesa Verde (1989) 6/10
Visions in Meditation #3: Plato's Cave (1990) 7/10
Visions in Meditation #4: D.H. Lawrence (1990) 7/10
Unconscious London Strata (1981) 7/10
Boulder Blues and Pearls and... (1992) 8/10
The Mammals of Victoria (1994) 6/10
First Hymn to the Night - Novalis (1994) 7/10
I Take These Truths (1994) 7/10
The Cat of the Worm's Green Realm (1997) 7/10
Yggdrasill: Whose Roots Are Stars in the Human Mind (1997) 7/10
...Reel Five (1999) 6/10
Persian Series #1 (1999) 6/10
Persian Series #2 (1999) 7/10
Persian Series #3 (1999) 7/10
Chinese Series (2003) 6/10

6.-8. Jacques Rivette
L'amour fou (1969) 7/10
Noroît (1976) 6/10
Paris nous appartient (1961) 8/10

[Lonewolf2003]

Updated the OP.

So the first scores are in.

Good new is, that I have my Excel running now. So should be less work and I will try to do updates more frequently. Let me know please if something is incorrect.

There are 16 participants so far in the challenges. In total we watched 243 movies from 57 different directors. There are only 2 directors that were watched by different users; Jean-Luc Godard and Blake Edwards, both by 2 users.

Flavo, of course, is in the lead in the overall leaderboard with 50 watches. Followed by Obgeoff with 28 and sol with 22 watches. Flavo not surprisingly also watched the most different directors; 13. Again followed by Obgeoff with 8 and sol with 7 different directors watched. But Klaus78 has the longest run with 31 watches from Stan Brakhage, followed by flavo and jdidaco with 7 watches from Herschell Gordon Lewis and R. Bruce Elder respectively. Sol has watched the most debut features; 5. Together we crossed off 22 from the TSPDT Top 250 Directors.

BONUS CHALLLENGE #2: Deep Top 5:

Rank	Participant	Director	Count
1.	klaus78	Stan Brakhage	31
2.	flavo5000	Herschell Gordon Lewis	7
3.	jdidaco	R. Bruce Elder	7
4.	flavo5000	Sidney Lumet	6
5.	jeroeno	Lino Brocka	6

BONUS CHALLLENGE #3: Wide Top 5:

Rank	Participant	Count
1.	flavo5000	13
2.	Obgeoff	8
3.	sol	7
4.	Lu-Chin	6
5.	jdidaco	6

BONUS CHALLLENGE #4: Directorial Debut Features

Rank	Participant	Count
1.	sol	5
3.	DudeLanez	2
2.	flavo5000	1
4.	Lu-Chin	1

Overall Leaderboard Top 5:

Rank	Participant	Count
1.	flavo5000	50
2.	Obgeoff	28
3.	sol	22
4.	Lu-Chin	20
5.	jdidaco	18

Most Watched Directors Top 5

:

Rank	Director	Count
1.	Stan Brakhage	31 Watched Titles The Wonder Ring (1955) I Take These Truths (1994) Unconscious London Strata (1981) The Dead (1960) Persian Series #1 (1999) Two: Creeley/McClure (1965) Visions in Meditation #3: Plato's Cave (1990) 23rd Psalm Branch: Part I (1967) The Mammals of Victoria (1994) 23rd Psalm Branch: Part II (1978) Yggdrasill: Whose Roots Are Stars in the Human Mind (1997) Scenes from Under Childhood Section #1 (1969) Persian Series #3 (1999) The Machine of Eden (1970) Visions in Meditation #2: Mesa Verde (1989) Star Garden (1974) Visions in Meditation #4: D.H. Lawrence (1990) Desert (1976) Boulder Blues and Pearls and... (1992) The Process (1972) First Hymn to the Night - Novalis (1994) Burial Path (1978) The Cat of the Worm's Green Realm (1997) Duplicity III (1980) ...Reel Five (1999) The Domain of the Moment (1977) Persian Series #2 (1999) Murder Psalm (1980) Chinese Series (2003) Arabic Numeral Series 12 (1981) Visions in Meditation #1 (1989)
2.	Jean-Luc Godard	8 Watched Titles Film socialisme (2010) Je vous salue, Marie (1985 Pravda (1970) Notre musique (2004)  Le livre d'image (2018 Le Gai Savoir (1969) Numéro deux (1975)
3.	R. Bruce Elder	7 Watched Titles She Is Away (1976) Lamentations a Monument for the Dead World (1985) Work in Progress from Consolations (Love Is an Art of Time) (1988) Permutations and Combinations (1976) Et Resurrectus Est (1994) Sweet Love Remembered (1980) 1857 (Fool's Gold) (1981)
4.	Blake Edwards	7 Watched Titles Days of Wine and Roses (1962) Gunn (1967) What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966) The Pink Panther (1963) The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)  Victor Victoria (1982) The Great Race (1965)
5.	Herschell Gordon Lewis	7 Watched Titles Scum of the Earth (1963) Just for the Hell of It (1968) She-Devils on Wheels (1968) Moonshine Mountain (1964) How to Make a Doll (1968) The Ecstasies of Women (1969) The Year of the Yahoo! (1972)

[monclivie]

What the.. it's February 7th, I came to post my first batch and someone already watched 50, also writing quite a review for each one? I understand that during the horror challenge, but sweet Jesus flavo!

Woody Allen
1. Irrational Man (2015) - 3/10
2. Wonder Wheel (2017) - 7/10
3. Don't Drink the Water (1994) - 6,5/10

I happened to have only three movies directed by him left to watch and it seems like not without a reason.. all landed in my bottom 5 of his works. Bummer.

[peeptoad]

1. Jacques Becker
Casque d'Or (1952) 8
La vie est à nous (1936) 5
Touchez pas au grisbi (1954) 8+ Gabin is really sexier than he ought to be

[Lonewolf2003]

What the.. it's February 7th, I came to post my first batch and someone already watched 50,

Welcome to the ICM Forum

[AB537]

Director #2: Ron Howard

4. Frost/Nixon (2008) 7.5/10
5. The Paper (1994) 6.5/10
6. Hillbilly Elegy (2020) 6/10

Realized I had an eclectic group of Howard's films saved in various places, and he'd therefore be an easy addition for this challenge. Frost/Nixon was easily the best of the three, and stands #2 after Rush in Howard's filmography for me. Hillbilly Elegy, while the weakest of the group, seems the most emblematic of Howard's style for me - based on an interesting story of someone's life, but told through a strong filter of Hollywood sappiness that makes the whole thing pretty forgettable (see also Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man etc.). If nothing else, this may nudge me to read the actual book, which is apparently excellent. Not much to say about The Paper, it's a frenetic account of a particularly crazy day at a small, struggling newspaper that is entertaining in parts but unlikely to leave a sustained impression.

There's probably not as much benefit in this consecutive viewing exercise for Ron Howard as some other directors, e.g. Francois Truffaut (my previous one), given that he's spent most of his directorial career working with big Hollywood studio budgets and its numerous production layers. This particular selection felt like three very different films that happen to have been directed by the same person, although perhaps a different group of Howard films would have been more cohesive given the range of dates and topics with these three.

[flavo5000]

What the.. it's February 7th, I came to post my first batch and someone already watched 50, also writing quite a review for each one? I understand that during the horror challenge, but sweet Jesus flavo!

Woody Allen
1. Irrational Man (2015) - 3/10
2. Wonder Wheel (2017) - 7/10
3. Don't Drink the Water (1994) - 6,5/10

I happened to have only three movies directed by him left to watch and it seems like not without a reason.. all landed in my bottom 5 of his works. Bummer.

I've actually been looking forward to this one. I like doing the director write-ups plus I have a massive DVD/Blu-ray collection that I'm trying to slowly whittle down (perhaps a little obsessive-compulsively...). I try to only go all-in on one of the three challenges to give other folks a chance (otherwise I'd be watching a lot of experimental and/or Benelux directors ).

[hurluberlu]

Todd Haynes

4. Safe (1995) 7
5. Wonderstruck (2017) 6+
6. Dark Waters (2019) 8

[flavo5000]

Yasujirô Ozu

Yasujirô Ozu is one of the most critically acclaimed directors in film history. His touching and tragic film Tokyo Story has graced many lists of the greatest films ever made, even topping some of them. Ozu started his career as a workman-like director for Shochiku Studios in the late silent era, directing close to 30 silent films before making his first talking picture The Only Son in 1936. While, like many directors in the studio stable during this time, Ozu worked in a variety of different genres, he produced a consistent tone and quality across them, emphasizing natural, bittersweet character moments and an emphasis on family. As he evolved his craft over time, he started to cement the aesthetic that would carry him through his career, composed of lower angle static shots with long takes and methodically paced dialogue. His wider medium shots that often exposed the ceiling of indoor buildings gave the locations a stronger sense of place beyond the artifice of a studio set which helped the viewer immerse themselves in the quiet complications that the people in his stories often found themselves in. Ozu’s influence and legacy is felt in a very wide array of films, whether its the quietly nuanced films of Hou Hsiao-hsien, the long static takes full of unspoken emotion in the films of aforementioned director Takeshi Kitano, the studied and meticulously framed dioramas of Wes Anderson or really just about every arthouse drama about dysfunctional families that bond over their shared pain and joy. Even though he never received wide praise in his lifetime, Ozu is certainly one of the most influential directors on modern indie cinema.


51. Tôkyô no kôrasu a.k.a. Tokyo Chorus (1931)
52. Dekigokoro a.k.a. Passing Fancy (1933)
It seems appropriate to discuss these two together given their similarities in theme and tone. Both Tokyo Chorus and Passing Fancy are ostensibly family-based comedies with narratives propelled by tragic situations. In Tokyo Chorus, it is the father of a family who thrusts his family into an uncomfortable situation when he protests against the firing of a co-worker and loses his own job in the process. In Passing Fancy it also concerns a father in an uncomfortable situation as he must raise his young son on his own with very little to live on. The major conflict here arises when he meets a young woman he falls for and the bond between him and his son is challenged by this interloper. Both films play out as sweetly melancholy slices of life with a strong focus on the bonds within the family and the external forces that seek to disrupt them. Both are also beautifully done films that work quite well as a double feature.

53. Hogaraka ni ayume a.k.a. Walk Cheerfully (1930)
Walk Cheerfully tells the somewhat cliched (even at the time) story of a hoodlum gangster who falls for a sweet, innocent girl who spurns his advances when she finds out what kind of guy he is, refusing to be with him until he truly becomes a better person. So he cleans up, gets an honest job and tries to do right by her. But if you’ve seen this kind of movie before, you know that his past will eventually try to catch up with him. Since Ozu was a director-for-hire at the studio in this era, he worked on several crime pictures that were quite different in tone to the types of films he would gravitate to in his later career with this one being perhaps the most uninteresting of the bunch I’ve seen. It’s perfectly fine and well-acted, but “perfectly fine” for an Ozu film is a pretty low bar.

54. Sono yo no tsuma a.k.a. That Night's Wife (1930)
That Night’s Wife is another crime picture of Ozu’s but one that I liked considerably better than Walk Cheerfully. It is shot very strikingly, presaging the film noir style by a decade with a more dynamic camera than Ozu would later employ. The plot itself is very basic with a cookie-cutter story of a man with a sick daughter who is pushed to steal money to provide for her who then must evade the police. The second half of the film shot primarily in a single location though is an excellent example of Ozu’s use of nuanced character work to convey hidden pain in the father and daughter as the police start to close in on him. Both this film and Walk Cheerfully seem to be highly western in their influence compared to Ozu’s more singular work later. While this film is certainly much different aesthetically compared to his post-war films, it’s still I think a good example of making do with what’s given.

The Nexus of Power Compels Thee

Run #1: Steven Spielberg
1. Hook (1991)
2. Something Evil (1972)
3. The BFG (2016)

Run #2: Lamberto Bava
4. Body Puzzle (1992)
5. A cena con il vampiro a.k.a. Dinner with a Vampire (1989)
6. La casa dell'orco a.k.a. Demons III: The Ogre (1989)
7. Blasterfighter (1984)
8. Le foto di Gioia a.k.a. Delirium (1987)

Run #3: Terence Fisher
9. Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962)
10. Night of the Big Heat (1967)
11. Murder By Proxy a.k.a. Blackout (1954)

Run #4: Takeshi Kitano
12. Kikujirô (1999)
13. Ano natsu, ichiban shizukana umi a.k.a. A Scene at the Sea (1991)
14. Minnâ-yatteruka! a.k.a. Getting Any? (1994)
15. Autoreiji a.k.a. Outrage (2010)

Run #5: Steven Soderbergh
16. The Laundromat (2019)
17. Haywire (2011)
18. Eros (2004)

Run #6: Hershell Gordon Lewis
19. Scum of the Earth (1963)
20. Moonshine Mountain (1964)
21. The Ecstasies of Women (1969)
22. The Year of the Yahoo! (1972)
23. She-Devils on Wheels (1968)
24. Just for the Hell of It (1968)
25. How to Make a Doll (1968)

Run #7: Rintaro
26. Harmagedon: Genma Wars (1983)
27. Kamui no ken a.k.a. Dagger of Kamui (1985)
28. Down Load: Namiamidabutsu wa ai no uta (1992)
29. Yona Yona Penguin (2009)

Run #8: Steve James
30. No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson (2010)
31. Reel Paradise (2005)
32. Prefontaine (1997)

Run #9: Sidney Lumet
33. Night Falls on Manhattan (1996)
34. The Anderson Tapes (1971)
35. Daniel (1983)
36a. The Elgin Hour: Crime in the Streets (1955)
36b. The Challenge (1955)
37. Fail Safe (1964)

Run #10: Alexander Payne
38. The Passion of Martin (1991) #DDF
39. Citizen Ruth (1996)
40. Downsizing (2017)

Run #11: Larry Cohen
41. It Lives Again (1978)
42. Perfect Strangers (1984)
43. Full Moon High (1981)
44. Special Effects (1984)

Run #12: Robert Bresson
45. Quatre nuits d'un rêveur a.k.a. Four Nights of a Dreamer (1971)
46. Une femme douce a.k.a. A Gentle Woman (1969)
47. Procès de Jeanne d'Arc a.k.a. The Trial of Joan of Arc (1962)

Run #13: John Gilling
48. The Night Caller a.k.a. Blood Beast from Outer Space (1965)
49. The Mummy's Shroud (1967)
50. The Shadow of the Cat (1961)

Run #14: Yasujiro Ozu
51. Tôkyô no kôrasu a.k.a. Tokyo Chorus (1931)
52. Dekigokoro a.k.a. Passing Fancy (1933)
53. Hogaraka ni ayume a.k.a. Walk Cheerfully (1930)
54. Sono yo no tsuma a.k.a. That Night's Wife (1930)

[flavo5000]

Gutter Trash Maestros Presents:
Roberta Findlay

The grindhouse exploitation movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s was, despite (or more likely because of) all the female flesh on display in the films of the time, very much a boy’s club with just a few exceptions. In addition to the likes of Doris Wishman and Stephanie Rothman, Roberta Findlay was a significant female voice in genre filmmaking during this time. Starting out co-directing films with her husband, weirdo roughie raconteur Michael Findlay (of the Flesh trilogy), after their divorce she set out on her own. Her solo output is in many ways more conventional than the strange, experimental trash produced with Michael Findlay, delivering fairly straightforward horror films like The Oracle and Lurkers, adult films like Altar of Lust and Angel Number 9 and the violent gang thriller Tenement. Her films are generally technically competent (although she seems oddly fond of EXTREME close-ups in her adult films), and while she may not be remembered as a masterful filmmaker to the general populace, she at least proved that women can be just as pervy and filled with blood lust as men which is certainly something to be proud of.


55. Anyone But My Husband (1975)
Anyone But My Husband is in many ways a pretty standard ‘70s narrative-driven porno. But if you look a little closer (woah! Not that close, Roberta!), there are touches that show a more grounded women’s point of view in places. For instance at the beginning of the film, the neglected housewife spends the evening cooking a meal for her husband (wearing nothing but an apron for some reason...) only to have him reject her and storm off when he gets home because unbeknownst to her he has spent the evening banging a bizarrely infantile woman. Upset and unsatisfied, she retreats to the bathroom with a champagne bottle, drinking it with a disdain for life that feels very real. Of course then she starts cramming it places it would not normally venture and...well… anyway… Basically, this incident sends her off on a journey of discovery with other partners to seek out pleasures she can’t find at home. For what it is, it’s fine. The acting isn’t actively awful like some and I don’t recall seeing any boom mikes drop into frame, so for an adult film, that sounds like a success.

56. Take Me Naked (1966) #DFF
Take Me Naked is the first film Roberta Findlay co-directed with her ex-husband Michael as well as starring in it. It is a very strange, obtuse, experimental film for most of its runtime. We hear a narrator reciting poetry that seems to be completely disconnected from what is occurring on-screen as a nude woman stretches in bed. The shots are almost entirely unconventional, fixating on aspects of the female form shrouded in shadow so out-of-context that at times it isn’t even clear what we are seeing. The narration seems to flow from man to women as if some obliquely metaphorical conversation is occurring we aren’t privy to the details of. In the last ten minutes, this sensual art film jarringly transitions into a very violent roughie as a man bursts into her room and begins beating and stabbing her to death. It left me feeling confused for so many reasons...

57. Blood Sisters (1987)
Blood Sisters is a pretty straightforward slasher about a sorority hazing ceremony gone awry. The sisters ingratiate their pledges by forcing them to perform a scavenger hunt in a spooky old former bordello rumored to be haunted by the ghosts of the prostitutes and johns that frequented the location. The girls have some frat boyfriends head to the house the night before to rig up a bunch of traps to scare the pledges, not realizing that there may be some truth to the rumors. Blood Sisters is a mostly forgettable trashy, late era slasher that would fit comfortably in a Greek-hazing-themed horror marathon with flicks like Hell Night and House on Sorority Row. Just don’t leave it for the climax. It isn’t as good.

The Nexus of Power Compels Thee

Run #1: Steven Spielberg
1. Hook (1991)
2. Something Evil (1972)
3. The BFG (2016)

Run #2: Lamberto Bava
4. Body Puzzle (1992)
5. A cena con il vampiro a.k.a. Dinner with a Vampire (1989)
6. La casa dell'orco a.k.a. Demons III: The Ogre (1989)
7. Blasterfighter (1984)
8. Le foto di Gioia a.k.a. Delirium (1987)

Run #3: Terence Fisher
9. Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962)
10. Night of the Big Heat (1967)
11. Murder By Proxy a.k.a. Blackout (1954)

Run #4: Takeshi Kitano
12. Kikujirô (1999)
13. Ano natsu, ichiban shizukana umi a.k.a. A Scene at the Sea (1991)
14. Minnâ-yatteruka! a.k.a. Getting Any? (1994)
15. Autoreiji a.k.a. Outrage (2010)

Run #5: Steven Soderbergh
16. The Laundromat (2019)
17. Haywire (2011)
18. Eros (2004)

Run #6: Hershell Gordon Lewis
19. Scum of the Earth (1963)
20. Moonshine Mountain (1964)
21. The Ecstasies of Women (1969)
22. The Year of the Yahoo! (1972)
23. She-Devils on Wheels (1968)
24. Just for the Hell of It (1968)
25. How to Make a Doll (1968)

Run #7: Rintaro
26. Harmagedon: Genma Wars (1983)
27. Kamui no ken a.k.a. Dagger of Kamui (1985)
28. Down Load: Namiamidabutsu wa ai no uta (1992)
29. Yona Yona Penguin (2009)

Run #8: Steve James
30. No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson (2010)
31. Reel Paradise (2005)
32. Prefontaine (1997)

Run #9: Sidney Lumet
33. Night Falls on Manhattan (1996)
34. The Anderson Tapes (1971)
35. Daniel (1983)
36a. The Elgin Hour: Crime in the Streets (1955)
36b. The Challenge (1955)
37. Fail Safe (1964)

Run #10: Alexander Payne
38. The Passion of Martin (1991) #DDF
39. Citizen Ruth (1996)
40. Downsizing (2017)

Run #11: Larry Cohen
41. It Lives Again (1978)
42. Perfect Strangers (1984)
43. Full Moon High (1981)
44. Special Effects (1984)

Run #12: Robert Bresson
45. Quatre nuits d'un rêveur a.k.a. Four Nights of a Dreamer (1971)
46. Une femme douce a.k.a. A Gentle Woman (1969)
47. Procès de Jeanne d'Arc a.k.a. The Trial of Joan of Arc (1962)

Run #13: John Gilling
48. The Night Caller a.k.a. Blood Beast from Outer Space (1965)
49. The Mummy's Shroud (1967)
50. The Shadow of the Cat (1961)

Run #14: Yasujiro Ozu
51. Tôkyô no kôrasu a.k.a. Tokyo Chorus (1931)
52. Dekigokoro a.k.a. Passing Fancy (1933)
53. Hogaraka ni ayume a.k.a. Walk Cheerfully (1930)
54. Sono yo no tsuma a.k.a. That Night's Wife (1930)

Run #15: Roberta Findlay
55. Anyone But My Husband (1975)
56. Take Me Naked (1966) #DFF
57.Blood Sisters (1987)

[DudeLanez]

Edgar Reitz

14. Mahlzeiten (Table for Love, 1967) 7/10 #DDF
(Award for Best First Work at the Venice Film Festival 1967)
15. Cardillac (1969) 7/10
16. Der Schneider von Ulm (The Tailor from Ulm, 1979) 6/10


Mahlzeiten (1967)

Spoiler

Kenji Mizoguchi
1. Genroku Chûshingura (The 47 Ronin, 1941) 7/10
2. Miyamoto Musashi (1944) 5/10
3. Uwasa no onna (The Woman of Rumour, 1954) 7/10
4. Saikaku ichidai onna (The Life of Oharu, 1952) 8/10
5. Yôkihi (Princess Yang Kwei-fei, 1955) 7/10

Herbert Achternbusch
6. Das Andechser Gefühl (1974) 7/10 #DDF
7. Die Atlantikschwimmer (1976) 6/10
8. Bierkampf (1977) 6/10
9. Das Gespenst (1982) 6/10
10. Heilt Hitler! (1986) 6/10

Nuri Bilge Ceylan
11. Kasaba (The Town, 1997) 7/10 #DDF
12. Mayis Sikintisi (Clouds of May, 1999) 7/10
13. Iklimler (Climates, 2006) 7/10

Edgar Reitz
14. Mahlzeiten (Table for Love, 1967) 7/10 #DDF
15. Cardillac (1969) 7/10
16. Der Schneider von Ulm (The Tailor from Ulm, 1979) 6/10

[Lu-Chin]

Spoiler

Arturo Ripstein
1. El castillo de la pureza (1973) 8/10
2. Profundo carmesí (1996) 8/10
3. El imperio de la fortuna (1986) 7/10

Chantal Akerman
4. Hôtel Monterey (1973) 5/10
5. News from Home (1977) 6/10
6. D'Est (1993) (1993) 6/10

Paul Verhoeven
7. De vierde man (1983) 6/10
8. Turks fruit (1973) 8/10
9. Zwartboek (2006) 8/10

Emilio Fernández
10. Víctimas del pecado (1951) 6/10
11. Enamorada (1946) 7/10
12. Pueblerina (1949) 5/10

Dardenne brothers
13. The Promise (1996) 8/10
14. The Kid with a Bike (2011) 8/10
15. Young Ahmed (2019) 8/10

Jean-Luc Godard
16. Numéro deux (1975) 4/10
17. Film socialisme (2010) 5/10
18. Je vous salue, Marie (1985) 6/10
19. Notre musique (2004) 7/10
20. Le livre d'image (2018) 7/10

Alfred Hitchcock
21. To Catch a Thief (1955) 7/10
22. Marnie (1964) 8/10
23. Spellbound (1945) 6/10

Dziga Vertov
24. Entuziazm (Simfoniya Donbassa) (1930) 7/10
25. The Sixth Part of the World (1926) 6/10
26. Three Songs About Lenin (1934) 6/10

Chantal Akerman
27. Je tu il elle (1974) 6/10
28. Toute une nuit (1982) 6/10
29. Nuit et jour (1991) 8/10

Michael Snow
30. To Lavoisier, Who Died in the Reign of Terror (1991) 2/10
31. Wavelength (1967) 3/10
32. Back and Forth (1969) 5/10

Stan Brakhage
33. Anticipation of the Night (1958) 5/10
34. The Text of Light (1974) 4/10
35. 23rd Psalm Branch: Part I (1967) 7/10 33 min
23rd Psalm Branch: Part II (1978) 5/10 31 min
Star Garden (1974) 5/10 22 min

Deborah Stratman
36. O'er the Land (2009) 7/10
37. The BLVD (1999) 6/10
38. From Hetty to Nancy (1997) 4/10

[jeroeno]

Two dutch directors in a row, I wonder if there's a BeNeLux challenge going on elsewhere on this forum

16. Het oog boven de put (Johan van der Keuken)
17. Dagboek (Johan van der Keuken)
18. Lucebert, tijd en afscheid (Johan van der Keuken)
19. De Platte Jungle (Johan van der Keuken)
20. I Love Dollars (Johan van der Keuken)
21. De Meester en de Reus (Johan van der Keuken)
22. De Weg Naar het Zuiden (Johan van der Keuken)
23. De Tijd Geest (Johan van der Keuken)
24. Het Witte Kasteel (Johan van der Keuken)

25. De Poes (Johan van der Keuken, 5 min)
Het Leesplankje (Johan van der Keuken, 9 min)
Paris a l'aube (Johan van der Keuken, 9 min)
Blind Kind (Johan van der Keuken, 25 min)
Even Stilte (Johan van der Keuken, 10 min)
Beauty (de Schoonheid) (Johan van der Keuken, 22 min)

26. Vakantie van de Filmer (Johan van der Keuken, 37 min)
Herman Slobbe (Johan van der Keuken, 29 min)
On Animal Locomotion (Johan van der Keuken, 14 min)

27. Sarajevo Film Festival (Johan van der Keuken, 14 min)
The Unanswered Question (Johan van der Keuken, 18 min)
Beppie (Johan van der Keuken, 37 min)
Bert Schierbeek/De deur (Johan van der Keuken, 11 min)

28. Amsterdam Afterbeat (Johan van der Keuken, 16 min)
Big Ben: Ben Webster in Europe (Johan van der Keuken, 31 min)
Vier Muren (Johan van der Keuken, 22 min)
Vietnam Opera (Johan van der Keuken, 11 min)

29. Onvoltooid Tegenwoordig (Johan van der Keuken, 9 min(
To Sang Fotostudio (Johan van der Keuken, 35 min)
De Muur (The Wall) (Johan van der Keuken, 9 min)
Velocity 40-70 (Johan van der Keuken, 25 min)
Temps/Travail (Johan van der Keuken, 11 min)

30. Medea (Frans Zwartjes)

31. Anamnesis (Frans Zwartjes, 16 min)
Spectator (Frans Zwartjes, 10 min)
A Fan (Frans Zwartjes, 6 min)
Sorbet '3' (Frans Zwartjes, 4 min)
Spare Bed-Room (Frans Zwartjes, 15 min)
Behind Your Walls (Frans Zwartjes, 12 min)
Bedsitters (Frans Zwartjes, 17 min)

32. Seats Two (Frans Zwartjes, 9 min)
Birds (Frans Zwartjes, 6 min)
Audition (Frans Zwartjes, 38 min)
Moving Stills (Frans Zwartjes, 7 min)
Visual Training (Frans Zwartjes, 8 min)
Living (Frans Zwartjes, 15 min)

[blocho]

Not much to say about The Paper, it's a frenetic account of a particularly crazy day at a small, struggling newspaper that is entertaining in parts but unlikely to leave a sustained impression.

Not for you, clearly, but it's an absolutely beloved movie among all of my journalism friends.

[Obgeoff]

Director #9 - Samuel Fuller

Previous Experience:
6 features, 1 @ 9, 4 @ 8, 1 @ 7

29. Park Row (1952, Fuller) 8
30. House of Bamboo (1955, Fuller) 7
31. Underworld, U.S.A. (1961, Fuller) 7
32. White Dog (1982, Fuller) 8

Captures worlds astonishingly well. Faces say multitudes in his films.

Director #10 - Louis Feuillade

Previous Experience:
1 serial @ 8

33. Fantomas - A l'ombre de la guillotine (1913, Feuillade) 7
34. Juve contre Fantomas (1913, Feuillade) 8
35. Le mort qui tue (1913, Feuillade) 7
36. Fantomas contre Fantomas (1914, Feuillade) 7
37. Le faux magistrat (1914, Feuillade) 7

Audience would have had much more familiarity with the source material than I have. Astonishing set pieces.

Director #11 - Victor Sjöström

Previous Experience:
2 features @ 8

38. Terje Vigen (1917, Sjöström) 9
39. Ingeborg Holm (1913, Sjöström) 8
40. Berg-Ejvind och hans hustru (1918, Sjöström) 7
41. He Who Gets Slapped (1924, Sjöström) 7

The muscularity and interaction with rugged landscapes were revelations for me. Will certainly revisit He Who Gets Slapped if it receives a restoration.

Spoiler

Director #1 - David Lean
1. Oliver Twist (1948, Lean) 8
2. Summertime (1955, Lean) 8
3. Ryan's Daughter (1970, Lean) 7
4. A Passage to India (1984, Lean) 7

Director #2 - Joseph L. Mankiewicz
5. A Letter to Three Wives (1949, Mankiewicz) 8
6. Julius Caesar (1953, Mankiewicz) 8
7. Cleopatra (1963, Mankiewicz) 7
8. Sleuth (1972, Mankiewicz) 7

Director #3 - Abel Ferrara
9. Ms .45 (1981, Ferrara) 8
10. The Addiction (1995, Ferrara) 6
11. New Rose Hotel (1998, Ferrara) 7

Director #4 - John Milius
12. Big Wednesday (1978, Milius) 6
13. Conan the Barbarian (1982, Milius) 6
14. Red Dawn (1984, Milius) 2

Director #5 - Blake Edwards
15. Days of Wine and Roses (1962, Edwards) 8
16. The Pink Panther (1963, Edwards) 6
17. Victor Victoria (1982, Edwards) 7

Director #6 - King Vidor
18. Hallelujah (1929, Vidor) 8
19. The Champ (1931, Vidor) 7
20. Our Daily Bread (1934, Vidor) 8
21. War and Peace (1956, Vidor) 7

Director #7 - Frank Borzage
22. A Farewell to Arms (1932, Borzage) 7
23. Man's Castle (1933, Borzage) 7
24. The Mortal Storm (1940, Borzage) 9

Director #8 - Henry King
25. State Fair (1933, King) 6
26. Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938, King ) 7
27. The Song of Bernadette (1943, King) 7
28. Twelve O'Clock High (1949, King) 8

Director #9 - Samuel Fuller
29. Park Row (1952, Fuller) 8
30. House of Bamboo (1955, Fuller) 7
31. Underworld, U.S.A. (1961, Fuller) 7
32. White Dog (1982, Fuller) 8

Director #10 - Louis Feuillade
33. Fantomas - A l'ombre de la guillotine (1913, Feuillade) 7
34. Juve contre Fantomas (1913, Feuillade) 8
35. Le mort qui tue (1913, Feuillade) 7
36. Fantomas contre Fantomas (1914, Feuillade) 7
37. Le faux magistrat (1914, Feuillade) 7

Director #11 - Victor Sjöström
38. Terje Vigen (1917, Sjöström) 9
39. Ingeborg Holm (1913, Sjöström) 8
40. Berg-Ejvind och hans hustru (1918, Sjöström) 7
41. He Who Gets Slapped (1924, Sjöström) 7

[sol]

Running on Directors

1. The House of 1000 Corpses (2003) Rob Zombie #DDF
2. The Devil's Rejects (2005) Rob Zombie
3. 3 From Hell (2019) Rob Zombie
4. Cop Land (1997) James Mangold
5. Logan (2017) James Mangold
6. Heavy (1995) James Mangold #DDF
7. The Roost (2005) Ti West #DDF
8. The Innkeepers (2011) Ti West
9. Trigger Man (2007) Ti West
10. Flodder (1986) Dick Maas
11. Quiz (2012) Dick Maas
12. Saint (2010) Dick Maas
13. Creep (2014) Patrick Brice #DDF
14. Creep 2 (2017) Patrick Brice
15. The Overnight (2015) Patrick Brice
16. Almost Human (2013) Joe Begos #DDF
17. The Mind's Eye (2015) Joe Begos
18. VFW (2019) Joe Begos
19. Bliss (2019) Joe Begos
20. Pod (2015) Mickey Keating
21. Darling (2015) Mickey Keating
22. Carnage Park (2016) Mickey Keating

23. Blackkklansman (2018) Spike Lee REVISION
24. Inside Man (2006) Spike Lee REVISION
25. Oldboy (2013) Spike Lee



Spike Lee

I had already seen most of Spike Lee's narrative movies, but with an unwatched Oldboy remake in my collection and with Blackkklansman being a key subject of an upcoming forum podcast, this seemed like a good month for a first-time-view and rewatch respectively. I also decided to throw Inside Man into the ring for a rewatch. Why? Well, Oldboy had always sounded like Spike Lee's least typical film to date, and I recalled Inside Man being a pretty unusual joint too, so here we are.

The interesting thing about Inside Man is how well it actually sits alongside other Lee joints with its look at racism. It's actual not against blacks this time, but rather the police characters come under fire for racially profiling bank suspects as Arabs etc., while the whole Christopher Plummer subplot involving benefitting off racism without revealing too much. The film felt a bit long to me on rewatch, beefed up by exploring Denzel as a character despite being a complete dullard (it's Plummer, Foster and Owen who we want to know more about) but I liked it all the same. Blackkklansman was also equally powerful upon revision. The ending is awesome and still hits quite hard even with Trump no longer in office.

As for Oldboy, I don't know, it really is an odd outlier in Lee's filmography. No real racism themes or bombastic political messages. I assume Lee was just a massive fan of the original and didn't want anyone else to remake it (Van Sant's reasoning for redoing Psycho). I also read that the studio chopped off over half an hour of character building, which may have been interesting. The film as it is feels leaner and less energetic than the original. Less haunting ending too (Lee foreshadows things too much). It's been a good couple of years since I have seen the Korean original though, so I was at least able to enter the remake relatively fresh - i.e. I wasn't comparing and contrasting every small detail. It's a slickly made thriller, but a bit weird for a Spike Lee joint.

[sol]

Overall Leaderboard Top 5:

Rank	Participant	Count
1.	flavo5000	50
2.	Obgeoff	28
3.	sol	22
4.	Lu-Chin	20
5.	jdidaco	18

Thanks for the update. How fun that I started off in the top 3 for this Challenge. I'm already out of the top 5 and I don't think I'll climb back. Ah well.

[flavo5000]

Adam Green

Adam Green is one of the more prominent directors of the wave of horror that bounced back after the dearth of titles in the post-teen slasher revival boom of the late ‘90s/early ‘00s. His film Hatchet in 2006 was a love letter to the gory, practical effects driven slashers of the ‘80s and seemed an intentional rebuke to all the PG-13 horror that had been flooding the market the ten years previous. He proceeded to build a proper horror franchise around Hatchet monster Victor Crowley with four of them to date. He’s also directed well-received horror/thriller films such as Frozen, Spiral & Digging Up the Marrow as well as directed every episode of the cult TV series Holliston. His films often have a sense of humor to them while also retaining legitimate horror elements, and his films are often peppered with horror industry references, a wink and nod to his forbearers. Green has proven through the years that he’s a genre filmmaker to watch.


58. Hatchet II (2010)
Hatchet II is very much a “more of the same” kind of movie (Digging Up the Marrow even takes a swipe at it). In Halloween II-style, it picks up immediately where the previous movie left off with Marybeth (now played by a different actress, an upgrade in my opinion) escaping Crowley and making a beeline to Reverend Zombie (played by the always delightful Tony Todd again) who agrees to help her round up a posse of greedy thugs and go back to the swamp to eliminate Victor Crowley for good. As you can probably guess, they agree to split up (of course) and proceed to get murdered one by one. At that point, it’s more about the over-the-top effects (the double bottom-up chainsaw-in-half kill was a particularly fun one) and who’s going to get killed next. Green also casts several industry vets in extended cameos and supporting roles like directors Tom Holland and John Carl Beuchner that make for a nice easter egg for genre fans. Still, overall it’s a very straightforward, predictable gory slasher with a few chuckles. Nothing that’ll leave you blown away but is fine for a party watch.

59. Spiral (2007)
Spiral is a psychological thriller about a troubled artist whose chance encounter with a cheerful coworker leads to a relationship he feels unaccustomed to. As she gets closer to him, she undercovers some rather troubling things about him. This is a hard one to summarize because it relies on a series of twists to hammer home its story. Green actually co-directed this with Joel David Moore who had starred in the first Hatchet film and it does have a little different feel than most of Green’s other work. It’s not a bad film, but I feel like there are certain things that require too much of a leap of logic to be believable.

60. Digging Up the Marrow (2014)
Digging Up the Marrow is a mockumentary starring Green himself as he follows up on a strange communication received by a man named Dekker (played by Ray Wise who is always good to see on screen) who claims that he has witnessed monsters emerged from a hole in the ground at night and wants to work with Green to capture footage of them to prove their existence. This one is actually funnier than I would have expected. Green has a good sense understanding of the absurdity of the situation and Wise plays it very straight which go a long way toward bringing home the horror elements when they do kick in. While I wouldn’t call this a masterpiece, it’s a neat idea executed well with a quirky sensibility to it.

The Nexus of Power Compels Thee

Run #1: Steven Spielberg
1. Hook (1991)
2. Something Evil (1972)
3. The BFG (2016)

Run #2: Lamberto Bava
4. Body Puzzle (1992)
5. A cena con il vampiro a.k.a. Dinner with a Vampire (1989)
6. La casa dell'orco a.k.a. Demons III: The Ogre (1989)
7. Blasterfighter (1984)
8. Le foto di Gioia a.k.a. Delirium (1987)

Run #3: Terence Fisher
9. Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962)
10. Night of the Big Heat (1967)
11. Murder By Proxy a.k.a. Blackout (1954)

Run #4: Takeshi Kitano
12. Kikujirô (1999)
13. Ano natsu, ichiban shizukana umi a.k.a. A Scene at the Sea (1991)
14. Minnâ-yatteruka! a.k.a. Getting Any? (1994)
15. Autoreiji a.k.a. Outrage (2010)

Run #5: Steven Soderbergh
16. The Laundromat (2019)
17. Haywire (2011)
18. Eros (2004)

Run #6: Hershell Gordon Lewis
19. Scum of the Earth (1963)
20. Moonshine Mountain (1964)
21. The Ecstasies of Women (1969)
22. The Year of the Yahoo! (1972)
23. She-Devils on Wheels (1968)
24. Just for the Hell of It (1968)
25. How to Make a Doll (1968)

Run #7: Rintaro
26. Harmagedon: Genma Wars (1983)
27. Kamui no ken a.k.a. Dagger of Kamui (1985)
28. Down Load: Namiamidabutsu wa ai no uta (1992)
29. Yona Yona Penguin (2009)

Run #8: Steve James
30. No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson (2010)
31. Reel Paradise (2005)
32. Prefontaine (1997)

Run #9: Sidney Lumet
33. Night Falls on Manhattan (1996)
34. The Anderson Tapes (1971)
35. Daniel (1983)
36a. The Elgin Hour: Crime in the Streets (1955)
36b. The Challenge (1955)
37. Fail Safe (1964)

Run #10: Alexander Payne
38. The Passion of Martin (1991) #DDF
39. Citizen Ruth (1996)
40. Downsizing (2017)

Run #11: Larry Cohen
41. It Lives Again (1978)
42. Perfect Strangers (1984)
43. Full Moon High (1981)
44. Special Effects (1984)

Run #12: Robert Bresson
45. Quatre nuits d'un rêveur a.k.a. Four Nights of a Dreamer (1971)
46. Une femme douce a.k.a. A Gentle Woman (1969)
47. Procès de Jeanne d'Arc a.k.a. The Trial of Joan of Arc (1962)

Run #13: John Gilling
48. The Night Caller a.k.a. Blood Beast from Outer Space (1965)
49. The Mummy's Shroud (1967)
50. The Shadow of the Cat (1961)

Run #14: Yasujiro Ozu
51. Tôkyô no kôrasu a.k.a. Tokyo Chorus (1931)
52. Dekigokoro a.k.a. Passing Fancy (1933)
53. Hogaraka ni ayume a.k.a. Walk Cheerfully (1930)
54. Sono yo no tsuma a.k.a. That Night's Wife (1930)

Run #15: Roberta Findlay
55. Anyone But My Husband (1975)
56. Take Me Naked (1966) #DFF
57.Blood Sisters (1987)

Run #16: Adam Green
58. Hatchet II (2010)
59. Spiral (2007)
60. Digging Up the Marrow (2014)

[pitchorneirda]

Spoiler

Satoshi Kon

1. Perfect Blue (1997, Satoshi Kon) 8/10 -> only second animation movie to enter my favourites (after Jean-François Laguionie's Le Tableau)
2. Paprika (2006, Satoshi Kon) 6.5/10
3. Tokyo Godfathers (2003, Satoshi Kon) 5.5/10

Douglas Sirk

4. All That Heaven Allows (1955, Douglas Sirk) 6/10
5. Written on the Wind (1956, Douglas Sirk) 5/10
6. Imitation of Life (1959, Douglas Sirk) 7/10

Claire Denis

7. Chocolat (1988, Claire Denis) 4/10 #DDF
8. High Life (2018, Claire Denis) 3/10
9. Un beau soleil intérieur (2017, Claire Denis) 5/10 -> the only one to which I could connect a little but that's far from enough...uninteresting characters overall, but maybe that's the point?

Next : Zhang Yimou probably

[hurluberlu]

François Truffaut

7. The Man Who Loved Women / L'homme qui aimait les femmes (1977) 7
8. The Story of Adele H / L'histoire d'Adèle H. (1975) 7-
9. The Green Room / La chambre verte (1978) 6+

[flavo5000]

Kathryn Bigelow

Kathryn Bigelow is a celebrated American filmmaker who has mostly circled the action and thriller genres and is to-date the only woman to win Best Director at the Academy Awards. Her films are often at a crossroads of personal vision and Hollywood gloss and often feature methodically paced character building elements that lead up to explosive or intense sustained sequences of action and violence while also remaining grounded in reality. Her early career was marked by more genre work like the biker film The Loveless and her interesting take on the vampire mythos Near Dark. Since the ‘00s, she has become more and more interested in dramatizing real events, particularly ones that introduce elements of extreme tension. Thematically her films also tend to touch on race and gender politics but rarely in an overtly heavy-handed way. Aesthetically, Bigelow employs a lot of handheld camerawork and extensive use of steadicam to give the events a sense of immediacy and kinetic energy to propel the narrative forward aggressively. Bigelow has stated in interviews before she does not consider herself a “female” or “feminist” director and prefers to let her work speak for itself. She is a very strong talent that I feel has the potential to make a truly great classic of film in the future.



61. K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
This submarine-based thriller is a flawed but at times still gripping drama that showcases Bigelow’s skill at building tension. Unfortunately it also displays her tendency to spend too much time in the first act of the film losing focus on the crux of the story in service of character development that could have been tightened up. That isn’t to say a film shouldn’t have character building, but it felt like these characters were fairly well-established within roughly 30 minutes but we proceeded to get another 40 minutes or so of it anyway. Another common complaint with this one is the wildly uneven accents, particularly Harrison Ford who just randomly doesn’t even bother at times. Honestly, It’s mildly distracting at times but isn’t a deal breaker for me. Still, once the film kicks into suspense mode in the back half as the reactor begins to malfunction, Bigelow ratchets up the intensity a great deal making for a very compelling watch. I think if the film had tightened up its first half more (and maybe cast actual Russians), this would’ve been a slam dunk.

62. The Weight of Water (2000)
The Weight of Water tells the story of a mysterious double murder that happened on a small island off the coast of New Hampshire in 1873 intercut with a modern-day trip to the island by a married couple and the brother of the husband and his girlfriend as the wife of the couple seeks to research more into what happened that fateful day over a hundred years prior. When the husband starts flirting with the girlfriend and emotions start boiling over, a storm erupts sending them into a literal and metaphorical hailstorm not unlike the past events that brought them to the island to begin with. I think this may be the weakest film in Bigelow’s filmography I’ve seen. The narrative feels very haphazard and meandering for three-quarters of the movie. While climax featuring the big storm crosscut with the double murder makes for an engaging technical achievement capturing some of that intensity that Bigelow is known for, the film hasn’t really done the proper legwork to pull the disparate stories together cohesively enough to where the climax actually feels satisfying. This is certainly the least essential film in Bigelow’s catalog.

63. Detroit (2017)
At a macro level, the film Detroit centers on the infamous Detroit riots of 1967 that set the city ablaze amidst civil unrest. At a more micro level though, it initially follows several different characters including a singer for the Motown group The Dramatics, a young, white, headstrong cop who has already shown a “shoot first, ask questions later” tendency even before the central events of the film take place and a black security security guard protecting a grocery store. These characters all converge on a nightmare night at the Algiers Hotel after an alleged shooting in the area brings in the Detroit police in full force. With people’s nerves already frayed and then the situation exacerbated by Larry Reed of the Dramatics and his friend picking up a couple of white girls which is then rather poorly received by a couple of the more racist cops involved, the situation escalated into a hellish situation showing cops completely out of control and using violence and threats of death to find out where the gun is that fired the shots that brought them there in the first place. The middle hour of this film depicting the incident playing out in near real time is as intense and nerve-jangling as anything Bigelow has done, showing a master filmmaker at work. The film does suffer from (once again) a protracted first and third act that could’ve been tightened up to make the impact of the events even more heightened. Still, I thought this was a very good film and certainly deserving of more attention than it received on its initial release.

The Nexus of Power Compels Thee

Run #1: Steven Spielberg
1. Hook (1991)
2. Something Evil (1972)
3. The BFG (2016)

Run #2: Lamberto Bava
4. Body Puzzle (1992)
5. A cena con il vampiro a.k.a. Dinner with a Vampire (1989)
6. La casa dell'orco a.k.a. Demons III: The Ogre (1989)
7. Blasterfighter (1984)
8. Le foto di Gioia a.k.a. Delirium (1987)

Run #3: Terence Fisher
9. Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962)
10. Night of the Big Heat (1967)
11. Murder By Proxy a.k.a. Blackout (1954)

Run #4: Takeshi Kitano
12. Kikujirô (1999)
13. Ano natsu, ichiban shizukana umi a.k.a. A Scene at the Sea (1991)
14. Minnâ-yatteruka! a.k.a. Getting Any? (1994)
15. Autoreiji a.k.a. Outrage (2010)

Run #5: Steven Soderbergh
16. The Laundromat (2019)
17. Haywire (2011)
18. Eros (2004)

Run #6: Hershell Gordon Lewis
19. Scum of the Earth (1963)
20. Moonshine Mountain (1964)
21. The Ecstasies of Women (1969)
22. The Year of the Yahoo! (1972)
23. She-Devils on Wheels (1968)
24. Just for the Hell of It (1968)
25. How to Make a Doll (1968)

Run #7: Rintaro
26. Harmagedon: Genma Wars (1983)
27. Kamui no ken a.k.a. Dagger of Kamui (1985)
28. Down Load: Namiamidabutsu wa ai no uta (1992)
29. Yona Yona Penguin (2009)

Run #8: Steve James
30. No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson (2010)
31. Reel Paradise (2005)
32. Prefontaine (1997)

Run #9: Sidney Lumet
33. Night Falls on Manhattan (1996)
34. The Anderson Tapes (1971)
35. Daniel (1983)
36a. The Elgin Hour: Crime in the Streets (1955)
36b. The Challenge (1955)
37. Fail Safe (1964)

Run #10: Alexander Payne
38. The Passion of Martin (1991) #DDF
39. Citizen Ruth (1996)
40. Downsizing (2017)

Run #11: Larry Cohen
41. It Lives Again (1978)
42. Perfect Strangers (1984)
43. Full Moon High (1981)
44. Special Effects (1984)

Run #12: Robert Bresson
45. Quatre nuits d'un rêveur a.k.a. Four Nights of a Dreamer (1971)
46. Une femme douce a.k.a. A Gentle Woman (1969)
47. Procès de Jeanne d'Arc a.k.a. The Trial of Joan of Arc (1962)

Run #13: John Gilling
48. The Night Caller a.k.a. Blood Beast from Outer Space (1965)
49. The Mummy's Shroud (1967)
50. The Shadow of the Cat (1961)

Run #14: Yasujiro Ozu
51. Tôkyô no kôrasu a.k.a. Tokyo Chorus (1931)
52. Dekigokoro a.k.a. Passing Fancy (1933)
53. Hogaraka ni ayume a.k.a. Walk Cheerfully (1930)
54. Sono yo no tsuma a.k.a. That Night's Wife (1930)

Run #15: Roberta Findlay
55. Anyone But My Husband (1975)
56. Take Me Naked (1966) #DFF
57.Blood Sisters (1987)

Run #16: Adam Green
58. Hatchet II (2010)
59. Spiral (2007)
60. Digging Up the Marrow (2014)

Run #17: Kathryn Bigelow
61. K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
62. The Weight of Water (2000)
63. Detroit (2017)

[ChrisReynolds]

Previously watched...

1. Non ho sonno / Sleepless (2001) 273 checks, 0 official lists 5/10
2. Il cartaio / The Card Player (2004) 265 checks, 0 official lists 3/10
3. Ti piace Hitchcock? / Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005) 174 checks, 0 official lists 4/10
4. La terza madre / Mother of Tears (2007) 780 checks, 1 official list Rewatch 5/10
5. Chopping Mall (1986) 920 checks, 1 official list Rewatch 5/10
6. Deathstalker II (1987) 127 checks, 0 official lists 5/10
7. 976-Evil II: The Astral Factor (1991) 78 checks, 0 official lists 3/10

Menahem Golan
5 films on official lists




3 Key Films
The Apple (1980) - 2 official lists
Mivtsa Yonatan / Entebbe: Operation Thunderbolt (1977) - 2 official lists
Kazablan (1973) - 2 official lists

3 Key Auteurial Trademarks

• Quickly-made exploitation films often themed around passing fads in popular culture.
• Common motifs are patriotism, heroic action and musical numbers.
• A kitsch style that ignores considerations of taste and subtlety.

Films watched for this challenge


8. Kazablan (1973) 21 checks, 2 official lists
Golan began directing and producing in his native Israel, making dramas and comedies for the local market as well as helming a couple of international co-productions. This was his biggest hit up to this point, and a clear attempt to cash in on the success of Fiddler on the Roof's musical examination with Jewish issues. It also borrows heavily from West Side Story for its central story: a romance between the leader of a nice gang and a girl whose parents don't approve because they're Ashkenazi and he's Mizrahi (I would have thought the fact he seems to be twice her age would be an issue, but nobody in the film notices this). The story elements are weak, with everything resolving itself too neatly, and no character arcs. Usually in these films, the hero has to change himself to win the girl, but here Kazablan doesn't change, everybody else has to realise he's actually an awesome guy. The film is worth seeing for the energetic and garish song and dance numbers, filled with bizarre choreography, as well as the film's look into Israeli culture. This is probably Golan's artistic high point.
5/10



9. Mivtsa Yonatan / Entebbe: Operation Thunderbolt (1977) 73 checks, 2 official lists
Here's the movie that launched Golan and Globus onto the world stage, even being nominated for best foreign film at the Oscars where it competed against Buñuel's Cet obscur objet du désir! Sorry, Argento, no room for Suspiria with this in the running. Essentially Delta Force is a remake of this, so if you've seen that and subtract Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin then you know what to expect. Initially it seems promising, using a documentary-style common to a lot of political thrillers of the 70s, but Golan pours on ham-fisted commentary and propaganda while the characters spend half the movie looking bored waiting for the rescue mission to be approved. When the action does arrive it's a big disappointment: characters running around poorly-lit sets firing guns, mangled editing and a lack of thrills. Then it's time for five minutes of sad music and tears followed by five minutes of triumphant music and flag-waving.
3/10



10. Enter the Ninja / Ninja I (1981) 703 checks, 0 official lists
After purchasing Cannon films in 1980 with his cousin Yoram Globus, Golan became the producer on a vast number of films aiming to cash in on pop culture fads. Enter the Ninja is one of his most successful in this regard, being in at the ground floor of the ninja craze of the 1980s and becoming hugely influential. There seem to have been a lot of production problems, with Golan firing the original director, Emmett Alston, after three days and taking over himself, which may explain why the quality is rock bottom, appearing to have been slapped together in a rush and featuring lots of unconvincing fights and acting. The story is a lethargic "cleaning up the town" narrative for the most part, but then springs to life at the end when Sho Kosugi arrives and the viewer is rewarded with twenty minutes of silly ninja action.
4/10



11. Over the Top (1987) 2197 checks, 0 official lists
This was made when Cannon were at the height of their powers, but also marked the beginning of the end, where they were overstretching themselves with a lot of risky bets on films where the quality was variable at best. Paying Stallone a record $12 million to star in a film about arm wrestling written by a writer with no track record seems like a crazy gamble, but Golan clearly thought he was onto the next Rocky, and tries to mimic that franchise formula by investing the arm wrestling with a ridiculous amount of gravitas, melodrama and power ballads. Combine it all with a supposedly inspirational story where Stallone reconnects with his estranged son by making him arm wrestle other kids and drive a truck on public roads, and you have a film that is eye-rolling, occasionally amusing, but never good. In terms of style we do see some of Golan's motifs in the story, but it seems like a lot of his directorial choices are copying what worked in other films.
4/10

[DudeLanez]

René Clair

17. Sous les toits de Paris (Under the Roofs of Paris, 1930) 7/10
18. Le million (The Million, 1931) 7/10
19. À nous la liberté (Freedom for Us, 1931) 6/10

Spoiler

Kenji Mizoguchi
1. Genroku Chûshingura (The 47 Ronin, 1941) 7/10
2. Miyamoto Musashi (1944) 5/10
3. Uwasa no onna (The Woman of Rumour, 1954) 7/10
4. Saikaku ichidai onna (The Life of Oharu, 1952) 8/10
5. Yôkihi (Princess Yang Kwei-fei, 1955) 7/10

Herbert Achternbusch
6. Das Andechser Gefühl (1974) 7/10 #DDF
7. Die Atlantikschwimmer (1976) 6/10
8. Bierkampf (1977) 6/10
9. Das Gespenst (1982) 6/10
10. Heilt Hitler! (1986) 6/10

Nuri Bilge Ceylan
11. Kasaba (The Town, 1997) 7/10 #DDF
12. Mayis Sikintisi (Clouds of May, 1999) 7/10
13. Iklimler (Climates, 2006) 7/10

Edgar Reitz
14. Mahlzeiten (Table for Love, 1967) 7/10 #DDF
15. Cardillac (1969) 7/10
16. Der Schneider von Ulm (The Tailor from Ulm, 1979) 6/10

René Clair
17. Sous les toits de Paris (Under the Roofs of Paris, 1930) 7/10
18. Le million (The Million, 1931) 7/10
19. À nous la liberté (Freedom for Us, 1931) 6/10