49. Un Chien Andalou/An Andalusian Dog (1928)

Really? Another surrealist film? Oy vay! Well, if I must, it's a silent short from Dali and Bunuel. Oh joy and I just loved L'Age D'Or *falls off sarcasm stool*.

It opens with a shockingly graphic scene of a man slicing a woman's eyeball with a cutthroat razor. It's the zenith of the scenes this film is infamous for. Other odd imaging includes a man staring at ants on his hand as they seemingly heal a wound; a woman being knocked over by a car (quite comically slowly); a man dressed as a nun riding a bike. It's full of them.

Okay I will put my hands up. I just don't get it. i completely understand the concept of surrealism and applaud it's place in art, but I just think there are some dreams you need to keep to yourself. I can accept that these are the origins of film, but I can quite easily live a full life without seeing this AND L'Age D'Or. Of the two, I'd have picked this one to see as it's best feature is it's length. Ironically, like a dream, it's 16 minute duration felt much much longer.

Merci rien!

Look familiar? Yes it's the Death Head Moth(Acherontia lachesis) as seen in The Silence of the Lambs. It also makes an appearance here. I wonder if it's on IMDB?!

48. American Beauty (1999)

In his first feature film, theatre director Sam Mendes directs a black comedy taking a look behind the clean cut facade of middle American suburbia and exposing all it's nasty little secrets.

It opening is reminiscent of Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard. After a short scene where a girl jokingly asks her boyfriend to kill her embarrassing father, we switch to a view of a street in 'anytown, USA' and the narrator of the story informs us that he is going to die. Though we now know how it ends, the hook is in and we are on board for the journey.

This is basically a film about a mid-life crisis. Lester tries to claim back the freedom of his youth that he lost through marriage and parental responsibility. He hates his job, he is emasculated by his more successful wife, his daughter thinks he is an embarrassment who lusts after her friend (which is true. Mena Suvari is kinda funny looking though!) and his only sexual relief is when he routinely jerks off in the shower in the morning.
Poor Lester. Fortunately he begins to assert himself with the inspiration of the new neighbours son, Ricky. He quits his job, goes to work in a burger joint, buys a sport car and gets stoned a lot. He rules!

The film has taken a lot of flack in recent years, but I think it still stands up as a good film. it's certainly not perfect by any means. Though it contains some successful elements (the reactions to the gun shot are very cleverly edited in), I think it loses a little weight in the final act. I like thew finish though. The house of cards collapses and you are left to wonder what will become of the pile. No leap forward, just a simple epilogue from Lester which revisits ideas from an earlier monologue from Ricky. It all ends where Lester ends.

The great cast gives some great performances. Annette Benning does play manic very well! Spacey keeps it calm and cool as he tells Lester's story. Even in the scene where he finally stands up to his wife, it's all done very controlled with just enough threat to pay attention. I think the two dinner scenes are the best in the film and really show, contrasting against each other, the journey the family is on as they all grow apart from each other.Thora Birch is the standout for me. She plays the daughter Janey, with great control. She's just the thankless teenager who needs saving from her depressing life. Again Ricky comes to the rescue.

A studed tableau of a family falling apart. The dinner scenes are an integral part of the ac of the 3 characters in the family. Especially Lester.

47. Annie Hall (1977)

Next up one of the great comic classics. Woody Allen plays Alvey and takes us on a self analysis through his relationship with Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). He delineates from his previous pure comedy films and delves into darker and more personal comedy.
Quite literally it would seem. Allen is Alvey and Hall is Keaton. Diane Keaton's actual surname is Hall and Allen called her Annie when they were in a relationship. I'm assuming Keaton was fine with this!

The film is full of great lines and classic scenes. The story is told through a series of sketches often in flashback with the present day Alvy in the scene to examine the situation. A great example of this is the scene in the classroom where a 6 year old Alvey kisses a girl for the first time, much to her and their teacher's disgust. The present day Alvey appears at the desk of his younger self to answer to his accusers. The girl's dialogue is an adult voice and probably Alvey himself, emphasising his constant neurotic self analysis.

Alvey is not a very sympathetic character. At times he is annoying, but still greatly amusing. His allergic reaction to LA, his obsession with how much sex he is having, a slapstick scene with him and Hall trying to get lobsters into a pan (repeated later quite poignantly.)

The film is a resounding success and it's influence is found in many of his later films, most evidently in the neurotic central character, not always played by Allen, but always there. The film that, I think, mostly renews the Alvey character is Husbands & Wives. A film that, in many ways, betters this. certainly in it's drama. Not present in the marathon though. Shame.

46. Audition (1999)

Riding the new wave of Japanese horror started the previous year by Hideo Nakata's Ring, Takashi Miike's Audition shows a different twist on the horror genre by masking it in a melodrama.

Shigeharu Aoyama is a middle age workaholic and the owner of a production company. His teenage son suggests he remarries after his wife had passed away 7 years earlier. A friend and colleague suggests that they set up an audition for a fake feature and he can use it as a kind of speed date.
In the interviews he meets Asami who he is instantly drawn to. Despite his friend's serious apprehensions to her and the fact that her back story and resume have huge holes in them, they start to date and she seems to be the ideal partner. He plans to propose on a weekend away however she disappears in the middle of the night. Shigeharu has no idea where she lives, she wont answer her phone and he only has her flimsy background on which to track her down, but track her down he must.
The sudden change of tone in the last reel is quite horrific as Asami's true self appears.

The problem with this is that there is such a change in shift, the rest of the film seems a bit negated. What could have been a study on loneliness and moving on after grief is just a bit of a trite gore fest. Asami is, quite simply a fucked up chick and completely crackers. Her character has no arc though and her psychosis is only roughly explained as down to being abused as a child.
I thought the false dream/questioning reality bit towards the end should have been extended. It would have been more interesting to leave the viewer hanging about what was real and what wasn't.

I think it's a film with a great, but unoriginal, idea that doesn't quite pay off. The torture scene is quite gruesome though. I will give it that.

"Deeper...deeper...deeper"

45. Happiness (1998)

Very funny, but oh so wrong tale of a group of characters' quest for the thing that makes them happy.

Some subjects comedy should steer away from. I'm pretty sure paedophilia is one of these. However in this film, it does work and you find yourself aghast at the things you are laughing at.

44. Tsotsi (2005)

A small time gangster from the Johannesburg townships falls out with his gang after a robbery went wrong resulting in a man's death. Tsotsi goes off to Jo'burg to do a job on his own. He robs a woman of her car, shooting her and crippling her in the process. What he doesn't realise is that the woman's child is in her car. His first instinct is to abandon the child with the car, but he decides to take the baby home. Completely unable to care for him, he enlists the help of a recently widowed neighbour who also has a young baby.

This film is grim and hard hitting. It does tell an interesting tale of Tsotsi's character arc. The hopelessness of the situation he has put himself in is infuriating however. No leave the baby in the car! No don't leave the baby in a bag under your bed whilst you go out. Let Miriam keep the baby! AARGH!

Top performances from the cast and it is stunningly shot on location. You can see the difference in the township accommodations and how they reflect the characters who live there. Tsotsi's shack is decrepit and over run with lice, whereas Miriam has made the best of her situation and her house is positively lovely and bijou. At least that is what it said in the estate agents!

The film won the 2006 Oscar for best foreign language film and I expect it is thoroughly deserved. Not sure what it is doing on this list though. Apparently it is breaking new ground for South African films, but is that reason enough? Not really. Worthy of a view? Yes.

43. La Vie En Rose (2007)

Yes, Marion Cottillard is excellent in her portrayal.
Yes, the make-up is brilliant.
Yes, it's beautifully shot and set.
Yes, Jean Pierre Martins is a dish!
However this is not the masterpiece it has been made out to be. It is in desperate need of an edit. It's 20 mins+ too long. The back and forth time line is a mess. It would be more successfully done chronologically.
My main concern is actually the subject matter. I have little knowledge of Edith Piaf prior to this, but what an ungrateful, demanding, vile cow she was. I couldn't wait for the bitch to die! The jumpy time line further lengthened this process. Even when it announced 'her final day' we were treated to a further barrage of flashbacks. A few, like a child she had that died, you would have thought needed to be included to make her a more sympathetic character.
Frankly, I'd rather have seen a SuBo biopic.

42. Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain/Amélie (2001)

Amélie is a loner girl living in Paris who takes it upon herself to spread a little happiness amongst the frowning characters who surround her life.

During her adventures she falls in love with a young man who collects disguarded snaps from photo booths. Seeing a likeminded person, she begins to pursue him in her own fantastical way, though always failing at the last minute to meet him. Perhaps the good karma she spreads will come around to her.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet creates a beautifully surreal chocolate box version of modern day Paris, in which the story plays out and the cast are as colourful as the setting. The introduction to the cast is brilliant. Each gets a simple cut away of their likes and dislikes and that is all that is needed to ingratiate you to each character. Audrey Tatou at the helm is on magnificent form. Often breaking the fourth wall to bring us along on her magic ride, you can't help fall in love with the wide eyed innocent.

I had forgotten how good this film is and it certainly stands the test of time. It is the epitome of joy. Amélie's actions also bring happiness and wide smiles to the audience.

Just lovely. Absolutely lovely.

Banbi-esque Tatou breaking the fourth wall to show us her like of breaking the sugar crust on Creme Brulees. I'm so with you there!

41. Anatomy of Murder (1959)

A good trial-by-jury film that drags it's feet a little in the set up.

First up, I am no fan of Jimmy Stewert. I'd have thrown his "aw shucks" country poke out of my courtroom!
The trial is a face off between Stewert and George C Scott who plays a big wig from the city, brought in to assist with the prosecution. I'm siding with George!

The great thing about this film is the way the trial is told. The audience is also the jury, as we hear all the facts without any flashback scenes of the crime or over exposition. We see the testimonies of the witnesses and it's up to us to decide whether Lieutenant Frederick Manion was or was not subject to an 'irresistable impulse' when he gunned down a bar owner, alleged to have raped his slutty wife.

So overlong and at times lacking in pace(I was sympathising with the judge who kept focussing on his watch), this is still an interesting story and the placing of the audience in situ in the courtroom is quite genius. I'm just not fond of Jimmy Stewert. Sue me!

40. A Trip to the Moon (1902)

Next up we have the oldest film in the marathon and probably the shortest, although at 14 minutes, it was particularly groundbreaking for it's day where films generally lasted 2 or 3 minutes.

At a science convention, Professor Barbenfouillis convinces his colleagues to fund a trip to the moon. A giant cannon is cast and a team of scientists are fired up, crashing into the Man in the Moon's eye. Beneath the surface of the moon, they are confronted by the native Selenites who are rather hostile. The team are taken prisoner and brought to their king, but they manage to escape as the Selenites seem to be rather delicate and explode into dust from the touch of an umbrella. The Earthlings escape back to earth by pushing their capsule off a cliff, thence falling back down to Earth and landing in the ocean (as you do). They are then rescued and paraded through Paris as heroes. A captured Selenite is also paraded around, but as a curio. Poor Selenite.

George Melies' background in stage acting and magic is evident throughout. The impressive effects are achieved using innovative use of dissolve, superimposition and double exposure in the editing.

With the plot devices of space travel, conquering new frontiers and alien planets and species, combined with the magic of special effects and costume and inspired by the writings of H G Wells an Jules Verne, this is the origin of cinematic science fiction and is definitely to be lauded.

A poor captive Selenite. what will become of him/her?

39. All That Jazz (1979)

Roy Scheider plays a pill popping, chain smoking, booze loving womaniser in a 'let's put a show together' musical from Bob Fosse. It's a semi autobiographical self indulgent mess of a movie. The dance numbers range from fair to good and the storyline is confusingly all over the place.

It's nothing on Cabaret. All I have to say.

Redeeming moment of a repeated scene in the film. Scheider/Gideon/Fosse's morning wake up routine. Shower, Alka Seltzer, speed, eye drops. "It's show time, folks!"