60 films for 2014

Movies are my escape. It’s my denial of a reality that becomes, well, tough to cope with at times. It’s anything you want it to be at any given moment: romantic, dramatic, comic, you name it.

If you don’t have social skills, watching movies is also a great way to meet people. You get to know interesting personas beyond your circle: artists (Frida, 2002), depressives (Girl Interrupted, 1999), dates-for-hire (The Wedding Date, 2005), to mention a few. And if you’re lucky you’d encounter that one movie character that would have a lasting impression on your life. After the credit scene, you emerge a wholly different person. Fiction truly is bliss.

But the best part of it all is being able to travel the world without leaving bed or spending a penny. You could go to India (3 Idiots, 2009), Spain (Vicky Cristina Barcelona, 2008), France (The Dreamers, 2004), Japan (Lost in Translation, 2003) and so many more places with different cultures.

For that, I made the goal of watching 60 new films for 2014. I don’t have any specific genre in mind, but I find myself enamored by [old] European films. Please feel free to suggest titles to add to my list.

1. Midnight in Paris (2011)

“Nostalgia is denial. Denial of the painful present. The name for this denial is Golden Age thinking – the erroneous notion that a different time period is better than the one ones living in – its a flaw in the romantic imagination of those people who find it difficult to cope with the present.” – Paul

2. Grease (1978)

Classic ’80s!

3. The Crime of Padre Amarro (2002)

Watch Gael Garcia Bernal in his most er, uncomfortable role yet.

4. L’Appartement (1995)

“Do you often stalk people?” – Lisa

This has an American remake starring Josh Hartnett if I remember correctly. Though I still prefer this original French version. Ikaw na talaga Monica Bellucci.

5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

“I wish I’d stayed. I do.” Get ready your tissues, guys.

6. Breaking the Waves (1996)

“Everyone has something they’re good at. I’ve always been stupid, but I’m good at this.” – Bess

For the masochists, a miraculous tragedy. The setting is nice, it brought me far far away. Not a bad first Lars Von Trier film.

7. 3 Idiots (2009)

I just love this movie! Three hours was worth it. All is well. All is well.

8. The Breakfast Club (1985)

Angst, the teenage years. Still it hits a cord somewhere.

9.  Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

Maria Elena was the character I was referring to, the character that leaves a lasting impression on your life. Someday, Barcelona!

10. Diary of a Nymphomaniac (2008)

It was okay, actually. Entertaining, but nothing really substantial.

11. The Dreamers (2004)

Paris, youth, sexuality, films, idealism, the revolution. Inspiring, and thought-provoking film.

12. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Great cinematography, whatever that means. Visually stimulating film.

13. Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)

Eve: Her name is Yasmine. She’ll be famous one day.

Adam: I hope not. She’s too good to be famous.

For a long-haired Tom Hiddleston, I would listen to goth music all day. Tilda Swinston fits the role best. Like I said, this is the only modern vampire movie I would spend two hours on.

14. Blue Jasmine (2013)

“You choose losers because that’s what you think you deserve and that’s why you’ll never have a better life.” – Jasmine

Chill movie, good story. A different kind of Wood Allen film.

15. The Skin I Live In (2011)

Damn that twist in the ending.

16. Camille Claudel 1915 (2013)

More gloom to complement the rainy weather. Moving, depressing, call  it whatever. I would like to think we have more sophisticated ways of dealing with mental illness or grief nowadays. I wonder how things would’ve turned out for her had she lived today? For deeper feels, do a background read on Camille Claudel’s tryst with sculptor artist Auguste Rodin.

17. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

Walter Mitty: To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life.

18. Malena (2000)

Again, the beauty that is Monica Bellucci.

“Time has passed and I have loved many women. And as they’ve held me close and asked if I will remember them, I believed in my heart that I would. But the only one I’ve never forgotten, is the one who never asked … Malena.”

19. Flipped (2010)

“The room fell quiet. And as I read down the list of over one hundred and fifty eight-grade boys, I realized that to me, there had only ever been one boy.”  I never had any tolerance for childish love stories but this one is highly entertaining. The film also gave me a new found appreciation for climbing trees.

20. Cinema Paradiso (1988)

A friend recommended this film to me which they watched in European class back in college. It’s so close to the heart, a story about dreaming and success, success will bring us far but it will always bring us back to home.

Alfredo: Living here day by day, you think it’s the center of the world. You believe nothing will ever change. Then you leave: a year, two years. When you come back, everything’s changed. The thread’s broken. What you came to find isn’t there. What was yours is gone. You have to go away for a long time… many years… before you can come back and find your people. The land where you were born. But now, no. It’s not possible. Right now you’re blinder than I am.

Salvatore: Who said that? Gary Cooper? James Stewart? Henry Fonda? Eh?

Alfredo: No, Toto. Nobody said it. This time it’s all me. Life isn’t like in the movies. Life… is much harder.

21. Hobo with a Shotgun (2011)

It’s a Canadian comedy-action film that’s grotesquely entertaining. A highly graphic and violent film that tries to speak about justice. And hello, Gregory Smith as Slick!

“Put the knife away or I’ll use it to cut welfare checks from your skin!”

22. The Machinist (2004)

A suspense film featuring a shockingly malnourished Christian Bale. It falls under the category (for me at least) of Secret Window and Shutter Island.

 23. The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete (2013)

Great child actors. That Chinese kid is waaaay too cute. This film narrates the struggle of two young boys who were left to fend for themselves during one whole summer.

24. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)

“I am fading away. Slowly but surely. Like the sailor who watches his home shore gradually disappear, I watch my past recede. My old life still burns within me, but more and more of it is reduced to the ashes of memory.” – Jean-Dominique Bauby

A tragically beautiful story that’s pretty hard to forget. It’s based on the life of Elle editor-and-chief Jean-Dominique Bauby who experienced a massive stroke that left his whole body paralyzed set aside his left eye. The film was adapted from the book of the same title which Bauby wrote by blinking his left eyelid. Hats off to Mathieu Almaric for a brilliant performance.

25. The Godfather Part 1 (1972)
This is the shizz. Al Pacino when young hello. WATCH IT.

26. The Piano Teacher (2001)

Wikipedia calls it a “French-Austrian erotic thriller” film. I’d say it’s one of those what the hell did I just watch kind of films that make quite a lasting impression. Good for the imagination and yeah, if uptight piano teachers suit your fancy.

27.Stranger than Fiction (2006)

It was boring at first, the story picks up halfway throughout the movie. I remember being required to watch this for Literature class way back college.  Entertaining, still.

28. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Classic! All thanks to Abed (Community Series) who made several references to this film. The story reminded somewhat of The Count of Monte Cristo. The general theme: Hope. Storytelling was good.

29. Chinatown (1974)

Films like these are usually way too old for my taste. But I was curious for Roman Polanski classics and Chinatown did not disappoint. Plus, young Jack Nicholson hello.

30. We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)

SUPER heavy film. Good thing Ezra Miller was there. Kevin is about a beautiful yet sick boy whose story we see on the news, the internet. Kevin also reminds us about the grueling battles of mental illness. Often, we forget that the ones afflicted are not the only ones that suffer, but the people around them too.

31. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Another heavy film—for me, at least. I am a sucker for anything that has DiCaprio in it so three hours wasn’t really that bad. I had this sick feeling in my stomach though, a physical denial of the corrupt and screwed up world we live in.

32. Amores Perros (2000)

Translated as “Love’s a Bitch”, the films tells the story of the lives of three different people linked together by one accident. I remember seeing this film when I was very young, but only because I had a pre-teen crush over Gael Garcia Bernal. You must also watch: “Y Tu Mama Tambien” (And Your Mother Too)

33. Like Water for Chocolate (1992)

This is an interesting story about suppressed love and passion. Not to mention, the power of food—a very powerful tool–over human emotion. The main character, Tita, shows us what great sacrifices are made of. The film has a touch of magical realism to it that gives the story more depth and color.

“You must take care to light the matches one at a time. If a powerful emotion should ignite them all at once, they would produce a splendor so dazzling that it would illuminate far beyond what we can normally see; and then a brilliant tunnel would appear before our eyes, revealing the path we forgot the moment we were born, and summoning us to regain the divine origins we had lost. The soul ever longs to return to the place from which it came, leaving the body lifeless.” ― Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate

34. The Great Gatsby

A visually powerful and playful film that showcases one of my favorite portrayals by Leonardo DiCaprio as “Mr. Jay Gatsby”. I read  that F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of the book, somewhat connected to the main character as he was also driven towards the lifestyle of the rich and famous in order to prove himself to the woman he loves—Zelda Sayre. In the fictional film Midnight in Paris, one would remember Ernest Hemingway (if I remember correctly) telling Scott that he would be much better off in his art without Zelda.

“I hope she’ll be a fool — that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

35. Femme Fatale (2002)

A mystery action film that features beautiful, strong, and somewhat selfish women. In an alternate universe, I would wish to be one myself.

36. Tiny Furniture (2010)

A film for the 20-something yuppie experiencing the inevitable quarter-life crisis (insert tears here). So much feels.

37. Los Ojos de Julia (Julia’s Eyes)

Brilliant! You’d love the twists and turns in this film. I also liked the Spanish horror film: “El Orfanato”. It tells the story of two sisters that will inevitably lose their sight. Suddenly, the other sister dies and things being to take a thrilling, suspenseful and mind-effing turn. The best horror flicks truly either are Asian or Spanish.

38. In the Mood for Love (2000)

Borrowing from wikipedia: The film’s original Chinese title, meaning “the age of blossoms” or “the flowery years” – Chinese metaphor for the fleeting time of youth, beauty and love – derives from a song of the same name by Zhou Xuan from a 1946 film. The English title derives from the song, “I’m in the Mood for Love“. I loved the splash of colors in this film, with the cigarette smokes effect—just brilliant.