Art Films for Summer

I can vividly recall my first “art film” experience. It was the early summer of my 22^nd year, and the film was Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Mirror, sometimes known as The Looking Glass.

As the images projected out at me, I rustled uncomfortably in my seat, eyes darting between subtitles and images, in a desperate attempt to keep up. When it was over I didn’t care if I ever saw another movie again. Not just another film of art-house-goon variety, but another film period! I was done: Tarkovsky, checkmate.

It wasn’t until a couple years later that I returned to the collection of films labeled “important” by critics and third year Communications students alike, that I fell hard, no longer despite their complexity, but because of their complexity. I of course have my own theories on why this is, and why the general movie going public tends to disdain this brand of cinema (emotionless society lines up around the block for Transformers 2– another blog for another day), however for now let us stick to the inspirational.

While many of us leave our annual Bergman marathon for the dark days of winter, where our mood can adequately coalesce with the content on screen, summer is always the season I like to pull out some of my favorites. There’s something about the long evening light that draws me completely into a film that challenges on all levels.

Though not all personal favorites, a list of artistic films, perfect for a warm, contemplative summer evening.

Naked Lunch – Subconsciously perhaps I include this title more due to its location in an African port town, yet I’ve always felt this film from David Cronenberg deserved more credit than it received. Peter Weller plays Bill Lee, a bug exterminator that develops an addiction to his product, kills his wife, and becomes the mole in an elaborate underground government plot coordinated by giant bugs. Or does he?

La dolce vita – When it comes to Fellini, summer seems to belong to him. One could swap any of his films and they would seem to fit the bill perfectly: Nights of Cabiria, Amarcord, Juliet of the Spirits, the list goes on. I chose La dolce vita because you can almost feel the heat pulsating off of the screen, as Marcello Mastroianni, in fine form as journalist Marcello Rubini, greases his way from one scene to the next, until he arrives at a place he can no longer run from.

Summer – Eric Rohmer at his socially awkward best. A great story of a perpetual outsider, trying to connect and make her way in, but unable to reciprocate the necessary emotive innards required to create a true, lasting bond between people; a fabulous ending as well.

Throne of Blood – Macbeth on a summer evening? Absolutely, this Kurosawa classic, full of epic battles and ghostly visions, remains one of the best retellings of Shakespeare through cinema (certainly my favorite), including a positively evil performance from Isuzu Yamada.

Strangers on a Train – Nobody, other than perhaps Charlie Chaplin, set up their plot so effectively, and in such short order, as Alfred Hitchcock. From the opening sequence of Strangers on a Train we know precisely what is going to transpire: two men’s lives are going to intersect for all the wrong reasons. As the camera tracks back and we see close-ups on both men’s shoes as they stride towards the locomotive, we realize this particular tennis match is already well into the first set, while we’ve been dillydallying over at the concession stand.

The Exterminating Angel – On a hot summer evening a group of stuffy upper class types find themselves unable to leave the drawing room of their hosts’ elaborate mansion. As the hours progress into days, the guests find themselves abandoning the societal rules they so strictly adhere to and admire, as they lash out like the animals they are. Surreal, hilarious, Bunuel.

Orpheus – Visual poetry = Jean Cocteau. There is so much eye candy in this film that any basic plot description seems fruitless, as well as inevitably disappointing for the reader. The old college try: a young poet falls in love with The Princess (death), who murders his wife, and the two commence an elaborate cat and mouse game of revenge and seduction between this world and the great beyond.

Days of Heaven – Famous for being shot entirely during magic hour (the hour when the sun is setting, providing a beautifully majestic haze to the film), Days of Heaven is one of the best in quite a few arenas: cinematography, voice-over narration (the best ever in my humble opinion), Richard Gere performances, to name but a few. While many of Terrence Malick’s film use narration to brilliant effect, this particular narration by the young girl Linda, bridges that elusive gap of authenticity and art that most fail to even consider. Linda watches as a young farm hand (Richard Gere) schemes with the women he loves (Brooke Adams) to marry the rich, sickly landowner they work for (Sam Shepard) in hopes of claiming his fortune upon his death.

Les Bonnes Femmes – Most consider Chabrol’s heyday 1967-1973, the years that included The Champagne Murders, La Boucher, and The Unfaithful Wife, however, I have always loved this early Chabrol film, not only for its lightness, but for its terrible, terrible darkness. No other film from the period makes you feel what Paris was really like at the time. Four young women search for love, and it is in their relationship to one another, and their conversations therein that create the energy we so often clamor after in life, but let walk away for the more familiar.

Tabu – Perhaps the most perfectly paced film of all-time, an absolute master class in film editing. Not in the way we think of cutting today, i.e. fast and furious, but using the cuts to progress the film at the desired pace. Once that pace has been established, it is always adhered to, something much more difficult than it seems.

Y Tu Mama Tambien – As Michael Scott from The Office so eloquently put it, the title translates as Throw Momma from the Tambien. Well, not really, however title aside (actual translation, And Your Mother too) this film captures the wonderfully belligerent phase between adolescence and real life.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown – The latest classic to be butchered by instantaneous bursts into song on the Broadway stage, Almodóvar’s 1988 film perfectly mixes the best of the director’s style, with mucho substance.

Do the Right Thing – Spike Lee’s classic turns 20 this summer, and the film maintains its intensity, the tension between neighbors, races, and classes, along with the restrained anger of the characters simmering just far enough under the surface of each scene for the actors to play with, but not overwhelm. Do the Right Thing is a perfect blend of realism and artistic vision.

Other suggestions: Mulholland Drive, The Wages of Fear, Pickup on South Street, The Last Picture Show, Seduced and Abandoned, The Sweet Smell of Success, Summer with Monika.