What are a handful of films that you not only believe are under-appreciated, but are masterworks despite the status quo?
Miami Vice (2006) is certainly the highest on my list of misunderstood masterpieces.
Here's a video I put together where I defend my position: https://youtu.be/PJySQ3F_L0k
It would be cool if you watched it, particularly if you're interested in Michael Mann's work. Practically, it's just too much to post here in text. So, just give that link a click of you're curious.
Off the top of my head, these are just a few of the films that seem to have a less than glowing reputation that I feel I can articulately defend as unsung essentials:
Miami Vice (See my videos for proper justification.)
Body Double (De Palma at his most ostentatious, deviant, and visually extraordinary. An opulent masterpiece of self-absorption with a camera that is always-present and hyper-expressive.)
Vampyr (Dreyer's film was criminally misunderstood for decades, but the tides are turning in its favor. Still, Vampyr is a film that deserves to be seen as superior to Browning's Dracula. Even Murnau's work pales in comparison to Dreyer's experiment with subjectivity and form.)
The Passenger (Antonioni's most misunderstood movie. It's a ruminative experience that feels so invasive--disrupting your intuition and complicating it with anti-mystery.)
Bonjour Tristesse (No one ever seems to discuss or even reference Otto Preminger's tender, complicated, and dynamic love letter to his then-wife Jean Seberg. It's just as intimate as Godard's Vivre Sa Vie and occupies the same emotional spaces. It's a truly great love letter.)
To Live And Die In L.A. (Well-earned cult status aside, Friedkin's film is an undeniable masterwork and essential to the foundation of '80s American crime cinema. I think it's flawless and does not deserve to be met with cynicism or irony. It's pure ultraviolent crime poetry about the lightness of artifice. It's about a counterfeit reality.)
Satyricon (Often cited as an example of sensory overload, yet Fellini's film refuses to apply value to anything whatsoever AND circumvents all pre-established notions put forth by Joseph Campbell. It might be one of the most uniquely alien films ever made mostly because it refuses to identity itself in any humanistic way. Fellini is the only filmmaker I can think of who has achieved this.)
Funny People (Apatow surprised me by stepping up to the mantle of John Cassavetes and honestly did good in honoring/emulating his name and style. Funny People is powerful in the way the cinema of John Cassavetes is powerful. Deeply intimate, generous, emotional, and unforgiving. Those familiar with Husbands, Faces, and Opening Night will understand Funny People's compositional brilliance and recognize it as deeply artful.)
What are some of your 'misunderstood masterworks'?
Also - If you disagree with any of my choices--have at it and tell me why.
Submitted January 20, 2018 at 12:48PM by ZacharyConan http://ift.tt/2FXiX0n
