I decided to create and rank “screen theme clusters”, stylistic events, trends that impressed, seduced, amazed, shocked or astounded me the most. The “clusters” are defined by any of the following: writing, directing, geographical origin or common themes. Each cluster represents tendency that advances or strengthens the way we use the medium. Most do not list all of the titles belonging there.
The ranking seeks commonalities and as such excludes many great singular films which I have not put (yet?) in a group context. For example “Training Day”, “The Wonder Boys”, “Y Tu Mama Tambien.”
Here is the list:
1. Space as consciousness, memory and identity:
“Being John Malcovich”
“Adaptation”
“The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”
(Charlie Kaufman)
2. Mystery of the visual, auditory and structural made visible:
“Mulholland Drive”
“Inland Empire”
(Lynch)
3. Pacing the oppressive and the tragic, the Romanian style:
“4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days”
“The death of Mr. Lazarescu”
(Mungu, Puiu)
4. Fast and furious perception of action:
"The Bourne Trilogy"
(Lyman, Greengrass)
5. The explorations of terror:
"Hunger"
"United 93"
"Munich"
"Gomorrah"
(McQueen, Greengrass, Spielberg, Garrone)
6. The mosaic narrative connections:
"Amores Perros"
"21 Grams"
"Babel"
(Arraga, Inamitu)
7. Time moving in all directions:
"Irreversible"
"Memento"
(Noe, Nolan)
8. Metaphysics of the long shots:
“The Werckmeister Harmonies”
“Gerry”
(Tarr, Van Sant)
9. Playful storytelling with imagination and heart:
"Finding Nemo"
"Wally-E"
(Stanton)
10. Empathy, consistency and towering skills - Clint Eastwood:
"Mystic River"
"Million Dollar Baby"
"Gran Torino"
A mysterious follow up will be announced shortly. So stay tuned!
Hi Pawel... I m a short story writer, into a screen script project, and I found your post about madness in films very usefull, specially for the non us movies... I agree, a lot, with mr Kaufmann work, I think he is the kind of writer for films I want to be... thanks. carlos.
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