After taking up Roof Beam Readers challenge to read 12 books in 12 months from my TBR pile, I thought why stop at books? I’ve got all sorts of things I’m always wanting to do and never get around too. A whole new notebook full of lists has been made and one of them is 12 films I really should watch. I asked a couple of movie buffs to help me put together a list and this is it, my To Be Watched challenge.
To be watched in chronological order:
The General (1926 USA)
Written and directed by Buster Keaton this action fuelled romantic comedy is based on The Great Locomotive Chase of 1862.
M (1931 Germany)
Director Fritz Lang’s first talkie; Berlin is a city living with the constant danger of a serial child killer played by Peter Lorre.
Citizen Kane (1941 USA)
Produced, written and directed by Orson Welles, is this the most critically acclaimed film ever?
Double Indemnity (1944 USA)
Directed by Billy Wilder and co-written with Raymond Chandler; Barbara Stanwyck plays the quintessential femme fatale in this classic Film noir.
Late Spring (1949 Japan)
A beautiful film from Yasujiro Ozu; about a father and daughter who contemplate change in their quiet life
The Umbrella’s of Cherbourg (1964 France)
Jacques Demy directs Catherine Deneuve in this operetta that combines gritty reality with kaleidoscopic colours.
Withnail and I (1987 UK)
Written and directed by Bruce Robinson in 1987, Richard E Grant and Paul McGann star as two unemployed actors sharing a squalid London flat in 1969.
Cinema Paradiso (1988 Italy)
Set and filmed in his home town in Sicily, this is director Giuseppe Tornatore’s nostalgic look back at the cinema of the 30’s and 40’s and the days of traditional film making, editing and screening.
Before Sunrise and Sunset (1995, 2004 USA)
In Richard Linklater’s easy going film, American Jesse and French Celine meet on a train to Vienna; chatting constantly they explore Vienna, closely followed by a companionable camera.
In The Mood For Love (2000 Hong Kong)
Written and directed by Wong Kar-wai, this gorgeously seductive film is set in 1962. Sharing an umbrella has never been so glamorous!
Mulholland Drive (2001 USA)
Directed by David Lynch. Depression, jealousy and addiction. Innocence and corruption. Love and loneliness. Beauty and depravity. What is going on?
Bad Education (2004 Spain)
Set in the late 1970’s, Gael Garcia Bernal plays a writer who visits an old school friend with a story about their past. Written and directed by Pedro Almodovar layers of storytelling ask us how much we edit our own stories in order to control them.
Withnail and I and Cinema Paradiso were my contributions. I don’t know anything about cinema, but I’m going to write a line or two after each viewing just for the fun of it!
Just Reading A Book 
This sounds really fun!! How did they and you pick the movies to watch? When you watch these twelve, are you going to pick twelve more? Is it one movie a month?
Sorry for so many questions😉
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No, love the questions! They made a long list of films they thought were culturally important (and had enjoyed!) and then tried to break it down to ones they thought represented film history as broadly as possible. Also ones I hadn’t already seen and would hopefully enjoy! I’m just watching when the mood takes me (because I want to concentrate) and yes, I think I will do another list. Maybe from some countries that aren’t in this list. Or I could have a seasonal theme, and include Christmas in Connecticut – I haven’t forgotten I must watch it!
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