Right. so this is it, I'm here to educate you lot, so here it goes. This film, is the second greatest film ever made, behind "It's A Wonderful Life". That is a fact.
B-B-But... The Godfather!!! Shawshank!!! etc.... SHUT UP! Let me explain my point.
Okay, so I know that in reality, there is no such thing as "The Greatest Movie Ever Made" and to argue over such things is a human coping issue to avoid thinking about other, obviously much less trivial matter in the world around us, such as genocide in countries we've never heard of and banks fucking up our own. Futhermore, there can be no such thing as "TGMEM" because everyone has their own opinion and their own criteria of what makes a good film. Some people would not enjoy enjoy Tobe Hooper's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" because it has some some fucking horrible shit in it, even though it is genuinely a classic, other people think that Adam Sandler is a comedy genius...
You can rate films in so many ways,
1) Using general criteria - script, acting, mood, cinematography etc... Films judged with this criteria may be more "arty" inclined, or deal with difficult topics, technically appealing and not necessarily one that is "enjoyable" to watch.
2) How entertaining it is - a film that you may have watched a lot more times than the above, because it is easier, and more enjoyable to watch. For example, you may have watched Point Break more times than Schindler's List, does this then make it a better film? In some ways it must be.
3) Postmodern/Revisionism - purposely looking at what appears to be a "general consensus" and writing about it in a different way purposely to court controversy, and change opinion. i.e. "The Godfather is shit", "Adam Sandler actually IS a comedy genius" etc. On this, it is my view that "Popular Opinion" is a myth, and while The Godfather may top numerous polls, it doesn't make it the best film ever made, just the most popular. A lot of criticism may be based upon getting other people to change their internal criteria, I personally do not believe in this form of criticism and think that each film should be judged on what it is aiming to achieve. For example, I couldn't say Garfield The Movie was shit because it was a kids film, but I could say that it was shit because it's plot is a disgusting amalgam of previous kids classics (Toy Story) the acting is woeful, and the scene in which Garfield danced to a Black Eyed Peas song was one of the most excruciating moments of my life.
4) How it appeals to you -this is what people need to think more about when voting for films in the above. If you can see that a film is well made and appreciate it on that level, that's fine, but it's not the same as finding somthing within a film and making a personal connection with it. This has to be the most important aspect of cinema, because without this, it melts into a mass of opinionated pricks arguing over "character arcs" and "lighting", which is box-ticking film enjoyment that I cannot for the life of me understand. "Ooh good character arc there, tick that. ooh nice polt twist, tick. etc..."
So, films you like, what you like about them, and why. Deciding to save my personal FAVOURITE film of all time, "It's A Wonderful Life" for closer to christmas, I've decided to start this blog with a post about my next favourite film "Amelie". I have no third favourite, I do not have the time to labour over a "top ten" which I will probably disagree with anyway and top myself before I finish it.
So... "Amelie"
On the surface, "Amelie" is a bit of French fluff, a sweet, "quirky" (oh, how I hate that word) whimsical romcom, set in a beautifully stylised Paris. But Amelie is in a completely different class to be bunched in with films of simlar templates. Amelie is not a film that gets by on it's quirkyness, it's main hook when you first watch it are the two mystery plot lines. Who is the man in the passport photos? And how is that Gnome travelling around the world? And beneath all this, we have Amelie the central character, trying to make a difference in other people's lives, but to petrified by reality to be pro-active about her own. The level of depth within the character here is what makes it. Amelie is an action movie where all the action is happening on the inside, the audience takes on the role of the film's Glass Man, willing Amelie on to break out of her fantasy dreamworld and have another stab at reality, and love.
It is only right that the fantasy in Amelie's head is reflected in the film's production design and cinematography. The director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and his crew would go through great pains to make every location as spotless as possible prior to shooting a scene. The attention to detail is staggering at times, even in frames of film that last only a fraction of a second.
To go with all of this eye-candy, emotionally involving characterisation and mystery, we have a large proportion of the film consisting of a cast of minor characters that Amelie interacts with in her attempts to change people's lives. This layer of the film is where Amelie gets it's wacky reputation, but in truth, relies on very strong cast of interesting minor characters. It is a testament to the script that all of these characters have detail and depth to them, the Glass Man, Hipolito, Joesph and Amelie's father and others all spark interest and make your mind work on their own little worlds as well as Amelie's.
In summation, with Amelie we have the mystery, emotional involvement with the characters and engaging cinematography. This is filmmaking as it should be and at it's very best
