by Walter Chaw
Subject to change, here’s a list of flicks we’ll be screening while quarantined. I’ll probably update it in ten-film chunks. I want to be sensitive to what the kids are responding to the most and check and adjust on the fly. If it turns out they just loathe the Italian Neo-Realists, for example, I’ll take pains to spread those out more. There’s no paucity of great pictures–no reason to force-feed them something if the time isn’t right.
The films will receive a numerical designation once screened–before they’re screened, they’ll live in a pool of titles I intend to get to in due course, with the sequencing still up in the air.
Again, I reserve the right to call an audible on the play. If it seems the kids are getting beaten down by too many “difficult” pictures, I’ll toss in a palate-cleanser (like the sticky-but-easy-to-digest Constantine). These first ten are already in their proverbial eyeballs:
- The Shawshank Redemption (1994, USA, Darabont)
- The Night of the Hunter (1955, USA, Laughton)
- Out of the Past (1947, USA, Tourneur)
- Constantine (2005, USA, Lawrence)
- Joe Versus the Volcano (1990, USA, Shanley)
- The 39 Steps (1935, UK, Hitchcock)
- Sherlock Jr. (1924, USA, Keaton)
- The Seventh Seal (1957, Sweden, Bergman)
- Duck Soup (1933, USA, McCarey)
- The Terminator (1984, USA, James Cameron)
- Le Grand Amour (1969, France, Etaix)
And here are the ones coming somewhere down the line. I’ll add films as things occur to me through our conversations–and as I see this list written down, I’m already noticing places where I need to balance things out with women and POC directors, and foreign films in general. I’ll be honest, I didn’t go outside America immediately because I wanted to build the kids’ muscles a bit in terms of being able to connect to them through recent experiential/active viewing exercises. Once they’re able to process Joe Versus the Volcano as a work of great poetry and magical realism, for instance, then they’re ready for The Seventh Seal, which deals with comparable themes in a surprisingly similar, whimsical tone.
- The Hitchhiker (1953, USA, Lupino)
- Throne of Blood (1957, Japan, Kurosawa)
- Scandal (1950, Japan, Kurosawa)
- The Blot (1921, USA, Weber)
- Do the Right Thing (1989, USA, Lee)
- Roma (2018, Mexico, Cuarón)
- The Wicker Man (1973, UK, Hardy)
- The Parallax View (1973, USA, Pakula)
- Fury (1936, USA, Lang)
- Vivre sa Vie (1962, France, Godard)
- Viridiana (1963, Spain, Buñuel)
- Roman Holiday (1953, USA, Wyler)
- The Phantom Carriage (1921, Sweden, Sjöström)
- Her Smell (2019, USA, Perry)
- The Road Warrior (1981, Australia, Miller)
- The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957, USA, Arnold)
- The Last Wave (1977, Australia, Weir)
- Sweetie (1989, New Zealand, Campion)
- Rachel Getting Married (2008, USA, Demme)
- Man Who Laughs (1928, Germany, Leni)
- Shoes (1916, USA, Weber)
- Kung Fu Hustle (2004, China, Chow)
- Hard-Boiled (1989, Hong Kong, Woo)
- Ravenous (1999, USA, Bird)
- The Last Laugh (1924, Germany, Murnau)
- Supercop (1992, Hong Kong, Tong)
- Last Life in the Universe (2003, Thailand, Ratanaruang)
- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920, Germany, Wiene)
- Uncle Boonmee (2011, Thailand, Weersathakul)
