Film Notes: An Eclectic Film Festival

Over the last few years, I've had the opportunity to watch a lot of films. Here are some of the best that you may not have seen.

It's difficult to judge the obscurity of films these days. People who are really into films say things like "What!? You haven't seen the classic film Doprdele by Jan Nevyslovitelné? It won the Bismuth Medal at the 1975 Northern Lativan Film Awards and has four positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes!" 

Hopefully a few of these films will be delightful revelations.

I haven't provided detailed reviews. There's not much I can say that someone else hasn't said. If you want to read a plot summary, go find one. I typically don't read summaries before I watch a film. If you trust my judgement, go watch the films without further research, then report back. Imagine you've won a ticket to a very odd film festival.

1: Hungarian Films of the '60s

Az ötödik pecsét - The Fifth Seal - 1963

I cannot adequately describe this film. Some films make you forget that you're watching a film. Some films make you forget that you exist at all.

NFI had a beautiful restored print of Az ötödik pecsét on youtube... which is now, for some reason, private. Oh well.

A tanú - The Witness - 1969

Possibly the greatest example of svejking ever committed to film. The first time I saw the Socialist Ghost Train scene I laughed so hard I pulled a muscle in my neck.

A tizedes meg a többiek - The Corporal and the Others - 1965

Available here. A philosophical war comedy. So many half-baked schemes. So many unintended consequences.

2: Extremely Good Mid-Budget Sci-Fi

It's easy to make a terrible low-budget sci-fi film. Oddly, it's even easier to make a terrible sci-fi film with a few million dollars. With a student film budget, creators don't have enough rope to hang themselves. With a massive budget, they can afford to both make and correct mistakes. With a few million dollars, an inexperienced filmmaker can get ambitious... and create a truly appalling mess. When that doesn't happen, it's worth noting.

Incident At Raven's Gate - 1988

A great example of how to achieve unsettling effects on a tight budget, backed up by solid writing and casting. Some films are frustrating to watch because you can see the missed opportunities. With Incident At Raven's Gate, you can marvel at the missed failures. Every time you expect the film to go wrong, to break immersion, botch a scene, or feel cheap and rushed, it doesn't, and that's something special.

Prospect - 2018

Sci-fi films often try to create the illusion of a deep and convincing world. They often fail, or their attempts are clumsy and obvious. Prospect succeeds. I do want to know more. I can imagine other stories, other possibilities.

The film is a love letter to props without being self-indulgent. It's also the first film in a new genre: "fatherly Pedro Pascal helps a youth navigate a hostile world." See: the Mandalorian (2019) and The Last of Us (2023). It all started with Prospect.

The sound mixing is the film's only major flaw. Dialogue is difficult to understand. It's frustrating to create a deep world with its own vocabulary and idioms and then exclude the audience. But Pascal's mumbled homespun patter is also part of the film's charm.

I hope Zeek Earl and Matt Acosta make another feature film one day, but even if they don't, they should be proud that Prospect will be remembered extremely fondly. You can feel the care and effort that went into the film. An algorithm didn't demand this film. A CGI sweatshop didn't churn out the effects. 

3: Historical French Language Films I Thought I Would Never Rewatch And Yet Have Rewatched Several Times

I wouldn't say I recommend the films in this category, or that you'll enjoy watching them. Is it possible for a film to travel so far into boredom that it approaches brilliance? Perhaps it's a different kind of highly refined boredom. Not the predictable action of paint drying. Not the trivial manipulation of emotions with stirring music and clumsy dialogue and people in rubber monster masks. But craft, like watching a woodworker or a sculptor.

Malmkrog - 2020

A turn-of-the-century dinner party film where everyone has a sword hanging over their heads. The futility of drawing-room philosophy. The splitting of dead hairs.

La mort de Louis XIV - The Death of Louis XIV - 2016

In contrast, La mort de Louis XIV has minimal dialogue, and relies on lighting, costuming, texture, and pacing to achieve... whatever it set out to achieve. It's a film about death, and death is rarely exciting.

4: Moderately Surrealist Films Set Indoors

Bunker Palace Hôtel - 1989

A film that does almost everything well, from lighting to props to rapid characterization to its overarching concept. Bunker Palace Hôtel has pacing issues, but it's still well worth watching. 

waydowntown - 2000

waydowtown and Primer (2004) would make a good double feature. You could even bill them as early 2000s costume dramas. 

If you want more films in this category, see High-Rise (2015) or The Exterminating Angel (1962).

5: Pre Code Films Where The Endings Are the Most Memorable Part (But You Have To Watch The Whole Film)

"Code" refers to the Hollywood Production Code, which banned anything vaguely suggestive, interesting, or controversial. For a more thorough list, see this post from The Toast (RIP).

I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang - 1932

If you've seen it, you know. If you haven't, you must see it.

Gold Diggers of 1933 - 1933

Lavish musical numbers, a plot to support them, and some snappy dialogue.

Doctor X - 1932

The 2021 restored tinted print, with its brilliant emerald and orange-pink hues, is amazing. You might need time to acclimatize to the comic relief subplot. Just think of it as Shakespeare.