Eraserhead is a film you have to watch if you like David Lynch. Even though it's not his strongest work, it's really the one that's most Lynchian, as far as it epitomizing everything that makes a Lynch film a Lynch film.

People do like, actually. I, for one, found it haunting and yet engrossing because it was all so enigmatic.

I love Lynch but I hate Eraserhead, and not because it's weird.
I find it to be a little pretentious and boring.
Still, nice visuals and a show of tecnical skill and I like the Francis Bacon refearences.
Perhaps I just need to rewatch it for I kind of rented it with the wrong person.
And btw:

Spoiler:

David Cronenberg > David Lynch :D

Close call. Quite possibly true though.

I myself would agree with that. I love Cronenberg.

Oh no no, you got it all wrong. Tarkovsky > all.

Kubrick > the rest of the universe.

Ha ha, now this has gotten interesting. Tarkovsky and Kubrick both have one film each in my own Top 10 (2-3 each in my Top 50), and I think they're both significantly better than Lynch and Cronenberg. :P

What? No love for Ingmar Bergman? :P

Which 2-3 would that be?

He's one of the best ever. :D

For Tarkovsky - Mirror and Andrei Rublev

For Kubrick - 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, and Dr. Strangelove.


Both have other films later on my list (it goes up to 300 so far, lol). For Tarkovsky I know Ivan's Childhood and Solaris are there, and I believe Stalker as well. For Kubrick there's Paths of Glory and Barry Lyndon.

Hm. There are probably better movie makers than Lynch, but he's the one whose movies resonate the most with me. It's the "lynchian atmosphere", you know. :)

Ninth, I know it's not exactly an easy request, but at some point please try to view the last two hours of Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz. I swear it reminds me of Lynch the whole time. If he hadn't made Eraserhead three years before Berlin Alexanderplatz came out, I'd think he lifted everything. Heh. Just want to see if you get the same feeling from it.

I'm not a big fan of Bergman. I like his movies on an intellectual level, but rarely am I really emotionally involved. You could argue Fanny and Alexander.

I'm not the type to make lists, but this might be my top 25:

1 2001: A Space Odyssey - Kubrick
2 Red - Kieslowski
3 8 1/2 - Fellini
4 Woman in the Dunes - Teshigahara
5 Solaris - Tarkovsky
6 Walkabout - Roeg
7 The Shining - Kubrick
8 Mulholland Dr. - Lynch
9 Apocalypse Now - F. Coppola
10 Hiroshima mon Amour - Resnais
11 Eyes Wide Shut - Kubrick
12 La Dolce Vita - Fellini
13 Lost in Translation - S. Coppola
14 Double Life of Veronique - Kieslowski
15 The Third Man - Reed
16 Rashomon - Kurosawa
17 Casablanca - Curtiz
18 Notorious - Hitchcock
19 Day for Night - Truffaut
20 Naked Lunch - Cronenberg
21 Ikiru - Kurosawa
22 Magnolia - P. T. Anderson
23 Persona - Bergman
24 Koyaanisqatsi - Reggio
25 The Thin Red Line - Malick


I should note that's not what I would say are the greatest or the most important, but my personal favorites -- the kinds of movies that either deeply affected me or else ones that I loved watching and thinking about afterward. I also should note that I made thta list off the cuff, and thus it probably isn't entirely accurate. PErhaps I should actually think and create a list of my favorites sometime.

What're yours while we're on the subject?

Nice list, I've seen every one of those films and enjoyed them all too. I'm surprised Tarkovsky's Mirror isn't on there, judging by the types of films you rate so highly I would think it to be a perfect fit. I don't have a finalized list yet (still working on it), but... Here are some things I agree and disagree with based on your list, which I realize you said are personal favorites and not necessarily "the greatest or most important". Still...

I agree that:

1) Red was the best of Keislowski's Colors trilogy
2) 2001 is Kubrick's best film
3) 8 1/2 is Fellini's best film
4) Rashomon and Ikiru belong in any Top 25 :D
5) Magnolia is a great film (some do not agree or think Boogie Nights is better)
6) Hiroshima mon Amour is a masterpiece and the best film by Alain Resnais
7) Koyaanisqatsi deserves more recognition than most give it

I disagree that:

1) Woman in the Dunes is the best Japanese film of all time. :P
2) Red is the best Keislowski. That would be The Decalogue IMO.
3) Solaris is the best Tarkovsky.
4) Apocalypse Now is the best Coppola
5) The Thin Red Line is the best Malick
6) Lost in Translation belongs in a Top 25.
7) Notorious is the best Hitchcock


Again, I realize your list was thrown together off the top of your head and you also admit they are favorites that you wouldn't necessarily consider the greatest films. Still, I'm just commenting. :) Good list.

Oh and by the way, have you seen the 5 hour cut of Fanny and Alexander or just the 3 hour cut? Just curious. It's one of my favorite films ever. Top 5 for sure, and I can't decide which of my Top 5 (or even Top 10) belong where...they are all so great. If people asked me to name the movies that I absolutely couldn't live without, I'd need AT LEAST 25 choices to keep from going crazy, and I'd still have trouble...

Hah. Yes I actually started with a top ten there when I was writing it but I kept thinking of more movies I love so I made it 25.

If I were to make it more of a greatest list, I'd chuck out probably at least 10 from that list in favor for movies by Welles, Renoir, Eisenstein, Dreyer (I still need to see some Keaton and Chaplin), and others I'm sure I just can't think of at the moment.

Ahhh... Keaton's The General is simply brilliant (Sherlock Jr. is excellent too if you can find a version that doesn't have the HORRENDOUS Club Foot Orchestra score). Ditto for Chaplin's City Lights, The Gold Rush, and Modern Times.

By the way, you never said what version of Fanny and Alexander you've seen.

Oh, right. The 3-hour cut. I have the big Criterion box with both versions but I just haven't gotten around to seeing the mini-series. 5 hours is a little daunting for me, especially considering I still have so much to see.

Ok, well I was just curious. The 5-hour cut is certainly superior. I don't think there's any fat on it, yet two hours were cut to make the theatrical version. In the words of Bille August (director of The Best Intentions, written by Bergman):

"When Ingmar made Fanny and Alexander, he made a five-and-a-half-hour film for television. He also knew he had to make a shorter version for theatrical release. So he thought he could make some easy cuts and wind up with a 2-1/2 hour film. So he made these cuts, screened it, and discovered he still had a 4-1/2 hour film. And he was deeply shocked. He had only cut out one hour! And in order to cut some more, he had to make some drastic dramatic compromises. So that now, he considers the theatrical version of Fanny and Alexander an amputated version of what his original film was, and he doesn't really like the shorter film."

Damn. Guess I'll have to just split up the five hours over a couple days. I have a hard time playing a video game for five hours straight :crazy:

Perhaps I have ADD.

Wwhile we are on the subject on other films featuring surreal imagery, I'd like to reacoment Jan Svankmajer's Faust (or anything by him, realy) and Jacob's Ladder of course.