Existentialism discussion
Favorite Existential Movie?
The Silence - Ingmar BergmanThrough a Glass Darkly - Ingmar Bergman
WR: Mysteries of the Organism - Dusan Mekavejev
The Holy Mountain - Alejandro Jodorowsky
Fando and Lis - Alejandro Jodorowsky
Blowup - Michelangelo AntonioniPerformance - Donald Cammell
The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Philip Kaufman
Mentioning Michaelangelo Antonioni, "La Notte" and "The Passenger" hold some existentialist connotations.
Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" and Akira Kurosawa's "Ikiru"
I find categorizing philosophers of the past as existentialist can sometimes be confusing. I think Sartre was one of the first to categorize himself as one.
Favourite movies
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
HIgh Noon -John Wayne thought it was very unAmerican. Bill Clinton loved it.
What do you think about "Mash" and "Catch 22" Do they fit well enough.
Favourite movies
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
HIgh Noon -John Wayne thought it was very unAmerican. Bill Clinton loved it.
What do you think about "Mash" and "Catch 22" Do they fit well enough.
Taxi Driver- Watched it last night...its very good for this subject.
my fav existentialism movies :1- fight club
2- american beauty
recently i've seen "Un Homme Qui dort". very good indeed.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Un_homme...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp9Y0M...
My favorite existentialist films are typically crime films in which the crime is merely a representation of an attitude toward life. Films that immediately come to mind are
Melville's Le Samourai
John Boorman's Point Blank
Jacques Tourneur's Out of the Past
Melville's Le Samourai
John Boorman's Point Blank
Jacques Tourneur's Out of the Past
Reading this list raises the obvious question: what the fuck is an existentialist movie?Don't say, "a movie with an existentialist theme", which begs the same question.
Yeah, but can someone answer my question?
I can't answer your excellent question, Mr. Obscure, but here is a site with some sample "existential movies." I'm not sure it will help because it didn't help me. http://www.existential-therapy.com/Ar...
Jimmy - did you find that definition helpful?
I just turned on the tv and Waking Life by Richard Linklater is on. I'm surprised no one has mentioned it yet. I won't be so bold as to call it an existential movie, but it is . . . well . . . an interesting picture.http://www.foxsearchlight.com/wakingl...
If one really thinks about the philosophical premises behind existentialism, I think most movies could be classified as one.
My thought was that ALL movies were existential. The writer in the sites I posted said, "Do all movies deal with these themes? Maybe, depending upon what level of trivialization you are willing to accept. In my view, clearly the answer is “no.” I am confident that most, if not all, people who approach existentialism with seriousness would agree with this answer. So when someone asks “Aren’t all movies existential?” first, check to see if they are just trying to sound intelligent or trivialize existentialism. If so, there is little use for the conversation to continue. If this question is approached with seriousness, then it may be best to place existentialism in its historical and intellectual context to answer the question."
He does not convince me.
The problem with that writer is that his essential message is this: "if you don't agree that some movies and are existential movies and some aren't, then you are trivializing existentialism and don't really understand it."That's bullshit. I think it's him that doesn't fully understand it.
Here's a philosophical question for you all: What do Attila the Hun, Kermit the Frog, and Rob the Obscure all have in common?
Also counts in existential contemplation
Cars seems to inspire existentialist attitudes:
Vanishing Point
Two-Lane Blacktop
The Driver
Vanishing Point
Two-Lane Blacktop
The Driver
Matt wrote: "What is everyone's favorite Existential movie?"The Trial (Orson Welles version)
Fritz Lang's 'M'
Fritz Lang's 'Fury'
Elio Petri's 'Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion'
Godard's "Alphaville"
Resnais' "Last Year at Marienbad"
Lumet's "The Hill"
Chaplin's "Modern Times"
"Figures in a Landscape"
Lindsay Anderson's "If..."
Lindsay Anderson's "O! Lucky Man!"
Chris Marker's "La Jettee"
Durenmatt's "The Visit"
Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People"
Pontecorvo's "The Battle of Algiers"
Fellini's "8 1/2" or "La Dolce Vita"
Bertolucci's "The Conformist"
Coppola's "The Conversation"
Kubrick's "Paths of Glory"
Hemmings' "Power Play"
Elio Petri's "The Tenth Victim"
Frankenheimer's "Seconds"
Kazan's "The Arrangement"
Polanski's "A Pure Formality"
Donen's "Mirage"
"The Prisoner" (tv series)
Jewison's "Rollerball"
Lucas' "THX-1138"
"Death-Watch"
"Woman in the Dunes"
Rob the Obscure wrote: "If one really thinks about the philosophical premises behind existentialism, I think most movies could be classified as one."Only in the most vague sense. Movies are almost always oriented towards a practical and eager goal.
Rob the Obscure wrote: "Reading this list raises the obvious question: what the fuck is an existentialist movie?
Don't say, "a movie with an existentialist theme", which begs the same question."
Begging the question? Disagree. An existentialist movie production are films like those of Andy Warhol, who simply set his camera running for 8 hours on a single subject (man sleeping, Empire State Building) and left it running. Perhaps David Cammell as well. A few other weirdos.
Movies with existentialist themes (hardly any of them, existential since they usually have keen expectations they're trying to realize) are numerous, and I've listed some of the most memorable ones (to me) above.
No need to curse, btw.
@ Feliks Amazing list you brought up there mate!I would gladly add
-le charm discret de la bourgeoisie (the discreet charm of the bourgeoisie)
or even ~the phantomof liberty~ by the same director
I find the chance encounters that unfold the plot on the film paramount in sketching a few difficult themes, or as
Buñuel himself put it, outlines the film's themes in his autobiography as being:
The search for truth and the need to abandon the truth as soon as you have found it.
The implacable nature of social rituals.
The importance of coincidence.
The importance of personal morality.
The essential mystery of all things.
for a TV series I would add the post-apocalyptic ~Jericho~ [that was shot in only 2 periods, discontinued why due to ~raising Publics awareness in GOV "monkey businees"]
But I think its mostly relevant to the search for self of one the key chars travelling back to his home-town, by chance? in their time of need.
Feliks wrote: "Matt wrote: "What is everyone's favorite Existential movie?""Why did U add those 3 movies in particular?
Resnais' "Last Year at Marienbad" (again I was late in a screening, but I did "ãdhere this movies message in a subconscious way, quite experimental in scripting-progeressing)
Lumet's "The Hill" ( Ιve seen SS I must see the whole movie stm soon)
Chaplin's "Modern Times"
Lindsay Anderson's "If..."
but again why those last 2 movies _?_ especially ~ΙF~ did U think that Malcolm Mc Dowell's role embodied the inner drive-incentive of most students in that era for a permanent change \ radical imminent change
Hey! You guys pose interesting questions. This group has merit. I'm liking this discussion, I see mental processes at work!H'mm..let me see.. the three titles you (Dan) are 'testing'. I'm fully open to this, by the way. Maybe they don't fit as well as they ought! But to defend my impulse to include them I think I'd offer these explanations:
Lindsay Anderson's "If.."
~shows a group of students becoming disillusioned with the deeply latent 'military programme' of the school/school town around them. The movie shows their doubts causing them to unravel in all sorts of slight ways, until it snowballs in a nihilistic finale. They can't possibly win but they launch the attack anyway. That's what triggered me to include it. Atavism, the way they removed themselves from the 'cyclical roles' and arrangements ordered for them. They 'got off the train', as it were.
Resnais' 'Marienbad'. I included it for this reason:
~the movie's structure. Its an endless loop which can be entered anywhere and exited anywhere, its the same story at any point. The filming matches the narrative, which is also looping and 'goal-less'. The characters realize they are constantly repeating a sequence over and over and the characters embrace it and find salvation in it.
Chaplin's 'Modern Times'
~A figure intent on retaining his personal tradition in opposition to a vast programme which has (in effect) completely taken over the external world around him. As long as he remains within the city, he is locked in a combat with technology, innovation, change, and really time itself. The tramp is standing still, and insists on standing still; even though he must realize how hopeless it is.
Sidney Lumet's 'The Hill' (one of my all-time favorites)
~included because the men's lives as prisoners, are utterly closed-ended and hopeless. They can never get to the top of the hill and find a changed system, inside the prison. Yet, the lead character knows he has chosen the life which upholds the system. He even defends the hierarchy at the same time he battles it--though he knows it means his personal destruction. The movie is a story about a series of fluke accidents where it seems they might actually change the status quo...
In short, almost all of these movies reveal characters assuming responsibility for themselves, implementing their own moral judgment as opposed to relying or trusting in the 'systems' they find themselves in.
ΩΩωω Ι Have to take a closer look on what U propose- anwer, to reply more adequately... - some gaps on my memory banks on 2 of those movies..!
Very good pick, whoever chose 'The Passenger'. Love that flick!From my own list, I would probably drop 'Ministry of Fear'. I think I dis-remembered the plot when I included it. Yeah...removing it.
OK...my favorite existential movie is Castaway On The Moon. Second is Lost In Translation. Or maybe that's first. I don't know. I can't remember all of the 100s of existential movies I've seen.Sorry, Feliks, for the cursing. I guess I just don't have my shit together.
Fair enough. We all have careless moments. Good on ye mate.
I just watched the Russian film Russian Ark. All shot in one 96-minute uncut swoop. I was totally enthralled by it. Here's an interesting story about the movie by Roger Ebert. http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/rus...
Jimmy wrote: "I just watched the Russian film Russian Ark. All shot in one 96-minute uncut swoop. I was totally enthralled by it. Here's an interesting story about the movie by Roger Ebert. http://www.rogerebe..."
Jimmy - is it an existential movie? Or just a non-existential movie? (grin)
Is it available on Netflix streaming? Is that where you saw it?
Just found it on Netflix. Added it to my existential list. Thanks for the recommendation.
Saw it on Turner Classic movies. A very underrated station. The history of movies series they have been doing has been terrific. Late at night they do a lot of foreign films.
Jimmy wrote: "Saw it on Turner Classic movies. A very underrated station. The history of movies series they have been doing has been terrific. Late at night they do a lot of foreign films."So is it an existential movie, in your opinion?
Haven't the foggiest. It's just different, so I figured it belonged in this thread.
Jimmy wrote: "Haven't the foggiest. It's just different, so I figured it belonged in this thread."
(haha)
I understand
I heart hukabees is a fun existentialist movie, but ingmar bergen's winter light is the best.
Off the top of my head:Lost in Translation.
Stranger Than Fiction.
Before Sunrise.
I don't know if I would categorize them as "existential" movies, but they do deal with existential themes on various levels.
Pierrot le fou- Godard
The Seventh Seal- Bergman
Fantastic Mr. Fox- Anderson
Yes, I like to consider the 3rd as well... heh.