My film journey has been characterised by movies that inspire and educate me in equal measure. While my heart still belongs to the blockbusters that made me fall in love with the medium as a wee lad—Back to the Future, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Dark Knight—my time studying film and writing about it as a would-be professional has shaped how I view the artform.
The past few years have seen me watch so many films that have changed my mindset, and shown me the power of the visual medium and its ability to reflect the world we live in.
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) dir. Sergio Leone
A classic Western, Once Upon a Time in the West was one of the first films shown in my undergraduate Film Studies class. We studied the basics of film language through its opening scene as a way of understanding the components of the mise-en-scene: acting, lighting, sound design, make-up, set, and props, learning how it all comes together to create visual storytelling. I learned so much from this short scene, where Henry Fonda’s Frank and his gang decimate the McBain family; from the misdirecting editing of a flock of birds to the epic implementation of Ennio Morricone’s flawless score and how it codes Frank’s men as villainous before we even meet them.
Personal investment in the film as an educational tool aside, this is without a shadow of a doubt Leone’s greatest film. The audience is instantly transported into a romanticised old West, as Leone crafts an America that is a world of its own: far from realistic, but nostalgic for a land that only ever existed in our imagination. The film’s story is timeless and the performances (particularly Fonda breaking his heartthrob typecast as the disgusting Frank) are up there with the best in the genre. Watching Once Upon a Time in the West on the big screen is an experience I’ll never forget.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), dir. Ang Lee
While not strictly a product of what we might call ‘World Cinema’, as the film is a Taiwan-Chinese-American co-production, watching Crouching Tiger saw me fall in love with non-English language movies for the first time. The film gave me my first taste of wuxia martial arts, inspiring an interest in the Hong Kong action movies that influenced director Ang Lee.
It can be difficult to view the film without a ‘Western gaze’. Indeed, many Chinese viewers have reportedly found its gravity-defying action and fairytale plot to be ridiculous and a mockery of the films that inspired it, particularly due to its vision of an overly-romanticised “China of the imagination”. Yet I was captivated, from the moment the film began to the end of its powerful conclusion. Never before had I seen a film allow its characters to engage in stylistically hyperbolic stunt work without a care for the veil of reality. What may have been comedic in Western cinema was here taken seriously, and the stunt work gives the film an unfamiliar aesthetic far removed from the conventions of Hollywood. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon may be in part a product of the West, but it opened the door to so many other cinemas for me, and for that, it holds a special place in my heart.
Nasir (2019), dir. Arun Karthick
Probably the most obscure pick on the list, Nasir was one of the first films I covered as a member of the press at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. It’s a deeply political film that follows the eponymous Nasir in his day-to-day life as a salesman, father, and husband. Importantly, Nasir is a Muslim living in an area of India dominated by Hindu nationalism and prejudice against Islam. The film takes inspiration from art cinema, and trudges through its short runtime before culminating in a climax that shakes you.
Nasir opened my eyes to the possibilities of what film can be used for, before I’d studied the uber-political machinations of the ‘Third Cinema’. Still the most politically affecting piece of media I have ever seen, Nasir crafts a heartbreaking portrait of the everyman in a time of immense modern strife. As our media often ignores the region-locked troubles of nations seemingly worlds apart from the West, films like Nasir remain vital for understanding the troubles of distant communities. I left the cinema dazed and upset after watching Nasir: one of the most impactful and effective films I have ever seen.
The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019) dirs. Michael Schwartz and Tyler Nilson
There are those films that you just can’t help but keep coming back to, both in terms of personal enjoyment and scholarly value. The Peanut Butter Falcon is one such film. This tale of a man with Down’s syndrome who has had enough of society’s refusal to let him live came up prominently in both of my dissertations. It is a film that gave me faith that work is being done to give disabled people the opportunity to be seen on screen, and seeing Zack Gottsagen, an actor with Down’s syndrome, in a lead role was as surprising as it was reassuring.
Moreover, the film is just a great time. A fantastically heart-warming coming-of-age story that rejects a medical approach to disability, The Peanut Butter Falcon can be enjoyed by anyone.
Ed Wood (1994) dir. Tim Burton
Burton’s least-discussed film is what inspired me to pursue the artform in some capacity or another. Likely the director’s most grounded work, this is a biopic about the alleged “worst filmmaker of all time”, Ed Wood, and his relationship with washed-up Dracula actor, Bela Lugosi. Both roles are performed to perfection by a young, optimistic Johnny Depp and a grumpy, haggard Martin Landau. Shot entirely in black and white, and with an eclectic cast of characters who each get their moment to shine, there’s more than a bit of Burton’s signature style in this seemingly tamer film from Hollywood’s prince of darkness.
Yet it’s the themes of endurance and self-belief that make Ed Wood one of the most inspirational films I’ve ever seen. Ed’s impossible optimism, sheer drive, and will to see his vision on the big screen showed me that sticking to your guns and believing in your art is paramount, even when things look dire. As Orson Welles (played by Vincent D’Onofrio—what a cameo!) tells Ed, “visions are worth fighting for”.
Honourable mentions: Wonder Boys (2000), Whiplash (2014), Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), Parasite (2019), La La Land (2016), Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
Words by Nathanial Eker-Male
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