Videodrome – 1983
If you’re into the creepy phallic fixations of David Cronenberg, whose newest flick, Eastern Promises, hits theaters this weekend, it’s tough to do better than Videodrome. Cronenberg exercises his flesh-and-gore fetish by having James Woods get (literally) sucked into a terrifying underground world of pornography, unpleasantness and a whole lot of things that will just make you desperately want a cold shower.
Fanny ‘ Alexander – 1982
Legendary cinematographer Sven Nykvist died a year ago today and movies haven’t looked nearly as dark or brooding since. His most famous collaborations were with director Ingmar Bergman, who also lost his chess game with Death earlier this summer. Fanny ‘ Alexander was Bergman’s final theatrical film, a slight departure in its optimism, but, in its quiet exhilaration and Nykvist’s gorgeous lensing, a perfect and perfectly consistent cap to the career of a cinematic giant.
The Passenger – 1975
Director Michelangelo Antonioni died the same day as Bergman, leaving behind an enormous, divisive body of work that included Blow-Up, La Notte, and this fascinatingly flawed Jack Nicholson picture, which is memorable less for its slow-rolling identity thriller plot than it is for the sprawling landscapes and a hypnotic, legendary final shot.
The Pledge – 2001
Nicholson also starred in this psychological study of a retiring cop’s obsession with an unsolved child murder. The understated film showcases Nicholson’s little-used talent for subtle character work. It was Sean Penn’s most recent feature as a director, and it sets a high mark for the hotly anticipated Into The Wild to top.
Titus – 1999
Before you get roped into seeing Julie Taymor’s overblown (and infamously problem-plagued) musical Across the Universe, sample her filmmaking style with this acid trip of an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. Anthony Hopkins’ Titus is off-the-charts crazy, a fine fit for a movie that almost chokes on its own visual ambition. At least it fails spectacularly.
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