CINEPHILE CHALLENGE PHASE III DAY 5

Phase III Day 5: Favorite Hitchcock film: THE LADY VANISHES (1938)

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CINEPHILE CHALLENGE PHASE III DAY 4

Phase III Day 4: Favorite Welles film -- F FOR FAKE (1975)

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CINEPHILE CHALLENGE PHASE III DAY 3

Phase III Day 3: Your favorite Fellini film: JULIET OF THE SPIRITS (1965)
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CINEPHILE CHALLENGE PHASE III DAY 2

Phase III Day 2: Your favorite Godard film: LA CHINOISE (1967)
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CINEPHILE CHALLENGE PHASE III DAY 1

30 Day Cinephile Challenge: Phase III: Day 1: Your favorite Bergman film: THE SILENCE (1963)
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30 DAY CINEPHILE CHALLENGE PHASE II DAY 30

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Phase II Day 30: A film that you love for a very personal reason (no need to explain) -- TENDERNESS (2009, John Polson)

30 DAY CINEPHILE CHALLENGE PHASE II DAY 29

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Phase II Day 29: A film that changed your preconceptions about cinema -- WINDOW (1999, Apichatpong Weerasethakul). I saw this film on August 15, 1999, and it made me realize how blissful a non-narrative film can be.

30 DAY CINEPHILE CHALLENGE PHASE II DAY 28

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Phase II Day 28: A film that you wished another filmmaker would have made, and which filmmaker -- If the question is "a film that you wished another filmmaker would remake", I will answer JUDEX (1963, Georges Franju), and I hope someone like Tsui Hark, Su Chao-Bin (REIGN OF ASSASSINS), Ching Siu-Tung (SWORDSMAN II), or Johnnie To (THE HEROIC TRIO) will remake it, because I think JUDEX can be adapted into a martial arts film with a powerful villainess. The villainess' role played by Francine Bergé in JUDEX can be played by someone like Maggie Q in the new version.

I wrote about this film in imdb.com here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057207/reviews?start=3

30 DAY CINEPHILE CHALLENGE PHASE II DAY 27

Phase II Day 27: Your favorite documentary -- COLD HOMELAND (1995, Volker Koepp, Germany)

This is what I wrote about this film in imdb.com in 2001:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113519/reviews

"The movie begins with a mesmerizing shot, and it never lets me down after that. 'Cold Homeland' is so warm with humanity and shows many ordinary people who can hold my attention entirely with stories of their lives. But it's not only their stories that are captivating; more importantly, it is mainly the magical directing talent of Koepp which makes this movie extraordinary.

What makes this movie so special to me is that while I was watching it,I felt so drawn into it as if I were also in that place. Koepp can make me really 'feel' the place, not just seeing it. He can transform the screen into a magical door and makes me feel if I walked into that door, I would step into that faraway land at once. He can really capture the sense of the land with his subliminally powerful scenery shots. There are many shots in the movie which represent only landscapes. These scenery shots are not there to show how beautiful this land is, nor they are there just to inform the audience about how this land really looks like. I feel these scenery shots are much more than that. By inserting these shots appropriately in the movie, Koepp let the landscapes speak for themselves. He can make the landscapes-- the trees, the grass, the wind, the stones, the buildings, or even the sunshine there-- reveal their own 'feelings' and make the landscapes embrace the audience with their tender arms. This is pure magic!

Koepp is also very talented in making people speak. Though some people speak little, what they speak means a lot and has strong feelings within it. Other people in the movie speak a lot about their past, and though they tell the stories of their lives calmly, something from their past, something from their hearts makes me cry. I really don't know why I feel like crying when the old woman starts singing. And when she reveals her past, I find her story one of the most impressive and deeply touching. Listening to some people in this movie telling their lives for 2 minutes can stir more powerful emotions and leave long-lasting impressions than seeing some fictional 2-hour movies. Some stories told are really unforgettable, and I don't want to forget them because they make the word 'life' much more meaningful to me than before.

Koepp is also talented in representing some interesting aspects and information about that place, especially the information about the ethnic diversity of people living there. I learn a lot about this astonishing part of the world from this movie. This movie does not only carry the audience on a visual journey through this special land, but it also lets the audience touch the land, feel the land, breathe the air of the land, admire the soul of the land, and admire the spirits of people living there."

30 DAY CINEPHILE CHALLENGE PHASE II DAY 26

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Phase II Day 26: A cinephile friend you admire and his/her favorite film -- Wiwat Lertwiwatwongsa aka Filmsick. He has a Thai blog here:
http://filmsick.exteen.com

One of his favorite films is SHADOWS IN PARADISE (1986, Aki Kaurismäki)
http://beyondthecanon.blogspot.com/2009/11/wiwat-lertwiwatwongsa.html

30 DAY CINEPHILE CHALLENGE PHASE II DAY 25

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Phase II Day 25: Your favorite international film festival -- If it means a film festival I have ever attended by myself, I choose THE WORLD FILM FESTIVAL OF BANGKOK 2010, because the choice of films in this festival is great. I wrote about it here:
http://celinejulie.blogspot.com/2010/11/wffbkk-2010-is-best-film-festival-in-my.html

If it means a film festival I have never attended, I choose the Rotterdam International Film Festival, because I like many films which were once shown in this festival, such as

1.BLIND PIG WHO WANTS TO FLY (2009, Edwin, Indonesia)

2.THE BLOSSOMING OF MAXIMO OLIVEIROS (2006, Auraeus Solito, Philippines)

3.CARGO 200 (2007, Aleksey Balabanov, Russia)

4.DAYS OF SANTIAGO (2004, Josué Méndez, Peru)

5.4 (2005, Ilya Khrzhanovskiy, Russia)

6.JEALOUSY IS MY MIDDLE NAME (2002, Park Chan-ok, South Korea)

7.LOVE CONQUERS ALL (2007, Tan Chui Mui, Malaysia)

8.THE MARK OF CAIN (2007, Marc Munden, UK)

9.MYSTERIOUS SKIN (2004, Gregg Araki, USA)

10.THE SKY, THE EARTH, AND THE RAIN (2008, José Luis Torrres Leiva, Chile)

The photo here comes from PSYCHOHYDROGRAPHY (2010, Peter Bo Rappmund), which was my second most favorite film shown in the World Film Festival of Bangkok 2010.

30 DAY CINEPHILE CHALLENGE PHASE II DAY 24

Phase II Day 24: The worst film that has ever won an Oscar -- BRAVEHEART (1995, Mel Gibson)
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30 DAY CINEPHILE CHALLENGE PHASE II DAY 23

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Phase II Day 23: A film you really feel deserved an Oscar and won it -- THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE (1972, Luis Buñuel), which won an Oscar for a foreign language film.

30 DAY CINEPHILE CHALLENGE PHASE II DAY 22

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Phase II Day 22: A good film from a terrible filmmaker -- MINDHUNTERS (2004, Renny Harlin)

30 DAY CINEPHILE CHALLENGE PHASE II DAY 21

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Phase II Day 21: A film you think every woman should watch and why -- BREMEN FREEDOM (1972, Rainer Werner Fassbinder), because some of the female audience may find this film very touching. The film is adapted from a real case of a woman who murdered 15 people. I wrote about this film here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068314/reviews?start=1

30 DAY CINEPHILE CHALLENGE PHASE II DAY 20

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Phase II Day 20: A film you think every man should watch and why -- BAISE-MOI (2000, Virginie Despentes + Coralie Trinh Thi), because this film will make men understand women better.

30 DAY CINEPHILE CHALLENGE PHASE II DAY 19

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Phase II Day 19: Your favorite film portraying a fictional monster -- THE MIST (2007, Frank Darabont). I think what's great about this film is that the hero has to deal with both "monsters" and "human beings as monsters" (the people who believe in Mrs Carmody).

30 DAY CINEPHILE CHALLENGE PHASE II DAY 18

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Phase II Day 18: The most controversial film you have ever seen -- AN ARIA ON GAZE (1992, Hisayasu Sato). This sadomasochistic film stars Issei Sagawa, who killed and ate a woman in 1981. The film is controversial for both its content and its choice of actor.

Mike Kitchell wrote about this film here:
http://esotikafilm.com/reviews/thebedroom.html

The case of Issei Sagawa:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issei_Sagawa

30 DAY CINEPHILE CHALLENGE PHASE II DAY 17

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Phase II Day 17: Your favorite movie poster -- QUEEN MARGOT (1994, Patrice Chéreau)

30 DAY CINEPHILE CHALLENGE PHASE II DAY 16

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Phase II Day 16: Your favorite erotic film -- SCORCHER (1992, Matt Sterling)