Introduction

30 Films in 30 Days

    As of a couple of years ago, I have decided that films cannot be put in a linear order along a single axis of “good” and “bad”. I think that there are so many sides to a film that to compress it down into a number to mark its apparent value is in fact a complete de-valuation altogether. That being said, I think popular criticism and the general terms “good” and “bad”, while inexact, do aid in debate and discourse not just in the world of film, but culture and society altogether. Words by their very nature are inexact, yet they are the key to unlocking and exploring ideas. So, in this sense, I don't think a film can ultimately be reduced to a number it stays as eternally, but for there to be a progression made in society, we can use these imprecise tools in order to explore the film and, as a result, ourselves as human beings.

    
Recently, I have been attempting to compile a list of my favourite films. These aren't films which I consider to be the best (whatever “best” is), but ones which I reacted to the most favourably. What makes me react to a film favourably is something I can't wholly explain. It is different for each film for different reasons. This meant I had plenty of trouble putting the films in a certain order. To remedy this, I went more by feeling than thought, and the result of that is something perhaps less precise but maybe (just maybe) more reflective of myself. Like I have said above, concrete ideas are only there to explore the more abstract ones.

    
Furthermore, it would be more truthful to call the list my “current favourite films”, as they are most likely to change with the acquisition of new cinematic experiences, but I feel like the inclusion of that word would take away some of the gravity of the list. Yet, this point did lead me to think of how many films I hadn't seen. Or, more significantly, ones I feel like I should have seen. For example it made me realise I hadn't seen anything by the likes of Kurosawa or Orson Welles. I hadn't seen much Hitchcock or Fellini either. And whilst being one of my favourite directors, there was still so much Mike Leigh I hadn't gotten round to watching.

    
This gave me an idea. I thought that I should make myself watch a collection of these films. Not all of them, that list would go on forever, but a diverse cross-section of the film-o-sphere I hadn't previously ventured into. I had kept saying to myself about various films, “I will watch this sometime soon”, and then never quite got to that “sometime”. I thought that while University work is at a lull, I could fill the blank spaces in my evenings with film watching. Therefore I have compiled a list, with the help of my girlfriend, of 30 films that I wish to watch over, roughly, the next 30 days. I say “roughly” as some days I won't be able to watch a film, but whenever I get a chance to, I will continue with the list.

    
The aim of this project is to expand my film-consciousness, to achieve a greater awareness of the range of films there are. Also, I wish to write about my thoughts on the films through this blog (perhaps continuing it afterwards and including books as well). Through this project, I wish to turn my film-viewing into something productive, so as to not fall out of the habit of writing (something I enjoy doing and need an excuse to do more often). I wouldn't regard these posts as “reviews” but rather more reflections. There's an element of self-discovery in the exercise, in my own choice of films for the list and then in my responses to them. I feel that after forcing myself to watch these films and then write about them I will understand not just the medium better but my own relationship to it, what I enjoy about it and why it is so mesmerising.

Here's the list (for note; they alternate between my pick's and my girlfriend's):

The Act of Killing (2013, Joshua Oppenheimer)

Under The Skin (2013, Jonathan Glazer)

Videodrome (1983, David Cronenberg)

Rosemary's Baby (1968, Roman Polanski)

A Matter of Life and Death (1946, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger)

London Road (2015, Rufus Norris)

The Devils (1971, Ken Russell)

The History Boys (2006, Nicholas Hytner)

Fantastic Planet (1973, Rene Laloux)

Frank (2014, Lenny Abrahamson)

Seven Samurai (1954, Akira Kurosawa)

Big Hero 6 (2014, Don Hall and Chris Williams)

The Gospel According to Matthew (1967, Pier Paolo Pasolini)

Stranger by the Lake (2014, Alan Guiraudie)

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949, Robert Hamer)

Marie Antoinette (2006, Sofia Coppola)

The Bicycle Thief (1948, Vittorio De Sica)

Midnight in Paris (2011, Woody Allen)

8 ½ (1963, Frederico Fellini)

Citizen Kane (1942, Orson Welles)

Barry Lyndon (1975, Stanley Kubrick)

The Double (2013, Richard Ayoade)

Breathless (1960, Jean-Luc Godard)

Pride (2014, Matthew Warchus)

Apocalypse Now (1979, Francis Ford Coppola)

Inherent Vice (2015, Paul Thomas Anderson)

The Long Good Friday (1981, John Mackenzie)

We are the Best (2014, Lukas Moodysson)

The Innocents (1961, Jack Clayton)

Magic in the Moonlight (2014, Woody Allen)