"HUMP THE HOSTESS!!!!" - A Look at the Best Films of 1966

After a rather relatively weak 1965 that failed to live up to the strength of the early half of the decade, we get to enter 1966 with a bit more confidence. Considering the vast number of films that I felt compelled to discuss for 1960, 1962, and 1964, I will admit that I will not be making a large list for 1966.

I am only going to single out one film as an Honorable Mention, but this list will contain 5 films that get the pinnacle 5-star ranking, and one more that I sort of go back and forth with. That's certainly a big boost considering 1965 only had 1, and that felt pretty sad after 1964's epic total of 9.

My Honorable Mention is a film that I would argue a lot of film fanatics would have on their top 10, but I can't say it is as easy for me to get swept up in the western genre.

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HONORABLE MENTION: 

THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE UGLY 

Written & Directed by Sergio Leone

Co-written by Age & Scarpelli and Luciano Vincenzoni 

Arguably the pinnacle of the "spaghetti western" genre, I will say that this is one of the few westerns I do own up to enjoying even if it is likely at a tempered level than most.

If some may wonder why it is referred to as a "spaghetti western", that is simply due to the fact that there was a certain subsector of the western genre that kept getting churned out in this era led by Italian directors and producers, namely Sergio Leone.

However, one aspect of this film that I think a lot of us can agree on as being truly iconic is that of Ennio Morricone's score. This guy was an absolute legend who gave us some of the greatest film scores in history, such as one of my personal favorites: Cinema Paradiso.

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#10 - THE FACE OF ANOTHER

Directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara 

Written by Kobo Abe

As their follow-up to the masterpiece that was Woman in the Dunes, I would say that it was a bit of a tall order for Teshigahara and Abe to meet that high level. Even at the time, a lot of critics outside of Japan deemed the film to be a disappointment in comparison, and while I would certainly agree it isn't on the same level, there is a lot to really like about The Face of Another.

An engineer whom we only know as Mr. Okuyama (Tatsuya Nakadai) has his face disfigured following an explosion at his job. His life feels a bit aimless: he wears bandages to cover the burns, his wife is uncomfortable around him, and it leads him to consulting a psychiatrist. 

The psychiatrist suggests an idea: what if he partakes in a procedure that will get him an experimental prosthetic mask to wear? 

Okuyama does go through with it, but instead of becoming a potential source of embracing life again, he seemingly develops a new kind of identity which leads to further alienation from those he loves.

Yes, I can't deny that the film is as deep or profound as Woman in the Dunes, but I do think the film does play a lot into the ideas of identity...however, there is a film coming up next that also wants to give us its own take on the concept.

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 #10 - SECONDS

Directed by John Frankenheimer

Written by Lewis John Carlino

Oddly enough, we get another film that deals with the idea of altered appearances and new identities.

Director John Frankenheimer is one of those who does get brought up from time to time, but he has never been frequently listed as being among the best of all time. What I have always admired about his work...for reference, his most iconic work would likely be 1962's The Manchurian Candidate...is that he has this very interesting way of presenting his worlds often through dark and shadowy lenses and often placing his cameras at angles that can feel disorienting at times. He showed a lot of technical proficiency in a way that I don't think a lot of (Hollywood) directors attempted to achieve. 

Having said that, I can't say that I have loved a lot of his filmography despite appreciating his skill as a director. If anything, his directing skills are often what help buoy a film up. 

In the case of Seconds, the film was seen as a major bomb at the time. It did a bit better with critics, but its box office numbers were rather abysmal. Over time, it has developed quite the cult following mostly thanks to the resurgence it got from being selected for the Criterion Collection.

Rock Hudson, an inspired casting choice, plays banking executive who does his daily commute from Westchester to NYC and feels incredibly unfulfilled with his life. His marriage to his wife Emily is fading and his adult daughter has moved to the west coast with her own family.

He receives an anonymous letter that leads him to an agency known as "The Company", who have begun the procedure of faking someone's death and then giving them a new identity/life to pursue. As one might suspect, that isn't going to end up being all rosy for him.

Seconds does tackle this topic well from a true science fiction/almost dystopian standpoint. Elements from the storytelling almost remind of future films, such as Demi Moore getting a tip to try The Substance.

I do think this film has aged very well, but I will say when it comes to the concept of identity and psychology, we still have one more film later on this list that will give us a masterclass on the topic.

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#8 - ANDREI RUBELEV 

Written & Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky

Co-written by Andrei Konchalovsky

I do acknowledge how much I admire the work of Tarkovsky, but I will say of his most acclaimed films, I was not as enthused with Andrei Rublev. That isn't to say I hated it, clearly not since it is on a list like this, but it also just shows how many strong films he made.

The film is not exactly a true biography in the sense of the word, but it is loosely based on the life of 15th century Russian painter of the same name. Tarkovsky extensively tried to bring the world of 15th century Russia to life and used Rublev as a means to examine how the worlds of faith and artistry collide.

You often hear people refer to certain films as "a religious experience" in order to express how amazing it was to witness it, even when the film may not even have a thing to do with religion. In the case of Andrei Rublev, it does feel as though we are watching some kind of cosmic miracle that is almost otherworldly. Granted, this is something that Tarkovsky has always been a master at conveying, but Andrei Rublev is a film that requires multiple viewings to appreciate. I certainly liked it more upon a second viewing, so in that regard, it does make me wonder if I watched it a third time, would I end up giving it a higher ranking?

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#7 - BLOWUP

Written & Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni 

Co-written by Tonino Guerra

As his first foray into making an English-language film, Michelangelo Antonioni is not surprisingly often linked closely to this film, but I am still not sure it is his best work...though it has a very important distinction.

Blowup is one of the earliest examples of a film coming out that truly challenged the idea of the archaic Hays Code, which was already dying a slow and nowhere near fast enough death. MGM didn't even get approval from the production code upon its release, and it was condemned by the National Legion of Decency...AKA The Catholics. Hey, they stopped molesting young boys for a moment to condemn a film with explicit sexual content...how brave...

Thomas (David Hemmings) is a photographer who normally works with models and more artistic projects. One day, he wanders through a park and notices two lovers, an older man and a younger woman in her 30s, whom we soon learn is named Jane (Vanessa Redgrave). 

The older man departs quickly, but Jane pursues Thomas begging him for the images. He refuses and she rushes off as he continues to photograph her. Once Thomas looks at the footage, he realizes that something else is afoot. Jane appears to look a bit nervous in some of the photos as she glances towards the woods near her, which prompts Thomas to blow up the photos, and he believes he might have taken proof of a murder that occurred nearby...which explains why Jane was so concerned about there being a record of her also witnessing this crime.

Blowup is about the kind of a film one would expect from Antonioni, where the whole is better than the sum of its parts. The film has some of Antonioni's lagging sequences that bring the pacing to a halt, but in the end, the film manages to pull you back from it multiple times.

Ingmar Bergman, who normally hated Antonioni's work, referred to the film as a masterpiece. I wouldn't go that far, but I do admire it a lot.

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#6 - DAISIES 

Written & Directed by Vera Chytilova

Co-written by Pavel Juracek & Ester Krumbachova

Are you ready for a bit of a chaotic and colorful and zany romp? Well, hop in because we got ourselves quite the ride ahead of us.

Daisies was the work of Czech filmmaker Vera Chytilova, a rare case of a woman directing during this time period...and she gives us something fascinating. To start us off, our two leads are only known as Marie I (the brunette) and Marie II (the blonde) and both were played by non-actors named Jitka Cherova and Ivana Karbanova. The former had worked in retail, and the latter was still in college.

The film's satirical themes are pretty clear: attacking authoritarian communism and the patriarchy while messing with the ideas of what exactly are feminine stereotypes.

Having said that though, how does one actually describe Daisies? Is there anything to properly convey what an absolutely bonkers experience this is?

The Maries are both teenagers and they are both fed up with the world around them. They acknowledge that the world is spoiled, therefore they should likely just accept it. From there, they go around playing pranks and preying upon those who come across them. 

They even end up preying upon themselves as one ponders suicide, they also self-harm each other with scissors...and eventually they tire of this. They no longer wish to be spoiled and be so carefree, so they decide to clean up their act and surroundings...until life decides to crash on them anyway.

Daisies is a destructive film that feels as liberating as it does a bit unsettling at times, but it does prove to be highly successful in giving a spotlight to women in the kinds of gregarious roles that would likely be seen as more acceptable for a man to play. 

Chytilova would continue to make films, although for a while she had to work under her husband's name when stronger censorship rules came about. Despite attacking the idea of communism, Chytilova was a devout socialist and it is a shame that a lot of her work and ideals got stifled because of censorship.

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#5 - A MAN & A WOMAN

Directed by Claude Lelouch

Written by Pierre Uytterhoeven (w/ uncredited work by Lelouch)

Not to necessarily date this post, but as I am writing this, A Man & A Woman just got a Criterion release, and it is one of the prime examples of me going "Oh okay, I assumed that got into their collection a while ago".

A Man & A Woman is a beacon of the romantic drama. In fact, even the idea that I am ranking the film at #5 is a testament to how strong this year is because if this had come out in 1965, it would likely be a very strong #2 nipping at the heels of The Shop on Main Street. 

We have Anouk Aimee, in her Oscar-nominated performance, starring as a young widow named Anne. Working as a script supervisor, she witnessed the death of her husband on set in a stunt accident gone wrong. She now divides her time between Paris and Deauville, where her daughter Francoise is attending boarding school.

Then we have widower Jean-Louis (Jean-Louis Trintignant), whose wife Valerie committed suicide when she suspected he was going to die following a car crash during Le Mans. He also divides his time between both cities as his son Antoine is going to same boarding school as Francoise. 

A Man & A Woman is an examination of how one deals with grief over the death of a spouse and how that affects the possibility of finding love again...but what I do appreciate about the film is that it doesn't diminish the grief while simultaneously still allowing the characters to work through and find bliss despite of it all. 

Lelouch gives the film such vibrant life by experimenting with various styles, such as switching cinematography between color, B&W, and sepia. It only adds to the strong emotions we are witnessing in the film, which is also aided by the wonderful musical score by Francis Lai.

A Man & A Woman is one of those foreign films I would say is a solid entry point if you want to try checking something out in that manner. Its themes are relatively universal in that respect, and it also doesn't hurt that the acting is phenomenal and the film is beautiful all around.

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#4 - THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS 

Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo

Written by Franco Solinas/Story by Pontecorvo

Gillo Pontecorvo is another filmmaker where I have to admit that I have only seen one of his films, but when it comes to that, The Battle of Algiers is quite the doozy.

As the title suggests, the film revolves around the rebels acting out against the French government in North Africa amidst the Algerian War. In order to make the film seem as realistic as possible, Pontecorvo embraced the Italian Neorealist movement that had sort of faded by this point, utilizing a documentary/newsreel style cinematography that was reminiscent of neorealist legend Roberto Rossellini. He also utilized non-professional actors who had lived through the actual war for further authenticity...something that does usually pay off well, like using Harold Russell in The Best Years of Our Lives or Haing S. Ngor in The Killing Fields.

Not surprisingly, the French government banned the film at first and even when the ban was lifted, no distributor there seemed to want to release it...but the truth is Pontecorvo felt the film didn't necessarily demonize any side, he felt it was more "politically neutral".

In the end though, this is a true masterwork and one that I feel should be seen by everyone at some point in their lives. It would prove to be a strong influence on many iconic filmmakers, with a personal assistant of Stanley Kubrick's stating that he once told him that if he really wanted to understand what cinema could be, he needed to watch The Battle of Algiers.

I also like to think of the melding of non-fiction/fiction as a forerunner to the work of the late Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami who is certainly not a moral figure, but I can't argue he did make some fascinating films that owe a debt to what Pontecorvo accomplished here.

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#3 - WAR & PEACE

Written & Directed by Sergei Bondarchuk

Co-written by Vasily Solovyov 

I honestly wasn't entirely sure where I wanted to place War & Peace. When I devised my 1965, I originally included it there...especially because that year needed an additional boost. However, the majority of the film was not released to the public until 1966 and 1967...so I decided to consider 1966 as a middle ground to include the film series as it had been released in 4 parts: two in '66 and two in '67.

War & Peace is a film of epic, glorious, and opulent proportions. It is truly as if someone took the scope of Gone with the Wind, Andrei Rublev, Barry Lyndon, and The Leopard and gave them a 5-hour Energy Shot and a prescription of steroids. 

As was often the case for a while, the Soviets were looking to put Hollywood (and the US) in its place, and they concocted a sweeping epic that honestly put many of ours to shame. It would've been the most expensive film ever made during the era of the USSR, totaling about $70 million in today's money. 

The film also had extensive support from the Soviet Army, which allowed over TEN-THOUSAND SOLDIERS and HUNDREDS OF HORSES to be utilized for various scenes, namely anything containing a battle. 

Considering War & Peace is one of the most well-known and discussed pieces of literature in existence, I am not really feeling like I need to dig that deep into the story. While I would argue that maybe little pieces could've been trimmed here and there, this is a prime example of a true successful film series and a rarer case of a strong "Quadrilogy".

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#2 - WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?

Directed by Mike Nicohols

Written by Ernest Lehman (even though the text is primarily that of Edward Albee's)

Stunt casting. We all hate it right?

Sure, sometimes it does pay off rather well...often leading to comments of shock. Perhaps the ultimate example of this was the casting of then acting power couple Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor as the irascible George and Martha in the film adaptation of Edward Albee's masterpiece Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? which, I must say, was a play that I said was my personal favorite for many years. I do still think very highly of it to this day.

Now, Burton isn't exactly a stretch to play George. Albee did claim that he felt he was a tad too old, but he eventually relented that he turned out to be incredible in the role. The real issue was the casting of Taylor, who did prove to be a very good actress prior to this...ironically not counting her Oscar winning performance in the schlock that was Butterfield 8. Martha is supposed to be a woman in her 50s: middle-aged, graying, frumpy. Taylor was only 33 when she was approached to play the role, and she knew the truth. She expressed that she felt playing this role would be a stretch and that she did not have the skills to properly play it, but she would be coerced.

Also, to her credit, she was adamant a strong director of actors be used because she wanted to have someone challenge her and make her get to the dramatic levels necessary. This led to highly accomplished theatre director and former comedian Mike Nichols to make his film debut, and the results were splendid to say the least.

Taylor gained weight to play the role, which is certainly in line with the idea of "de-glamming" that Oscar voters often love, but that is really just a secondary factor. She gives the goods when it comes to the dramatics and passes fairly well for someone that is supposed to be older than her age. I have even said in the past on this blog that despite my love for this material, I've never been overly fond of the final line "I am, George. I am". Having seen several actresses do this line, I actually think Taylor is the one who sold it best and didn't try to overdramatize it. 

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is revolves around two couples, the aforementioned George and Martha, he is a professor at the college that Martha's father is the president of. Late one night after a party, Martha tells George she invited a young couple to come have a nightcap with them: new professor Nick (George Segal) and his unassuming wife Honey (Sandy Dennis) ...and let's just say...they have quite the evening.

In terms of pure acting, this quartet is stellar. Segal may be the one who seems to disappear into the scenery, but that is not truly the case. Nick is a character who is supposed to be the one most connected to reality as an audience stand in and he does that very effectively, but MY GOD is Sandy Dennis fantastic in this! Her awkward laughs and outbursts and her twirling around singing "I dance like the WIND!" or yelling out "HUMP THE HOSTESS!" during what is more of a tense moment between George and Martha is a prime example of how effective a good supporting performance can be.

I love the play, and I love the film. I never tire of it.

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#1 - PERSONA 

Written & Directed by Ingmar Bergman

I have said on multiple occasions that my favorite film of Bergman's in terms of the emotional and artistic expression has to be Wild Strawberries. Although, if I were to say what I objectively think is his magnum opus is based on the sheer level of reshaping what a film could be and for being such an all-around mindfuck, let me single out Persona. In a lot of ways, if you were to approach me on a random day and ask me what his best film is, I might honestly just say Persona.

A young nurse named Alma (Bibi Andersson) has taken on a new patient, a stage actress named Elisabet (Liv Ullman) who has suddenly become mute. In order to treat her, she takes Elisabet to a cottage located on the island of Faro (one of Bergman's favorite filming locales) ...but while there, Alma begins to develop an intense psychosis where she can't seem to distinguish here own identity from that of Elisabet's. 

When I first saw Persona, I could honestly say I didn't get it. That isn't necessarily saying I fully get it now, but this is very much the kind of film that is rife for analysis and coming up with what you think is your own interpretation. There is even a famous quote from film historian Peter Cowie who said of the film: "Everything one says about Persona may be contradicted; the opposite will also be true".

Many have linked the idea of Persona to that of Jungian theory of "Persona": "a kind of mask, designed on the one hand to make a definite impression upon others, and on the other to conceal the true nature of the individual".

There is also a clear undercurrent of homosexuality here, even if perhaps the representation of lesbian homoeroticism is certainly of the toxic variety. You even have the film seemingly diving into the possibly of an Oedipus Complex with Elisabet's young son desperate for her love, but instead, that all gets overshadowed by the duality and complicated relationship between Alma and Elisbaet. That isn't even going into the concept of vampirism which leads one to believe that Elisabet is some kind of vampire and that Alma is what she seeks to consume both body and mind...which I cheekily like to compare the last part of that to Colin Robinson from What We Do in the Shadows. 

 I could go on and on with the analysis/topics that have come forth over the last few decades, but I did want to mention what Bergman himself had to say about the film in terms of his career: "Today I feel that in Persona - as later in Cries & Whispers - I had gone as far as I could go." He later even stated that the film saved his life and that had he not been able to finish it, he would've felt "washed up". 

I have talked a lot about how Bergman is my favorite filmmaker of all-time. This isn't necessarily to say that I go back to watch his films several times, because admittedly most of his work can take a lot out of a person. I do think that in the grand scheme of things, Persona is one of those fascinating films that the older I get, the more I feel compelled to live through its spell again...I don't know what exactly that says about me but so be it.

In terms of the performances, Bergman's frequent muse of Ullman does great work here as usual, but it is Bibi Andersson who gives the performance of a lifetime. It is the kind of performance that just felt raw and brave and exposed and unnerving to witness and also felt so uniquely new to the cinema landscape of that era...especially compared to most performances that would've been in English.

Persona is a film that is as beautiful as it is unsettling, as frustrating as it is captivating...this is a singular effort and truthfully one of the greatest and most daring films ever made. It was watching Persona that truly made me want to explore Bergman's filmography more deeply even though I certainly couldn't comprehend what the hell was often happening at such a young age, but considering the types of works Bergman made at the beginning of his career, he is a prime example of not knowing what to fully expect as an artist grows within his craft.

Persona is truly...and I have used this phrase before, but I do sincerely mean it here...an absolute work of cinematic art.

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FINAL THOUGHTS:

It certainly did feel a lot better to write this list in comparison to 1965, which did delay me a tad in getting that posted. Sure, I did have work taking up a lot of that time which...ugh...but I will admit that the passion was hard to find with some of those films; especially coming off of a stellar year like 1964.

I do think 1966 is relatively compact, but I didn't even go into films I do enjoy but didn't feel like singling out here, such as Alfie. I always try to single out films that deserve a mention in some capacity and usually those are films that get either a 5 star or 4.5-star rating...so in that case, 1965 was one of the few anomalies.

Luckily, 1967 will keep roughly the same consistency so that is a major plus as I move to tackle that year next.

IS "CLIMB EV'RY MOUNTAIN" A SEXUAL ALLEGORY?? - A Look at the Best Films of 1965

Well...I warned all of you. 1965 is going to feel a bit lifeless compared to 1964...and even 1960-1962. The only year that it might compare with is 1963, but even that year had 4 films that I gave a 5-star rating: 1965 only gives us one.

That doesn't mean to say I think very little about these films, but I would be lying if I said I didn't feel a tad uncertain when coming up with this list. I felt pretty solid about my top 7 but then bounced around at least 6 films for my bottom 3 and yet now of them truly felt right.

I will that one of the "films" on this list is technically a film series that released multiple installments, but I decided to place them altogether here for the hell of it since the first part premiered at a film festival in 1965. Plus, this list needed something else to spice it up.

With that said, let's go into the list. We do have a couple of very famous films here...one likely very evident considering the title of this post...

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#10 - SIMON OF THE DESERT

Written & Directed by Luis Bunuel

Co-written by Julio Alejandro

While highly acclaimed by most, I still feel as though Simon of the Desert is not as talked about compared to Bunuel's other works. A lot of his reputation mostly stems from the work he would do upon moving to France shortly after the release of this film, which marks his last work done in Mexico.

Simon (Claudio Brook) is an ascetic who has spent a little over 6 years (6 years, 6 weeks, and 6 days to be exact...) on top of a platform and pillar in the middle of a Syrian desert. His goal is that he wants to be nearer to God, but The Devil (Silvia Pinal) appears and tries to get him to come down via seduction.

Simon of the Desert is, admittedly, a film that I do like but I wouldn't say I love it. Truthfully, I battled putting a couple of films in this slot not because it was difficult to separate them, but rather I didn't feel like any of them felt like a top 10 film.

However, this is very likely the shortest film I have yet to discuss on any of my lists: 45 minutes. It does serve its purpose and doesn't outstay its welcome so I will give it that at the very least.

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#9 - I KNEW HER WELL

Written & Directed by Antonio Pietrangeli

Co-written by Ruggero Maccari & Ettore Scola

Amidst the alluring dreamy landscapes of Fellini and the darker, abstract concept films of Antonioni, there was also the frothy & naughty Italian comedy scene of the 60s that I briefly mentioned in previous post known as commedia all'italiana.

Antonio Pietrangeli was a frequent devotee when it came to that particular artform.

I can't say that I have been an avid lover of some of these kinds of films, but one of the few that did stand out to me was I Knew Her Well. Our lead Adriana is played by Stefania Sandrelli, who was mostly known as the rather young love interest of Marcello Mastroianni in Divorce Italian Style.

Here, Sandrelli's Adriana just wants one thing: she moved to Rome with the goal of becoming a celebrity. There isn't a lot of clear motivation or too deep of inner thought which does make the film lose some of its potential power...but Sandrelli is a captivating presence, and she is a joy to watch.

However - the film's ending following Adriana attending a party in which she is mocked by a bunch of men there and she's left feeling like maybe she isn't worthy of any kind of life is an abrupt gut-punch, but honestly, it lands so much for me and helps buoy the film up a bit despite the fact it isn't a moment of levity. 

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#8 - LOVES OF A BLONDE

Written & Directed by Milos Forman

Co-written by Jaroslav Papousek, Ivan Passer, & Vaclav Sasek

Czech filmmaker Milos Forman would go on to make a name for himself winning two Oscars for directing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus, and he was clearly a worthy winner in my eyes...but I do find a lot of his early work fascinating in comparison.

I can't say that I find Loves of a Blonde to be a masterpiece by any means, but I do very much like a lot about it. Forman took a real-life incident from his past as inspiration and sort of took heed from the auteurs of the French New Wave by embracing a rougher around the edges filming style, even incorporating a lot of non-professional actors into the film.

Andula (Hana Brejchova) is a young working-class woman living in a small factory town where women outnumber the men at fairly lopsided rate. We then follow her routine while working at a shoe factory and the various attempts she makes at forging relationships with the limited number of men around her.

I do admire a lot of what Forman achieves here, but I will agree with some of the criticisms that perhaps the film doesn't truly dig in enough to what makes Andula tick. I do wish we would learn more about her, which is also a similar criticism some have given Anora in that she could've been given a bit more backstory and depth...which likely could've been added at the expense of 10-15 minutes of that group driving around South Brooklyn...but I still really like Anora, don't come at me!

At any rate, Loves of a Blonde does feel a bit fresh in that it is nice to see a film like this with a female protagonist, which is certainly a major point for the time period.

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#7 - FISTS IN THE POCKET

Written & Directed by Marco Bellocchio

This is a case where I actually don't recall if I have even seen another film of a director beyond just a single on. In the case of Marco Bellocchio, I am pretty sure I've only seen Fists in the Pocket which also just happened to be his debut.

A young man named Alessandro (Lou Castel), who is an epileptic, lives with his blind widowed mother along with brother Leone who is also an epileptic, the eldest brother Augusto who appears to be the only one left with any sanity in the family, and their sister Giulia who is a bit mentally disturbed. Alessandro is certainly not in the right frame of mind as he actually finds himself attracted to his own sister, even though he is appalled by her behavior.

Augusto has a fiancée named Lucia who receives an anonymous letter from a woman claiming that he got her pregnant, which Alessandro finds out Giulia actually wrote. Wanting his brother to live a life of peace with Lucia and not have his dysfunctional family involved, he decides he is going to plan to kill them all.

Not surprisingly, the film had a lot of detractors, namely from the religious sector in Italy. It was even seen by some critics for being a rather unpleasant and sinister film, and even by two of Bellocchio's favorite filmmakers: Luis Bunuel and Michelangelo Antonioni.  I don't think the film is perfect or even close to it, but it has a lot of style, and I do appreciate when a filmmaker comes out of the gate ready to tackle a clearly diabolical topic and manages to pull it off rather successfully.

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#6 - DOCTOR ZHIVAGO

Directed by David Lean

Written by Robert Bolt

We are back in the world of sweeping epics courtesy of David Lean and Robert Bolt, but this one gives us a bit of romance amidst the chaos of war.

Doctor Zhivago, based on the Boris Pasternak novel that had been banned in the Soviet Union for decades following, was set during WWI and the Russian Civil War that we would also see depicted in films like Reds. The titular doctor (Omar Sharif) is married, but falls in love with Lara (Julie Christie), the wife of a political activist. 

Side note: "Lara's Theme" or as it would come to be known when Paul Webster added lyrics, "Somewhere My Love", is one of my favorite pieces of music from a film. Easily one of the best of Maurice Jarre's career. (I do prefer it as an instrumental, though)

At the time of the film's release, some critics did take issue with the film's treatment of the revolution at the expense of the love story...and sure, perhaps something like the aforementioned Reds would do better at balancing the idea of a romance amidst a revolution, but there is hard to deny that Lean is able to give us something really sumptuous here. 

While it certainly isn't of the same level of Lawrence of Arabia and even more so of The Bridge on the River Kwai or the intimate Brief Encounter, there is a lot to get swept up in with Doctor Zhivago. Plus, one has to wonder if Maya Hawke's Robin from Stranger Things calling Julie Christie in this film "ba-ba-ba-bonkers hot!" intrigued someone to check the film out. 

Maybe there was a niche overlap in terms of the market...

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#5 - TOKYO OLYMPIAD

Written & Directed by Kon Ichikawa

Co-written by Natto Wada, Yoshio Shirasaka, & Shuntaro Tanikawa

Any time a documentary comes along on this blog, I find myself feeling as though perhaps I don't acknowledge them enough. Sometimes they will stand out like a beacon in a year where perhaps a lot of the narrative films aren't up to snuff...but I always say that I think my mind unfairly puts documentaries in a class by themselves.

I have never exactly been one for sports. I will enjoy the occasional sports film, like the silly but heartwarming Cool Runnings up to the sappy ones like Rudy...but despite some of the problems surrounding the idea of the Olympics, watching Olympic coverage was perhaps the only example of watching sports with interest growing up. I was born the year of the Seoul Olympics, but it was the 1992 Barcelona Olympics that I vaguely remember coverage for...and even more so the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, complete with Kerri Strug's gymnastic miracle and the terrifying pipe bombing.

Going into Tokyo Olympiad, which covers the 1964 games held in the titular city, I did have an interest especially considering it seemed as though there was a lot more fervor for these games in decade's past. You could see this as a newer update of the documentary form following Leni Riefenstahl's documentary Olympia which chronicled the 1936 Berlin games.

However, I think what really pulled me in (and I would argue a lot of people felt the same way who perhaps aren't as immersed in sports as I am) is that this documentary doesn't necessarily on the sporting aspects but rather the pomp & circumstance of the games and also trying to connect more with the athletes as human beings who just so happen to have a kind of skill that very few will ever truly have.

I would've first seen Tokyo Olympiad on what would've been the 50th anniversary of those games: during the 2004 Athens Olympics not long after Criterion released the film commercially in the US for the first time. They actually took it out of print not long after, but it is back to being far more accessible today.

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#4 - THE SOUND OF MUSIC

Directed by Robert Wise

Written by Ernest Lehman

Hear me out: I want to beliveve that the song "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" is about lust turning into love for Maria and the Captain. "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" is the captain's...umm...member; "ford every stream" is Maria getting worked up; "follow every rainbow" is the consummation", and "'til you find your dream!" would be the climax.

ANYWAY - The Sound of Music!!

I don't think I even have to say much about this one. I would say it's easily the film on this list that I would bet most of you have seen, although I know that Doctor Zhivago was immensely popular at the time in terms of making close to the same numbers of Sound of Music did.

One thing I find very interesting about this film adaptation is what it is able to fix that didn't work in the stage show. For example, I much prefer how "My Favorite Things" is used to calm down the children instead of "The Lonely Goatherd" and that they refrain from using "Do-Re-Mi" when Maria first meets the children.

Also - everyone seems to agree that "An Ordinary Couple" is a slog, so therefore, "Something Good" is instantly better.

HOWEVER - I think the film suffers with the elimination of the two songs that utilize the Baroness and Max: "How Can Love Survive?" and "No Way to Stop It". I feel as though these moments gave the musical a bit more of a bite and reduced some of the more saccharine edges.

Having said that though, The Sound of Music is pretty iconic and beloved for a reason. I still revisit it nearly every Christmas or every other Christmas. I know it isn't technically a Christmas film in any way, but it certainly fits the festive mood...despite the Nazis.

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#3 - PIERROT LE FOU

Written & Directed by Jean-Luc Godard

I have already talked about how Godard was never my favorite of the French New Wave clique, but I do think one of his top films is Pierrot Le Fou, which received some boos when it first premiered at the Venice Film Festival.

However, that response soon changed. It's funny how different audiences can be at film festivals. I think after seeing how well Emilia Perez was received at Cannes, we can't exactly trust them...

Ferdinand Griffon (Jean-Paul Belmondo) had been fired from his job at a TV station and is feeling rather aimless due to that, along with his struggling marriage. His lifestyle had been pretty ritzy, and he finds it has become shallow and suffocating, so he tells his wife that he will be leaving her and their children to start a new life with his ex-girlfriend Marianne (Anna Karina).

Sounds like the kind of moral grey area romance that one might be used to seeing, but the film takes an abrupt turn when Ferdinand goes over to Marianne's apartment and a corpse is there. It turns out Marianne is being chased by members of the OAS, a far-right group that had been formed during the Algerian War. Now they must go on the run together as something of a crime duo, with her referring to him being a nickname he hates: "Pierrot", which translates to "sad clown".

Pierrot le Fou is a bonkers film, quite possibly the most bonkers film to come out of the French New Wave movement and easily the first glimpse into the more abstract territory that Godard would become known for as his career progressed. 

It is arguably one of only two films of him that I hold in fairly high regard, only with Vivre sa vie, and that isn't to say I necessarily hate his work...but I do find myself at a bit of a distance with Godard compared to his other contemporaries.

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#2 - RED BEARD

Written & Directed by Akira Kurosawa

Co-written by Masato Ide, Hideo Oguni, & Ryuzo Kikushima

Welcome back to the Magical World of Kurosawa!

Like quite a bit of Kurosawa's works, Red Beard is certainly highly acclaimed and respected, but I do feel it is talked about far less than a lot of his filmography; particularly his work during the 50s.

One major bit of significance for this film is that it marks Kurosawa's final collaboration with actor Toshiro Mifune, with whom he made 16 films dating back to 1948's Drunken Angel. When one thinks about famous director/actor pairings like Scorsese/DeNiro, Scorsese/DiCaprio, Lanthimos/Stone, or Bergman/Ullman, I do think Kurosawa/Mifune is in contention of being one of the absolute best. The reasoning behind the split was due to Kurosawa falling ill twice and then Mifune and co-star Yuzo Kayama falling ill. The actual production was spread out over two years and it infuriated Mifune as it cost him other opportunities he wanted to pursue in both film and television. 

Red Beard almost feels like a blending of the types of period samurai films Kurosawa had been making for a little over a decade at that point, along with the more somber humanist pieces he'd make like Ikiru.  

A hot-headed doctor fresh out of medical school named Noboru (Yuzo Kayama) is rather upset when his first assignment is being sent to work for a doctor at rural clinic named Dr. Kyojo Niide (Mifune), or rather his nickname Akahige ("Red Beard"). The dynamic is about what you'd expect: the younger, stubborn one doesn't want to learn from the wise, patient, older figure...but then a bond begins to form. Noboru's stubborn shell begins to crack as he sees the various hardships the people of this village undergo from families in poverty to one young woman who was saved from a brothel. 

When it was first released, it did quite well in Japan but was not well received abroad. Its reputation has since grown over time, and I do think a lot of its more sentimental elements play better than people gave them credit for at the time.

I still think of this as one of Kurosawa's most underrated works, even though many have seen it and loved it as much as I did.

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#1 - THE SHOP ON MAIN STREET

Written & Directed by Jan Kadar & Elmar Klos

Co-written by Ladislav Grosman

My introduction to The Shop on Main Street was thanks to the nomination it received for its leading lady Ida Kaminska. Much like a lot of the foreign films I have talked about, this was yet another example where the rules of the Academy strangely led to it winning Best Foreign Film for 1965 but then Kaminska was nominated for Best Actress 1966.

It was one of the earliest examples I can remember of stumbling into a film and realizing that I could end up finding a masterpiece when I least expect it.

The Shop on Main Street focuses on a meek Slovak carpenter named Tono (Jozef Kroner) who is asked to take on being something of an authority figure watching over an elderly woman named Rozalia (Kaminska), who owns a button shop. He is to take over a lot of the duties, essentially acting as a haberdasher. 

Why exactly?

This is the First Slovak Republic during WWII which became a Nazi-occupied state, and Rozalia is Jewish. She also happens to be close to complete deafness and almost oblivious to everything going on around her, including why exactly Tono is there.

As one might expect, Tono and Rozalia develop a friendship during this process...which promptly means that those Nazis are going to rear their fascist heads and ruin something beautiful.

I think one thing that is truly remarkable about The Shop on Main Street is that you do see some of the character beats coming, but they are very effective thanks to how glorious of a job this team does at having this quaint village become a cesspool of fascist activity...and then in the end, it leaves you feeling devastated but not entirely in the way you expected it to. 

It also works so well at not entirely being a slog-fest of absolute tragedy every possible second. One key aspect of serious dramas is to try to inject moments of levity, so you aren't drowning in misery every possible second. This is something the film achieves very well, as moments of dark humor punctuate the true horrors happening around them...and then the dramatic moments hit even harder.

The Shop on Main Street is highly acclaimed, but I don't feel like it is talked about as often. I consider it one of the true gems of the 60s and among the finer films of the whole decade.

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FINAL THOUGHTS:

Yeah, I can't say that this wasn't a bit of a disappointment for me.

Ot this list, only The Shop on Main Street achieved a 5-star rating and for the first time in a long time, I didn't even have another 4.5 rated films to fill out the rest of my top 10. I would only give 4 stars to Loves of a Blonde, I Knew Her Well, and Simon of the Desert. 

The contrast between the rest of the output from the 60s thus far is rather striking, especially following the immense wealth of cinematic greatness we got in 1964. 

As we approach 1966, I realized how fascinating it is that despite the comments I made about the latter half of the decade, I already foresee that I won't have years with many (if any) Honorable Mentions. We do have some strong outings and a bigger number of 5-star films returning, but it does feel like things are going to quiet down some before everything would explode in the 1970s.

1966 will be coming up soon, but we do have some stellar entries for that year and more than one 5-star film thankfully.

THAT DAMN SUGAR DIDN'T HELP WITH THE ROBITUSSIN! - A Look at the Best Films of 1964

1964 is quite the interesting year. As I had mentioned previously, we start to see little glimmers of the tide shifting when it comes to Hollywood's output. I would argue that British films are already seeing an uptick in comparison, but even so, this list still leans heavily into international cinema.

When I wrote about 1963, I mentioned what films got singled out by the Academy that year for a Best Picture. This was mainly due to the fact that the options were totally lackluster and that I struggle to even choose what I would vote for out of the selected 5.

With 1964, two of the nominees made my top 10...and shockingly enough, both were in English! Granted...up to this point, only one foreign film was even nominated for Best Picture, so that is not exactly something to praise. Since there is a tiny overlap, I will refrain from listing the nominees this time.

I am going to stop with the preamble and jump right in, because not only do I have a top 10 to cover, but I will be quickly going over TEN Honorable Mentions. I figured I would go all out with this one, considering 1965 won't be as extravagant.

Due to the fact I will have so many Honorable Mentions, please forgive me that I will keep my thoughts on those films a bit shorter as we have quite the epic top 10 to discuss. 

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

THE SHAPE OF NIGHT

Directed by Noboru Nakamura

Written by Toshihide Gondo

A somber story about a young woman named Yoshie who holds two jobs, at a factory and as a bar hostess, who ends up taking a romantic interest in a bar patron who gradually reveals to be someone who is cornering the market on red flags.

The Shape of Night feels so much like it could be a precursor to the work of Wong Kar-wai with its rich colors and a story about a very problematic relationship...though perhaps a bit darker than he would've taken it. 

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LOVE MEETINGS

Written & Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini

A documentary in which Pasolini, a man who very much loved the topic of sex, goes around to various people throughout Italy and asks them their opinions on subtopics of virginity, prostitution, homosexuality, and how sex should be talked in schools.

Pasolini was known for being gay and was an active Marxist, with a lot of those tendencies leading to his infamous abduction and brutal murder in 1975 involving being run over by his own car multiple times, being savagely beaten, among many other horrific acts.

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DIAMONDS IN THE NIGHT

Written & Directed by Jan Nemec

Co-written by Arnost Lustig

A shamefully forgotten though very gritty and well-made Holocaust film, Diamonds in the Night revolves around two teenaged boys who are running away from being captured and taken on the train to the camps.

Once we get to the ending, we aren't exactly told what happens to them. There is a chance we are seeing a happy ending...or maybe we are not. It is really up to your interpretation, but for me, this was a film that felt like pure misery but put onscreen in a masterful way. Sort of like Klimov's Come & See.

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THE PINK PANTHER 

Written & Directed by Blake Edwards 

Co-written by Maurice Richlin

I am cheating a bit with this one as the film was technically first released overseas in 1963, but got released over here in 1964. Normally I try to go by the very first release date...but whatever, its The Pink Panther. It's iconic, and likely one of the more widely seen films on this list.

Sellers bouncing around with that Mancini score is pure bliss. 

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GERTRUD

Written & Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer

A fascinating piece that just so happened to be the final film of Dreyer, who was the man behind the legendary silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc. 

Gertrud tells the story of a former opera singer who is bored in her marriage and wants a divorce as she pursues a younger concert pianist. However, the fervor there cools and she happens to then come across an older lover from her past. 

Dreyer's use of one-shot scenes are quite strong here, particularly one between Gertrud and the older lover that lasts for about 10 minutes straight. 

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ONIBABA

Written & Directed by Kaneto Shindo 

A far departure from his rather bleak 1960 film The Naked Island, Shindo is taking on horror with Onibaba. Two women, a mother and the wife of her son, kill various samurai who come across their property as a means to steal their armor and protect themselves...but a neighbor returns from fighting in the ongoing war and proceeds to drive a wedge between the two of them.

That may be put rather simply, but it is an incredibly bizarre film that has no fear in taking the story into darker places.

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WELCOME, OR NO TREPASSING

Directed by Elem Klimov

Written by Semyon Lungin & Ilya Nusinov

On Letterboxd, a reviewer by the name of Alexandru wrote a cheeky little blurb saying how the Soviets beat the US to space and they also made a Wes Anderson film well before Anderson was even born.

That's very apt, and even more hilarious considering it was made by the same guy who would go on to give us Come & See, possibly one of the most brutal films ever made.

Featuring a cast of primarily children, most of the film centers on a group of young boys attending a Soviet Young Pioneer camp and their desire to break some of the more strict and formal rules.

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FAIL SAFE

Directed by Sidney Lumet

Written by Walter Bernstein

The well-made and sometimes overlooked serious cousin of Dr. Strangelove, the threat of nuclear armageddon is at hand in Fail-Safe as an error sends US bombers at to destroy Moscow and the process to stop it from occurring. 

You know, something light for the whole family to enjoy!

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KWAIDEN

Directed by Masaki Kobayashi

Written by Yoko Mizuki

Here we have another entry from the world of Japanese horror.

Kobayashi opts for a horror anthology form with Kwaiden, with the overriding theme being that vengeful spirits are seeking moral retribution against human kind and that they don't seem to be the least bit considered with human suffering.

If Fail-Safe wasn't enough for you, here's a another light jaunt for you and the whole family to treasure for the rest of your life!

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  A HARD DAY'S NIGHT 

Directed by Richard Lester 

Written by Alun Owen

The fact that A Hard Day's Night works as well as it is does is a remarkable feat. Think of it as almost the version of Spice World that went absolutely, positively RIGHT.

While the Fab Four aren't necessarily stellar actors, the personas and charisma carry us through with ease. I also want to add that Lester's documentarian-esque approach with his direction along with a witty script that netted Owen an Oscar nomination give this film an extra boost that puts it in something of a class by itself. Spice World wishes. 

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#10 - SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON

Written & Directed by Bryan Forbes

We begin this epic top 10 with a truly amazing acting showcase in a film that really had me intrigued the moment I first heard about it years ago. 

Seance on a Wet Afternoon focuses on an unstable middle-class housewife named Myra (Kim Stanley) who works as a medium out of her home, often assisted by her husband Bill (Richard Attenborough) who can't get steady work due to his asthma. A lot of Myra's mental issues and her insistence at pursuing work as a medium is due to feeling the spirit of her son Arthur, who died at birth.

In order to try to make a name for herself as a medium, Myra insists that Billy kidnap a young girl named Amanda, who is the daughter of the wealthy Mr. and Mrs. Clayton. The goal is that Myra would offer her services saying she had a dream about Amanda, they would get the ransom money, but would then promptly return it upon Amanda's "reappearance". 

If we are talking about films that come with a truly strong story, I would make a case that Seance on a Wet Afternoon offers that in spades. It is very well made film with a great score and great shadowy cinematrography that adds to the eerie allure. 

Richard Attenborough does a splendid job here, but it is Kim Stanley who gives a true performance for the ages. That year's actual winner, whom I will be talking about soon, may have given an iconic performance but what Stanley achieves here is one of the best performances of that era easily. 

A very chilling gem right in the heart of British cinema finding a lot of wealth in its grittier realism.

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#9 - I AM CUBA

Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov

Written by Enrique Pineda Barnett & Yevgeny Yevtushenko

I Am Cuba was, for many years, a lost and forgotten film. It had been made as a co-production between Cuba and the then-Soviet Union as a means to promote something political but also propaganda.

The director, Mikhail Kalatozov, was the master behind the legendary works The Cranes are Flying and Letter Never Sent. Both of those films were so brilliantly and eloquently shot and staged, but his work on I Am Cuba is thrillingly alive. The strange weaving of multiple storylines in anthology format while also using very chaotic cinematography had filmmakers like Martin Scorsese begging for the film to be restored when it was rediscovered in the early 90s. 

I will be honest in saying I am not sure I can truly do the film justice simply by talking about it, but I do want to give you an outline of what the main stories focus on:

1 - A woman named Maria who is a moonlighting as a prostitute, and is afraid to tell her boyfriend what she actually does for a living.

2 - A farmer named Pedro is having his greatest harvest yet...but his landlord tells him that he has sold the land to United Fruit and that his family must vacate immediately.

3 - This is the one that is more immediately volatile in that a group of students at Havana University feeling they are being suppressed, but one of the boys named Enrique decides to go off on his own with the goal of assassinating the chief of police.

4 - Another farmer named Mariano is being pressured by Batista's army to join the ongoing war and the horror they face when he insists he just wants his family to remain there in peace.

The stories work very well, and the cinematography is simply just so amazing for its time that I cannot express enough how impressive it was to me when I first saw it.

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#8 - MARY POPPINS

Directed by Robert Stevenson

Written by Bill Walsh & Don DaGradi

As one of the few major Disney releases to get this kind of recognition (and a massive 13 Oscar nominations at that), Mary Poppins is quite the interesting success story. While sections of the film do end up dragging, namely when Mr. Banks takes Jane and Michael to the bank, I can't deny how simply magical this film truly is. 

So much has been said about the manner in which Julie Andrews was able to net this role despite not exactly being a major star, but I do want to share it in case someone doesn't know...plus I do love the story which doesn't hurt.

Julie Andrews was mostly known as an actress from Broadway as she had starred in the original Broadway companies of The Boy Friend, My Fair Lady, and Camelot all within a few years...not to mention she had made a splash playing the titular role in Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical adaptation of Cinderella that premiered to great acclaim on TV.

The issue is that she was not considered marketable enough as a film star, but Walt Disney was charmed by her work in Camelot and wanted her to play the magical nanny. She was actually pregnant and told him she couldn't do the film; instead, he said that they would wait for her. MEANWHILE - My Fair Lady's rights just got bought by Warner Brothers and the rather vile Jack Warner was only thinking of money. Passing over Andrews, he cast Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle and thus the legend was born that it was a travesty that Andrews was passed over for someone who had to be dubbed for the singing. 

In a crazy bit of symmetry, My Fair Lady swept the Oscars that year, but Audrey Hepburn wasn't nominated. Julie Andrews WON for Mary Poppins. Oh, and so much for not being bankable. Mary Poppins became the highest grossing film of that year. 

Sorry for the tangent, but I also suspect a lot of you have seen Mary Poppins, so I didn't think I needed to explain a lot of the plot. I'll just say that I love the score that The Sherman Brothers came up with, classic song after classic song. The ensemble is stellar, too. Even though his accent is legendarily bad, Dick Van Dyke is so charming as Bert, David Tomlinson is so smarmy as Mr. Banks, but he sells his character arc so well, and then the amazing Glynis Johns as Mrs. Banks who pretty much steals every scene she is in.

The legend of Julie Andrews begins here, and by the next year, it solidified even further when she played a certain wayward nun. More on that in 1965.

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#7 - YEARNING

Directed by Mikio Naruse

Written by Zenzo Matsuyama

One of the more unsung Japanese filmmakers from this era has got to be Mikio Naruse, whose work could be more comparable to that of Yosujiro Ozu. Here, he teams up again with Hideko Takamine, who led what was likely Naruse's masterpiece, 1960's When a Woman Ascends the Stairs. 

Takamine is Reiko, a war widow who has been running a grocery store for the past 18 years since WWII ended. However, a new supermarket nearby is causing her store to flounder so seeing the writing on the wall, her sisters-in-law decide to find a way to get Reiko out of the picture and open a bigger market for themselves.

However, one person from her dead husband's family is siding with her: his younger brother Koji (Yuzo Kayama) who is 25. Although his interest in her more than just caring for her dead brother's wife: he has always loved her despite their 12 year age difference.

There is a lot I could try to convey about the horrific greedy family dynamics or the gloomy feelings of unrequited love, but I do need to talk a little more about Hideko Takamine.

She is one of the most underrated actresses I have come across and the reason for that is she really embraced the idea of showing us her feelings all through facial expressions if possible. Dialogue clearly worked wonders for her, but she loved being able to convey it all without words.

This became such a routine process that while on set, she would sit down with Naruse and go through the script crossing out lines of dialogue that she felt said too much when she could give us what we needed with just her face.

And it is THAT quiet brilliance that also gives the truly devastating ending all the more power.

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#6 - PALE FLOWER

Written & Directed by Mashhiro Shinoda

Co-written by Masaru Baba

And now for something completely different...though still Japanese...

For as much as I tend to worship Japanese cinema, I will have to own up to the fact that I have only seen two films made by Mashiro Shinoda. The other will be coming up later in the 60s, but of the two, I think Pale Flower is just barely my favorite. I do want to try visiting more work from various filmmakers, and do think Shinoda is undoubtedly going to be on that list.

Pale Flower is a story of a highly toxic relationship based around addictions to gambling and maybe even some drugs for good measure. A hitman/gangster named Muraki (Ryo Ikebe) is released from prison and in order to try to find some sort of solace, goes to a gambling hall and promptly loses a large sum of money to a young woman named Saeko (Mariko Kaga). 

From there, Saeko's penchant for gambling and the use of illegal drugs (namely heroin) is a gateway for Muraki to slip back down into his seedy ways, perhaps never truly learning anything

I think it is safe to say that Pale Flower is, in a word, depressing. Sure, its very slick in its gritty presentation but in the end, the film provides with a general theme/question: "Isn't there a better way to be able to live your life?"

The answer is rather simple: "No".

Thanks for playing! Enjoy your drugs and empty wallet!

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#5 - CHARULATA

Written & Directed by Satyajit Ray

Admittedly, I had forgotten about Charulata. I remember having seen it and loved it but thought it came out a little later on. Much like The Big City, which is one of Ray's films I recently discussed, Charulata is only one of my 7 or so films of his I have seen. In terms of truly legendary filmmakers, I need to get far more versed in his work.

Set in 1879 Calcutta during the British rule and the Bengali Renaissance, our titular character played by Shailen Mukherjee is very smart and well read. Her husband Bhupati (Madhabi Mukherjee) edits and publishes a small political newspaper. While the film is named after her, a lot of the film is permeated with the energy of him and how there is a disconnect in how well they communicate with one another. As some might suspect considering Indian culture, their marriage was arranged and clearly one that isn't going as smoothly as it could. 

A lot of her potential is being left unfulfilled simply because of her gender, and she spends her days reading and writing and crocheting and more or less feeling bored and lonely. Bhupati's cousin Amal (Soumitra Chatterjee) comes to stay with them fresh out of college and has a very similar passion for art and literature much like Charu and engages her in conversation she has been longing to have...but as one may think, there could be more brimming underneath the surface.

Charulata is what Ray considered to be his best film, and I would argue that it is one film where he manages combine his grounded realism with more of a fanciful edge. It certainly feels a tad more opulent compared to his other works, but the strong emotional stories surrounding these characters doesn't make it any lesser than his previous works.

The ending, which utilizes a sustained freezeframe, is one of the absolute best uses of the technique. There is so much tension and then...you are left to wonder if perhaps it will end up working out for the couple as they might suspect. It may seem tentative in its approach, but it is a strong statement from Ray.

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#4 - RED DESERT

Written & Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni

Co-written by Tonino Guerra

There was a lot of division amongst filmmakers and critics about Red Desert. The great Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky was not fond of it saying that Antonioni was too busy focused on the visual aesthetics and that filming in color (being his first film to do) was a detriment to his work. Meanwhile, Akira Kurosawa instantly viewed it as one of his favorite films of all time.

In truth, Red Desert is not mentioned as much compared to the trilogy of Antonioni's work I have addressed in my previous 60s lists or as his 1966 film Blowup (we will get to that), but I do think Red Desert is his most underrated work. It also happens to be his last of 4 films he made with Monica Vitti, essentially jumpstarting her career.

Vitti plays Giuliana, a young mom with a son named Valerio and a husband named Ugo (Carlo Chionetti). He manages a petrochemical plant in which workers are currently on strike. While talking with a visiting business associate named Corrado (Richard Harris), he mentions that Guiliana was recently in a car accident. She wasn't physically harmed, but in the time since, she has been mentally unwell. He is feeling a bit helpless as she seems to be drowning in fears and insecurities and doesn't have a way to properly calm her.

Much like a lot of Antonioni's other works, Red Desert is rather abstract in its approach and is very much of an "arthouse" vibe. Making use of the new color possibilities, he utilizes pastel tints in his cinematography and presented the world as if it was horrendously tainted by the industrial plants. Trees and grass were painted white and grey, and we frequently see the red pipes from the plant (much like in the photo above) which lord over everything with such an intensity that it matches the mood of Vitti's work.

I totally understand why some don't love Red Desert. As I have admitted before, Antonioni is not exactly one of my go-to favorite filmmakers and even the films of his I do love, it isn't the same kind of love that I feel for some of his contemporaries. La Notte might be the one exception, but the more time that passes, I find myself thinking a lot about Red Desert and the chilling world of red, white, grey, and blues that cover the landscape. However, speaking of colors, the next film has the market cornered there.

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#3 - THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG

Written & Directed by Jacques Demy

If I can say anything positive about La La Land as I am seemingly one of the few people who didn't find it to be anything amazing despite the fact it was tailor made for my similar interests, I do appreciate that it helped shine a new light on The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

Damian Chazelle had listed it among his all-time favorite films, and you can see elements of it that come straight from the truly beautiful work of art that is Demy's little musical.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is one of Demy's two biggest masterpieces (the other will be coming up later in the 60s) and quite possibly one of the most visually stunning films ever made. The vibrant colors pop off the screen and thankfully Demy was prepared with that.

He shot the film on Eastman negative stock which he knew would rapidly fade over time, so he made the main yellow, cyan, and magenta masters on B&W negatives, which would have significant longevity. After Demy passed away in 1990, his wife, the filmmaker extraordinaire Agnes Varda, began a project to restore the film to its original glory. The first print of this version came to be in 2004.

The premise of the film is relatively simple: two young lovers named Genevieve (Catherine Deneuve) and Guy (Nino Castelnuovo) who get separated when he is set to go fight in the Algerian War. Once he has gone, she discovers she is pregnant and longs for his return. However, unfortunate timing and circumstances lead to further hurdles on their journey.

You could argue that Umbrellas is like an opera but not truly in the style of the singing. The film is entirely sung-through, with even the standard dialogue sung as recitative. You could also say that the film could flirt with being melodramatic, but Demy doesn't truly have a melodramatic bone in his style. Everything drips with a romantic melancholy almost as much as the colors consume you.

One random note: the main actors don't do their own singing, but in that time period, it was far more common for actors to be dubbed. They even did an English language dubbing, but I never even bothered to seek that one out. 

Like I stated before, the premise of Umbrellas is relatively simple...but a lot of the time, it comes down to the presentation. While the film may look beautiful and that certainly helps, Demy does such a splendid job with the material, and it also doesn't hurt that this was the true breakout role for Catherine Deneuve, who is radiant here. 

I do have to mention when it comes to orchestral scores for a film, Michel Legrand's work here is so glorious, especially the immortal "I Will Wait for You" that plays throughout the film multiple times and gives the film such a dramatic and romantic pulse.

Beautiful, rhapsodical, romantic, and bittersweet...I truly can't get enough of this one. 

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#2 -DR. STRANGELOVE: OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING & LOVE THE BOMB

Written & Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Co-written by Terry Southern

Kubrick had a style all his own. A lot of his films distinctly look like what one would identify as a "Kubrick film", but what I loved about him beyond the fact that he made masterpiece after masterpiece was that he was willing to bounce around and try different genres.

Kubrick had a stretch of 7 films that I would consider to be potentially the strongest stretch of consistent masterpieces of any filmmaker or at least on par with the likes of Bergman, Ozu, and Kurosawa.

Dr. Strangelove was the first film in this stretch, and it was his attempt at dark comedy/satire. What's the topic at hand? The eventual end of the world via nuclear war.

Hilarious, right?

It is no secret in film circles that Stanley Kubrick was a genius; he was so certifiably insane. Even for this film, despite being in black & white, he was adamant that the round table used have a green top resembling something you may find in a casino as these world leaders are literally gambling potential Armageddon. He was also a master at getting exactly what he needed out of his actors (which was certainly problematic in the case of Shelley Duvall in The Shining, but that is a topic for another day) and perhaps the best example of this was George C. Scott as Gen. Buck Turgidson.

Scott really didn't want to play the role for laughs despite the fact it was a comedy. Kubrick's solution was that they do "practice takes" to loosen things up. Unbeknownst to Scott, Kubrick had cinematographer Gilbert Taylor film these takes where Scott acted with a lot more bravado and used those for the film. Honestly, even though Scott never would've cared, his performance should've netted him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar that year...but he wasn't even nominated. I actually read a Letterboxd review that compared his energy at times to that of Tim Robinson of I Think You Should Leave fame and frankly, that is a brilliant comparison.

Speaking of Oscars, Peter Sellers playing 3 roles (Captain Mandrake, President Muffley, and the titular character) is a masterclass at character and comedy. This should've been an easy win for him, but the Academy went gaga for My Fair Lady that year and selected Rex Harrison. 

Dr. Strangelove did manage to get nods for Picture, Director, and Screenplay...which is truly quite a feat for a film like this but obviously it thrills me that it did.

The sad thing about Dr. Strangelove is how well it holds up even though it is specifically satirizing Cold War terror. That is certainly great for the film's staying power, but it feels even more relevant now than when I first saw it nearly 25 years ago. Much like a lot of Kubrick's work, it benefits from repeat viewings, and I would argue that it is one of the easier ones to do that with. 

I also have to single out the ending with Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again" as the musical pairing with various shots of bombs going off throughout the world. It manages to be both sobering and somehow humorous in the darkest of comedic ways.

Kubrick may have been a madman with some questionable tendencies, but he was brilliant.

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#1 - WOMAN IN THE DUNES

Directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara 

Written by Kobo Abe

It used to be a lot more common for foreign films to not be eligible for awards consideration until the year following their release as they were often delayed here in the US. This was the case for Woman in the Dunes, because despite its 1964 release, it was eligible for the 1965/66 season and it led to the absolutely banger nomination for Teshigahara in the Best Director category, which he'd lose to Robert Wise for The Sound of Music.

Still though, Teshigahara getting that nod for this kind of Japanese psychological thriller in the mid 60s is a rare kind of feat and I think it is incredible that it happened. Strangely enough though, the film DID get nominated for Best Foreign Language film for 1964. This kind of thing happened a lot, especially with works by Fellini and Bergman throughout the 60s and 70s. 

Woman in the Dunes is one of the most beautiful films ever made, but not in a decadent sense...more so in the unsettling sense. The cinematography of the sand-covered landscape is stunning, but everything about this film comes off us quietly disturbing and you are often uncertain of what exactly is going to happen or if it is even truly happening.

Niki Junpei (Eiji Okada) is basically a jackass. He is on expedition to collect tiger beetles as he is something of an amateur entomologist in addition to being a teacher. His obsession and lack of awareness (not to mention the fact that clearly people couldn't have cared less about him in his group), he misses the bus to get back to Tokyo.

The locals of the area invite him to stay in their village. One young woman whom we only know as the widow (Kyoko Kishida) takes him into her home which happens to be a hut at the bottom of a sand dune with only a rope ladder to get out. Her husband and daughter both died and they are now buried in the sand nearby. Sand consistently falls on her home so she must shovel it out as otherwise her home will get buried.

In short, the two end up becoming lovers...but the film descends into darker territory than that.

Woman in the Dunes is perhaps one of the most stunning films ever made about a toxic situation and it is a beautiful to watch as it is incredibly painful and unsettling. I will admit that when I originally drafted this list, I put Dr. Strangelove at #1. Truthfully, I have bounced these two films back and forth for years now so honestly, please consider it a tie as both films are so radically different that it you can't really compare the two.

There is a provocative presentation to it that feels very thrilling, especially for this time period. In a lot of ways, it feels like a nightmare put to film that is packaged as a beautiful work of art. It is harsh and unforgiving, and I can't help but admire the hell out of it.  

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FINAL THOUGHTS:

Wow. That is all I can really say.

When seeing this list all written out, I do firmly feel this has got to be one of my personal favorite years for cinema ever. Of my top 10, I would've given NINE of them a 5-star rating. 

Even beyond that, Seance on a Wet Afternoon and all of my Honorable Mentions would get a 4.5 from me. That is certainly not a common amount in my book. Most years are lucky to get maybe 4 films to get 5 stars from me, but could 1964 actually be my favorite year of film from the 1960s?

I don't want to say just yet as it is still possible that another year or two could come close. We also have 1960 and 1962 that were both pretty strong in their own right. Even 1963 ended up surprising me with its small but mighty list of offerings.

Having said all that, we are about to take a bit of a dive with 1965. We will see if my thoughts improve as I begin writing about those films, but I will admit that when I wrote out the top 10, I didn't really know for certain how I wanted to fill out the last couple of slots.

And with that, I finish another epic post. My hands are tired...