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.
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