Rough Cut

I miss talking movies. There was a time in my life when I lived and devoured cinema. When I wasn't watching movies, I was planning to make them. When I wasn't making them, I was talking them. And I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by some equally sad and insane people who lived on the same steady diet. I didn't have much money in college -- but what little I had I spent on movies. I watched an average of twenty movies a week and that's not counting the favorites which I owned on VHS. These films I watched on a weekly basis the same way folks went to church. They reminded me of why I did what I did -- what my dreams were - my ambitions, my beliefs, my values, my fears.

So here's my top ten of all time... for now. Cause like my memories, this list will change as I continue to change (as evidenced by my embrace of television and pop music). I don't claim that these films are the best movies of all time -- that would be incredibly pompous. No -- these are films that have changed me in some way -- films that continue to resonate with me year after year -- that somehow inform my experience of being a human being.

1. It's a Wonderful Life

My list bookends with two incredibly sensitive stories about men who grew up in a town that they felt was too small for them. This one hits me emotionally every time I see it and continues to inform me of who I am. But with each viewing, I am moved by a different scene, a different part. Sometimes I cry when I see Old Man Gower hit young George Bailey in his bad ear before discovering it was, indeed, poison in those capsules. Other times, it's when Mary gives up the money that she and George saved up to spend on their well-deserved honeymoon. And every time I see it, I yell at Uncle Billy when he forgets that the money is wrapped up in the newspaper he gave to Potter. And in that way, this movie does what few others can do -- it evolves.

2. Annie Hall

It takes a genius to make people laugh, said Chaplin. Well, what about making you cry and laugh all in one moment. Annie Hall exposes everything that is embarrassing to me -- my self-righteousness, my mishandling of all things romantic, my neediness, my selfishness. And because it's not me - because it's Woody Allen as Alvy Singer -- I can laugh at it. But I know that I'm really laughing at myself. And what a Valentine to NYC (well, up until Woody Allen's Manhattan, of course). This flick plays at a sparse 90 minutes, but wow - is it dense with true-to-life moments. Was Diane Keaton a looker or what?

3. Taxi Driver

Okay -- psychotic confession of the week: I watched this movie weekly as a college student. The more and more I saw it, the more I sympathized with Travis Bickle. This guy was out of his mind -- but I identified with his loneliness. That loneliness that drives homeless people to talk to themselves with little care about what others think. That loneliness that redefines the rules that govern society and your conduct and participation in it. And wow -- Scorsese really wasn't pulling punches. He was a young coked-out director when he made this and it's mean, rough and aggressive -- and just shy of arrogant thanks to it originality and sincerity. The camera sticks with Travis, pulling you into the taxi cab and giving you a protagonist that you have no choice but to ride along with.

4. Hud

I love so much about this movie - but two things stick out for me: Paul Newman's unapologetic performance as the SOB who just doesn't care for nobody and James Wong Howe's cinematography (one of two JWH photographed flicks on this list). The supporting cast is phenomenal in this story that is constantly misread. Heck, I know who I'm not supposed to like, but Hud seduces me each and every time. The ultimate in bad boy, cowboy sexy. And incredibly timely when seen now against the backdrop of corporate greed.

5. Sweet Smell of Success

Tabloid news and the men who both create it and sling it. The writing in this movie is something to behold. Even more impressive is the ability showcased by Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster to embrace and sell it like it was everyday English. The camerawork by Howe is so very intentional -- you can tell there's a hand behind that camera which captures NYC in an era that is so far gone. And the storytelling moves like one long bebop, improv jazz set.

6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

It's so rare to see a piece take the figurative and the literal and marry it in such a way to create both reality and magic. This Charlie Kaufman-spun story directed by Michel Gondry of the power of memory to define who you are is so sharply executed from performance to special effects. Incredibly moving and provocative, beautiful and illuminating. One of the best works of film art to come into existence in the last decade.

7. Happy Together

Wong Kar Wai changed my life. Probably in the same way Godard must have rocked cinema back in the day. All of my college films were homages to his work (at their best) and pale, sad imitations (at their worst). Most folks see his films as non-linear, stylistic art pieces. I think that there is a logic to his narratives -- it's linear in the same fashion our dreams and memories are linear -- much like Renoir's Last Year at Marienbad -- which cuts from thought to thought - emotion to emotion. In this piece about a the distancing between two gay lovers in Argentina -- the story unfolds through flashes, vignettes, musical passages and voice-over. And the overall effect is mesmerizing - visually, emotionally, completely.

8. Sideways

Alexander Payne has made a career on creating sympathetic portraits of bonafide losers -- Election, About Schmidt. But in Sideways, he gives us two lovable ones.And I find myself in both of them -- Miles, the middle-aged high school English teacher with a serious dream deferred and Jack, the has-been actor who still thinks he's still got enough prime to milk. The moments and situations are so real and identifiable -- painfully real. The fact that this tale of love, friendship and that last hurrah takes place in the world of wine places it within my short list of most beloved movies of all time. Scout and I saw it twice during our honeymoon in Amsterdam at the famous Tuschinski Theatre.

9. The Kid

If all movies were this good -- comedy and pathos all in one. Chaplin was undoubtedly a genius and here's proof in a film that he directed, wrote, acted in and composed the music for. The story is simple, the famous Tramp adopts an abandoned child (played by an adorable Jackie Coogan, ages before he eventually played Uncle Fester in Adaam's Family). But this deceivingly simple story is jam-packed with emotion and sentiment -- tremendous energy and heart.

10. Do the Right Thing

This is perhaps Spike Lee's most perfect film -- sharp, aggressive, vibrant, energetic, smart and funny. While it's just as in-your-face as many of Lee's other "joints," this one is a little more saavy. Unfolding over one hot summer day in Bedstuy, Spike's iconic film is a slow burn that provides viewers an unflinching portrait of urban America -- when tensions are running high and people don't have the patience to lie to one another anymore. And unlike his later flicks, this one's message is not apparent until you hear Senior Love Daddy's call for action at the film's conclusion.

And as a bonus, I offer the following clip from Cinema Paradiso -- so much of me is in this movie about a boy who grows up through the movies. Lessons in love, life, class, ambition, roots, exploration -- all of it centered around a moviehouse.