I See Beautiful Things

1. Y Tu Mama Tambien (Alfonso Cuaron)

Sounds real. Looks real. Feels real. I remember laughing a lot while watching this. Then I’d stopped because it’s not funny anymore. This film can ‘play’ me in any way it wants to. I’m its slave.

2. Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese)

   De Niro drives me nuts. I understand Travis. I can also smell the filth of the city.

3. Capote (Bennett Miller)

Didn’t show how great a writer Capote was but showed how writing, and the subject he was writing about, greatly affected him as a person. “I don’t lie”, says Capote- who, by the way, was superbly played by Philip Seymour Hoffman- to his bestfriend Harper Lee, while they were driving in a car. Then he looked away.

4. In The Bedroom (Todd Field)

 The screenplay is just wonderful. The film’s title makes sense. And, of course, the acting- it’s perfection.

5. Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola)

The horror indeed. Never boring (at least for me).

6. Babel (Alejandro González Iñárritu)

Great story. If you want to understand, listen. The score is great, too. And there’s acting. Huge.

7. The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik)

Everyone in this film knows how to act. To really act. That sometimes I forgot that they were just acting, and actually thought that they weren’t. I can ‘feel’ them all. Brad Pitt’s performance in here, though I still hate him, was arresting. Beautifully photographed. The score got me involved.

8. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)

It’s an Anderson film. I love Anderson. The man can write. Daniel Day Lewis will eat you alive. The man has talent. The movie won Best Cinematography, and it deserves it. The score was sick. The title warns us.

9. No Country For Old Men (The Coen Brothers)

I’ve read the novel so I know how tight the adaptation was. The editing was also tight. Beautifully photographed as well. It’s ‘technically’ perfect. And oh, that ending!

10. Crash (Paul Haggis)

 I was having a hard time breathing when I was watching this with Angus (a friend). The writing and editing were done wonderfully. It got me right away with its first scene.

It’s quite hard to rank these beautiful films. Much harder is the choosing of what to include in the list. I’ve seen so many great films in my life, and all of the said films have something in them that stand out among the rest. If I think about it though, it’s not really necessary to come up with ‘my top ten’- something. It is, as a matter of fact, and as I’ve realized, causing me a lot of trouble. But can’t help it.