The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent

Should Brokeback Mountain be on AFI's Top 100 Movies of All Time?

<< < (5/6) > >>

Mikaela:
I think the discussion in this thread alone shows how difficult it is to find any sort of concensus concerning "best", "top" and "highest quality". To give a few examples contradicting others' opinions here: As a long time Lord of the Rings fan I was absolutely *thrilled* to see that it was the first of the 3 LotR films that made this list. Fellowship in my opinion, and that of many of my fan friends, is far superior to the next two, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that acknowledged here. (This ran contrary to the Oscars, which heaped all the honours on Return of the King probably as reward for the entire trilogy.) And I was also delighted to see Blade Runner on the list. it's an outstanding dark SF, but not the kind of film that necessarily gets honoured on lists like this.

Yep, there sure are differeing views even among our small Brokie group. :)

And that's why I'm not overly concerned that BBM didn't make this list. (Though of course I think it should have been ranked near the top!!) Tastes and points of view differ so much, between people, between cultures, over time. That list is not the final gospel. Not even as far as English-spoken films go, this European would hasten to add.  ;)

I also think Daniel is very right in pointing out that this kind of ranking is very much about classics. Some of the films on that list, inclusive of Citizen Kane IMO, not to mention "Some like it hot" must earn their place on the "Well, it's a classic!!" merit.  Something tells me BBM will become a classic too, in time. It's too outstanding not to, once the subject matter (one would hope) is not so controversial in the US anymore.  It'll make those lists in the end. But hopefully, lots of people will fall in love with it even before it reaches that point.

moremojo:
The list is absurd, if for no other reason than that it is way, WAY too Anglo and American-oriented in its results. The American cinema is unquestionably one of the greatest and most important of national cinemas, but it is hardly the sum of the best that has been produced in the medium. No French films, for goodness sakes? No Japanese films? Yasujiro Ozu was one the greatest of all film directors, and would definitely have been represented in any truly serious compendium. Historically important movements such as Italian neorealism and the the Soviet montage movement are likewise slighted. I could go on, but the list's cultural and intellectual paucity is sufficiently evident.

I would much rather see the individual lists of the contributors rather than the collated results, which inevitably reflects the status quo rather than the idiosyncratic avenues that the individual choices often reveal.

loneleeb3:
I think Daniel sums it up the best!
There are as many different opinions as there are people as Mikaela so eloquently pointed out.
It just bothers me that there was no mention. This movie/story has touched me in a way nothing ever has.
No painting, song, movie or any work of art.
I don't want to sound too goofy here, but BBM is ....I don't know, almost magical. It slapped me in the face and showed me what my life is, what it could have been and what I can now make of it. It took away any excuses that I have been hiding behind all these years. For me, it is so much more than just a movie,a work of art or fiction. For me it is a signpost in life pointing me in the direction i need to be going.
For me it is on the level of some relgous icon or text that brings about an epiphany. Paul had a Damascus road conversion that changed his life, mine happened on Brokeback Mountain!

Mikaela:

--- Quote from: loneleeb3 on June 21, 2007, 05:58:11 pm ---BBM is ....I don't know, almost magical. It slapped me in the face and showed me what my life is, what it could have been and what I can now make of it. It took away any excuses that I have been hiding behind all these years. For me, it is so much more than just a movie,a work of art or fiction. For me it is a signpost in life pointing me in the direction i need to be going.
For me it is on the level of some relgous icon or text that brings about an epiphany. Paul had a Damascus road conversion that changed his life, mine happened on Brokeback Mountain!


--- End quote ---

You know.... if they're the people I would like to believe them to be, then Proulx, Ossana, McMurtry, Lee, Ledger and Gyllenhaal all would consider this one statement alone much more valuable than the good opinion of some blazé group of film know-it-alls.   :)

Sheriff Roland:

--- Quote from: Mikaela on June 21, 2007, 06:07:28 pm ---You know.... if they're the people I would like to believe them to be, then Proulx, Ossana, McMurtry, Lee, Ledger and Gyllenhaal all would consider this one statement alone much more valuable than the good opinion of some blazé group of film know-it-alls.   :)

--- End quote ---

Amen!

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page