Movies art historians should watch!

[BuddingScholar]

Can we compile a list of movies every art historian SHOULD watch?  *** This is not to prepare for my application next year... I just haven't been able to watch a whole lot of movies in the past few years, so I am planning to use my year off to catch up on all the good stuff.    Unlike books, I am very handicapped here.

 

My fifty cents:

 

Black Orpheus (one of my all time favorites)

Seraphine

Psycho

L'age d'or

Le beau Serge

Citizen Kane

Nosferatu

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Dancer in the dark

The Cabinet of Dr. Kaligary

Un Chien Andalou

 

 

 

[Hegel's Bagels]

Da Vinci Code!! *throws head back and laughs*

In all seriousness:

The Return of Martin Guerre, The Agony and the Ecstasy, Pollock, Fur, Basquiat, Frida, PBS's Art21 series...

[Borden]

Little Ashes was surprisingly good.

[poliscar]

Eisenstein for dat montage! 

[ArtHistoryandMuseum]

I've found enjoyment, and bits of relevance to my field of study, in the following films:

• Marie Antoinette (2006)
• Coco Before Chanel (2009)
• and a tad of a stretch, The King's Speech (2010)

Although others may find these selections of personal or academic interest, in my mind this post is probably most helpful for Material Culture/Dec Arts folk -- for which I'm happy to elaborate, ask me here or PM me for details.

 

As, for the modern crew, is the recent movie "Pollock" worthy of a suggestion? It's in my cable queue. 

 

Oooh - that reminds me. While I'm not in contemporary, I put the documentary on Marina Abramovic also in my queue... 

[Virago]

What a great topic! the following are some pretty great ones:

Goya's Ghosts (2006 with Javier Bardem and Natalie Portman)

Mad Love (2001 Juana La Loca-Spanish Film, exquisite costume design, great acting)

Perfume-The Story of a Murder (2006 with Dustin Hoffman, Alan Rickman, Ben Whishaw)

Vision- From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (2009 German Film)

Los Borgia (2006 Spanish Film directed by Antonio Hernandez)

Mona Lisa Smile (2003 with Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst)

Caravaggio (1986)

The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)

Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)

Lust for Life (1956 for those of you interested in the life and works of Vincent van Gogh)

I LOVE historical films and I'm big fan of good (historically accurate) costume design. These films are some of my absolute favorite. Don't miss out!

Oh and I wholeheartedly agree with the above suggestions of Black Orpheus and The Agony and the Ecstacy I would've also included them but didn't for the sake of repetition.

Edited March 21, 2013 by Virago

[Swagato]

- The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting (Ruiz)

- The Mill and the Cross (Majewski)

- American Falls (Solomon)

- Bill Viola's various works

- Raumlichtkunst (Fischinger)

- Gerhard Richter Painting (Belz)

- Anthony McCall's solid light films

 

These are just a few movies or video works that enter into a critical relationship with painting, representation, analog/digital, and a variety of issues related to art history and theory. 

[fragonard32]

Midnight in Paris! w/ Owen Wilson and Marion Cottilard.

[mirop]

Vincent and Theo and Exit Through the Gift Shop are two that come to my mind immediately.  I'm positive that I will be back with more suggestions! 

[BuddingScholar]

La Jetée....

I forgot to add this one.... Shame on me!

[navama]

"Persona" (Bergman)

"Battleship Potempkin" (Eisenstein)

"Triumph of the will" (Riefenstahl)

"Breathless" (Godard)

Later I'll add more

[TaraGreen89]

It's maybe not particularly art historian-y but I love pretty much anything by Miyuzaki- particularly Porco Rosso- I love that movie like crazy. I cry at the end, every single time.

[Swagato]

Ah but the films of Miyazaki, Satoshi Kon, et al. have proved to be rich resources for stellar work on animation, movement, etc. However, here one would have to blend film studies with art history. 

[GhostsBeforeBreakfast]

Kurosawa's Ran

 

Goddard's Pierrot le Fou

 

I don't think anyone mentioned Frida

 

and please, please, please if you haven't; Melancholia 

[Flaneuse]

Two words: Quentin Tarantino. Also, I recently saw Canet's Ne le dis à personne, and I highly recommend it. 

[apotheosis]

Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams

 

If it is ever shown 3D in a cinema again, I would fly across the country to see it!

[Swagato]

Two words: Quentin Tarantino. Also, I recently saw Canet's Ne le dis à personne, and I highly recommend it. 

 

Ah shit. We're going to be butting heads over this. I'm a passionate critic of Tarantino and personally can't stand his work.   

[Flaneuse]

@Swagato, I find that fact intriguing and would love to talk to you about it in the fall! I'm curious to hear from you as a film student why you are so passionately critical of his work. It's exponentially more interesting to discuss ideas with people who disagree with you. Looking forward! 

[manierata]

i agree with a ton on this list, and would also add La Belle et la Bette, Tarkovsky's The Mirror, Bergman's Seventh Seal, as well as his Wild Strawberries, The 400 Blows, The Red Balloon, Little Otik (which I hated but is worth seeing), and let's throw in Woody Allen's Manhattan because it's my favorite movie ever (would also recommend Love and Death, Annie Hall, Stardust Memories, because of either their quality or what they have to say about art).

 

This year, Beasts of the Southern Wild and Moon Rise Kingdom were both sensational.

 

Oh, there's also a movie of Picasso painting on a lightbox which is spectacular, called The Mystery of Picasso.

[BuddingScholar]

@Swagato, I find that fact intriguing and would love to talk to you about it in the fall! I'm curious to hear from you as a film student why you are so passionately critical of his work. It's exponentially more interesting to discuss ideas with people who disagree with you. Looking forward! 

 

Friendships forming here and being carried on into graduate school.  I LOVE IT!  Glad to hear that you guys chose the same school.

Edited March 25, 2013 by brazilianbuddy

[EloiseGC]

Rape of Europe. OH, it makes me sob! 

 

As I continue my studies, I have to maintain that the study of art history is the study of heart ache and destruction. 

[GhostsBeforeBreakfast]

The compositions in Moonrise Kingdom gave me goosebumps.

 

Also, I mean...

 

[BuddingScholar]

Have you guys seen "Into Great Silence" by Philip Gröning yet?  If not, you should.

 

This documentary was released in 2005, and it is, in my opinion, one of the most visually arresting contemporary films I've ever seen.  I watch it as though I'm attending a beautifully curated group of photographs on a museum wall.  Every frame and moment of this film is a gorgeous [sort of] tableaux vivant.

[ArtHistoryandMuseum]

Rashomon anyone? Apparently, the films by Akira Kurosawa are streaming free on Hulu this weekend:

 

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/03/22/kurosawa_on_hulu_seven_samurai_rashomon_and_22_more_movies_are_streaming.html?wpisrc=obinsite

[ArtHistoryandMuseum]

Is the documentary, Picasso and Braque go to the movies, worth a watch?