THE BEST FILMS YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF (Part 1)

Director Nick Caccese smartens you up in the ways of the actually good film. Part 1 of a 2 part smartening!

Submitted by Nick on Fri, 11/14/2008 - 5:05am.

Nick Caccese on set @ The Avon Junkies Music Video

I have a Masters in Film.

I’m not trying to be arrogant. In fact, the only thing I have gotten out of it thus far is a personal library of tons of great movies (which I utilize frequently,) and a ton of books on film theory (not so much.) I’m telling you this because I want you all to understand that for over two years I was stuck with a bunch of stuck up pseudo-intellectuals.

Graduate film and theory students, with their grungy beards, and their too long hair and their little wool hats. Eating their sushi and drinking lattés, talking about Marx or Bazzain or whoever.

"Get a fucking job!" Oh, sorry, didn’t realize you didn’t need one because your relatives paid for you to live in New York City. You know what, I’m pissed already. Fuck you film school grads.

Since I have such a wide knowledge of different films I figured I’d put it to some use and share some with you.

Maybe to save you from seeing something generic and boring...

Maybe to save you the next time your friends say how about we go see the new gross-out frat boy comedy...

or even when your girlfriend says let’s watch Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.

No… let’s not.

THE PASSENGER
Dir: Michelangelo Antonioni

The film theory buffs also like to argue with me, swearing up and down that Blow Up is the greatest movie ever made because it is so deep and theoretical and blah… OK, maybe it is. But that doesn’t save the fact that it’s two hours of a guy looking at a fucking picture. That’s all. Not only is Blow Up not one of the greatest movies ever made, it’s not even Antonioni’s best movie. His best movie by far is the very little seen The Passenger. It stars Jack Nicholson and that girl Marlon Brando had a field day with in Last Tango in Paris. In the film Nicholson plays a reporter abroad in Africa. He meets up with a mysterious man in an abandoned hotel and the two of them strike up a quick friendship. Then, Jack’s new friend dies. For some reason never revealed to us good old Jack decides to switch identities with his deceased travel buddy. Considering that only two other people are in this particular hotel, and they have already been confusing the two men with one another Jack gets away with it. Except there was something rather significant that Jake didn’t know, the guy he switched places with is an arms dealer. So you’ve got cool as ever Jack Nicholson trying to stay one step ahead of some gun runners while taking in all the stunning locales along the way and settling in every night with a hot Parisian girl. Plus, the movie’s got one of the most breathtaking long takes in film history, and I sure am a sucker for a good long take. Forget sexy lingerie and large breasts and getting punched in the face, long takes are what do it for me.

Check out THE PASSENGER on NETFLIX here!

SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE
Dir: Chan-wook Park

Most of you have probably at least heard of the Korean film Oldboy. You know the one about the guy who gets locked up for no reason for fifteen years then sets out on a mad streak of revenge on everyone who wronged him. What you may not know is that film is the middle portion of Park’s revenge trilogy. The best of the bunch is the stunning finale Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. Ok, so there is this serial child killer terrorizing Seoul, Korea. He knows he’s close to being caught, so he blackmails this young student he’s having an affair with to take the wrap. If she doesn’t, her daughter is dead. So after she serves her time, she sets out to rain all hell out on the real killer. This was the movie I used when I tried to disprove certain film scholar’s claims that women never control a film, only men can drive a plot. This is a very typical and popular theory, and in most cases it is true. But not here. No way would this pissed off Korean lady let any man tell her what to do. She’s the driving, manipulative force that begins to terrorize the real killer’s life leading up to one of the more grueling finales I have seen in a long time. A finale where our vengeance fueled leading lady finds the time to make some real piece of trash truly get what he deserves. Seriously, in no other film that comes to mind has the bad guy gotten exactly what was coming to him. Some film theorists will still swear that it takes a man to drive a film. Well, they obviously haven’t seen this. And if they have, they did ‘t understand it. Because in this film Lady Vengeance grabs the plot by the balls and doesn’t let go until justice is served.

Check out SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE on NETFLIX here!

More of Dir. Nick's movie magic for your brain, continued here!

Who did it?:

Nick

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