MoFo Top 100 Films Watchers Club

This thread's for discussing movies from the old and new top 100 that we watched just because they appeared on the top 100.


I just finished Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and I'm comparing it to the similarly surrealist Annie Hall. I honestly don't know which is better. I think Eternal Sunshine might be because it's a real look on how personality applies to real love and manages to do something Annie Hall didn't do: bring extreme realism to the lead female character, even though the interpretation is entirely in Joel's mind. Annie Hall's surrealist behavior was more of a comedy drive.

That’s a tough call. I’d have to say Annie Hall, not only for the dialogue between them, but also his subtle swipe at at Hollywood. It’s more clever.

Take for instance a scene in NYC, where the films shown as now playing being art films, and in California, they were shown as horror films.

ESotSM didn’t have that commentary, but it didn’t need to, as the psyche was its playground and its exploration. Regret was a big theme for Joel. Regret at losing Clementine, and regret at going through the mind wipe.
It wasn’t as cynical as Anne Hall, as it held out hope for a reunion.

I missing six entries from the 2010 list but so far have all 48 from this new list. I've watched her, Cabaret, and The Searchers that have been very good to great. Probably revisit Come and See in the next few days as it has been a few years and because of the thread discussion today.

I finally watched Metropolis over the weekend and was blown away by it. This was the 2001 restoration mind you, not the more famous 2010 restoration.
I’ve had it for a decade and just never rigor around to. The countdown finally encouraged me to do so.
Easily my top film this year

While Eternal Sunshine plays with some surrealism, I don't know how to place Annie Hall similarly. Is it meta and self reflective? Sure. Does it break the fourth wall and play with different cinematic forms? Yup. Is it a traditional rom/com (even though it is arguable one of the first in the modern mold). Nope. It feels almost genreless, except for the broad categorization of comedy. But surrealistic, don't really see it. So it makes a wobbly comparison between the two.

For me Annie Hall is superior, even if the actual screenplay by Kaufmann for Sunshine is a lot more interesting. Gondry, while obviously talented, always feels like a bit of a gimmicky director, and at times I feel his touch can get in the way of the heart of Kaufmann's script. It's still very good, but Annie Hall is pretty close to perfection. And, as for Diane Keaton, I don't really see her quirks and eccentricities and insecurities as a vehicle for jokes. She's a deeply human character, supposedly very much based on Keaton herself, and what you see as a lack of realism, I take away the complete opposite.

It relies on breaking the rules of reality constantly without a magical basis. The film was influenced by surrealists directors like Fellini, who's specified in the film. The surrealism is used to drive character development in both films, but the personal and romantic connection is stronger in Eternal Sunshine while some of the romance in Annie Hall is replaced is more cynicism as Wyldesyde19 previously stated,

Indeed, there are a few surreal moments in Annie Hall, although I would stop short of calling it surrealistic, they are there.

By that definition you could call Godard a surrealist, which he wasn't. Was Allen influenced by Fellini, who certainly had quite a bit of surrealistic tendencies? Definitely. But that doesn't mean Annie Hall by default becomes surrealistic. Nearly any break from reality in Annie Hall has some sort of clear delineation between what is simply Allen's wish fulfillment, or what may be the intrusion of the memories of his character. We always know which is which. Fellini, in something like 8 1/2, erases the clear line between these distinctions. It is much thornier to navigate. This is somewhat essential to the purpose of surrealism, in uprooting conscious thought in the viewer. Allen's Stardust Memories is considerably closer to letting these tendencies he adopted from Fellini creep in. Annie Hall is just an odd movie that may be, at best, a third cousin to truly surreal films.

As for cycnism, yes, definitely, Annie Hall is a fairly cynical film. And this might make it less romantic. For those that feel cynicism has no place in romance, this is a fair enough argument, and probably a traditional one, but one that I don't necessarily abide either. Cynicism offers the contrast all of the romance that is also evident in Annie Hall requires to Pop and ultimately resonate.

What Eternal Sunshine does well, that Annie Hall doesn't necessarily get into, is the after shock of having a relationship fall apart. The mental baggage that needs to be tended to. And it's why it is also a worthy film, even if Gondry's Easybake whimsy at times undermines it.

I may be in the minority who adored Stardust Memories.
Also, I love this conversation.

Stardust Memories is easily one of my favourite Allen's. Criminally under appreciated

Yeah, I was surprised to learn it was so divisive among his fans even.

I watched Andrei Rublev. I had seen bits of it before, but not the whole thing. To be honest I had to pause it and read explanations for each section, mostly because I wasn't sure who everyone was. Armed with this knowledge, I appreciated it more. I think I liked it more than Stalker but probably not as much as Solaris.

The two others I haven't seen yet so far are Enter the Dragon and Rosemary's Baby.

I've never seen any Godard films, but wasn't he a part of the French new wave? I understand that Week-End carries surrealism elements and that he's considered a "post-modernist." You can't deny that Annie Hall has an incredibly experimental and unique format that other films haven't been able to copy. There has to be SOME sort of term for it considering that this trait is incredibly strong and without it Annie Hall might just be another romance movie and not have the same recognition.

Weekend actually probably would qualify. I forgot about that one. Generally though, surrealism isn't a Godardian trait, really.



Annie Hall definitely isn't a normal movie. It is experiemental and it is unique, I just am protective of the particular term 'surrealist' since it gets watered down from overuse, being used to describe anything that is somewhat strange, avant garde, magic realist or post modern. Surrealism has a very specific sort of function in how it interacts with the audience, and while there may be some strands there in AH, I wouldn't think nearly enough to qualify. I'm actually not sure how exactly to categorize Annie Hall, but I'm sure there are better tailored terms for it. And I certainly don't think the titular character acts that way at all. I think she's as realistic portrait of a woman as Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine is.

Well there needs to be some term for it. 8 don't use SURREALISM liberally either. The Mirror is a very odd experience, but the best term for that is "experimental." RYM recently included "post-modernism" as a film genre but the votes only tag Annie Hall as a post-modernism secondary, meaning it only has some elements of the genre. There needs to be something to describe it.

I think it's time you come up with your own term! Be enterprising! Because, frankly, I have no idea outside of what I reject. But, yes, it does have a unique feel all its own. But i'm fine just leaving it that way. Unique.



I watched Mirror last night, and definitely not surrealism. Beautiful, strange, impenetrable. Too smart for me, that's for sure. Experimental sounds good enough to my ears.

This is perhaps my biggest fear, regarding his work. That it will be too artistic for me to grasp or understand. It’s a tad overwhelming.

Take it from a person who doesn't understand anything, it's possible to just let it wash over you. I think patience is the only thing that is absolutely required with Tarkovsky.

I read about it. It's a cinematic interpretation of memories continuing in the mind, notably the memories of one specific man. These memories include childhood experiences, stories people told him, dreams and his father's own*poems.

Was it Bad Lieutnent who tried to crush my opinion that it was better than Manhattan? Or was it Crimes and Misdemeanors? Anyway, I know the cross.