+15
I think this pair are the two best on the list so far, and with Straw Dogs we finally have one from my list where I had it at #17.
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is Buñuel, so of course it contains surrealism, but you shouldn't let that dissuade you from watching it. I really think it's his best film and it's told in such a sharp, playful manner it should appeal to a broad audience. Basically, it contains his usual takes of social and religious satire, but these "typically-bourgeois" characters really do some surprising things which in hindsight and context make more sense than they usually do in the Buñuel Universe. Part of the fun is that all these characters fit well into the surrealistic vision of "Anything Goes", but they have an almost idiotic internal logic, so that makes the film both endlessly entertaining and subversive of both mainstream cinema and surrealism itself. Two of the recurring motifs which appeal to my sense of humor are that the characters repeatedly sit down to eat but are interrupted, and that at regular intervals during this wonderful, episodic film, they find themselves walking along an empty highway at a very brisk pace. These are just two of many things in the film which add to the its mystery and meaning. Needless to say, I've rewatched it many times and it's still surprising, funny and fresh every time.
I watched Straw Dogs again just a couple of weeks ago. It's a very complex thriller about Peckinpah's theme of men having to prove their manhood and their need for and almost addiction to violence, no matter how civilized they believe themselves to be. In Dustin Hoffman's marriage, his wife Susan George would be considered the more-traditionally macho of the pair, at least until he decides to provide sanctuary to dangerous simpleton David Warner and has to protect his residence from the primitive, drunken and violent locals who want Warner. Peckinpah shows himself (again) to be a master of building unease and tension which explodes in a meticulously-edited series of pure cinema. He's greatly aided throughout by Jerry Fielding's musical score which can just about match him, rhythm-for-rhythm, in the awesomely-cross-cut scene where Hoffman is earlier taken out hunting by the locals and left to fend for himself while his wife is attacked in a weird rape/seduction. It's my favorite Peckinpah, mainly for what's an exotic locale (rural England) for him and the bravura finale. Whatever Peckinpah is your fave is a personal thing, but I'm happy to see his vision represented twice so far on this list.
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