donniedarkos 2013 self challenge

Well I discovered a ton about my movie tastes in 2012, and really explored more genres and more foreign film. A primary reason is joining this site, and seeing a lot of posts about films I never heard of, or never bothered watching. So ya, I learned a lot about film this year, and my tastes.

At the same time I'm nowhere close to a true cinephile like many on this site, and at only fifteen, I understand that will take time, but this year I decided to do a bit of a challenge for myself. Every week I will explore a new director, one that I haven't a single film of. I will try to watch atleast a couple of his films that week, and then post my thoughts here, by the end of the week. Then do that with a new director next week. I understand because of vacations and just plain busy weeks, I won't be able to get all 52 weeks in. And maybe I'll only be able to watch one of his films, but that's still exploring. But I'll do my best to get one director in, and a few of his movies per week.

I have a few in mind already, and later on I may load up on a few eclipse sets, which would be a great recourse for this. If anyone has any recommendations for a director I may have not watched a film of, or just know of a great lesser known director please post it here. But I'm not limiting myself to lesser known directors, since there are star directors I have never seen a film of. Just this year I discovered Bergman and Fellnini, who are amongst my favorites now. And I will still be watching there movies too. I will start this challenge January 2nd and update on Saturday the 5th. Thanks for the great year MoFos, and I hope I'll keep this resolution, and do this the whole year through. I may even work on proofreading

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I don't think that you should make some kind of a schedule."Explore" a certain director whenever you feel like it.I think that for most members of this forum,films are entertainment,not a some kind of a duty.

And personally,I couldn't go for one director in one week unless I already like him.I can watch 2 movies tops from the same director in a row,then I just need something different.

Its not as much as a schedule as It is a challenge, like watching every movie on AFI movie list in a year. Ill still watch films of directors I like of course, this is more of a side thing.

And nah it's not a duty, but just a commitment I wanna make. Just to help me explore, of I feel like its become a burden, I'll stop, but I doubt that.

Good idea, Donnie. I give myself reading challenges all the time, but I never thought to do a movie one.

I think it's fine to have a tentative schedule. If I don't have some sort of time frame in mind when I set up projects for myself they won't get done.

I'll think up some suggestions for you later.

Good luck. Agreed that it might be easy to get burnt out quick on this, though.

Either way, here's a nice list of essential directors

http://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1...0directors.htm

I decided at one point to challenge myself to review every movie I'd seen...

... after 237 movies made up of mostly favourites and realising there are probably still a couple thousand still to go, I gave up and decided to do them as they pop into my head.
Or I get a reminder by seeing them on telly.

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Madness to think you're only 15, and that's a compliment by the way Good luck with this, great idea, I'm 17 myself so have many years ahead of me myself. Like you wouldn't consider myself a cinephile like some on this site, although I've greatly improved my film knowledge and writing over the past year or two there are plenty of great films and director's work that I have not yet seen such as Bergman, Fellini, Tarkovsky, Godard, Kurosawa etc.

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Pfft. You should've done my 100 challenge.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Lol, I guess I'm missing out on Charlie's Angels and 50 First Dates for another year

What directors are you planning to start with? Your schedule is pretty good, but you should try something like this:
1. Watch a movie of the certain director:
a) you like it - watch more films
b) you don't like it - watch 2 more
-you still don't like them - change the director
-you like them - try to see more, or, if you're tired, change the director, but keep this one in mind and get back to his other movies when ready
That's a good method - you should try it.
Besides directors, you should also try to watch a lot of foreign movies from around the world. That should enlarge your movie knowledge.

I remember watching 8 films of Hou Hsiao Hsien in a week. That's the most I've ever seen from a director within such a short period of time.

A few I have in mind to start with are Malle, Travovsky,Gilliam, and Downey Sr.

Well if I like what I see then ill be coming back for more of him later on in the year. I'm trying not to set a number of his films since then I'll for sure just be making this a duty, but Im going for atleast two a week. Hopefully more. And with this challenge I should be exploring Foriegn cinema too, since there are a lot of great Foriegn directors.

I watched seven Svankmajer films in a day once, after watching three of his a couple days before. But they're short films so doesn't really count

Saying foriegn cinema and me being a fan of Verhoeven, can I recommend his earlier stuff?
Turkish Delight, Soldier Of Orange, The Fourth Man etc... pretty much his back catalogue before he did RoboCop...

Guess that depends then.On the other hand,there is a very very short list of directors whose all movies are enjoyable for me so maybe that's why I can't watch a lot of films of the same director in a row.

O.k I have a couple of recommendations for you. For something classic, Carl Theodor Dreyer, if you haven't seen anything by him yet. I'd start with Day of Wrath; great movie.

For something current going on in Spanish film, I recommend Alex de la Iglesia. He has been influenced by some of the top Spanish language film directors (del Toro, Almodovar) and is currently an influential director himself, so I thought he might be interesting for you to look at.

When it comes to Polish directors you ought to see Andrzej Wajda's films as well as Jerzy Kawalerowicz's.

That's just the tip of the iceberg.

Personally, I don't really care about directors. Auteur theory is pointless, at best. Just watch anything you can lay your hands on.

I'm kind of late, but..

I'd watch Richard Brooks, John Frankenheimer, Paul Mazursky and William Dieterle to start. I have many lesser-known directors to suggest after that.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Louis Malle

Elevator to the Gallows
Au Revoir Les Enfants

Andrei Tarkovsky

Stalker
The Mirror

Terry Gilliam

Brazil