jcs's - Favourites List
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How does an Irish lad without prospects become part of 18th-century nobility? For Barry Lyndon (Ryan O'Neal) the answer is: any way he can! His climb to wealth and privilege is the enthralling focus of this sumptuous Stanley Kubrick version of William Makepeace Thackeray's novel. For this ravishing, slyly satiric winner of four Academy Awards, Kubrick found inspiration in the works of the era's painters. Costumes and sets were crafted in the era's designs and pioneering lenses were developed to shoot interiors and exteriors in natural light. The result? Barry Lyndon endures as a cutting-edge movie that brings a historical period to vivid screen life like no other film before or since. - Director:
- Stanley Kubrick
- Cast:
- Michael Hordern, Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson
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Shoot the Pianist (1960)Tirez Sur Le Pianiste / Shoot the Piano Player
Having left behind his life as a gifted concert pianist, Charlie (Charles Aznavour) sees out his downcast days tinkling the ivories in a dingy Parisian jazz bar. One day his brother Chico (Albert Rémy) arrives, searching for sanctuary from a gang of crooks that he's double-crossed. Charlie offers to help but soon finds his murky past catching up with him and before long is embroiled in an affair that he can no longer control. - Director:
- François Truffaut
- Cast:
- Charles Aznavour, Marie Dubois, Nicole Berger
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Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)Au hasard Balthazar / Balthazar
A profound masterpiece from one of the most revered filmmakers in the history of cinema, Robert Bresson's 'Au Hasard Balthazar' follows the donkey Balthazar as he is passed from owner to owner, some kind and some cruel but all with motivations beyond his understanding. Balthazar, whose life parallels that of his first keeper, Marie (Anne Wiazemsky), is truly a beast of burden, suffering the sins of humankind. But despite his powerlessness, he accepts his fate nobly. Through Bresson's unconventional approach to composition, sound, and narrative, this simple story becomes a moving parable about purity and transcendence. - Director:
- Robert Bresson
- Cast:
- Anne Wiazemsky, Walter Green, François Lafarge
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