Stuff you like in films

[paulofilmo]

This is meant possibly as a Collections generator, but I do think it's fascinating unto itself.

The little personal things in movies that probably have an effect on how much you enjoy it.

Mine:
Odd couples (Klute, Eternal Sunshine, Harold and Maude, The Graduate)
Wheat fields/open fields (Badlands, Days of Heaven, Spirit of the Beehive, Ratcatcher, Lo Non Ho Paura)
Literature/poetry (F For Fake, Year of Living Dangerously, Remains of the Day, Zerkalo)
A single performance - This is when a lead perhaps sings a song, plays an instrument, hums an intimate hymn etc. Often a poignant 'moment' (many).
Child's 'wisdom' - When a child character's different perception proves surprisingly insightful
Mysticism - An anthropological/Ethnographic connection, but immersed
Imperfection - When a film--aware of its limitations--endears you beyond them -- this one's a little too unspecific, but I think Whale Rider is a good example
The didactic - Sensitive to context and narrative, of course, it's totally cool to lecture me on something interesting
Folk music - Boisterous British jigs to transcendental Bulgarian choirs, I love rootsy music.

Piety - Not coldly, annoyingly so, but perhaps a hightened sense of religious morality - Jane Eyre-ish
Anthony Hopkins - pretty much
High contrast b+w photography - When it's really clean and striking. I think Whistle Down the Wind pulled it off nicely; the English light, perhaps.

Well written/depicted women - all too rare considering the majority of male writers/directors. I think Bergman does a good job. - Autumn Sonata etc.

Depressing/Injustice - Magdalene Sisters, In The Bedroom, House of Sand and Fog
Conversational philosophical/psychological insight - Notre Musique, Roger Dodger, Waking Life, etc.

Slow Paced
Limited Dialog -- Just seen I Don't Want to Sleep Alone. Fits both of these well.

Rain on cobblestones black and white cinematography - love it - Elephant Man, The Stars Look Down
e.g. link1 link2 link3

Flaunts a Continental setting - Films with pretty European architecture: Day of the Jackal, Kiki's Delivery Service, The Luzhin Defence

Encapsulates, represents its setting; a tribute to its setting or culture. - ""Pelham". A filmmaker's film, a New Yorker's film," Y Tu Mamá También -- Mexico

Underdog films -- This is somewhat hard to explain. I guess it's the high quality films that would paradoxically never get in a top 10 due to lack of populist interest, or the critical acclaim has already been filled. Instead, they are undeservedly somewhat forgotten and underrepresented. --- The Asphalt Jungle, Jezebel, You Can Count On Me, Twilight Samurai (perhaps) ---- I'd love to hear more of these, subjective though they are.

Stylish ingenuity - Suspending disbelief on a budget -- Reconstruction, Following, Volver.

Surprising use of soundtrack -- Metoroporisu

Care - the loving kind, not biting the hand that feeds them. - it could be small, intimate, like washing hair, or work based (like PSH in Magnolia). - Solaris, I don't Want to Sleep Alone.. many more

I'll probably edit in more in the future, but right now I have a date with Double Indemnity.

[MmzHrrdb]

JAZZY/LOUNGEY SOUNDTRACK
This often seems to raise my opinion of a movie. I watched Broken Flowers and In the Mood For Love recently and enjoyed them more than I probably would have due to their Jazzy/Loungey soundtracks. Elevator to the Gallows is another example.

PROSTITUTES
I'm not sure why, exactly, but prostititue movies often appeal to me. McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Nights of Cabiria, Vice Squad, Gate of Flesh, and Taxi Driver are all major favorites of mine. I try to watch as many prostitute movies as I can.

WOMEN DANCING
There something about Go Go dancing and that sort of thing. Showgirls is one of my favorites, after all. Ann-Margret's dancing in Murderer's Row is über-awesome, but even questionable movies such as Girl in Gold Boots benefit from a little foot work.

FLAWED CHARACTERS AND NO EASY ANSWERS
I guess No Country For Old Men is a good recent example, as is There Will Be Blood. These movies are not about heroes and a happy resolution, or any real resolution for that matter. Altman's 3 Women is good general example.

COLOR AND VISUALS
I'm a sucker for a good-looking movie. I often wonder if I should give more credit to the cinematographer for why I like a movie than the director. Though I used the word "color", there are numerous B & W movies that are more beautiful than most color movies that I've seen.

[doctor7]

Moving pictures

[Dorkovsky]

Psychologically dark comedies - I definitely need to explain myself here. Of course I love Fargo and A Clockwork Orange and all those dark comedies that have you laughing at murder and other terrible acts, but what I mean are the ones that make you laugh at depression, despair, people damaging each other emotionally; those are the ones that I tend to enjoy above the rest. The only directors I have seen pull this off are Roy Andersson and Todd Solondz. Leigh's Naked would fit here too.

Overbearing soundtracks - Some famous director whose name I can't recall once said the best soundtracks are ones that you don't notice. Well, I feel pretty much the exact opposite. Examples being Werckmeister Harmonies, Cook the Thief his Wife her Lover, and pretty much all of Kubrick.

I might think of more later.

[MmzHrrdb]

Coming of Age/Teenage Condition - I think this is a subject with potential for pretty nice poignancy, if done with the enough honesty and less petty teen drama. (The 400 Blows, Star Wars Ep. IV, Red Beard, Dazed & Confused, The Last Detail, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Harold and Maude, The Breakfast Club)

Slow Descent Into Madness - Absolute psychological breakdown of a character (or characters) is just really interesting to me. (Fires on the Plain, Ran, Apocalypse Now, The Shining, Taxi Driver, Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia)

Black Comedy - I think I've got a pretty wicked sense of humor. (Dr. Strangelove, Fargo, American Beauty, Harold and Maude, In Bruges, Withnail & I)

Intertwining Love Stories - Love stories have a hard time satisfying me. I like them poignant and honest, without sentimentality and sappy bullshit. I think ones involving more than one person or multiple threads can portray the complexities in a more interesting way than your classic boy meets girl story. Woody Allen and Francois Truffaut come to mind. (Jules and Jim, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Apartment, Room at the Top, The Purple Rose of Cairo)

Chiaroscuro - I love cinematography. Shadows are something that can be easily and effectively be used to create mood and suggestion. I'm a real sucker for noir, but I enjoy the use of darkness in other non-noir films, both black & white and color. (The Third Man, Night and the City, Double Indemnity, The Silence of the Lambs, Onibaba, Blade Runner)

Tracking Shots - Again, cinematography. There's just something so hypnotic about a fluid, well-choreographed tracking shot. (A Clockwork Orange, Touch of Evil, Paths of Glory, The Shining, The Rules of the Game, 8 1/2)

[epiphany]

Black Comedy
Satire (Schizopolis, Life of Brian)
The two are closely-linked.

Unhappy Endings (only when justified) (No examples, less many cry when the spoilers fly)
One Act Films (Mean Streets, purportedly, but I have not seen it, 12 Storeys)
The two are closely-linked too.

Surrealism (8 1/2, Mulholland Drive)

[Luna6ix]

i really dig this thread, personally the only thing that comes to mind is gore, i am a gore-hound, specifically "gore" to me means full depiction of dismemberment, more than 2 gallons of blood, and any internal organs apply. i know there are people out there who take offence from gore (in my definition), but i honestly think the bloodier the better.

EDIT: I.E. evil dead, evil dead 2 and many more, although recently there has been a more conservitive tendancy in american horror, but the films i describe are still there.