Ray Carney's "Movies That Don't Suck"

[Shep]

Ray Carney is a professor of film studies at Boston University. He's written great books on Mike Leigh, John Cassavetes, Frank Capra, Carl Dreyer, etc.

The guy is definitely what you'd call a "film snob," but I have to admit I really like a lot of the movies he recommends.

Enjoy!




THE BEST INDEPENDENT FILMS YOU NEVER HEARD OF

(a beginner's guide to English-language films, any one of which is more important than Spike Lee's, Oliver Stone's, Steven Spielberg's, Joel and Ethan Coen's, and Quentin Tarantino's complete work)



Basic training:

Vince Gallo, Buffalo 66

Tom Noonan, What Happened Was, The Wife (Noonan is the greatest living American director)

Ken Loach, Raining Stones

Su Friedrich, Sink or Swim, Rules of the Road

Gillian Armstrong, My Brilliant Career, The Last Days of Chez Nous

Charles Burnett, Killer of Sheep, To Sleep with Anger

Caveh Zahedi, A Little Stiff

Mike Leigh, Abigail's Party, High Hopes, Life is Sweet, The Short and Curlies

Sean Penn, Indian Runner

John Korty, The Crazy Quilt, Funnyman, Riverrun

Shirley Clarke, Portrait of Jason

Les Blair, Bad Behavior

Alison Anders, Gas, Food, Lodging

Elaine May, The Heartbreak Kid, Mikey and Nicky

John Cassavetes, Shadows, Minnie and Moskowitz, A Woman Under the Influence

Jane Spencer, Little Noises

Claudia Weill, Girlfriends

Harry Hook, The Kitchen Toto

Michael Almareyda, Another Girl, Another Planet, The Rocking Horse Winner, Sundance

Milton Moses Ginsberg, Coming Apart

Jim Jarmusch, Stranger than Paradise, Mystery Train



Strictly for the more daring:

Bruce Conner, Marilyn Times Five, Report, A Movie, The Rose

Todd Haynes, Safe, Superstar

Edmund Elias Merhige, Begotten

David Blair, Wax, The Discovery of Television Among the Bees

Mark Rappaport, The Scenic Route, Local Color

Alan Clarke, Rita, Sue and Bob Too, or anything else you can get by him

John Cassavetes, Faces, Husbands, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Opening Night, Love Streams

Michael Almereyda, Twister, Another Girl, Another Planet

Jon Jost, Bell Diamond, Last Chants for a Slow Dance

Mike Leigh, Bleak Moments, Meantime, Grown Ups, Kiss of Death, Hard Labor

Robert Kramer, Ice, Milestones, Route One, Starting Point

Barbara Loden, Wanda

Paul Morrissey, Trash, Flesh

Rick Schmidt, Morgan's Cake

Michael Radford, Another Time, Another Place

Richard Lowenstein, Dogs in Space

Thomas Vinterberg, The Celebration

Lars von Trier, Breaking the Waves



people.bu.edu/rcarney/

[Mr. Atari]

jorel said:

Lars von Trier, Breaking the Waves

This alone makes me know everything I need to know about this guy.

Worst. Movie. Of. All. Time.

A complete waste of 2 hours that brought me closer to hell than I'd ever been.

[Chuck]

Agreed, Mr. A. I hated it.

Paul Morrisey's Women in Revolt is missing, I note. As is Heat.

[Mr. Atari]

All that Mike Leigh, and no "Secrets & Lies"? It's one of the best movies of the '90s.

I don't mean to be too critical, since I haven't seen most of the list.

[Shep]

sampo said:

All that Mike Leigh, and no "Secrets & Lies"? It's one of the best movies of the '90s.

I don't mean to be too critical, since I haven't seen most of the list.

No, I agree. I was surprised "Secrets" didn't make the list, too. Also surprised there was no Tarkovsky as Carney teaches a class on him.

There are films on that list I'm not crazy about (Indian Runner), but also several I love--and many I've never even seen, but should.

[Bix Dugan]

The only one I'm sure I've seen is Mystery Train, which was supposed to be great, but I kept wondering,..... "when?".

[Chuck]

bixdugan said:

The only one I'm sure I've seen is Mystery Train, which was supposed to be great, but I kept wondering,..... "when?".

Bix, just watch Mystery Train and get involved with the weird characters. The payoff at the end is very good - when you have the entire timeline of the picture laid out. I had fun.