IONCINEPHILE of the Month: Emma Forrest’s Top Ten Films of All Time List
Have you ever wondered what are the films that inspire the next generation of visionary filmmakers? As part of our monthly IONCINEPHILE profile, we ask the filmmaker (this month: Emma Forrest) to identify their all time top ten favorite films. Forrest’s Untogether received it’s film festival debut at Tribeca last year, and receives its release this weekend via Freestyle Digital Media. In A to Z order, here are Emma Forrest’s top ten films as of February 2019.
Animal Kingdom – David Michôd (2010)
“It’s a perfect film. Properly gripping but also strange and funny. Every scene, every single sentence, every glance is there for a reason. I’ve tried to unpick it to see how it works. David Michod told me that even though it’s a crime drama, he structured it as a horror film.”
The Babadook – Jennifer Kent (2014)
“Essie Davis gives a performance on a par with Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive. Her whole face has changed by the end. It’s a flawless film, no extraneous fat to it, and for a script so spare, it is emotionally very rich.”
Cat People – Jacques Tourneur (1942)
“The idea that ancestral pain is still your psychic scar many generations on is something I find very true. And it’s beautiful to look at (this film and some pain).”
Fat Girl – Catherine Breillat (2001)
“I never want to see it again in my life but I will never forget it though sometimes I fucking wish I could. It’s both extremely shocking and utterly mundane.”
Fish Tank – Andrea Arnold (2009)
“Fassbender when you didn’t know who he was and could barely believe what you were seeing. Katie Jarvis, that’s the sort of out of nowhere debut that scars the audience and probably scars the actor, because I know she walked away from it, like Linda Manz. Andrea Arnold is the greatest UK director of her generation.”
Imitation of Life – Douglas Sirk (1959)
“I’ve seen it so many times. Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner, two of the most indelible supporting actress performances ever, and in one movie.”
Inside Daisy Clover – Robert Mulligan (1965)
“This is the thinly veiled Judy Garland story, and I love that it stars Natalie Wood because her own path from child star to adult star was so disturbing. I hope it was cathartic. I love the ending where she walks away and blows the whole thing up. I love art offering an alternate ending that is fairer than the one offered by life. Also this is a very kinky Christopher Plummer performance, for fans of Christopher Plummer kink.”
Mulholland Drive – David Lynch (2001)
“Like a song, you can interpret it the way you want to. You can even decide where you want it to end and walk out of the cinema, and I wouldn’t call you a bad audience member. Portent, premonition and talismans are important to me, in my daily life and in the art I want to watch and to make.”
Paper Moon – Peter Bogdanovich (1973)
“I find this film really alluring, both the black and white, with it’s rich greys, and the core relationship which is bold:it’s a father daughter road trip that’s also a very romantic, painful love story between them. Everyone loves Madeline Kahn, she’s just her antagonist until that beautiful scene by the hillside where she crumbles.”
The Rocky Horror Show – Jim Sharman (1975)
“I think Tim Curry gives one of the greatest screen performances ever, this hypothetical circle where it’s so over the top that it comes back on itself and becomes extremely subtle and nuanced. I watch (and listen to) him singing “I’m Going Home” quite often, when I’m stuck for inspiration.”
