Have you ever wondered what are the films that inspire the next generation of visionary filmmakers? As part of our monthly IONCINEPHILE profile (read here), we ask the filmmaker the incredibly arduous task of identifying their top ten list of favorite films. This month we profile Michelangelo Frammartino. His award-winning film, Le Quattro Volte was among our top three back on the Croisette and it receives a theatrical release via Lorber Films — beginning in Gotham’s Film Forum and then expanding into other markets in North America commencing this weekend. Again we tried our best to translate from Michelangelo’s native tongue. Here are his Top 10 Films of All Time (as of April 2011).
Aurora – Cristi Puiu (2010)
“The most extraordinary leadership skills in working with actors that I’ve ever seen.”
The Mouth of the Wolf (La bocca del lupo) – Pietro Marcello (2009)
“A great Italian talent that everyone should know.”
Damnation – Béla Tarr (1988)
“Damnation is not only for me the wonderful tale of a love story doomed and desperate. But it is also the document of a man drifting from his leading position to a background element. A lover convicted to solitary stray dog. The most extraordinary direction of actors I’ve ever seen.”
El Valley Centro – James Bennings (1990)
“The astonishment of the simple look and sound.”
Few of Us – Sarunas Bartas (1996)
“The face as a matte surface, which refers to the mystery dell’intereno.”
Flandres – Bruno Dumont (2006)
“Landscape as theater of the mind.”
In Vanda’s Room – Perdo Costa (2000)
“The house as a body in decay.”
La Région Centrale – – Michael Snow (1971)
“The look without totally unanchored and free from prejudices of the human eye.”
The Way Things Go (Der Lauf der Dinge) – – Peter Fischli, David Weiss (1988) – Short Film
“A film that has as protagonists the objects whose dramatic interplay is complex and intriguing as the plot of a thriller.”
What Time is it There? – Tsai Ming Liang (2001)
“The futility and the absurdity of our space-time conventions.”
