Suggested Viewings from KCL Film Studies

From the module Film Theory I

Sherlock Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1924)

Silent cinema has the power to communicate through the pure image, the essence of cinema, and Buster Keaton's film is a awesome early example of reflecting on the medium itself and on its capacity of triggering our emotions, and, possibly, changing our lives.

From the module French New Wave

Forbidden Games (René Clément, 1952)

A pre-Nouvelle Vague cinematic text set during 1940s Nazi bombings of France guiding us through the eyes of a spectacular child protagonist, the little Paulette, and her countryside friend, Michel. A human document on childhood's friendship, but also a critique of French society and religion.

From the module Topics in World Cinema

 Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray,1955)

This was my favourite film among this week's, not only did it make me discover the amazing cinema of Ray, but it also is a human document of the finest kind opening Ray's Apu's Trilogy and always focusing on the child's gaze as bearer of the amazement and the surprise in front of the things of daily life. 

From the module Cinema and Spectatorship

 Peeping Tom (Michael Powell, 1960)

I finally had the chance to watch this Powell's gem, the cinematography and camerawork are perfect, and the story makes you question your role as spectator through the discourses on voyeurism and scopophilia. A cinematic thriller interrogating the very essence of the apparatus.

Some suggested viewings from KCL Film Studies Course

Since I watched 6 films during the past 5 days, I thought I could share the films' titles weekly as suggested viewings for you!

From the module British National Cinema: Evergreen (1934) by Victor Saville, starring the star Jessie Matthews, great if you love musical, London, theatre life and art deco.

From the module Hollywood Cinema: Casablanca (1942) by Michael Curtiz, always classy, never goes out of fashion, personally I am never tired of watching it, "Here's looking at you kid."

Disorder by Huang Weikai, of which you can read more in my previous post:

http://artbookscinema.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/chinese-visual-festival-disorder-by.html

From the module Contemporary Spanish Cinema: Raise Ravens (1976) by Carlos Saura. Beautiful, I would say, fascinating, symbolic, starring two wonderful actresses such as Ana Torrent and Geraldine Chaplin.

From the Film Society weekly screening: Masculin Feminin (1966) by Jean Luc Godard. Starring the grown-up Jean Pierre Leaud, a wonderful reflection on French youth in the 60s, a reflection on genders, and just as good as only Godard could have made it.

From the module Chinese Cinemas: A City of Sadness (1989) by Hou Hsiao-hsien. Difficult to follow, I have to admit, slow and long, but once you start feeling part of the narrative it is an amazing journey in the depth of Chinese unspoken history and non-speaking people.