my favorite movies

of all-time, in random order:


Trois couleurs: Bleu (1993)
Three Colors: Blue

Blue is the story of Julie who loses her husband, an acclaimed European composer and her young daughter in a car accident. The film's theme of liberty is manifested in Julie's attempt to start life anew free of personal commitments, belongings grief and love. She intends to spiritually commit suicide by withdrawing from the world and live completely independently, anonymously and in solitude in the Parisian metropolis. Despite her intentions, people from her former and present life intrude with their own needs. However, the reality created by the people who need and care about her, a surprising discovery and the music around which the film revolves heals Julie and irresistably draws her back to the land of the living.
Directed by
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Cast
Juliette Binoche
Benoît Régent
Florence Pernel

阿飛正傳 (1990)
Days of Beiing Wild (1991)

Set in 1960, the film centres on the young, boyishly handsome Yuddy, who learns from the drunken ex-prostitute who raised him that she is not his real mother. Hoping to hold onto him, she refuses to divulge the name of his real birth mother. The revelation shakes Yuddy to his very core, unleashing a cascade of conflicting emotions. Two women have the bad luck to fall for Yuddy. One is a quiet lass named Su Lizhen who works at a sports arena, while the other is a glitzy showgirl named Mimi. Perhaps due to his unresolved edipal issues, he passively lets the two compete for him, unable or unwilling to make a choice. As Lizhen slowly confides her frustration to a cop named Tide, he falls for her. The same is true for Yuddy's friend Zeb, who falls for Mimi. Later, Yuddy learns of his birth mother's whereabouts and heads out to the Philippines.
Directed by
Kar Wai Wong
Cast
Leslie Cheung
Maggie Cheung
Andy Lau
Carina Lau
Rebecca Pan
Jacky Cheung

Nuovo cinema Paradiso (1989)
Cinema Paradiso

A famous film director returns home to a Sicilian village for the first time after almost 30 years. He reminisces about his childhood at the Cinema Paradiso where Alfredo, the projectionist, first brought about his love of films. He is also reminded of his lost teenage love, Elena, who he had to leave before he left for Rome.
Directed by
Giuseppe Tornatore
Cast
Antonella Attili
Enzo Cannavale
Isa Danieli
Leo Gullotta
Marco Leonardi
Pupella Maggio
Agnese Nano
Leopoldo Trieste
Salvatore Cascio

天空の城ラピュタ (1986)
Laputa: Castle in the Sky

This film is set in a Victorian era that might have been, influenced by the visions of writers such as Jules Verne. As Pazu, the apprentice of the engineer who maintains a mine's elevator machinery, carries his boss's dinner back to the mine, an unconscious pigtailed girl floats down from the sky into his arms. This girl, Sheeta, and her magical levitation-stone pendant hold the key to a mysterious, mythical sky-castle known as Laputa. Sheeta and Pazu must flee from both air-pirates, who seek the sky kingdom for its legendary treasure, and the army, led by a government agent with his own mysterious agenda for Laputa.
Directed by
Hayao Miyazaki
Voice actors
Mayumi Tanaka
Keiko Yokozawa
Kotoe Hatsui
Minori Terada

Love Letter (1995)

Hiroko Watanabe's fiancé Itsuki died two years earlier in a mountain climbing accident. While looking through his high school yearbook, Hiroko in a fit of grief decides to write a letter to him using his old school address. Surprisingly she receives a reply, not from her dead husband, but from a woman also named Itsuki whom had known Hiroko's husband in school. A relationship develops between the two women as they continue to exchange letters and share memories of the dead Itsuke.
Directed by
Shunji Iwai
Cast
Miho Nakayama
Etsushi Toyokawa
Bunjaku Han
Katsuyuki Shinohara
Miki Sakai
Takashi Kashiwabara

Before Sunrise (1995)

Before Sunset (2004)

Before Sunrise is a passionate and intelligent romance between a young American (Jesse) and a French student (Celine). A chance encounter on the train incites intrigue, and Jesse provocatively suggests that Celine postpones her return to France and embarks instead on a spontaneous expedition to Vienna. In the course of their 14-hour relationship, the two share in their love for the unrehearsed and their appreciation for the unexpected as they explore in a powerful meeting of hearts and minds. Dawn breaks. Sad in silence, they make their way to the station. As they bid each other farewell, Jesse is seized by another impulse - another encounter?

(Before Sunset)Jesse, a writer from the US, and Celine, a Frenchwoman working for an environment protection organisation, acquainted nine years ago on the train from Budapest to Vienna, meet again when Jesse arrives in Paris for a reading of his new book. As they have only a few hours until his plane leaves, they stroll through Paris, talking about their experiences, views and whether they still love each other, although Jesse is already married with a kid.
Directed by
Richard Linklater
Cast
Ethan Hawke
Julie Delpy

重慶森林(1994)
Chungking Express

Wong Kar-Wai's movie about two love-struck cops is filmed in impressionistic splashes of motion and color. The first half deals with Cop 223, who has broken up with his girlfriend of five years. He purchases a tin of pineapples with an expiration date of May 1 each day for a month. By the end of that time, he feels that he will either be rejoined with his love or that it too will have expired forever. The second half shows Cop 663 dealing with his breakup with his flight attendant girlfriend. He talks to his apartment furnishings until he meets a new girl at a local lunch counter.
Directed by
Kar Wai Wong
Cast
Brigitte Lin
Tony Leung Chiu Wai
Faye Wong
Takeshi Kaneshiro
Valerie Chow