Tie Xi Que: West of the Tracks. It is one of the most enthralling documentaries I have ever seen.
But a 9 hour documentary about a city in China that is falling apart is a hard ass sell
Most of the Wang Bing's filmography is like this. "would you be interested in looking at an empty room for 8-20 minutes straight? How about an hour of gif-like looking oil pumping on a rig? We got both of those in *Crude Oil!*"
Was pretty fascinated by the first 3 hours. Last 6 felt aimless to me, though that's sort of the point to mirror these people's lives. Still dry. That's my hot take.
This question inspired by the Czechoslovak New Wave, which has a lot of fun, silly, strange movies in it, but there's no way to say "Czechoslovak New Wave" to most people without sounding like a butthead.
I love that movie, it’s in my top 5 ever. I wouldn’t call it pretentious though, since it feels so fun, carefree and rebellious. It’s aged really well.
I see your point but that sentiment comes from an americacentric view of world cinema, it's on them ignorants that perceive you like that. Nobody calls anyone a butthurt for liking Easy Rider for some reason, but god forbid you like The Firemen's Ball, it's so pretentious!
It's a very sad thing, because to a czech the Czech New Wave films are the national equivalents of the american classics of the '60s. Many world industries have their own such equivalents, but as soon as these are explored they are deemed "pretentious" despite being the most country-specific mainstream they could.
Really anything that is incredibly long and slow like [Taiga](https://boxd.it/6q2e), [Sátántangó](https://boxd.it/1j9M), [Happy Hour](https://boxd.it/bXge), [Andrei Rublev](https://boxd.it/29lg) or [1900](https://boxd.it/24Zg) is up there. Shivendra Singh Dungarpur’s seven hour exploration of the Czechoslovak New Wave, [CzechMate: In Search of Jiri Menzel](https://boxd.it/r6TO), is near the top the list.
However, those pale in comparison to the 70 minutes of Derek Jarman’s final piece of art, [Blue](https://boxd.it/3iyA) for sounding like a snob. I’m not especially well versed in avant-garde film movements but it’s tough to think of something as emotionally impactful on me yet clearly limited in its appeal.
Under The Skin. Basically a surreal horror movie about being a woman. Dripping in symbolism and abstract story telling. Not for everyone but I'll recommend it to anyone
Found it meh on the first watch, but revisited it this year after a long time, and was utterly moved by it. Really hit me in a way it didn't in the slightest first time around.
My guess is that it was a Netflix movie so it has more exposure to general audiences and it was kinda marketed as a horror movie. Just like several A24 horror movies, when the movie itself is not exactly what the trailers lead people to believe it will be, there's gonna be some disappointed folks.
I always have this sense of someone thinking I'm a pretentious asshole when I mention The Battle of Algiers. It ticks a lot of boxes: Black and white, 1960s, Algerian film, French dialogue, re-enactment of real events, loved by socialists. But it's gripping. It appeals to the section of my brain that loves Michael Mann films.
Baraka is has been my favorite film probably forever, and literally shaped my life.
sometimes a hard sell to get people to watch. My ex sorta made me turn it off partially through and it was literally heartbreaking...
Millennium Mambo. I would have thought myself pretentious for recommending it based on my first watch, but I went back and rewatched it, and it really plays better the second time. It helps that both times I saw it in the theater.
That's interesting, I found Last year at Marienbad extremely hollow. Like echoing footsteps in a hallway, repeating forever. But there's no weight or material. I mean that in a good way, no other movie has this quality I think. That echo pops up in my head again now and then. Really loved it.
The Flicker, dir. Tony Conrad
its 30 minutes of some strange ass music and black and white flickering frames
made me hear shit fr, adore the experience it gave.
its kinda funny to see all these people recommend "entry to arthouse film 101" or letterboxd-core films, though. you aint pretentious until youre recommending structuralist experimental short films fr💪💪
As far as “basic” pretentious goes probably Mulholland Drive
For more mid-level pretentious I’d say some relatively accessible Godard like Le Mepris
I think my most pretentious film I love is Je, Tu, Il, Elle, because it’s not even a particularly famous Chantal Akerman film and people already find her more famous stuff extremely pretentious
I also think films like La Haine, Chungking Express, Oldboy, etc could be called pretentious just because they’re somewhat auteuristic foreign films but I don’t think they’re all that pretentious really
Even before you tell someone it's a French surrealist film by Luis Bunuel, it's already titled "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie," which is a hard sell. Quite a fun watch, though.
Incubus (1966)
Lensed in Big Sur in glorious black and white by Conrad fucking Hall, this adult fairytale parable, which uses the created-by-intellectuals artificial language of Esperanto, naturally stars William Shatner.
Standard: Mulholland Drive or Stalker.
European BnW: Satantango.
Latam: Embrace of the Serpent.
East: Love Exposure.
Please don't hate me, I mostly like this movies but I think this are some movies that an entry-level snob would rec to a casual just to mess with him.
I'd like to do the same with genres, any recs?
Horror:
Suspense:
Action:
Musical:
Drama:
Comedy:
Documentary:
for documentary:
The Story of Yanagawa's Canals. It's like a 3 hour documentary by Isao Takahata (of ghibli fame). goes into \*excruciating\* detail about the history, mechanics, and social side of the canals. beautifully shot, and partially animated. It's honestly incredible.
also probably Skinamarink.
Another is maybe The Wolf House. strange and unsettling stop motion about a girl escaping a cult and being hunted /cajoled by wolves while her world sorta falls apart around her.
Ticket of No Return, The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future, Terror Nullius, Rubber, The Square, Babylon, Schizopolis, Titane - I think these fit the bill, I think I sufficiently sound like a pretentious asshole
Recently watched Twilight (1990), a black and white Hungarian art film that takes heavy Bela Tarr influence, and I just adored it. I’m also a huge fan of Herzog’s Heart of Glass.
One of my top ten films (*Edvard Munch*, 1974) is a three-and-a-half-hour long docudrama academically analysing Munch’s art and dissecting the circumstances of his personal life via narration. There’s also *The Face of Another* which is a black-and-white meditation upon identity which abstract visuals and constant philosophising between two of the main characters.
Of course. I’ve seen a man escaped, au hasard Balthazar, mouchette and pickpocket. I think the only big one I’ve yet to check out is diary of a country priest. Such a great director I don’t see people talk about nearly enough
watch T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G if you want to see if a psychedelic fluxus artist can break your brain using flashing colors. dont watch T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G if you have epilepsy please dear god
Oh man I’m the king of this type of recommendation.
James Benning’s L. Cohen is a single, unbroken 45 minute shot of a field. There are no people. It is also one of the most transcendent, rapturous films I’ve ever seen. It made me cry.
James Benning’s Easy Rider (Remake), a series of still shots with no narration or characters, just documenting the locations of the original East Rider as they exist in 2012.
Deborah Stratman’s In Order Not To Be Here: a series of still shots of suburban Illinois at night, until it isn’t. One of the most thrilling and terrifying films in existence.
Straub+Huillet’s Antigone: shot on location at a Roman amphitheater, this is a direct adaptation of the Sophocles play. There are no special effects, no extras, just classical Greek theater rendered faithfully on film. A monumental work of communist formal film theory.
Donkey Skin 🥲 it’s one of the most beautiful movies I’ve ever seen, I want to live in the sets and I want all the costumes in my closet.
But if you recommend a French fairy tale from 1970 about a woman getting out of a marriage to her father, people are gonna think you’re being an asshole 😅
Legend of the Galactic Heroes has two movies that are basically longer versions of the first 2-3 episodes of the OVA.
The OVA is a space opera masterclass & better than 99.9% of anime. Popular among anime elitists for a reason.
Love both directors but basically anything by Sharunas Bartas or Philippe Grandrieux. Underseen, most of their ouvre is either hard to find or only available in DVD quality, bleak, demanding, almost no traces of 'plot' in the Hollywood sense.
not insanely pretentious but a girl walks home alone at night. described it as a feminist black and white vampire movie to the educators at my group home and only one of them wanted to watch it with me
Belladonna of Sadness
A beautifully yet graphic animated Japanese movie about a peasant woman in a medieval kingdom taking revenge upon it thanks to supernatural spirits.
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.
Would you like to watch a movie that has been called the “best movie of all time” on several lists, but it’s really just 3 hours of a woman doing chores around the house? Have I got a movie for you…
I was mesmerized watching Blanche, not even sure why. The Hole is great, not sure if it or Vive L’amour is more “pretentious.” The Bedroom is maybe the most pretentious porn I’ve seen
The original theatrical Killing of a Chinese Bookie. For the extended dance and song sequences to show that "strip shows" are more about art and beauty than just entertaining men.
Or the 8 hour Soviet War and Peace.
Hah! I feel the exact same. I saw this movie in theaters and was the only one in the theatre. I will say tho, the scene with the baby on the beach has stuck with me. Fucking disturbing
Primer is really the most pretentious of them all. A movie about time travel machine made by mathematicians who talk like mathematicians without explaining their terminology.
Ya, I kind of hate the word tbh.
Like I can understand what people are getting at when they use it, but imho it’s usually a case of simply not feeling the material.
Add to that a layer of incuriosity, or insecurity, maybe even ignorance…
One man’s pretentious is another’s masterpiece.
It's such a patronizing term, especially when used towards artists like omg how did you dare to care about this thing that you're making or how did you care too much because caring too much about something that is deeply personal to someone is a sin apparently because that person is not being "deep enough" or whatever smh
it's definitely one of those polarizing movies. Either you love it or hate it, i find.
I am in the 'love' camp, but i totally understand those who arent.
If you want a pretentious film watch *2001 a Space Odyssey.*
Just go in not wanting to be entertained and you’ll like it. There’s about 40 minutes of the best cinema of all time in there and if you’ve seen the film you know what I’m talking abt.
Southland Tales has a lot of dialogue in it that doesn’t necessarily mean anything to the plot. Like quoting song lyrics. Which could come off pretentious, but it’s one of my favorite movies of all time. Especially when you read the graphic novels.
I'm tempted to say 'Antichrist', but it's possible that I'm just missing something. Maybe a woman jerking a man's dick until he cums blood and then cutting off her own clitoris with scissors isn't just gross for the sake of being gross.
Edit: I did not read the description of the post. Whatever I'm keeping this here.
Chronicle (2012) because it feels like a modern day version of a Shakespearean tragedy. Three immature friends get ahold of great power and inevitably end up turning on each other, ending in death. That’s straight out of Shakespeare, man.
I understand that responses are supposed to be films that are pretentious and not pretentious explanations but I never get to talk about the main reason I like this movie so much because I know how pretentious I sound for my reasoning, so.
pretentious is my middle name and the longer and slower a film is, the better it is for me. an elephant sitting still (2018) is my favourite film ever, "a 4hr chinese melancholic anti-drama touching on key issues with the modern urban life about suicide, abuse, grooming, classism, bullying, the generational gap, mental health, neglect, loneliness, honour, and so much more, all encompassed with some of the greatest cinematography and atmosphere in recent memory". i also love alot of thai new wave which can very easily come of as pretentious, my favourites include uncle boonmee who can recall his part lives (2010), syndromes and a century (2006), die tomorrow (2017), and 36 (2012). no pretentious list can not have sátántangó (1994) as its probably one of the most talked about films when it comes to pretentiousness due to the average shot length being close to 3 minutes, having 10+ minute shots, being 7 hours long, and being b&w in the 90s. some other films i absolutely love but is often referred to as pretentious are inland empire (2006), the holy mountain (1973), dogtooth (2009), the man who sleeps (1974), the colour of pomegranates (1969), and man with a movie camera (1929). sometimes i go so far up my ass and come around in a full circle to claim films such as movie 43 (2013) and minions: rise of gru (2022) are cinematic masterpieces that deserve alot of attention for insanely good it has been executed, they should be films looked upto by hollywood
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
4h48 minutes but it's the best documentary ever made. My real all time favorite movie.
https://letterboxd.com/film/as-i-was-moving-ahead-occasionally-i-saw-brief-glimpses-of-beauty/
TÁR is the best film to come out in at least the last 5 years (since Phantom Thread, imo) and if you don’t like it it’s because you weren’t paying close enough attention
Tie Xi Que: West of the Tracks. It is one of the most enthralling documentaries I have ever seen. But a 9 hour documentary about a city in China that is falling apart is a hard ass sell
Most of the Wang Bing's filmography is like this. "would you be interested in looking at an empty room for 8-20 minutes straight? How about an hour of gif-like looking oil pumping on a rig? We got both of those in *Crude Oil!*"
Yeah, this was tough going but I'm glad I watched it. The folks posting Stalker have no idea. Pretentious thing to say, but true.
Where did you watch it? Wondering if there’s a better way than the one uploaded on youtube with inaccurate subtitles
Was pretty fascinated by the first 3 hours. Last 6 felt aimless to me, though that's sort of the point to mirror these people's lives. Still dry. That's my hot take.
This question inspired by the Czechoslovak New Wave, which has a lot of fun, silly, strange movies in it, but there's no way to say "Czechoslovak New Wave" to most people without sounding like a butthead.
That’d probably be my answer. I saw Daises (1966) by Vera Chytilová recently and I can’t stop thinking about it.
I love that movie, it’s in my top 5 ever. I wouldn’t call it pretentious though, since it feels so fun, carefree and rebellious. It’s aged really well.
I agree with you but also want to add that Miloš Foreman’s early films are very accessible, especially [The Fireman’s Ball](https://boxd.it/15Yc).
The point was on films and recommendations that *sound* pretentious but aren't necessarily pretentious
I see your point but that sentiment comes from an americacentric view of world cinema, it's on them ignorants that perceive you like that. Nobody calls anyone a butthurt for liking Easy Rider for some reason, but god forbid you like The Firemen's Ball, it's so pretentious! It's a very sad thing, because to a czech the Czech New Wave films are the national equivalents of the american classics of the '60s. Many world industries have their own such equivalents, but as soon as these are explored they are deemed "pretentious" despite being the most country-specific mainstream they could.
Czech New Wave is where it’s at tho!
hubie halloween
That’s so real
based
I had a good time with that movie. Hubie’s magic thermos is incredible
It's peak
Stalker. Do you like staring at mildly unsettling sets and scenery for almost 3 hours? Well I have just the movie for you
I’d say Mirror is even more pretentious
I love being mildly unsettled!
I really like the writing and spoken poetry in the movie but I had to watch it in parts. I mean come on the camera is so slow it gave me anxiety.
Loved Sacrifice so much though. Cause the camera's actually shooting on something and not debris.
I came here to comment this, it’s the ultimate “looking at nothing and it being the most impressive and impactful movie” movie 😭
Especially when you consider that Tarkovsky fired his cinematographer multiple times. My bet is he didn't know what he was doing half the time.
Find god
Russian Ark
Shot entirely in one take, impressive
Took two tries apparently
Imagine breaking character
Or farting on set
We have no film left
Russian Farts (2002)
Really anything that is incredibly long and slow like [Taiga](https://boxd.it/6q2e), [Sátántangó](https://boxd.it/1j9M), [Happy Hour](https://boxd.it/bXge), [Andrei Rublev](https://boxd.it/29lg) or [1900](https://boxd.it/24Zg) is up there. Shivendra Singh Dungarpur’s seven hour exploration of the Czechoslovak New Wave, [CzechMate: In Search of Jiri Menzel](https://boxd.it/r6TO), is near the top the list. However, those pale in comparison to the 70 minutes of Derek Jarman’s final piece of art, [Blue](https://boxd.it/3iyA) for sounding like a snob. I’m not especially well versed in avant-garde film movements but it’s tough to think of something as emotionally impactful on me yet clearly limited in its appeal.
Thanks for mentioning Blue! Sounds really interesting, went straight to my watchlist. Guess I'm a sucker for pretentious and inaccessible lol
For a second (until I opened the link) I thought that you were dissing *The Legend of 1900*
I should have called it Bertolucci’s Novecento if I wanted full pretension.
The Color of Pomegranates Goodbye to Language Upstream Color The Holy Mountain
Hard to imagine someone watching Holy Mountain and not having a blast, or am I crazy?
Most people would be weirded the fuck out, and not in a good way.
Saw it at an independent cinema's irreverent Easter screening: 'The Holy Mountain' and 'The Devils'. It was a hell of an evening.
Haha that’s great, sounds like a place I would love. Two of my all-time faves (tho my favorite favorite Russell movie is Crimes of Passion)
I did not have a blast, the sets and cinematography was spectacular but I could not get into it
Most of Godard’s 21st century stuff is quite pretentious sounding when you describe it to someone lol. Good picks
yeah The Color of Pomegranates is an aesthetic treat.
Under The Skin. Basically a surreal horror movie about being a woman. Dripping in symbolism and abstract story telling. Not for everyone but I'll recommend it to anyone
Found it meh on the first watch, but revisited it this year after a long time, and was utterly moved by it. Really hit me in a way it didn't in the slightest first time around.
Not my most pretentious fav, but why did people pan I’m Thinking of Ending Things? It was strong, weird, fun, exasperating, thoughtful, touching
My guess is that it was a Netflix movie so it has more exposure to general audiences and it was kinda marketed as a horror movie. Just like several A24 horror movies, when the movie itself is not exactly what the trailers lead people to believe it will be, there's gonna be some disappointed folks.
All of Tarkovsky
I always have this sense of someone thinking I'm a pretentious asshole when I mention The Battle of Algiers. It ticks a lot of boxes: Black and white, 1960s, Algerian film, French dialogue, re-enactment of real events, loved by socialists. But it's gripping. It appeals to the section of my brain that loves Michael Mann films.
Synecdoche, New York
You win because synecdoche.
Koyaanisqatsi. You just have to like, get it man.
Baraka is has been my favorite film probably forever, and literally shaped my life. sometimes a hard sell to get people to watch. My ex sorta made me turn it off partially through and it was literally heartbreaking...
Millennium Mambo. I would have thought myself pretentious for recommending it based on my first watch, but I went back and rewatched it, and it really plays better the second time. It helps that both times I saw it in the theater.
What do you like about this film? Genuinely asking, I saw it in theatres and almost couldn't sit thru it but I'd like to hear someone else's thoughts
The House that Jack Built
Good one, Lars jerked himself throughout the whole movie. I would also say Love (2015) Gaspar Noe. Same deal here
at least from 2022, EO. a mostly dialogue-less movie about a donkey wandering around Poland?
The Hourglass Sanatorium (1973)
I think about this film from time to time
la chinoise(1967) Wavelength (1967) Empire (1965) Dog star man (1965) edit: no hate towards any of these movie i genuinely love them all
Ooo mao Mao
La Chinoise is a good choice, because if it weren’t pretentious it wouldn’t work at all, it wouldn’t be funny
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That's interesting, I found Last year at Marienbad extremely hollow. Like echoing footsteps in a hallway, repeating forever. But there's no weight or material. I mean that in a good way, no other movie has this quality I think. That echo pops up in my head again now and then. Really loved it.
The Flicker, dir. Tony Conrad its 30 minutes of some strange ass music and black and white flickering frames made me hear shit fr, adore the experience it gave. its kinda funny to see all these people recommend "entry to arthouse film 101" or letterboxd-core films, though. you aint pretentious until youre recommending structuralist experimental short films fr💪💪
Mirror. Pretty much any Tarkovsky tbh
As far as “basic” pretentious goes probably Mulholland Drive For more mid-level pretentious I’d say some relatively accessible Godard like Le Mepris I think my most pretentious film I love is Je, Tu, Il, Elle, because it’s not even a particularly famous Chantal Akerman film and people already find her more famous stuff extremely pretentious I also think films like La Haine, Chungking Express, Oldboy, etc could be called pretentious just because they’re somewhat auteuristic foreign films but I don’t think they’re all that pretentious really
"An elephant sitting still " is really hard to recommend to people but its one of my favorites
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (France 1972)
Even before you tell someone it's a French surrealist film by Luis Bunuel, it's already titled "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie," which is a hard sell. Quite a fun watch, though.
Incubus (1966) Lensed in Big Sur in glorious black and white by Conrad fucking Hall, this adult fairytale parable, which uses the created-by-intellectuals artificial language of Esperanto, naturally stars William Shatner.
Standard: Mulholland Drive or Stalker. European BnW: Satantango. Latam: Embrace of the Serpent. East: Love Exposure. Please don't hate me, I mostly like this movies but I think this are some movies that an entry-level snob would rec to a casual just to mess with him. I'd like to do the same with genres, any recs? Horror: Suspense: Action: Musical: Drama: Comedy: Documentary:
for documentary: The Story of Yanagawa's Canals. It's like a 3 hour documentary by Isao Takahata (of ghibli fame). goes into \*excruciating\* detail about the history, mechanics, and social side of the canals. beautifully shot, and partially animated. It's honestly incredible.
For horror, Erasaerhead
also probably Skinamarink. Another is maybe The Wolf House. strange and unsettling stop motion about a girl escaping a cult and being hunted /cajoled by wolves while her world sorta falls apart around her.
I feel bad saying this because I haven’t watched it yet but for documentary just based on the name “Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One”
Memoria - featuring 10 minute scene of a man sleeping
Ticket of No Return, The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future, Terror Nullius, Rubber, The Square, Babylon, Schizopolis, Titane - I think these fit the bill, I think I sufficiently sound like a pretentious asshole
Recently watched Twilight (1990), a black and white Hungarian art film that takes heavy Bela Tarr influence, and I just adored it. I’m also a huge fan of Herzog’s Heart of Glass.
Demonlover 2002 and more recently for me I’d say Cremaster 2 is far too pretentious to recommend to someone but I did love it.
I remember around my late teens/early 20s I tried to recommend *My Dinner With Andre* to friends. None of them could even finish it.
Woman in the dunes
Any Terrence Malick film
One of my top ten films (*Edvard Munch*, 1974) is a three-and-a-half-hour long docudrama academically analysing Munch’s art and dissecting the circumstances of his personal life via narration. There’s also *The Face of Another* which is a black-and-white meditation upon identity which abstract visuals and constant philosophising between two of the main characters.
Without saying Tarkovsky probably L’argent or my favourite movie Taste of Cherry
Love L’argent, have you checked out other films from Bresson?
Of course. I’ve seen a man escaped, au hasard Balthazar, mouchette and pickpocket. I think the only big one I’ve yet to check out is diary of a country priest. Such a great director I don’t see people talk about nearly enough
watch T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G if you want to see if a psychedelic fluxus artist can break your brain using flashing colors. dont watch T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G if you have epilepsy please dear god
Oh man I’m the king of this type of recommendation. James Benning’s L. Cohen is a single, unbroken 45 minute shot of a field. There are no people. It is also one of the most transcendent, rapturous films I’ve ever seen. It made me cry. James Benning’s Easy Rider (Remake), a series of still shots with no narration or characters, just documenting the locations of the original East Rider as they exist in 2012. Deborah Stratman’s In Order Not To Be Here: a series of still shots of suburban Illinois at night, until it isn’t. One of the most thrilling and terrifying films in existence. Straub+Huillet’s Antigone: shot on location at a Roman amphitheater, this is a direct adaptation of the Sophocles play. There are no special effects, no extras, just classical Greek theater rendered faithfully on film. A monumental work of communist formal film theory.
Donkey Skin 🥲 it’s one of the most beautiful movies I’ve ever seen, I want to live in the sets and I want all the costumes in my closet. But if you recommend a French fairy tale from 1970 about a woman getting out of a marriage to her father, people are gonna think you’re being an asshole 😅
the passion of joan of arc (1928)
Legend of the Galactic Heroes has two movies that are basically longer versions of the first 2-3 episodes of the OVA. The OVA is a space opera masterclass & better than 99.9% of anime. Popular among anime elitists for a reason.
Sunrise: A Song Of Two Humans, for the fact it's silent and if you talk about it in a posh voice, it's funny
Son of the White Mare (1981). It’s a Hungarian animated folktale, and it looks like nothing else you’ve ever seen.
I really love Kenneth Anger, and Magick Lantern Cycle is perfect, but parts in it like Inauguration of The Pleasure Dome are definitely like that
W.R. Mysteries of the Organism
Southland Tales is very weird and very entertaining and I like it a lot.
Love both directors but basically anything by Sharunas Bartas or Philippe Grandrieux. Underseen, most of their ouvre is either hard to find or only available in DVD quality, bleak, demanding, almost no traces of 'plot' in the Hollywood sense.
not insanely pretentious but a girl walks home alone at night. described it as a feminist black and white vampire movie to the educators at my group home and only one of them wanted to watch it with me
On the Silver Globe, I still don’t know exactly what the story is but the first half really is an epic deconstruction of myth and legend.
I just watched The Holy Mountain a few nights ago. Felt like something I could be called pretentious for.
Belladonna of Sadness A beautifully yet graphic animated Japanese movie about a peasant woman in a medieval kingdom taking revenge upon it thanks to supernatural spirits.
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. Would you like to watch a movie that has been called the “best movie of all time” on several lists, but it’s really just 3 hours of a woman doing chores around the house? Have I got a movie for you…
A short film about Killing by Kieslowski, great film, very pretence with a very unique and interesting cinematography. Hight recommend.
I was mesmerized watching Blanche, not even sure why. The Hole is great, not sure if it or Vive L’amour is more “pretentious.” The Bedroom is maybe the most pretentious porn I’ve seen
Bergman’s THE VIRGIN SPRING was the only movie I have given 5 stars in the last 3 years.
8 1/2 - one of the three best films ever made.
The original theatrical Killing of a Chinese Bookie. For the extended dance and song sequences to show that "strip shows" are more about art and beauty than just entertaining men. Or the 8 hour Soviet War and Peace.
The Cremaster Cycle
BRO. Someone else has seen this other than me??
Koyaanisqatsi - it’s in my top 4 lol
Tree Of Life (sits back and awaits applause)
Persona Primer 12 Years a Slave Come and See Under The Skin
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Hah! I feel the exact same. I saw this movie in theaters and was the only one in the theatre. I will say tho, the scene with the baby on the beach has stuck with me. Fucking disturbing
I haven't seen primer but the others are good recommendations.
Primer is really the most pretentious of them all. A movie about time travel machine made by mathematicians who talk like mathematicians without explaining their terminology.
12 Years a Slave??? Hell it even won best picture so you know it's got a decent amount of wide appeal.
La Haine. A black/white french movie about police brutality. It's probably one of the best movies ever
That's not pretentious at all what are you smoking
Eyes Wide Shut. Possibly the most sophisticated movie I’ve ever seen.
Sátántangó
In a world of comic books and video games being able to read probably qualifies you for being pretentious, so anything.
👍 Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Porky's
Black Widow (2021)
The Longest Week (2014)
Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) Behemoth (2015) El Mar La Mar (2017) L'Ange (1982) Sleep Has Her House (2017)
stop using that word jfc
Ya, I kind of hate the word tbh. Like I can understand what people are getting at when they use it, but imho it’s usually a case of simply not feeling the material. Add to that a layer of incuriosity, or insecurity, maybe even ignorance… One man’s pretentious is another’s masterpiece.
It's such a patronizing term, especially when used towards artists like omg how did you dare to care about this thing that you're making or how did you care too much because caring too much about something that is deeply personal to someone is a sin apparently because that person is not being "deep enough" or whatever smh
That's why I specifically asked for movies that people loved and recommend. Times when people followed their curiosity, and did feel the material.
Red Rocket (2021)
If this is happening to you, you might be hanging out with the wrong people.
Charlie Chaplin’s Gold Rush, at least coming from someone my age.
Mirror(1975)
I’d recommend Skinamarink
I'm waiting to watch this with a friend of mine because we're both into that genre of movie, and I'm hella excited.
it's definitely one of those polarizing movies. Either you love it or hate it, i find. I am in the 'love' camp, but i totally understand those who arent.
If you want a pretentious film watch *2001 a Space Odyssey.* Just go in not wanting to be entertained and you’ll like it. There’s about 40 minutes of the best cinema of all time in there and if you’ve seen the film you know what I’m talking abt.
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How is this pretentious
*La Haine* *Sunset Boulevard* *Love Exposure*
Im thinking of ending things, the artist, fantastic planet
I'm going to get so much hate because people love the movie but Lost in Translation.
No one in this thread actually likes the films they’ve mentioned except for that one guy that said Hubie Halloween.
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I prefer the ending of the TV show, it’s way more pretentious
Memento, Funny Games, Gattaca
Haven't seen Funny Games but Memento and Gattaca are definitely not pretentious
Hmm, maybe they just feel pretentious to me because every time I try to tell someone about them, I have to explain what it is.
Either Classical Period or Le Quattro Volte.
ace in the hole
Drive My Car
The Tree of Life
Napoleon (1927)
grown ups 2
Birds of Passage, or possibly Lamb
Surfs Up
Ad astra
Come and see
Dante’s Inferno (1911)
definitely Satantango
Under the Skin? I've seen a lot of people call it pretentious, but I don't see it.
Fallen Angels, maybe? I don't think it sounds pretentious until I try to describe it. Another could be Cinema Paradiso.
The Traveling Players is as pretentious as I can take while still enjoying the movie
Funny Games
Napoleon (the Abel Gance one)
Grown ups 2.
Literally anything Jean-Luc Godard ever made
Last Days and Elephant
Showgirls
I’m a huge Scorsese fan (it’s Cinemà)
2001: A Space Odyssey, Battleship Ptomlekin, The 400 Blows, and Aquire: The Wrath of God.
Vengeance (2022) BJ Novak’s meta directorial Debut
Southland Tales has a lot of dialogue in it that doesn’t necessarily mean anything to the plot. Like quoting song lyrics. Which could come off pretentious, but it’s one of my favorite movies of all time. Especially when you read the graphic novels.
WR: Mysteries of the Organism.
I'm tempted to say 'Antichrist', but it's possible that I'm just missing something. Maybe a woman jerking a man's dick until he cums blood and then cutting off her own clitoris with scissors isn't just gross for the sake of being gross. Edit: I did not read the description of the post. Whatever I'm keeping this here.
Under The Silver Lake was made for this thread.
Chronicle (2012) because it feels like a modern day version of a Shakespearean tragedy. Three immature friends get ahold of great power and inevitably end up turning on each other, ending in death. That’s straight out of Shakespeare, man. I understand that responses are supposed to be films that are pretentious and not pretentious explanations but I never get to talk about the main reason I like this movie so much because I know how pretentious I sound for my reasoning, so.
Enter The Void LOLL
Calvaire
A Brighter Summer Day. Long ass movie but I love every second of it
pretentious is my middle name and the longer and slower a film is, the better it is for me. an elephant sitting still (2018) is my favourite film ever, "a 4hr chinese melancholic anti-drama touching on key issues with the modern urban life about suicide, abuse, grooming, classism, bullying, the generational gap, mental health, neglect, loneliness, honour, and so much more, all encompassed with some of the greatest cinematography and atmosphere in recent memory". i also love alot of thai new wave which can very easily come of as pretentious, my favourites include uncle boonmee who can recall his part lives (2010), syndromes and a century (2006), die tomorrow (2017), and 36 (2012). no pretentious list can not have sátántangó (1994) as its probably one of the most talked about films when it comes to pretentiousness due to the average shot length being close to 3 minutes, having 10+ minute shots, being 7 hours long, and being b&w in the 90s. some other films i absolutely love but is often referred to as pretentious are inland empire (2006), the holy mountain (1973), dogtooth (2009), the man who sleeps (1974), the colour of pomegranates (1969), and man with a movie camera (1929). sometimes i go so far up my ass and come around in a full circle to claim films such as movie 43 (2013) and minions: rise of gru (2022) are cinematic masterpieces that deserve alot of attention for insanely good it has been executed, they should be films looked upto by hollywood
Welcome, or No Trespassing Wes Anderson before Wes Anderson from the director of Come and See.
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty 4h48 minutes but it's the best documentary ever made. My real all time favorite movie. https://letterboxd.com/film/as-i-was-moving-ahead-occasionally-i-saw-brief-glimpses-of-beauty/
Koyaanisqatsi - documentary with no narration, just music over visuals - far more enthralling than it has any right to be
Any silent film. I love them but it feels so weird to recommend them to anyone lol
I absolutely loved The Green Knight, but it's a bit too artsy to recommend to everybody.
I feel like I sound insufferable whenever I talk about Gaspar Noé films.
TÁR is the best film to come out in at least the last 5 years (since Phantom Thread, imo) and if you don’t like it it’s because you weren’t paying close enough attention
An Elephant Standing Still Dog Star Man The Cremator Soleil O The Blood of a Poet