This Century's Top 7 Films for Recovering the Wonder of Existence
A brief selection of recent films that have best explored the mystery of being alive.
A few weeks ago, the BBC released a list of the 100 best films of the century. To reach their selection, they collected the opinions of 177 critics from countries all over the world, analyzed each and based on the frequency of mentions, condensed these into a final list. At Faena Aleph, we shared the list of the Top 10, and a brief reflection on why, perhaps, the second most mentioned film might have been first.
Now we want to share a selection from the list based on one critical point: the simple wonder of existence. Cinema has gradually come to assume a place among all of the arts as a resource for exploring life in the broadest sense of the word.
Directors, actors and screenwriters have taken but a small fragment of what it means to live (to love, to grow old, to suffer, to enjoy, be confused, to meet, etc.) and they’ve examined those films that will raise more questions, doubts and confirmations, in audiences.
Boyhood (Richard Linklater, 2014)
One of the fundamental questions in Linklater’s films revolves around the problem of time: What is it? What elapses? How do we take each step? In Boyhood, the director took a meditation on this theme beyond limits no one had tried before.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
What would happen if we could change our memories? A present-day classic confronts us with that very question.
The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)
One of the most poignant tributes to life to have been made in the history of film.
Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, 2008)
With the ambitious aim of reflecting all of life, in real time, in all of its multiplicity and with all of the complexity of circumstances.
Amour (Michael Haneke, 2012)
Love isn’t easy, but Haneke’s film takes this premise to an all new extreme.
The Turin Horse (Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky, 2011)
Based on an anecdote about Nietzsche, the directors portray life as it happens every day from the day-to-day, bare minimum of facts. These are linked to each other ever so gradually to form what we call “existence.”
The Great Beauty (Paolo Sorrentino, 2013)
Everything decays, except a desire to celebrate life.
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter … and Spring (Kim Ki-duk, 2003)
Life is a constant repetition in which everything happens, again, though always in different ways.
Related Articles
Pictorial spiritism (a woman's drawings guided by a spirit)
There are numerous examples in the history of self-taught artists which suggest an interrogation of that which we take for granted within the universe of art. Such was the case with figures like
Astounding fairytale illustrations from Japan
Fairy tales tribal stories— are more than childish tales. Such fictions, the characters of which inhabit our earliest memories, aren’t just literary works with an aesthetic and pleasant purpose. They
A cinematic poem and an ode to water: its rhythms, shapes and textures
Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water. - John Keats Without water the equation of life, at least life as we know it, would be impossible. A growing hypothesis holds that water, including the
Watch beauty unfold through science in this "ode to a flower" (video)
The study of the microscopic is one of the richest, most aesthetic methods of understanding the world. Lucky is the scientist who, upon seeing something beautiful, is able to see all of the tiny
To invent those we love or to see them as they are? Love in two of the movies' favorite scenes
So much has been said already, of “love” that it’s difficult to add anything, much less something new. It’s possible, though, perhaps because even if you try to pass through the sieve of all our
This app allows you to find and preserve ancient typographies
Most people, even those who are far removed from the world of design, are familiar with some type of typography and its ability to transform any text, help out dyslexics or stretch an eight page paper
The secrets of the mind-body connection
For decades medical research has recognized the existence of the placebo effect — in which the assumption that a medication will help produces actual physical improvements. In addition to this, a
The sea as infinite laboratory
Much of our thinking on the shape of the world and the universe derives from the way scientists and artists have approached these topics over time. Our fascination with the mysteries of the
Sharing and collaborating - natural movements of the creative being
We might sometimes think that artistic or creative activity is, in essence, individualistic. The Genesis of Judeo-Christian tradition portrays a God whose decision to create the world is as vehement
John Malkovich becomes David Lynch (and other characters)
John Malkovich and David Lynch are, respectively, the actor and film director who’ve implicitly or explicitly addressed the issues of identity and its porous barriers through numerous projects. Now