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The Film That Changed Your Life
- Thread starter pauljeremiah
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Dragoon En Regalia
Member
As they say: science fiction's a style of storytelling that stays with people. It's inherently optimistic about the presence of sentient beings in the world, and it allows for impressive mixtures of disparate genres like film noir and historical epic. Films like 2001 and Blade Runner generally happen to capitalize on the visual potential of the style, for what it's worth, and they're very memorable showcases of the style because of it.
I, like many others, became a casual film-watcher because of Star Wars.
That said: the film that made me a film buff just recently is The Stunt Man.
What a film. I wish I had gotten into films like this much earlier, a la Swoon being introduced to Citizen Kane in his pre-teen years, but better late than never. This movie's the best mixture of European and American filmmaking I've yet witnessed, and it feels like a love labor from start to finish. Plenty of great supplements and material online as well.
The only film that actually changed my life, as in really altered it in a practical, physical sense as well as having a huge impact on my thinking, is 2001. I watched it during a gap year after high school, and I was so confused and bewildered by it that I ended up reading everything about it I could find on the internet, articles, criticism, interviews, forum posts. I wanted to understand it and know why it had such a strong effect on me. This ultimately led me to wanting to study English, how we make sense of life through language and stories, which I subsequently did. So yeah, 2001 did change my life.
Hazzard4life
Member
Superman the movie followed by Star Wars all the way back in 1978.
I stopped caring for films and their direction after a while of watching a line of mediocre movies. I always thought that it'll be the same experience watching it at home. Not even avatar's amazing 3D made me change my mind about films and cinemas (although I did go the movies for it)
That all changed when I watched District 9
That film blew my mind. I went in knowing absolutely nothing about it. I saw no trailers for it, read no reviews and I honestly thought it was some sort of B grade film when I was buying the ticket.
The entire story was brilliant and it flowed so well. At one point, I didn't know what was coming next (which almost never happens) and I was just squirming thinking that thre was no way the guy was going to get out of the mess he was in.
I was mesmerised by the film. I didn't move, I just sat there leaning forward in those huge cinema chairs like a little kid. I remember mouthing "Wooooooahhhhhhhhhhh" at some parts.
It made me appreciate films again.
That all changed when I watched District 9
That film blew my mind. I went in knowing absolutely nothing about it. I saw no trailers for it, read no reviews and I honestly thought it was some sort of B grade film when I was buying the ticket.
The entire story was brilliant and it flowed so well. At one point, I didn't know what was coming next (which almost never happens) and I was just squirming thinking that thre was no way the guy was going to get out of the mess he was in.
I was mesmerised by the film. I didn't move, I just sat there leaning forward in those huge cinema chairs like a little kid. I remember mouthing "Wooooooahhhhhhhhhhh" at some parts.
It made me appreciate films again.
The Abominable Snowman
Member
Watching Hotel Rwanda made me all militant Black in America. I follow like 6 pro-black tumblrs now.
Junior Asparagus
Member
I have a bunch of the usual childhood answers like Star Wars and stuff, but I think the movie that really turned me onto to appreciating film was American Beauty. I think that was the point when I started noticing things like cinematography and started seeking out non-mainstream movies.
this and maybe the Lion King, it made me have trascendental thoughts for months, about what the fuck I was doing with my life.
bengraven
Member
Fight Club made me leave my high paying, but shitty and demeaning job, my terrible apartment and get a min. wage one and live with my mom again. I stopped worrying about what people thought of me and started working instead on me, almost from stage one, as if I was reborn. I re-evaluated every aspect of my life. It helped me get through a difficult period of my 20s and without it I couldn't be the man, husband, and father I am now.
Clerks, more appropriately that MTV special "Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Video Stash" in the late 90s, changed my esteem. Kevin said on that special, "if two bums like us can do this, heh heh, ANYONE can do this" and it made me realize that I could ignore the naysayers and maybe actually try and get into the entertainment industry instead of working the "real job" that my family was pressuring me into.
LOTR changed my perception of big budget films.
I was already becoming an indie/foreign buff who just accepted that Hollywood films were mostly stupid. But after LOTR, which is still to this day my favorite film of all time, I started expecting much, much more from film. I expect style, heart, artistic integrity and true suspense in even the biggest of blockbusters. I don't do the "turn your brain off" thing anymore.
Clerks, more appropriately that MTV special "Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Video Stash" in the late 90s, changed my esteem. Kevin said on that special, "if two bums like us can do this, heh heh, ANYONE can do this" and it made me realize that I could ignore the naysayers and maybe actually try and get into the entertainment industry instead of working the "real job" that my family was pressuring me into.
Edmond Dantès;43741631 said:Has to be The Fellowship of the Ring.
Now I'm a Tolkien scholar, whose love for the legendarium is at an all time high.
LOTR changed my perception of big budget films.
I was already becoming an indie/foreign buff who just accepted that Hollywood films were mostly stupid. But after LOTR, which is still to this day my favorite film of all time, I started expecting much, much more from film. I expect style, heart, artistic integrity and true suspense in even the biggest of blockbusters. I don't do the "turn your brain off" thing anymore.
Amelie, specifically this waterfall crane shot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-kY7JEGrNI
In 2004 or whenever it was, I was a lost high schooler. I went on to college and got a BA in media studies (and study french) because of my love for film which exploded because of this strange french movie my brother showed me.
the colors, camera movements, audrey tautou... you name it. Amelie was the one.
As a child, probably Jurassic Park.
As an adult now, Tree of Life really impacted me on what movies can be and what life really is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-kY7JEGrNI
In 2004 or whenever it was, I was a lost high schooler. I went on to college and got a BA in media studies (and study french) because of my love for film which exploded because of this strange french movie my brother showed me.
the colors, camera movements, audrey tautou... you name it. Amelie was the one.
As a child, probably Jurassic Park.
As an adult now, Tree of Life really impacted me on what movies can be and what life really is.
I still have to watch the Wong Kar Wai movies you listed, but for me it was Chungking Express which left a huge impact on me. For some reason I was able to completely relate to it all.
Insane Metal
Gold Member
Thirteen
The War
White Oleander
And a few others I can't think of right now.
The War
White Oleander
And a few others I can't think of right now.
Blue Submarine No. 6
Member
King Kong (1933) blew my young mind and made me the sci-fi/horror cinephile I am today... but when I think of a film that changed my life - a film that I saw at the right moment in my life when I needed it, that was a catalyst for growth for me - I think of The Razor's Edge (1984). It was the right film at the right time, like a right novel at a right time or a right song at a right time. Many people would argue - perhaps correctly - that The Razor's Edge is a pretty medicre film, but it had a profound and telling influence on my life (I did not see it until 1991).
wickedcapedkid
Member
Blade Runner
of course.
of course.
TheKaeptain
Banned
I've always loved it. Ever since I could remember I loved going to theaters. However I think the first time I watched Taxi Driver was the moment I truly felt like film was special. I was 9 and visiting San Fran with my dad. We walked by this theater and he looked up and then looked down at me and said "Time for you to see perfection." Afterwards I remember asking him if the end was real or not because it had a weird glow to it. My dad just smiled down at me and laughed. It wasn't until later on that night I found out the reason he took me out of town was because my mom and Aunts had decided to pull the plug on my grandma.
Edit: also my father was the type of person that let me watch anything. He was taking me to see Robocop and Predator at the age of 4.
TOP SHOTTA
Member
Adventures in Babysitting was the first movie I remember that made me perk up sexually.
I was about 11 when that movie came out, and I got instantly smitten with Elizabeth Shue. Kelly McGillis in Top Gun gave me a pre-pre-teen chub too but is was that Elizabth Shue character that really made me realize I had another use for my penis (masturbating). I also remember seeing a sex scene in Down and Out in Bevery Hills where a woman was riding the Richard Dreyfuss character I believe. I have no idea why my parents brought me to the theater to see that movie. From what I remember it was terrible and a little bit raunchy.
But yeah, Adventures in Babysitting started my hyper-sexual pre-pre-teen days.
I was about 11 when that movie came out, and I got instantly smitten with Elizabeth Shue. Kelly McGillis in Top Gun gave me a pre-pre-teen chub too but is was that Elizabth Shue character that really made me realize I had another use for my penis (masturbating). I also remember seeing a sex scene in Down and Out in Bevery Hills where a woman was riding the Richard Dreyfuss character I believe. I have no idea why my parents brought me to the theater to see that movie. From what I remember it was terrible and a little bit raunchy.
But yeah, Adventures in Babysitting started my hyper-sexual pre-pre-teen days.
megashock5
Member
I mentioned seeing SW at six - I also saw Superman in the theater at 7.
Thanks to Richard Donner and Christopher Reeve, I left that theater thinking it was possible for a man to fly. I will always love it for that. The helicopter scene still gives me chills.
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
Pulp Fiction probably had the biggest impact on me when I was 13 or so.
2001: A Space Odyssey a few years later would be close.
Cliche choices, but for a reason.
2001: A Space Odyssey a few years later would be close.
Cliche choices, but for a reason.
Messofanego
Banned
Adventures in Babysitting was the first movie I remember that made me perk up sexually.
I was about 11 when that movie came out, and I got instantly smitten with Elizabeth Shue. Kelly McGillis in Top Gun gave me a pre-pre-teen chub too but is was that Elizabth Shue character that really made me realize I had another use for my penis (masturbating). I also remember seeing a sex scene in Down and Out in Bevery Hills where a woman was riding the Richard Dreyfuss character I believe. I have no idea why my parents brought me to the theater to see that movie. From what I remember it was terrible and a little bit raunchy.
But yeah, Adventures in Babysitting started my hyper-sexual pre-pre-teen days.
Bluemercury
Member
That's really what it's all about, isn't it? Not the best movie, but the right one at the right time. For me, it was another now-mostly-forgotten-1980s-comedian-in-a-drama film: The World According to Garp. I'm almost afraid to re-watch it, because the movie as it is to me is probably very different from the movie it actually is.
neoism
Member
Sub_Level
wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Viridiana
Seventh Seal
Winter Light
Johnny Got His Gun
Five Easy Pieces
L'Atalante
Underworld (silent)
Pandora's Box (silent)
Metropolis (silent)
L'Avventura
Yojimbo
Tokyo Story
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
Stalker
Blade Runner
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
Apocalypse Now
American Psycho
Saving Private Ryan
Moonrise Kingdom
Alien and Aliens
Terminator 1 and 2
Predator
Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness
Robocop
The Thing
Star Wars Trilogy (original)
Seventh Seal
Winter Light
Johnny Got His Gun
Five Easy Pieces
L'Atalante
Underworld (silent)
Pandora's Box (silent)
Metropolis (silent)
L'Avventura
Yojimbo
Tokyo Story
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
Stalker
Blade Runner
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
Apocalypse Now
American Psycho
Saving Private Ryan
Moonrise Kingdom
Alien and Aliens
Terminator 1 and 2
Predator
Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness
Robocop
The Thing
Star Wars Trilogy (original)
I think film,tv, animated shorts have had a huge influence on my life (for better or worse) since about forever and I don't think I can attribute being exposed to the 'magic of cinema' to any one film in particular. I mean the way I see myself, other people, places, things and objects are all based on in some way from what I saw in film and is probably largely the case as I wasn't really an outdoors kid when growing up. The films or shows which have influenced me needn't be well acknowledged classics or something which made a huge impact on pop culture, it could have simply been (and was) a tv movie playing on the Disney channel or any other disposable piece of entertainment. Yes they seem by the numbers schlock now but at the time when I was young it was totally new (as I hadn't been exposed to material of that nature till then) and something I 'lost myself in' for those 45 mins to 1.5 hrs. Was I at the time aware of the impact films had? No, I became conscious of cinema's relationship with the audience and how it takes from and itself alters people much later. I'm not exactly sure I can pinpoint which exact film caused this realization as I think it mainly occured when I started reading about films but if I had to pick one, probably The Purple Rose Cairo. I do think films influence on how I perceive things is diminishing as I'm gettting older and experience more of life and have to spend my time studying and looking for work more. I can't say films mean as much to me now as they used to when I was younger.
fuzzyreactor
Banned
In the mood for love - got me to appreciate the aesthetics of film and launched my hobby of cinematography/photography
bicycle thieves - realized how powerful the medium could be at more than just telling a story. This film is a historical document that not only shows the time period, but puts us into the mindsets that people were under in those conditions.
New World - Art
Linklater films (slacker, scanner darkly, before sunset/sunrise) as well as Stillman's metropolitan - that dialog, essential films relating to my passion for film.
bicycle thieves - realized how powerful the medium could be at more than just telling a story. This film is a historical document that not only shows the time period, but puts us into the mindsets that people were under in those conditions.
New World - Art
Linklater films (slacker, scanner darkly, before sunset/sunrise) as well as Stillman's metropolitan - that dialog, essential films relating to my passion for film.
replicashooter
Banned
ThaneKrios
Banned
Filth. Pure unadulterated filth.
Wow, you've had a lot of life changing events.
Doogington
Member
Subtle without change, but Amelie had me in awe. I loved every bit of superfluous detail and was entirely captivated. I had no idea a movie like it existed. I just thought to myself, I wish I could be so creative.
Actually, Dune. To this day, I am just as interest in it. Perhaps because I'm always seeing it for what it could have been. Or just the costumes and sets are awesome. And David Lynch. And (not enough) Patrick Stewart.
Actually, Dune. To this day, I am just as interest in it. Perhaps because I'm always seeing it for what it could have been. Or just the costumes and sets are awesome. And David Lynch. And (not enough) Patrick Stewart.
Hypereides
Member
Chungking express was good of what I remember, but I personally think Fallen Angels was better.
Also, I have to correct myself, it wasnt called 2043 but 2046
BuggyDClown
Member
Still my favorite film
Now I live and work in LA, pursuing writing and directing
MaximumFlipFlop
Banned
It didn't change my life, but Donnie Darko comes to mind as a movie that made me view reality in a different light.
seventynine
Member
The thing I loved most about Donnie Darko was that it genuinely felt like a document from the 80's and not a period movie. Really well done.
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