Cinema makes us dream and it makes us travel without leaving the place which makes it – therefore – an inspirational resource as I referred in How To Deal With Fear! More than the language, it’s often through art that human being better expresses!
As a movie devotee, one movie a month doesn’t seem enough, but with the ferocious “TV take over”, revisiting some movies is not exactly on the top list of priorities. So the challenge “12 Months, 12 Movies” proposes to revisit these titles, one per month.
The chosen names are not the best movies ever (and what is that abstract concept?) and they are also not my 12 favourite movies (although some of them immediately cross my mind when I think about it). This is more: what movie would fit with which month, with which season? What movie would I watch again in January, June or October? So here’s my proposal for you to visit or re-visit in 2018:
January: Braveheart
What else can we say about Braveheart, this timeless epic that made so many fall in love? Mel Gibson in his best both as a director and as an actor! Definitely one of my favourite rite movies and what best way to open the year than with this heroic story that inspires to keep new year’s resolutions strong and steady?
February: Groundhog Day
This movie takes place on the 2nd of February, Groundhog Day or when the weather forecast is revealed for the upcoming season. I watched this film at the movies – as a child – and I never forgot it. I thought about it often, but I only watched it again a few weeks ago, turning it immediately into one of my favourites. Bill Murray (once again directed by Harold Ramis) shines brilliantly as always, Andie McDowell is adorable as usual! Groundhog Day is the perfect parable to life: to give, to get!
March: The Shawshank Redemption
Another one of my all time favourites. It’s not by chance that The Shawshank Redemption directed by Frank Darabont is the top on in IMDB, because this is one of the most inspiring movies ever. The perfect proposal for March, when Spring tends not to arrive and it is pleasant to revisit a story of hope and perseverance, that reminds us that music is inside us, even when we don’t see the light in the end of the tunnel.
April: Sunday in New York
I am addicted in this delicious comedy with an impeccable screenplay in each laugh and an adorable soundtrack. The funny scenes with Jane Fonda, Rod Taylor and Cliff Robertson directed by Peter Tewksbury are some of the most hilarious that cinema has seen. Sunday In New York is the perfect movie for all seasons, but particularly delicious in an April’s rainy Sunday.
May: Lost in Translation
May comes along, the Spring month per excellence. And this season is – immediately – associated with the beautiful japanese cherry flowers. Lost In Translation is far from being the cherry flower Japan, but it is a movie where a certain conformity and melancholy contrast with the colors and euphoria that Spring brings along. Sofia Coppola directed Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson in a kitshy and mystical film, where cultural contrasts are notorious and claustrophobic. This unlikely friendship is the motor of the film, bringing us both funny scenes and moments of clear lucidity.
June: Big Fish
One of the most beautiful movies ever, that reminds us that it’s not what we live that matters, but the way we tell this story to ourselves, the way we chose to look at what happened and reminds us what brought us until here and now. The film brings us the inspiring path of Edward Bloom, a dreamer who chooses to see the bright side of the world focusing in gratitude, magic and the splendor of all living experiences (or was it not a movie of Tim Burton). Big Fish takes us to a different world, reminding us of the eternal capacity that cinema has to make us dream, a sensation that rhymes perfectly with June nights.
July: The Thin Red Line
Someone called it “a poem in the shape of a film”, epithet that fits perfectly in one of the most beautfil and complete pieces I’ve ever seen: The Thin Red Line. Filled with talented actors, guided by the hand of a magical director: Terrence Mallick. The imagery of the movie is striking: the Pacific islands, a piece of paradise on Earth, haunted by a hell created by Man. This dichotomy is present during the entire movie, especially through the one that is for me the best character in cinema: Private Witt, accompanied by the Melanesian Choirs who adorn some of the most beautiful scenes with their angelic voices: an unforgettable contrast. One of the most beautiful and profound cinematographic experiences about the tenuous barrier between life and death, about being alive and asleep, about the capacity to absorb beauty, even in the middle of darkness. Why July? Because all the scenario of this beautiful master-piece takes us immediately to the summer, to a space without time, which is the perfect symbiosis with the peak of the season that invites to outdoor movie sessions.
August: El Secreto de Sus Ojos
August is the month of the holidays and what better journey than this amazing work from Juan Jose Campanella to take us to a different time, a different reality, where no matter how different ages and people are, we witness that human emotions are identical throughout history’s splendor? Campanella directs Ricardo Darín, Soledad Villamil and Pablo Rago masterfully. The investigation of a crime is the fuse to a story that unrolls in funny scenes, even with touching moments as a background. El Secreto De Sus Ojos is undoubtedly one of my favourite films and one of those that will stand the test of time and shall be remembered as one of the most striking art works of cinema.
September: Dead Poet’s Society
September represents the return to the studies. Dead Poet’s Society directed by Peter Weir is still one of the best homage made to the academic world. Professor Keating is that teacher that we all had in one or another person or that we wish we would have had throughout our academic and human training. He is someone who inspires us to dream and send us to the best within ourselves, someone who has special impact in youth’s minds, when they are more open and receptive. Who other than Robin Williams could interpret this character? It still seems like we can hear him whisper: “What will your verse be?”.
October: Casino Royale
The cycle repeats and we are once again in Fall. Often still Summer in some locations, while already Winter in others: October represents the transition and nothing better to celebrate that than with an action movie. Action films are addicting due to their contagious adrenaline and Casino Royale directed by Martin Campbell incorporates it in a majestic perfection. This is the story that reveals why James Bond is the character that we know and the movie is by itself an excellent film disengaged from the saga. Each detail was thought by the milimeter and we have here one of the best action movies cinema has given us. The first scene is an amazing sequence capable of taking the breath away to the most avid spectators. Perfect to enter the season of falling leaves with a peak of energy!
November: Victor Victoria
And one of the greyest, longest months arrives. November is a dark rainy month that asks us for some lightness. What better way to lighten it than with intense laughs in which Victor Victoria is a master? We have here one of the best comedies ever made (or was it not this one written and directed by Blake Edwards) with an energetic Julie Andrews in all her splendor, accompanied by James Garner and Robert Preston in an harmonious funny coreography.
December: Jurassic Park
And – finally – Christmas month arrives! There are several titles that cross my head from old classics to action movies of the 80s! But thinking about Christmas is – usually – travelling back to childhood and the film that made an entire generation dream was Jurassic Park. Steven Spielberg has the capacity to make us believe in miracles and to turn fanciful universes into reality. With Jurassic Park, Spielberg brought dinosaurs back to life, dazzling both grown ups and small ones. This is one of the films that I associate with my childhood and I remember going to the movies with my parents to watch this one! So this is my choice for December to close this cinematographic cycle.
I hope you have as much fun as me visiting or revisiting each one of these movies in each of the months of the year!
Happy 2018 and Good Movies!
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