Collective memory film viewing list
Posted on by Ian

Collective Memory a Film Viewing List

Collective Memory a Film viewing list

Experimental Film – The production of Experimental Film as a representation of memory

There are many examples of films that have human memory central to the narrative, the examples below have some credibility in Psychological fact according to the neuroscientist Steve Ramirez. (BU Today 2018)

 

  1. Memento is one of the most realistic accounts of amnesia — the inability to form or recall our personally experienced events
  2. Inside Out is a Pixar classic that zooms into a child’s brain and lets us see her memories form, change, and evaporate over time as she matures
  3. The Bourne Trilogy (which starts with The Bourne Identity) is a fast-spaced action series about Jason Bourne, an agent with amnesia who knows how to win any fight, but doesn’t remember who he is or where he came from.
  4. Inception is a mind-bending film on implanting and extracting memories in the brain, done with high-octane drama and a twisting, dream-like storyline.
  5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is perhaps the most famous memory erasure movie ever. Would you erase the memory of a loved one after a breakup if it eased the pain?
  6. Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 — a classic and instant-classic — tackle the concepts of implanting memories in human-like robots.
  7. The Matrix is another classic. “I know Kung Fu,” says Neo, after having martial arts skills uploaded into his brain. The movie tackles the philosophical questions of brains, free will, uploading information onto the brain, and how this changes us forever.
  8. Total Recall has the main character going into a machine where he can live out any reality or fantasy that he sees fit. Things get blurry, however, when reality and fantasy start to blend and force viewers to ask themselves: if our subjective reality feels real, then does it matter if it’s real or not?

The digital revolution in archival media opens up access to previously unknown images and provides the possibility that these images could broaden and transform collective memory. (B. Fabos)

Bibliography

  1. BU Today. (2018). 8 Brainy Movies That (Almost) Get Neuroscientist Stamp of Approval | BU Today | Boston University. [online] Available at: http://www.bu.edu/today/2018/ramirez-listicle/ [Accessed 18 Mar. 2019].
  2. Bettina Fabos (2014) The Trouble with Iconic Images: Historical Timelines and Public Memory, Visual Communication Quarterly, 21:4, 223-235

Avant-garde Films that lived through time. film viewing list

  1. Manhattan – Charles Sheeler – 1921
  2. Ballet Mecanique – Fernand Léger, Dudley Murphy – 1924
  3. Ghosts Before Breakfast – Hans Richter – 1928
  4. Un Chien Andalou – Luis Bunuel – 1929
  5. Meshes of the Afternoon – Alexandr Hackenschmied, Maya Deren – 1943
  6. Dog Star Man – Stan Brakhage – 1961-1964
  7. Scorpio Rising – Kenneth Anger – 1963
  8. Julien Donkey Boy – Harmony Korine – 1999
  9. The Heart of the World – Guy Maddin – 2000
  10. Inland Empire – David Lynch – 2006

Documentary film viewing list

  1. Land of Promise – British Documentary Film Movement 1930 – 1950 (BFI. 4 Disk DVD Boxset) 40 films by Directors; Paul Rotha, Humphrey Jennings, Ruby Grierson, Basil Wright and Paul Dickson.

Film & Memory (Top 25 film viewing list)

  1. Rashôman (1950), Akira Kurosawa
  2. Hiroshima, Mon Amour (1959), Alain Resnais
  3. Vertigo (1958), Alfred Hitchcock
  4. Wild Strawberries (1958), Ingmar Bergman
  5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Michel Gondry
  6. Three Colors: Blue (1993), Krzysztof Kieślowski
  7. The Mirror (1975), Andrei Tarkovsky
  8. Blade Runner (1982), Ridley Scott
  9. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), John Ford
  10. Citizen Kane (1941), Orson Welles
  11. How Green Was My Valley (1941), John Ford
  12. Memento (2000), Christopher Nolan
  13. The Tree of Life (2011), Terrence Malick
  14. 2046 (2004), Wong Kar-wai
  15. Solaris (1972), Andrei Tarkovsky
  16. Last Year at Marienbad (1961), Alain Resnais
  17. The Sweet Hereafter (1997), Atom Egoyan
  18. The Thin Blue Line (1988), Errol Morris
  19. Certified Copy (2010), Abbas Kiarostami
  20. 8 1/2 (1963), Federico Fellini
  21. The Manchurian Candidate (1962), John Frankenheime
  22. The Act of Killing (2012), Joshua Oppenheimer
  23. La Jetée (1962), Chris Marker
  24. The Remains of the Day (1993), James Ivory
  25. Mulholland Drive (2001), David Lynch

Bibliography

  1. Admin, 2015. Avant-Garde. Film Theory. Available at: http://filmtheory.org/avant-garde/ [Accessed April 10, 2019].
  2. Anon, British documentary. BFI Film Forever. Available at: https://shop.bfi.org.uk/dvd-blu-ray/documentaries/british-documentary.html [Accessed April 10, 2019].
  3. Holt, R., 2015. Top 25 Films on Memory. Image Journal. Available at: https://imagejournal.org/top-25-films-on-memory/ [Accessed April 28, 2019]

Reading List