Media Arts Department Chair Jessi Meliza and Media Arts faculty Sneza Zabic and Sarah Hiatt recommend some films to watch while in quarantine! Enjoy.
NETFLIX
List by Jessi Meliza
All of my Netflix recommendations are animated films, though they are all very distinct from one another. Netflix currently has a large variety of animated feature films for all audiences: families, children, adults, older teens, and so on. They’re not always easy to find in the subcategories, so here are a few to get you started:
My Life as a Zucchini
PG-13
Directed by Claude Barras
Written by Céline Sciamma based on the novel by Gilles Paris
This is a challenging film to categorize, as it has a lot of lovely child-like play mixed with darker, more serious themes. Though it is stop-motion animated, this is not a film for children.
When Zucchini (Courgette in the original French) loses his mother, he is sent to live in a group home for children. He learns that he is not the only one there with a difficult past. As the kids form uneasy friendships, he starts to form new ideas about family, and experiences the first feelings of new love.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
PG
Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman
Written by Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman
I regret not seeing this movie in a theatre. This is an animated film that takes full advantage of the magic of animation and imaginative storytelling. In the past 20 years, there have been 8 Spider-Man movies, as well as numerous TV shows, appearances in other Marvel movies, a wild, and a technology-expanding video game. Oh, and I suppose he was in some comics, too. Into the Spider-Verse takes the premise of nearly infinite iterations of Spider-Everything. It spins a tale that takes on multiple connected universes, a new take on a classic villain, and one of the least predictable superhero team-ups (even if the team is all the same?)
The movie is beautiful, exciting, and highly rewatchable.
My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea, 2016
PG-13
Directed and written by Dash Sha
This is not a family film, but it’s an interesting take on classic high school movies. The plot synopsis on IMDB says, “An earthquake causes a high school to float into the sea, where it slowly sinks like a shipwreck,” which leaves out how completely surreal this movie is. The animation style suggests layered drawings on paper, with watery washes of color, inky outlines, and bright, hand-made textures. In fact, Dash Shaw created most of the artwork by hand, scanned in multiple layers from different materials, and composited the animation largely in Photoshop. (Into the Spider-Verse also strayed from some classic major studio animation conventions by working in Photoshop to “break” the usual animated workflow.)
While My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea may have a wild and unusual concept, it deals with youth alienation, a struggling independent school newspaper, and the shifting nature of adolescent friendship.
The Little Prince, 2015
PG
Directed by Mark Osborne
Written by Irena Brignull and Bob Persichetti based on the classic book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Little Prince blends the classic French novel with a new framing story about a very organized little girl living with her single mother. The familiar story of the Little Prince comes from a kooky and imaginative elderly neighbor when he slowly recalls past experiences as an aviator who crash landed on a mysterious planet.
The interesting angle of this movie is the combination of styles. While the angular and gray “real world” is rendered in CG animation, the stories are told with charming stop motion.
The Breadwinner, 2017
PG-13
Directed by Nora Twomey
Written by Anita Doron and Deborah Ellis based on the book by Deborah Ellis
This movie was produced by the same studio as The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea. It is beautifully animated with a rich color palette and an array of patterns and textures layered with conventional 2D animation.
The film takes place in 2001 Afghanistan when it was under the control of the Taliban. A young girl decides to take on the responsibility of providing for her family.
Honorable Mentions:
A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman (PG) - chronicles the studio responsible for Wallace & Gromet, Shaun the Sheep and more favorites
I Lost My Body (R)- Nominated for an Oscar for 2019 Best Animated Feature. French and surreal.
Mary and the Witch’s Flower (PG) - My students will be shocked that I pick “an anime,” but it’s got cats!
Hugo (PG) - It’s not animated, but it’s a sweet celebration of film history and movie magic.
HULU
List by Jessi Meliza
The Hunt for the Wilderpeople, 2016
PG-13
Directed by Taika Waititi
Written by Taika Waititi and Te Arepa Kahi
Based on the book Wild Pork and Watercress written by Barry Crump
This wasn’t Taika Waititi’s first time directing a feature, but it certainly showed his gift for storytelling and worldbuilding. A surprising follow-up to the slapstick vampire mockumentary, What We Do in the Shadows, The Hunt for the Wilderpeople is a sweet adventure film about a young boy and his reticent father figure going on the lam in rural New Zealand. Waititi won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for last year’s JoJo Rabbit, and you can see here his combination of humor and emotional, human drama.
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, 1985
PG
Directed by Alan Metter
Written by Amy Spies
Is this a good movie? Is this an important movie? Will this movie cause us to look deep into our souls and reflect deeply on the current issues of the world? Absolutely not. However, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun makes good on its title. It’s about a young Sarah Jessica Parker, Helen Hunt, and Shannen Doherty pursuing their powerful dreams of dancing on an 80’s after-school teen dance show. It’s like if Hairspray forgot about Baltimore in the 60’s and added some slow motion high jumps.
Batman & Bill, 2017
TV-14
Directed by Sheena M. Joyce and Don Argott
A documentary that shines a light on the untold creation of Batman.
Meek’s Cutoff, 2010
PG
Directed by Kelly Reichardt
Written by Jonathan Raymond
Kelly Reichardt’s films are often set in the Pacific Northwest, almost always in the state of Oregon. Most of her works leading up to Meek’s Cutoff were lonely contemporary travel movies. Contemplative, lush, and a little bit sad. Meek’s Cutoff marks Reichardt’s shift to looking at the historical setting and settling of The West. This movie is not a Western, but a focus on the lives of women on The Oregon Trail, based loosely on a real group of pioneers. Many people know plenty of hardships faced during the long journey to settle Oregon from the early educational computer game (“You have died of dysentery,” etc). This film humanizes the people who went west without glorifying the struggles of the people settling, or the people who had long inhabited the American West before covered wagons came rustling in.
A24 recently released Reichardt’s newest film, First Cow, to high critical praise.
Meek’s Cutoff is a slow, mediative film, but the warm, golden hues and long stable camerawork is like breathing a breath of fresh, hard-won air.
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, 2010
R
Directed by Jalmari Helander and Juuso Helander
Ok, this movie is completely seasonally inappropriate, but I watched it for the first time during the big polar vortex of 2014, so it just belongs on this list. It’s my list!
I can tell you a little bit about it, but it absolutely has to be seen to be believed. In Finland, Christmas is a different beast than in the US. The way the story goes here, if you leave out some milk and cookies, Santa will happily accept the polite offering, deliver presents and joy, and then be on his merry way. In this movie, a young boy discovers that Santa doesn’t always spread cheer, and he begins standing guard for the scary, ancient being who may be delivering switches to his house soon enough. Everything that follows the discovery of a real-life Santa-like creature is rollicking and darkly hilarious. And not to give any spoilers, but the title of the film may put some of the sweet American Christmas traditions at a slight risk.
This movie is rated R, which is mostly for some nude Santa/Elves, and a few instances of prickly (subtitled) language. I watched this movie with my grandmother, but please proceed at your own discretion.
AMAZON PRIME
List written by Sneza Zabic
(These are also all available as downloads via Amazon if, like me, you don’t have Prime.)
Le Havre (2011, France)
In this warmhearted comic yarn from Aki Kaurismäki, fate throws the young African refugee Idrissa (Blondin Miguel) into the path of Marcel Marx (André Wilms), a kindly old bohemian who shines shoes for a living in the French harbor city Le Havre. With inborn optimism and the support of his tight-knit community, Marcel stands up to the officials doggedly pursuing the boy for deportation. A political fairy tale that exists somewhere between the reality of contemporary France and the classic French cinema of the past, Le Havre is a charming, deadpan delight and one of the Finnish director’s finest films. (Description by Criterion)
Larks on a String (1969, Czechoslovakia)
Larks on a String is a beautifully crafted and sharply observed film that balances satiric, comedic, and romantic tones with enviable deftness. This celebration of nonconformity and triumph of the human spirit perfectly showcases the formidable talents of Jiří Menzel and the late Bohumil Hrabal both. (Description from Cine Outsider)
Grace of My Heart (1996, USA)
Not a hit with either audiences or critics. Just a hit with me. An epic semi-musical about musicians. Very 90s even though it's about the 60s. A female protagonist, ends with her triumph. Written and directed by Allison Anders, starring Illeana Douglas and John Turturro.
The Apartment (1960, USA)
I am not a big fan of rom coms. Is this even a rom com? Nothing romantic about it. Plenty of dark humor. The screenwriters, director, and cinematographer collaboration here is something to marvel at. Written by I.A.L. Diamond and Billy Wilder, shot by Joseph LaShelle, who clearly deserves a lot of credit for Wilder's success, especially in this flick. Speaking of those who know their way around a camera...
Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning (2014, USA);
(on my list, I haven't actually seen it yet)
Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning explores the life, passions, and uncompromising vision of the influential photographer, whose enduring images document five turbulent decades of American history, including the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl and World War II Japanese internment camps. Peabody- and five-time Emmy award-winning cinematographer Dyanna Taylor — the granddaughter of Lange and writer/social scientist Paul Schuster Taylor — directs and narrates this intimate American Masters documentary. Taylor, who learned to see the visual world through her grandmother’s eyes, combines family memories and journals with never-before-seen photos and film footage to bring Lange’s story into sharp focus. The result is a personal documentary of the artist whose empathy for people on the margins of society challenged America to know itself. (Description from PBS)
NETFLIX DOCUMENTARIES
List written by Sarah Hiatt
Paris is Burning (1990)
R
Directed by Jennie Livingston
Produced by Jennie Levingston, Barry Swimar
This documentary takes place inside the heart of NYC’s drag community and the house culture that provides support and family for many performers. It’s a beautiful, and tragic, look at those who were/are too often shunned to the outskirts of society. It’s an important piece of history for the LGBTQ+ community as it takes place during the horror of the AIDS epidemic, and essential viewing for all as it touches on race, class, and societal issues.
Rated R for violence, language, and brief nudity
Newtown (2016)
NR
Directed by Kim A. Snyder
Produced by Kim A. Snyder, Maria Cuomo Cole
A truly heartbreaking documentary from the perspective of the victims and their families almost two years after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. It’s an important watch, because it is unusual to hear the stories directly from the victims and survivors. News coverage talks most about the gunman’s life, maybe as an attempt to understand how something like this could happen, but the voices of those affected most are often drowned out. This film opens up a timely and highly important dialogue about gun laws and safety.
Content warning: violence, grief
Shirkers (2018)
NR
Directed by Sandi Tan
Produced by Sandi Tan, Jessica Levin, Maya E. Rudolph
When filmmaker Sandi Tan was a teenager she, and a group of friends, made a movie. After filming was complete, the director suddenly vanished - and with all her footage. This is an intensely compelling documentary about Tan’s search for information regarding the man who betrayed her. Underlying themes of stolen youth, moving on, and revenge.
13th (2016)
NR
Directed by Ava DuVernay
Produced by Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick, Howard Barish
A powerful film that dives deep into the history of systemic racism. The title comes from the 13th Amendment, which banned slavery but allowed it to be used as a punishment for crime. DuVernay discusses how servitude is still being enforced today and gives us a look into the lopsided and prejudiced prison system. A must see — especially for those of us who are privileged and don’t (and won’t!) deal with these issues in our day-to-day.
Filmworker (2017)
NR
Directed by Tony Zierra
Produced by Tony Zierra, Elizabeth Yoffe
Leon Vitali, whose cult-like devotion to director Stanley Kubrick is detailed in this fun and insightful documentary. For years, Vitali served as Kubrick’s “right-hand man” and took a back seat as director, acting coach, production designer, and so on. This film gives us a behind-the-scenes look at some of Kubrick’s best works and, of course, his ever-changing emotions. Even if you’re not interested in any of Kubrick’s films, his relationship with Vitali is surprisingly touching.