Limes with Orange

I've got a shelf full of movie books. Some are general film and video guides, some discuss film theory, some are books about the making of specific movies and then there are the "best movie" books. But what criteria do you use to consider something a "best movie"? Number of Oscar wins? Amount of money grossed? Breaking new ground? Do you judge based on story, cinematography, acting, directing, emotional impact?

Personally, I don't care who wins the Oscars. And I care even less about the amount of money grossed. If we went by that standard, Miss Congeniality would be a better movie than Memento... and so help me, if you think that's actually the case then you might as well just stop reading now because du bist ein dummkopf!

Of course, if you head over to the American Film Institute, their top 100 is predictably classic with their best movie being Citizen Kane, followed by Casablanca, The Godfather, Gone with the Wind and Lawrence of Arabia. Yawn.

If you were to go by the Internet Movie Database, the best movie ever would be either The Godfather or The Shawshank Redemption (I admit to being surprised at seeing Shawshank that high). Now I'm not saying The Godfather is not a good movie, but I'm sooo sick of hearing it touted as the best movie of all time. Personally, I think a lot of the people out there who claim it to be the best are just sheep, following the lead of so-called experts.

Pulp Fiction is right up there on IMDb and that would be one that I would be more likely to pick because I think its chronology is wonderfully mind-bending, the acting is outstanding, the script makes me wish I could write like that and of course the ending elevates it from a good movie to a fracking brilliant one. But that's not what I'm picking as my best movie ever.

So now we come to the big reveal. What movie will I proclaim as the best movie ever? Drumroll please... Mary Shelley's Frankenstein by Kenneth Branagh.

Why? First off, let's just say right off the top that Branagh is an artistic genius. Dislike his ego all you want, but his genius should never be in question. But why Frankenstein, which was far less "successful" than Hamlet or Hank V or most of his other films? Because for the first time someone actually captured the true vision of Mary Shelley, instead of the Hollywood horror films that completely failed to understand what the story was about. It makes my blood boil when people claim that it was Branagh who missed the mark when they've never taken the fracking time to read the actual book! Branagh's film portrayed the tragedy of the creature's life and the philosophy that infused Shelley's original novel, that of Locke's sensationalism and her own father's philosophy of the importance of companionship and the social affections. And I do believe that holding true to the original source is an important aspect of a good movie. But certainly not the only thing.

And allow me to address the scene of the creature's "birth." It is not "ridiculous" as some reviewers claim. It is compelling and beautiful and heartbreaking. And if you can't see that, if all you see is two actors rolling around in a bunch of slime, then you just don't get it, won't get it and maybe don't even deserve to get it. Think context, think subtext... just think! And maybe you'll come to appreciate it rather than mock it.

But film is, above all, a visual medium. The stark settings of Branagh's Frankenstein add a surreal quality to the film and that sweeping staircase in the Swiss castle is fantastic... in the true fantasy sense of the word. And with it's grand imagery, spiraling cinematography and exponentially increasing pace, Branagh's Frankenstein truly becomes the nightmare that inspired Mary Shelley to write her story.

So maybe next time you go to rent movies, you'll give this underrated but brilliant movie a chance.

What movie do you think is the best ever? Have I dissed it in the course of this diatribe? Let me know.

Labels: film, rant