Quiet, Personal Movies
All my greatest inspirations have always been movies. From an early age, I was drawn to those that told a slow story, more about feelings than facts, everything happening easy enough to notice. A couple hours long isn't much room to breathe, just enough time to draw you down and feel real. As a kid, I was often disappointed when the plot came along, and interrupted the depth of feeling existing on screen. We didn't grow up with TV in my house, so when we finally got a VCR in the mid-90s, whatever tapes we rented, bought, or borrowed from the neighbours held real sway. I never got distracted or looked away, no matter how much or how little I loved what was happening on screen. I remember watching films that were new at the time, like The Secret Garden or Driving Miss Daisy, straightforward stories that made me believe in the world they created. Back then, my scale of time was greater, when days felt like weeks, and hours like days. Every time a movie was over, it seemed like I'd lived it with the characters, got sucked in and lost along the way. All these years later, and I still see the edges blurring when I let them.
When I became a photographer, I was inspired by the films that made a frame have meaning, making ordinary life into a series of honest compositions. Instead of the endless possibilities of modern cinema, they looked back and took the notion of "moving picture" seriously. Putting a border around these worlds helped me understand the boundaries of my own, made me feel safer in being myself. In my late teens, I started digging deeper, watched hundreds of VHS and DVDs a year, and found a meaning that was missing in me. I first saw Never Cry Wolf in the mid-2000s, and it soon became my favourite film of all time, a framework for everything I loved on screen. The stark loneliness and sparseness, mixed with a whole lot of hope, made me understand beauty in a way I never fully perceived before. There are a lot of different themes in these films, covering a range of genres and approaches, strong sadness and incredible joy. Some are widely-known and well-loved movies, and others are hard to find and hopelessly obscure. Boiling under the surface is a compelling and restrained quality, a deeply human and unifying factor – a quiet, heartwaking understanding of people and their place. This list is the result of a lifetime of film watching, searching, discovering, loving. If you're looking for something new to move you, I hope you might find it here.
– Steve Skafte
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facebook.com/berserkerpoetry
youtube.com/berserkerpoetry
When I became a photographer, I was inspired by the films that made a frame have meaning, making ordinary life into a series of honest compositions. Instead of the endless possibilities of modern cinema, they looked back and took the notion of "moving picture" seriously. Putting a border around these worlds helped me understand the boundaries of my own, made me feel safer in being myself. In my late teens, I started digging deeper, watched hundreds of VHS and DVDs a year, and found a meaning that was missing in me. I first saw Never Cry Wolf in the mid-2000s, and it soon became my favourite film of all time, a framework for everything I loved on screen. The stark loneliness and sparseness, mixed with a whole lot of hope, made me understand beauty in a way I never fully perceived before. There are a lot of different themes in these films, covering a range of genres and approaches, strong sadness and incredible joy. Some are widely-known and well-loved movies, and others are hard to find and hopelessly obscure. Boiling under the surface is a compelling and restrained quality, a deeply human and unifying factor – a quiet, heartwaking understanding of people and their place. This list is the result of a lifetime of film watching, searching, discovering, loving. If you're looking for something new to move you, I hope you might find it here.
– Steve Skafte
instagram.com/steveskafte
facebook.com/berserkerpoetry
youtube.com/berserkerpoetry
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- DirectorPeter BogdanovichStarsRyan O'NealTatum O'NealMadeline KahnDuring the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsYella RottländerRüdiger VoglerLisa KreuzerA German journalist is saddled with a nine-year-old girl after encountering her mother at a New York airport.
- DirectorPaul MazurskyStarsArt CarneyEllen BurstynRené EnríquezWhen his apartment building is torn down, a retired lifelong New Yorker goes on a cross-country odyssey with his beloved cat Tonto.
- DirectorWilliam A. GrahamStarsJulie GholsonJan SmithersMatthew BurrilA family of Appalachian children live together in the backwoods so that they can stay together after the death of their widower father.
- DirectorSilvio NarizzanoStarsBud CortSamantha EggarChris WigginsIn the 1930's, Max Brown is an urban young man from an Eastern province, fresh from college, whose only job offer is in a one-room school house in the Canadian prairie. At first he's distant, superior, lonely, and bewildered; his students are rebellious. Over the course of the year, he is drawn to Alice Field, the wife of a farmer, in a love that can lead nowhere. But, he and his students connect, a connection that matters and lasts.
- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsRichard GereBrooke AdamsSam ShepardA hot-tempered farm laborer convinces the woman he loves to marry their rich but dying boss so that they can have a claim to his fortune.
- DirectorCarroll BallardStarsKelly RenoMickey RooneyTeri GarrAfter being shipwrecked with a magnificent horse off the coast of Africa in the 1940s, a boy bonds with the stallion, and trains him to race after their rescue.
- DirectorPeter YatesStarsDennis ChristopherDennis QuaidDaniel SternA working-class Indiana teen obsessed with the Italian cycling team vies for the affections of a college girl while searching for life goals with his friends.
- DirectorGillian ArmstrongStarsJudy DavisSam NeillWendy HughesA proud young woman in early 20th century Australia must choose between marriage and independence.
- DirectorDaniel PetrieStarsEllen BurstynSam ShepardRichard FarnsworthA woman enters the afterlife briefly after a car crash that kills her husband. But she survives - and finds herself possessing strange powers.
- DirectorRichard PearceStarsDonald SutherlandJohn MarleySharon AckerIn this gripping sci-fi drama, a celebrated heart surgeon (Donald Sutherland, "The Hunger Games") collaborates with an offbeat scientist (Jeff Goldblum, "Jurassic Park") to perform the first artificial heart transplant.
- DirectorJean-Jacques AnnaudStarsEverett McGillRon PerlmanNicholas KadiThis story takes place in prehistoric time when three tribesmen search for a new fire source.
- DirectorPhillip BorsosStarsRichard FarnsworthJackie BurroughsKen PogueWhen an aging, but gentlemanly stagecoach robber is released from prison, he decides to go to Canada to become a train robber.
- DirectorCarroll BallardStarsCharles Martin SmithBrian DennehyZachary IttimangnaqA government researcher, sent to research the "menace" of wolves in the north, learns about the true beneficial and positive nature of the species.
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsMeryl StreepKurt RussellCherA worker at a plutonium processing plant is purposefully contaminated, psychologically tortured and possibly murdered to prevent her from exposing worker safety violations at the plant.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsRobert DuvallTess HarperBetty BuckleyA broken-down, middle-aged country singer gets a new wife, reaches out to his long-lost daughter, and tries to put his troubled life back together.
- DirectorLynne LittmanStarsJane AlexanderWilliam DevaneRossie HarrisThe life of a suburban American family is scarred after a nuclear attack.
- DirectorMartin RittStarsMary SteenburgenRip TornPeter CoyoteIn the 1930s, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings moves to Florida's backwaters to write in peace. She feels bothered by affectionate men, editor and confused neighbors, but soon she connects and writes The Yearling, a classic of American literature.
- DirectorRichard PearceStarsJessica LangeSam ShepardWilford BrimleyGilbert Ivy and his wife Jewell are farmers. They seem to be working against the odds, producing no financial surplus. Gilbert has lost hope of ever becoming prosperous, but his wife decides to fight for her family.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsHarry Dean StantonNastassja KinskiDean StockwellTravis Henderson, an aimless drifter who has been missing for four years, wanders out of the desert and must reconnect with society, himself, his life, and his family.
- DirectorRobert BentonStarsSally FieldLindsay CrouseEd HarrisIn central Texas in the 1930s, a widow with two small children tries to save her small 40-acre farm with the help of a blind boarder and an itinerant black handyman.
- DirectorChristopher CainStarsRobert DuvallJason PressonGlenn CloseA Midwestern farm family faces major emotional adjustment after a tragedy results in the death of an older brother.
- DirectorVincent WardStarsPenelope StewartFrank WhittenBill KerrA lonely girl living on an isolated, mist-cloaked farm is confronted with the changes wrought by a stranger that arrives.
- DirectorGeoff MurphyStarsBruno LawrenceAlison RoutledgePete SmithA scientist awakens to find himself alone in the world. In a desperate attempt to search for others, he finds only two who have their own agenda.
- DirectorDavid Hugh JonesStarsAnne BancroftAnthony HopkinsJudi DenchTrue story of a transatlantic business correspondence about used books that developed into a close friendship.
- DirectorHector BabencoStarsJack NicholsonMeryl StreepCarroll BakerAn alcoholic drifter spends Halloween in his hometown of Albany, New York after returning there for the first time in decades.
- DirectorGillian ArmstrongStarsJudy DavisJan AdeleClaudia KarvanA rock'n roll singer gets stranded in a small Australian town after losing her job in a band. She winds up in a trailer park only to encounter, by accident, the teenage daughter she deserted following her husband's death. In HD.
- DirectorJohn SaylesStarsChris CooperJames Earl JonesMary McDonnellA labor union organizer comes to an embattled mining community brutally and violently dominated and harassed by the mining company.
- DirectorJohn DuiganStarsNoah TaylorLoene CarmenBen MendelsohnIn rural 1960s Australia, a boy watches helplessly as his best friend falls in love with a small-time criminal, setting off a violent chain of events.
- DirectorLindsay AndersonStarsBette DavisLillian GishVincent PriceTwo aged sisters reflect on life and the past during a late summer day in Maine.
- DirectorNils GaupStarsMikkel GaupIngvald GuttormNils UtsiA young Sámi man witnesses a band of vicious raiders slay his family and flees to a nearby village, where he learns he must become a Pathfinder.
- DirectorVincent WardStarsBruce LyonsChris HaywoodHamish GoughMen seeking relief from the Black Death, guided by a boy's vision, dig a tunnel from 14th century England to 20th century New Zealand.
- DirectorJean-Jacques AnnaudStarsTchéky KaryoBart the BearYouk the BearAn orphan bear cub hooks up with an adult male as they try to dodge human hunters.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsMorgan FreemanJessica TandyDan AykroydAn old Jewish woman and her African-American chauffeur in the American South have a relationship that grows and improves over the years.
- DirectorJohn David ColesStarsBeau BridgesVincent D'OnofrioArthur KennedyA touching story of life in rural Maine, and the changes brought about by the closing of a town's small boat-building company -- on which many of the residents depended upon for a living.
- DirectorPenny MarshallStarsRobert De NiroRobin WilliamsJulie KavnerThe victims of an encephalitis epidemic many years ago have been catatonic ever since, but now a new drug offers the prospect of reviving them.
- DirectorRichard PearceStarsSissy SpacekWhoopi GoldbergDwight SchultzTwo women, black and white, in 1955 Montgomery Alabama, must decide what they are going to do in response to the famous bus boycott led by Martin Luther King.
- DirectorMike NewellStarsAlfred MolinaJoan PlowrightMiranda RichardsonFour English women, after World War I, who are unhappy with their lives, and their time away on vacation in a beautiful Italian villa.
- DirectorGlenn JordanStarsGlenn CloseChristopher WalkenLexi RandallA single New England woman responds to an advertisement by a Midwestern widower in which he asks for a bride to help him raise his two children.
- DirectorAndrey KonchalovskiyStarsTom HulceLolita DavidovichAleksandr ZbruevThe true story of Ivan Sanchin, the KGB officer who was Stalin's private film projectionist from 1939 until the dictator's death. Told from Sanchin's view, the sympathetic but tragically flawed hero maintains unwavering faith in his "Master" despite the arrest of his neighbors and his involvement with their daughter, his wife's affair with the chilling State Security chief Lavrentii Beria and her tragic decline, and the deadly political machinations within the Kremlin he witnesses firsthand.
- DirectorJohn SaylesStarsMary McDonnellAlfre WoodardAngela BassettAfter an accident leaves her a paraplegic, a former soap opera star struggles to recover both emotionally and mentally, until she meets her newest nurse, who has struggles of her own.
- DirectorMike NewellStarsGabriel ByrneEllen BarkinCiarán FitzgeraldGrandpa Ward gives a horse he found to his grandchildren, who keep it in their tower-block flat in Dublin. The horse is stolen from them, and the two young boys set out to find it and flee on it.
- DirectorRichard AttenboroughStarsAnthony HopkinsDebra WingerJulian FellowesC.S. Lewis, a world-renowned Christian theologian, writer and professor, leads a passionless life until he meets spirited poet Joy Gresham from the U.S.
- DirectorJames IvoryStarsAnthony HopkinsEmma ThompsonJohn HaycraftA butler who sacrificed body and soul to service in the years leading up to World War II realizes too late how misguided his loyalty was to his lordly employer.
- DirectorAgnieszka HollandStarsKate MaberlyMaggie SmithHeydon ProwseA young, recently-orphaned girl is sent to England after living in India all of her life. Once there, she begins to explore her new, seemingly-isolated surroundings, and its secrets.
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsJesse BradfordJeroen KrabbéLisa EichhornA young boy struggles on his own in a run-down hotel after his parents and younger brother are separated from him in 1930s Depression-era Midwest.
- DirectorAnthony DrazanStarsHarvey KeitelFairuza BalkKelly LynchA recently widowed, small-time hustler struggles to raise his two daughters on his own, and still make a dishonest living in 1960s Portland, Oregon.
- DirectorJohn SaylesStarsJeni CourtneyEileen ColganMick LallyYoung Fiona lives with her grandparents in a small fishing village where she takes an active role to unravel the mysterious secrets.
- DirectorJim JarmuschStarsJohnny DeppGary FarmerCrispin GloverOn the run after murdering a man, accountant William Blake encounters a strange Native American man named Nobody who prepares him for his journey into the spiritual world.
- DirectorTaylor HackfordStarsKathy BatesJennifer Jason LeighChristopher PlummerA big city reporter travels to a small town where her mother has been arrested for the murder of an elderly woman for whom she worked as a housekeeper.
- DirectorMort RansenStarsHelena Bonham CarterKate NelliganClive RussellMargaret MacNiel, a girl living in a Cape Breton coal mining town, finds her life changing when she meets Neil Currie, a cheerful bagpipe-playing dishwasher. Unfortunately, neither of them are able to escape the industry around them.
- DirectorCarroll BallardStarsJeff DanielsAnna PaquinDana DelanyA father and daughter decide to attempt to lead a flock of orphaned Canada Geese south by air.
- DirectorRichard PearceStarsRobert DuvallJames Earl JonesMichael BeachWhen an old woman dies, she leaves a note for her apparent son (Robert Duvall) which tells him that his biological mother died giving birth to him. She begs him to make peace with his half-brother (James Earl Jones) living in Chicago.
- DirectorKasi LemmonsStarsSamuel L. JacksonJurnee SmollettMeagan GoodWhat did little Eve see--and how will it haunt her? Husband, father and womanizer Louis Batiste is the head of an affluent family, but it's the women who rule this gothic world of secrets, lies and mystic forces.
- DirectorSøren Kragh-JacobsenStarsPatrick BerginJordan KiziukJack WardenDuring World War II a Jewish boy is left on his own for months in a ruined house in the Warsaw Ghetto, where he must learn all the tricks of survival under constantly life-threatening conditions.
- DirectorPaul SchraderStarsNick NolteSissy SpacekJames CoburnA deeply troubled small-town cop investigates a suspicious hunting death while other events jeopardize his sanity.
- DirectorSam RaimiStarsBill PaxtonBilly Bob ThorntonBridget FondaThree blue-collar acquaintances come across millions of dollars in lost cash and make a plan to keep their find from the authorities, but it isn't long before complications and mistrust weave their way into the plan.
- DirectorJohn SaylesStarsDavid StrathairnMary Elizabeth MastrantonioVanessa MartinezIn an economically devastated Alaskan town, a fisherman with a troublesome past dates a woman whose young daughter does not approve of him. When he witnesses the murder of his shady brother, he, the woman and the kid run to the wilderness.
- DirectorAllan MoyleStarsLiane BalabanTara Spencer-NairnMary WalshA gifted teenager dreaming of life beyond her small town becomes inspired when a 15-year-old girl from New York moves in next door.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsRichard FarnsworthSissy SpacekJane Galloway HeitzAn old man makes a long journey by lawnmower to mend his relationship with an ill brother.
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsEmma ThompsonChristopher LloydEileen AtkinsA renowned professor is forced to reassess her life when she is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer.
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsPaddy ConsidineSamantha MortonDjimon HounsouA family of Irish immigrants adjust to life on the mean streets of Hell's Kitchen while also grieving the death of a child.
- DirectorCampbell ScottStarsValentina de AngelisJoan AllenSam ElliottAn eleven-year-old girl watches her father come down with a crippling depression. Over one summer, she learns answers to several mysteries, and comes to terms with love and loss.
- DirectorCharles Martin SmithStarsBarry PepperAnnabella PiugattukJames CromwellA pilot and his passenger struggle for survival after crashing in the Arctic tundra.
- DirectorLodge KerriganStarsDamian LewisLiza Colón-ZayasJohn TormeyA disheveled man desperately searches New York City for his young daughter.
- DirectorJacob EstesStarsRory CulkinRyan KelleyScott MechlowiczWhen a teen is bullied, his brother and friends lure the bully into the woods to seek revenge.
- DirectorBenoit PilonStarsNatar UngalaaqÉveline GélinasPaul-André BrasseurIn 1952, an Inuit hunter named Tivii with tuberculosis leaves his northern home and family to go recuperate at a sanatorium in Quebec City. Uprooted, far from his loved ones, unable to speak French and faced with a completely alien world, he becomes despondent. When he refuses to eat and expresses a wish to die, his nurse, Carole, comes to the realization that Tivii's illness is not the most serious threat to his well-being. She arranges to have a young orphan, Kaki, transferred to the institution. The boy is also sick, but has experience with both worlds and speaks both languages. By sharing his culture with Kaki and opening it up to others, Tivii rediscovers his pride and energy. Ultimately he also rediscovers hope through a plan to adopt Kaki, bring him home and make him part of his family.
- DirectorKelly ReichardtStarsMichelle WilliamsLucyDavid KoppellOver the summer, a series of unfortunate happenings triggers a financial crisis for a young woman and she soon finds her life falling apart.
- DirectorAaron SchneiderStarsRobert DuvallBill MurraySissy SpacekA movie spun out of equal parts folk tale, fable and real-life legend about the mysterious, 1930s Tennessee hermit who famously threw his own rollicking funeral party... while he was still alive.
- DirectorDebra GranikStarsJennifer LawrenceJohn HawkesGarret DillahuntAn unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her drug-dealing father while trying to keep her family intact.
- DirectorBenh ZeitlinStarsQuvenzhané WallisDwight HenryLevy EasterlyFaced with both her hot-tempered father's fading health and melting ice-caps that flood her ramshackle bayou community and unleash ancient aurochs, six-year-old Hushpuppy must learn the ways of courage and love.
- DirectorMichael McGowanStarsJames CromwellRonan ReesGeneviève BujoldAn elderly couple fight against local authorities in rural New Brunswick to build their final home.
- DirectorUberto PasoliniStarsEddie MarsanJoanne FroggattKaren DruryA council case worker looks for the relatives of those found dead and alone.
- DirectorJohn CurranStarsMia WasikowskaAdam DriverLily PearlA young woman goes on a 1,700-mile trek across the deserts of West Australia with four camels and her faithful dog.
- DirectorJean-Marc ValléeStarsReese WitherspoonLaura DernGaby HoffmannA chronicle of one woman's 1,100-mile solo hike undertaken as a way to recover from a recent personal tragedy.
- DirectorJeff NicholsStarsRuth NeggaJoel EdgertonWill DaltonThe story of Richard and Mildred Loving, a couple whose arrest for interracial marriage in 1960s Virginia began a legal battle that would end with the Supreme Court's historic 1967 decision.
- DirectorDavid LoweryStarsCasey AffleckRooney MaraMcColm Cephas Jr.In this singular exploration of legacy, love, loss, and the enormity of existence, a recently deceased, white-sheeted ghost returns to his suburban home to try to reconnect with his bereft wife.
- DirectorChloé ZhaoStarsBrady JandreauMooneyTim JandreauAfter suffering a near fatal head injury, a young cowboy undertakes a search for new identity and what it means to be a man in the heartland of America.
- DirectorBo BurnhamStarsElsie FisherJosh HamiltonEmily RobinsonAn introverted teenage girl tries to survive the last week of her disastrous eighth grade year before leaving to start high school.
- DirectorDebra GranikStarsThomasin McKenzieBen FosterJeffery RifflardA father and his seventeen-year-old daughter are living an ideal existence in a vast urban park in Portland, Oregon when a small mistake derails their lives forever.
- DirectorJennifer KentStarsAisling FranciosiMaya ChristieBaykali GanambarrSet in 1825, Clare, a young Irish convict woman, chases a British officer through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. On the way she enlists the services of an Aboriginal tracker named Billy, who is also marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past.
- DirectorAndrew AhnStarsLucas JayeHong ChauBrian DennehyA lonesome boy accompanies his mother on a trip to clean out his late aunt's house, and ends up forming an unexpected friendship with the retiree who lives next door.
- DirectorKelly ReichardtStarsAlia ShawkatJohn MagaroDylan SmithA skilled cook has traveled west and joined a group of fur trappers in Oregon, though he only finds true connection with a Chinese immigrant also seeking his fortune. Soon the two collaborate on a successful business.
- DirectorFlorian ZellerStarsAnthony HopkinsOlivia ColmanMark GatissA man refuses all assistance from his daughter as he ages. As he tries to make sense of his changing circumstances, he begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind and even the fabric of his reality.
- DirectorChloé ZhaoStarsFrances McDormandDavid StrathairnLinda MayA woman in her sixties, after losing everything in the Great Recession, embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
- DirectorLee Isaac ChungStarsSteven YeunHan YeriAlan KimA Korean American family moves to an Arkansas farm in search of its own American dream. Amidst the challenges of new life in the strange and rugged Ozarks, they discover the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.
- DirectorColm BairéadStarsCarrie CrowleyAndrew BennettCatherine ClinchIn rural Ireland, a quiet, neglected girl is sent away from her dysfunctional family to live with relatives for the summer where she blossoms and learns what it is to be loved.