#30: Five films that mean a lot to you

Love it when a 30-day meme takes almost two months.

This list does not include my favourite film of all time because I think it'd be too difficult to name just one from a list of about 20 films I really, really like and would be happy to watch over and over again.

But here's a shortlist of films that mean a lot to me and why.

Inception
Well, it was directed by Christopher Nolan, what's not to like? But beyond that, Inception is a cerebral blockbuster, the difficult balance between critical and commercial success. If you didn't think about it, you could still enjoy it. If you did think about, you'd enjoy it more. Who would've expected a speculative heist movie to earn so much at the box office?

True, Nolan was not nominated for an Oscar for his direction, but I think he was robbed (of a nomination—I don't think he should've won) because Inception is a difficult story to convey and the direction in it was spot on.

Add the fact that Inception was designed specifically for the medium, an original story, and not part of a franchise and you have an acclaimed filmgoer's film.

Teeth
This is a B-grade horror film (the humour is also so very black) that was screened at the Sydney Film Festival a few years ago. I liked it so much I later acquired it on DVD as an example of a horror film that I could actually watch again.

Teeth means a lot to me because it's a prime example of a film that's very firmly B-grade not aspiring to be anything else, yet with an excellent cast and well directed. It's money well spent in other words, and gives me faith that the industry isn't completely full of people who earn too much for bad movies.

The Graduate
This was the first old movie I liked. It is also a film that stands the test of time: I feel it covers the universal theme of a disaffected youth trying to find himself, his confusion about love and sex, and the point at which he grounds himself and chooses life.

Speaking of choosing life, what's not to like about a film that gets sampled in a George Michael video clip? "Do you want me to seduce you? Is that what you're trying to tell me?" Too funky, Mr Graduate.

Kundun
The scene of the massacre. Unforgettable.

Into the Wild
It's a romance about a young man's relationship with the world and it's based on true events. Let's call this a vicarious pick.

Read the entire 30-day movie meme.

Twenty-one categories of this meme are from Books and Movies and Wordsmithsonia. The rest of the categories are my own creation.