“Don’t be stupid — see you at midnight”: The Top Ten Films I’ve watched over and over

PB ponders why some films can be watched again and again, yet still hold such an allure

Settling in for a recent plane trip to London, I whipped out the BA mag and ran my eye over the film offerings to sort out my viewing menu for the journey.

Call Me By Your Name jumped out immediately.

I had recently been talking of it to a friend with whom I had originally seen it, remarking that it was a film I felt I could watch several more times.

(I had, prior to this plane journey, seen it twice already.)

So, it seemed apt for it to be on the list of films on offer.

Within minutes of the credits rolling, maybe less, I already knew I would not be disappointed.

And when Elio swoons on his bed after reading Oliver’s note — “Don’t be stupid. See you at midnight”, well, I assume the dry air of the airplane cabin must have done something to my eyes.

*blink*

I mean, why else were my eyes stinging?

Why else did I need to rub them a little?

What was this dewy dampness in their corners?

Hmmm.

This isn’t to say the film was perfect by any means. In fact, if anything, there were minor things that irritated me about it on each viewing. Small flaws that only get picked up once you have the luxury of immersing yourself in the finer detail. Let me stress the word ‘minor’, because there was still so much else about it that moved me in the most wonderful way.

Ironically, the entertainment system cut out just as (SPOILER ALERT) at the very end of the film the camera starts panning out on Elio’s mournful gaze at the news he has received about Oliver, tears filling his eyes (and mine maybe again too, sssshhhhh) at the heartbreak it brings.

This got me thinking about movies I have watched numerous times — some I have watched that many times, I have quite literally lost count.

And wondering why I have been able to watch them repeatedly without fear of boredom or losing my love for them.

So, cinephiles, I present — my TOP TEN MOST WATCHED FILMS OF ALL TIME, or at least of all time right up until now because ‘there is (or will no doubt be) another’…

#1 Rosemary’s Baby

When I was a teenager, I became OBSESSED with this film. Not sure how or why I stumbled across it, but after initially spotting it at my local library there were periods where I would return and reborrow it over and over without break. I must have watched it over 100 times. I even tape recorded (yes ‘tapes’ were a thing back then — google them if you’re under 25 — and I was watching on VHS #GenXAlert) the music so I could listen to it. Kid you not. Why the obsession? As someone brought up Catholic (but who became very lapsed, very quickly), I guess there was a morbid fascination for me in Polanski’s haunting, Devil worshipping, Rosemary-as-the-unwilling-incubator-for-Satan’s-spawn flick. Or maybe it was Minnie, the matriarch of the cult (played by the miniscule but powerful Ruth Gordon), whose New York drawl (‘Roman — ROMAN’) spoke to me of a city I wanted to visit enough to sell my own soul…to Satan…?

A bit of both, methinks.

#2 La Cite Des Enfant Perdus

This is without doubt a cult film, but not necessarily one you may have heard of unless you’re a complete cinema nerd like me. Directed by the same team, Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who also delivered almost equally as wonderfully twisted Delicatessen, it tells the tale of a mad scientist and his freakish family whose mission is to steal children’s dreams, and the gentle giant and little girl who thwart him. This film is blessed with stunning production values that create a world reminiscent of early 20th century Paris, a story brought to life by an extremely talented and well-balanced ensemble (Geneviève Brunet, who plays Siamese twin sisters La Pieuvre, being a standout) and a cinematic style that Guillermo del Toro, director of Pan’s Labyrinth and more recently Academy Award winning The Shape of Water, has surely developed his own craft from.

This was the film that made me LOVE the massive imagination and possibility of cinema.

#3 Star Wars

I feel a bit of a walking cliché even including this as it exposes me as one of those ‘Star Wars people’, particularly because there are many who rightly point out the many, many flaws this sci-fi classic has.

All I got for ya is “Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?”

Say. No. More.

(OK yes Empire was in many ways the better film but that’s a whole other article right there, aint it?)

#4 Damien, The Omen

Some of you are beginning to worry about me now, right? Two films about Satan’s spawn in the Top Ten? Really? It just so happens that in my early teens I also borrowed The Omen (and the sequels) constantly from our library. May have even taken to looking for odd markings on my scalp that might or not be related to the number of the beast. If Freud grabbed a hold of me, he might have a few things to say about this along the lines of ‘young teen becoming a man jettisoning his Catholic past’ etc etc. Let’s go with one hella scary film containing some super gory moments, more of that eerie soundtrack thing going on ala Rosemary’s and a kid at the end who slays you with his doe eyes and smile.

666.

#5 The Sound of Music

From about the age of 4 til my mid-teens, I would eagerly await for this to be the ‘Friday night movie’, usually, from memory, in the middle of winter, so favourite blankie and hot chocolate mandatory. Admittedly, I always start to get a little on the bored side once the mushy love stuff between Maria and Von Trapp FINALLY kicks in (still watch it to the end usually anyway, shhhhh), but up until then, I am ‘Doh a Friggin Dear’ crazy about this film. Had a crush on Liesel (move on Fredrich, the girl be mine), have always been and still am a lover of schnitzel (not had it with noodles, probably should), and still to this day on mornings where I am feeling particularly perky might walk along humming “What will this day be like…I wonder?”

Love it and proud. #respect

#6 Amelie

For the same reason I loved La Cite Des Enfants Perdus, the magical realism of this film had me from the moment Audrey Tatou battered those eyelashes and flashed her lose-yourself-in-those-soulful-eyes at us in a way reminiscent of her namesake Audrey Hepburn. But more than that I was swept away by the story — a very different girl trying to live her life as best she can in a world where in many ways she doesn’t quite fit, and who somehow finds love anyway…with some damned fun slapstick capers and a lot of good hearted deeds along the way. And Yann Tiersen’s ‘la comptine d’un autre ete’. If you don’t know it — listen. Sublime.

I don’t even overly believe in love — but this film gets me close.

#7 Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion

Lisa Kudrow, being true to yourself, the power of friendship and post-it notes, Everybody Wants to Rule the World — what’s not to llove? With special mentions to Janeane Garofolo, Alan Cumming, the whacky future dream sequence and Cyndi Lauper.

Time after Time, my friends, I’ve watched and loved watching this mad romp, and still find the LOLZ each and every time.

#8 BrokeBack Mountain

Even as I typed the title, that haunting guitar of Gustavo Santaolalla’s opening music made me shiver. I’ve seen Ang Lee’s sublime ode to a love that will bit die, maybe five or six times. That, on the surface doesn’t sound a lot and probably should have it more in the special mentions below. And yet…it has to be in the Top Ten. I cannot watch this film without crying. I cannot listen to Santaolalla’s accompanying soundtrack without my heart lifting. I cannot believe how this cast and crew were able to wrest from a short story by Annie Proux such a profoundly touching film that is both heartbreaking and heart making all at once.

I will watch Brokeback many more times. I will never fail to be moved by it.

#9 Rear Window

OK, it took a while to get to Hitch, this super maestro of a filmmaker, but you knew there would be one in this list, right? I have the entire Hitchcock collection on DVD and can watch any number of his films repeatedly. From that amazing collection, however, Rear Window tops the list. Could be Kelly, who I cannot tear my eyes away from once she enters a scene…could be Stewart, whose accent I tried to perfect as a teen just because, well, Jimmy…but above and beyond these, it’s that brilliant set that elevates this to my Top Ten, and why I can continue to watch it over and over.

It is a living thing, populated, sure, with actual living things that help breathe life into it, and yet with a life of its own that astounds and fascinates thanks to the brilliance that is Hitch.

#10 All the rest — Special Mentions

Ok, I’ve cheated a little here because as I wrote, film after film came to mind that fall into the ‘could/have watch(ed) again and again’ category, so the special mentions go to…

• Romeo & Juliet (not Baz, most definitely not Baz — because Zefferelli)
• Make Mine Mink (because complete camp drawing room comedy silliness)
• Poltergeist (because “This Hass is Clean”)
• Close Encounters (because, they’re frigging out there somewhere and this movie is really a doco — true story)
• Stand by Me (because King and the joy of boyhood friendships)
• Queen Margaret (because CINEMA FRANCAISE CEST MAGNIFIQUE)
• Jason and the Argonauts (the original, because claymation)
• ET (because friendship again and see Close Encounters)
• Funny Girl (because Babs)
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (because Wilder)
• Journey to the Centre of the Earth (because lizards that are dinosaurs)
• Picnic at Hanging Rock (because there had to be one Aussie flick in here and Pan pipes)

There are more…but I had to cap it somewhere, right.

Now, your turn — GO!