Cinecouch.com

On-the-Verge Top 50 Films

31

TSPDT 1000
Cinecouch's Essential Films

Lessons of Darkness
(Lektionen in Finsternis)

Werner Herzog

Lessons of Darkness
1992|DE/UK/FR|50 min|Col|Live Action

- Fire is the seventh color.

Documentary/War
, by

Orange dusk
	Inhalable dust
		Camping aside a nasal passage
	Swollen eyes
		To see
			An indistinguishable event
		Arise
			To ashes
				The seventh color
					Is
				Your uninhibited instinct.

32

Jonathan Rosenbaum 1000
Cinecouch's Essential Films
Cinecouch's Favorite

The Oyster Princess
(Die Austernprinzessin)

Ernst Lubitsch

The Oyster Princess
1919|Germany|60 min|BW|Live Action

- This is why first impressions are important.

Surreal Comedy/Romance
, by

Oh my lady!
	Please use a spoon
		If it is stuck in the shell.
	You are not going to lick it out with your tongues,
	There are better things to do with your tongues anyway.
		But please allow me to show you,
		All you need is a small spoon.
Open the tiny slit with a gentle touch,
	Swirl the spoon on the tip until it is loose,
		Hold it close to your mouth like this,
			Now suck it all in, my dear!	

33

Cinecouch's Essential Films
Cinecouch's Favorite

Le franc

Djibril Diop Mambéty

Le franc
1994|SEN/SUI/FRA|44 min|Col|Live Action

- The doorway of money is open and closed.

Social Satire/Neo-realism
, by

IT'S
Monday again, Oh, what am I to do, other than buying
another lottery ticket? Winning one, perhaps? Oh, my desk,
it doesn't even deserve me calling it 'my,' I am too weak
to admit my desk is utterly useless to me, except, well,
you know, except perhaps sometimes it comes handy when it
comes to two people, you know...but that doesn't solve my
lottery problem, because I am not going to sit here all
day thinking about it, or else, nothing will be accomplished,
like when you sit at your desk, you know, on 
							MONDAY.

34

Cinecouch's Essential Films
Cinecouch's Favorite

Nothing But Time
(Rien que les heures)

Alberto Cavalcanti

Rien que les heures
1926|France|46 min|BW|Live Action

- Ticking away a part of you.

Avant-garde/Surrealism
, by

Last night I caught a mackerel,
	And cooked it with a cockerel.
		It was delicious!
			It was deliriously delicious!
You know I don't cook,
	But that was something.
		All I did was to put it into the oven,
			Raw mackerel,
				Live cockerel,
					It is all natural.
What happened?	Nothing but time, nothing but time.

35

Brief Encounters

A Working Men's Club in Sheffield
(Ein Arbeiterclub in Sheffield)

Peter Nestler

Ein Arbeiterclub in Sheffield
1965|West Germany|41 min|BW|Live Action

- A day is two another day.

Documentary/Cinéma vérité
, by

A man walks out for lunch,
	Sees no one in the street,
		And's got a bad hunch.
There is a whole bunch
Of restaurants that one can munch
Inside without getting crunched.
	Isn't this his dream?	What is he waiting for?
He walks around and then scrunch
Outside a restaurant whose brunch
Is served with fruit-punch.
It takes a man's true courage to be the first for lunch.

36

Jonathan Rosenbaum 1000
Cinecouch's Essential Films

Le cochon

Jean Eustache, Jean-Michel Barjol

Le cochon
1970|France|50 min|BW|Live Action

- How the sausage was born.

Shockumentary/Cinéma vérité
, by

	What a bouncy gut!
	So smooth and rough.
	Smack those eyes,
		Grind those ears,
			Twist those hearts,
	Stomach in the main,
		Bladder on the side,
	Mouth is trapped,
		Mind is off,
		Stuff them all and,
	It will be ready for the mall.

37

Brief Encounters
Cinecouch's Favorite

Vertical Features Remake

Peter Greenaway

Vertical Features Remake
1978|UK|45 min|Col|Live Action

- Observers of observations.

Structuralism/Faux documentary
, by

My hands start to hurt when typing this poem.

My hand starts to hurt while typing this sentence.

My hurt starts to hover whilst tying this poem

	Together.
	
I should have known,

My hhands startsto hhurt whe typping thsi pem.

38

Cinecouch's Favorite

The Magical Clock, or The Little Girl Who Wanted to Be a Princess
(L'horloge magique ou La petite fille qui voulait être princesse)

Wladyslaw Starewicz

The Magical Clock, or The Little Girl Who Wanted to Be a Princess
1928|France|45 min|BW|Animation

- The magic girl with the little clock.

Fantansy/Adventure
, by

Through an indiscreet mirror,
	Sees an indirect image,
		Floating besides your neck,
			You peek through,
		And sees an indirect mirror,
			Reflecting an indiscreet image,
				Floating around your neck,
			And you are peeked,
		Through an mirror indirectly from an image,
		Floating beneath you.
Oh - Don't turn back!    Magic only goes forward!

39

Cinecouch's Favorite

The White Bus

Lindsay Anderson

The White Bus
1967|UK|46 min|BW/Col|Live Action

- Passengers against-deck.

Surrealism/Comic Thriller
, by

It is ten minutes before boarding,
	All passengers are stuck at the first inning,
		What for? You asked.
			Hoarding.
It is five minutes before boarding,
	No passengers are still standing.
		How come? You asked.
			Crash Landing.
It is one second after boarding
	Into the streets with warning:
		Never piss a pedestrian in the early morning!

40

Cinecouch's Essential Films
Cinecouch's Favorite

Stations of the Elevated

Manfred Kirchheimer

Stations of the Elevated
1981|USA|46 min|Col|Live Action

- The precisionist goes abstract.

Avant-garde/Documentary
, by

4am PST
It is heartwarming to know
	t
	 h
	  a
	   t
	    Even Mona Lisa changes her stockings
			once
			    in
			      a
			       while.