Author: Joachim Tyre
Translator: Yi Ersan
Proofreader: Qin Tian
Source: Film Comment (January 31, 2022)
First, I want to talk about the term "guilty pleasure." What kind of works bring "guilty pleasure"? Of course, it's not just the works that aren't popular with critics — which could lead to a lot of controversy — Ecstasy or How Beautiful Life was not highly rated at the time, but now they're both classics.
Ecstasy
So, is this feeling about sex? I look back at my favorite, Roger Vadim's kitsch films, as well as a lot of B-movies and the erotic, grotesque, and glamorous gore of the '70s. Overall, though, they seem to be on their own.
Or is the "pleasure of guilt" only deliberately contrary to the so-called good taste? Embracing films that are important to you personally but don't get the recognition they deserve, or that they may be a part of your life – you have a feeling of growing up with those movies and feeling that other people aren't seeing them the same way. I think that's where I ended up writing the following words, documenting some of my favorite but relatively unpopular movies.
Thinking back to the movies that meant a lot to me growing up, I realized that if I played the soundtrack of the first movie that came to mind at a party, people would look at me with strange eyes. That movie was The Big Frog Muppet Movie (1979) starring Jim Henson.
Big Frog Muppet Movie Big Frog Muppet Movie
I've seen it in theaters a few times, and I've bought the soundtrack created by Paul Williams. It's a great story about Comey Frog's adventures in Hollywood, a bit like a prequel to The Big Frog Muppet Show. It has a childhood vibe of the late '70s — the kind of innocent music that's specially designed for kids. Even today, I still think it's beautiful. The song that could be played is "Rainbow Connection," sung by Comey Frog.
At the age of nine I became obsessed with hip-hop music and discovered older figures like Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash, and that culture meant a lot to me. Composed by Harry Bellafonte, The Street Dancer (1984) is an archetype film about street culture and arguably a masterpiece of that era.
Street Dancer
There was also a film called BreakDancing (1984), a breakdancing film of the same period, and a sequel, Breakdancing 2, was released shortly thereafter. I remember going to the cinema with my mom to see the movie, and when I left the movie theater, I looked at her and said, "We have to go back and watch it now." I've never felt this way before.
Break dance
Even if I watched E.T. Alien three times, I watched it intermittently. So we immediately bought tickets for the next breakdancing movie and went straight back and watched it again. Later I also bought a vinyl record of the soundtrack of the movie – it completely hit my liking.
When I got older, I became obsessed with mountain biking and skateboarding. I found that there is a tradition in the United States of making films about these subcultures. One of the movies about off-road bikes was Bike Kid (1986), and its synthetic soundtrack was stunning.
"Bicycle Boy"
In addition, as a teenager, Josh Brolin starred in a movie about skateboarding, The Hot Boys (1986). These films all have a love story line and present a fierce competition at the end. It's a routine copied from Rocky, and it's all about the stories of frustrated people trying to win. In fact, as a skateboarder or break dancer, who cares about the outcome of a competition? But for dramatic reasons, they are a must.
There is also "Lightning Dance" (1983), the protagonist is a stripper who wants to enter ballet school. These films are based on an elitist idea that to achieve anything in the world, you have to be the best. That's the spirit of the '80s in America.
Lightning Dance
As someone who grew up in a left-wing cultural family in Scandinavia, I learned the exact opposite, competition and grades were secondary, and the most important thing was to find myself and do my own thing well. But I don't think I would have that drive without these films, and I wouldn't have become a film director. I'm an 80s kid!
There were a lot of comedians and film actors who came out of Saturday Night Live in the '70s who were very important to me — like Dan Aykroyd, John Belusi, and Chevy Chase. Steve Martin and Bill Murray later made films that were considered more informative or serious, but I prefer John Landis's work, including The Three Dragons or The Two Lords of The Flow, but they have long been regarded as classics, not among the "pleasures of guilt.".
"Three Dragons of Divine Courage"
The relatively unpopular "Animal House" (1978) or "Royal Secret Killing Order" (1985) has a postmodern banter, and this humor comes from a new way of thinking about the film, in which the characters break the fourth wall, criticize the film, and even squeeze the eyebrows of the camera. They play with genre traditions and pop culture, in the spirit of punk or anarchism.
Doctor Two-Faced (1983) is a lesser-known film starring Dan Aykroyd, his first film shot after the death of John Belusi. The film features James Brown, Funk Music, and The Band Degenerate. It's an 80s movie with a cool synthesizer soundtrack. I haven't seen "Doctor Two-Faced" in the cinema, it's all seen on videotapes, but we have a group of people who often get together to watch it, and there's a song in it that's our community song, and everyone sings along.
"Two-Sided Doctor"
Food, Prayer and Love (2010) is a successful film, and Julia Roberts is also a big star. I love several of her films: Notting Hill is a classic; I think Pretty Moon is the most politically incorrect mainstream porn film in film history, and I'm sure a lot of people like me watched it with their mothers, which makes it a little perverted but also very funny.
But Food, Prayer, and Love presents a different challenge because it takes a sincere, direct approach that puts the protagonist on an existential journey to find true love by talking to an elephant. In fact, I was deeply moved by it.
Food, Prayer and Love
When I was making The Worst Man in the World, I thought about this film because it also shows a person trying to find a way to accept themselves. Having said that, I've probably already made half of the magazine's readers lose interest in my films! But I'm serious — I'm using different languages, different forms, but I resonate very much with the ideals and ambitions expressed in Food, Prayer and Love.
When I was a child, I also watched many types of action movies, and even experienced a period of indulgence in Hong Kong movies. But I think there's one guy who doesn't get the praise he deserves, and that's Michael Bay.
In Transformers 2 (2009), there is a scene in which Optimus Prime is killed in a birch forest, a wonderful and melancholy robot action scene. There are a lot of birch trees in Northern Europe – you can see them in Tarkovsky's films. That scene was really moving, because Optimus Prime was a symbol of America — the kind of big truck we Europeans imagine would be driving on American highways, giving people what they needed.
Transformers 2
I once put a poster of "Blue Sea and Blue Sky" (1988) at the head of my bed. It's a film I love so much, but I realize that whenever I'm asked a question about great French cinema, somehow I never give it the respect it deserves. This may be because he is very popular. Luc Besson's films are glamorous and elegant, and at the same time, I find the beauty of these films amazing, including the use of central perspective and wide-angle tracking lenses.
Swim into the sea and create a love story between a man and a dolphin – some viewers will scoff at this. Luc Besson's films imply risk, but I think it's a parable of the desire for something transcendent—a love of cinema that can make you detach yourself from real life.
《Blue Sea and Blue Sky》
One film that made me understand it more and more as I got older was Crazy Boy (1983), starring Tom Cruise. Looking back at the film now, it's a perfect allegory of what young people were like in the '80s and what capitalist society expected of you.
It takes the template of a teen movie: a hairy boy who wants to hook up with prostitutes and drive a Porsche sports car, which eventually translates into a brilliant critique of a materialistic society that is prone to alienation. For those who want to delve into the film, it also has an offbeat ending, almost with an Antonioni-esque melancholy.
"Pretty Boy Crazy Too"
It also has one of the best film scores in film history, written by the Orange Dream Orchestra. In fact, I used Love on a Real Train, which appeared in the movie, in "Out of Fire." In other words, I used the soundtrack clip from "Pretty Boy Crazy" in my own version of my American coming-of-age story.
Another film director I would like to pay tribute to is Harmony Colin, who has a lot of fans in Europe. I want to live in his movies. The Beach Tramp (2019) is a fun-filled story, and Matthew McConaughey's performance is brilliant. Open a bottle of wine, or do whatever else you want – anything that makes you relax and enjoy the movie with someone you love.
The Beach Tramp
The Beach Tramp is a combination of Jean Vigo and the comedy duo Cheech & Chong, or rather, it singularly mixes the possibilities and energy of the film with a psychedelic story. I think a lot of people may be intimidated by it, thinking that it is more silly than it looks, it is indeed silly, but in a sense it is very shocking and profound.