10 Outta 10, Baby!

so a couple of weeks ago the american film institute (AFI) released another one of their "top" lists. this time...top ten films in ten different genres.

the number one film in each of the categories were as follows:

animation: snow white and the seven dwarfs
romantic comedy: city lights
western: the searchers
sports: raging bull
mystery: vertigo
fantasy: the wizard of oz
science fiction: 2001: a space odyssey
gangster: the godfather
courtroom drama: to kill a mockingbird
epic: lawrence of arabia

it's an amazing list of films and one that isn't dumbed down for the contemporary masses. i was impressed. several of these films would probably easily make a top ten list of my own... or they'd definitely sneak their way in to any conversation i was having about great films. and with the exception of one or two probably make it as my own #1 in each of these genres.

and after the list was presented i counted them up and i had seen nine out of the ten. i was only missing one! argh!

i had seen every one but charlie chaplin's city lights.

(guess who moved city lights to the top of his netflix queue...?)

now... i've been making my way through several chaplin films over the years. i first watched the talkie, the great dictator. then i watched the gold rush. and my friend jason and i included modern times in our first weekend film festival. these are all amazing films and i'm constantly astonished by chaplin's comic genius.

but he's more than just a great comedian... he's a phenomenal filmmaker.

city lights is a brilliant and touching film.... and easily my favorite of all the ones i've seen.

chaplin made this film, his last silent film, at a time when everyone else had moved into the age of talkies. but it shows chaplin's influence and prominence at the time that he could still make this film the way he envisioned it: silent.

in the film, chaplin falls in love with a blind flower girl who mistakes him for a millionaire. he is once again, and for the last time, the little tramp. but despite this fact, he becomes determined to raise the money for an operation that will make the flower girl see again... even though this means he risks her seeing him not as a millionaire but as a penniless tramp.

it's a truly great film... famous mostly for the boxing scene with chaplin... but there's also a drunken scene at a nightclub (among many other scenes) that had me laughing out loud. there are also several scenes with oddly homosexual undertones.

but i'd say it's the last few minutes of the film that are easily some of the most beautifully touching moments ever captured on celluloid. they are perfection.

and remember...not a word is spoken.

brilliant, beautiful, hilarious filmmaking.

move it to the top of your queue.

e.