Recommended Order(s)?

[Okri]

So the opinion is to watch the Miniseries and not the cut film version?

I'm removing one from my queue.

Yes.

[Big Magilla]

I've only seen the movie version which is chore enough to sit through. Rewarding, but a chore.

[OscarGuy]

So the opinion is to watch the Miniseries and not the cut film version?

I'm removing one from my queue.

[Okri]

What's the difference between the Screen version and the Miniseries version of Scenes from a Marriage?

The miniseries has a lot more ebb and flow, so the whole thing is less high strung (giving more kick to the whole thing). I admire the movie, but most people agree that the miniseries is the way to go.

[Damien]

What's the difference between the Screen version and the Miniseries version of Scenes from a Marriage?

2 hours and 11 minutes.

[OscarGuy]

What's the difference between the Screen version and the Miniseries version of Scenes from a Marriage?

[OscarGuy]

I've seen Rashomon now. Not sure if I like it, but I definitely see it's influences in other films.

As for Bergman, I am already familiar with a couple of his films. I saw Seventh Seal and Autumn Sonata.

But, I'll take the advice. I'll have to figure out what order they are chronologically b/c Netflix doesn't list years on the queue page, so I have to open that separately.

[Sabin]

I've seen about ten Kurosawa films. I would start with Rashomon. It has a very influential structure and it's quite entertaining as well. Then maybe either Throne of Blood (an adaptation of Macbeth) or The Hidden Fortress, just to see something entertaining that he does. They're both very good as well.

Then you should either see what he can do on a more intimate scale with Ikiru. It's a very sad story about a man who is dying of cancer. Ebert says it's one of the ten or so greatest films of all time. I don't agree but it's very moving. Ozu does this kind of thing better but it's a very good movie. Or you should see Seven Samurai, which is probably his best known film. It's not as influential as Rashomon, but it inspired The Magnificent Seven and it's an awesome Western. It's basically a really long foreign blockbuster. Lots of good character, build, and action. I've seen it a few times.

After that, you could see an early film like Stray Dog. Or you could venture forward. I haven't seen Red Beard yet but I've heard by some that it's his best. I like Ran more than Kagemusha. At the time, I know that Kagemusha was heralded as his great autumn work but they didn't know that Ran was coming up. They're both pretty great. I would see Kagemusha first to see what he was doing with color and then go forward into Ran.

...

I've only seen a couple of Ozu films, but Jonathan Rosenbaum presented I Was Born, But... at the Gene Siskel Center and it's one of the most glorious films I've ever seen. I want to see Small Change again to see if there's anything it does almost as well.



Edited By Sabin on 1250124307

[Damien]

All but four of his post-war films are available on DVD. The ones not available are: Record of a Tenement Gentleman, A Hen in the Wind, The Munekata Sisters, and The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice. Short of an Ozu retrospective, these are pretty hard to come by in the states.

They're unavailable? That's a shame. I've seen all four (at retrospectives at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Lincoln Center), and they're wonderful, especially the latter two, which most definitely are major works by one of the greatest of all filmmakers.

Wes, I did Kurosawa chronologically a number of years ago. It's an excelent way of seeing a filmmaker's development, although I have to admit I stopped somewhere in the 50s just because I don't fins him a particularly interesting director (some day, I'll get back to him).



Edited By Damien on 1250118721

[dws1982]

I don't know that order would be necessarily very important with Ozu. His pre-war films (at least the ones available) are fairly light-hearted in tone, while the post-war films are mostly domestic dramas, several of which were built around the theme of a parent trying to marry off a child. Most of his pre-war films are lost. Of the survivors, only four are available in the States: Tokyo Chorus, I Was Born But..., Passing Fancy, and Floating Weeds. All but four of his post-war films are available on DVD. The ones not available are: Record of a Tenement Gentleman, A Hen in the Wind, The Munekata Sisters, and The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice. Short of an Ozu retrospective, these are pretty hard to come by in the states. Tokyo Story, his most well-known film, doesn't use this theme, and is more direct in its portrait of the generation gap between young adults and their parents in post-war Japan. But it's a good entry point, as are Late Spring and Early Summer. Just don't start off with Tokyo Twilight. The titles of many of his post-war films are hard to keep straight. I generally think in terms of dates.

I agree with what FilmFan720 said about Kurosawa. Many of his early works can be viewed in any order, but Ran will mean a lot more to people who are already familiar with his filmography.

Bergman. I'd say start with The Seventh Seal or Through a Glass Darkly. Those are probably the best ways for someone to gauge their feelings about him. If you like those, keep going through his early, religious-themed work. If you don't have any patience for them, you might be best skipping those films and going straight for the more realistic dramas or his more experimental works. Wild Strawberries wouldn't be a bad introduction as long as you recognize it has more in common with things like Autumn Sonata than with many of the other things he was doing in that period. Fanny and Alexander is an old-man's film, though. Wait until you've seen several before attempting it, and go for the complete, five-hour television version rather than the shorter version that played in theatres here.

I'm currently trying to go through all of John Ford's available films in order, to see how his themes develop over the decades.



Edited By dws1982 on 1250118312

[Big Magilla]

In most cases it really doesn't matter, but if you plan to watch all of a particular director's work then chronological order might make sense. If you want to sample a director's work before delving in completely it might be a good idea to go for the films they made in their prime. For Ozu it would be the post-war years, primarily Late Spring and Tokyo Story.

With Kurosawa, you can start anywhere really but not with Ran. Since you like mysteries, you might want to start with 1963's High and Low, which is atypical Kurosawa in that it is modern dress based on an Evan Hunter novel, a remake of which is currently in pre-production by Mike Nichols. Or The Quiet Duel or Stray Dog or any of his samurai epics.

[FilmFan720]

I don't think any directors where you have to watch their films in a certain order. Any great director can be entered at any point in their career. With the case of something like Ran (or Gran Torino, which I just watched yesterday finally), it is the matter of the film's power coming from a reflection on their entire oeuvre. Moving chronologically is never a bad idea, but don't sweat it too much.

[OscarGuy]

Aside from Akira Kurosawa, are there other directors I should watch in a particular order? Or should I do all of my director series in release order?

If not and Kurosawa's the only one I should watch in a given order, what is the recommended order for watching his films?

For instance, when reading the Chronicles of Narnia books, there seems to be two orders that most people recommend reading it in. There are the sequentialists and the releasers. The first group suggests reading the books in time order. The second group suggests reading in the order the books were released. Both orders are contrary to the order the publishing company put out the full set in.

So, hopefully someone can guide me in the order I should see these in. It appears I have roughly 72 foreign features in my netflix queue. Mostly from Kurosawa, Ozu, Bergman and Fellini with a few other directors mixed in (like Almodovar).