Mr Russell’s blind spots

I’ve seen a few bloggers doing this meme of sorts, found it via Andy Buckle, and decided I might as well play along, thought it might make a nice end to this year of blogging… basically, the idea is to pick 12 films that stand as noticeable holes in one’s film literacy, and then try and watch all of them over the course of the next year. Unlike others, I don’t intend to make a regular feature of these films or do them on a monthly schedule or any such, but I’ll try and get through them all through the course of 2012. And then at the end of next year this post will either stand as an indicator of how well I did, or it will continue to mock me. I’ll link to any reviews I write of these films as/when I see them.

At any rate, here are 12 films I’ve never seen that are not currently on my backlog of stuff I own. Prepare to be aghast, or not.

1. The Kid (1921)—because it is ridiculous that I’ve seen everything Chaplin has made up to Limelight, shorts and features, except this
2. Captain Blood (1935)—which I’ve been meaning to watch for, oh, the best part of two decades without ever actually getting around to doing
3. Notorious (1946)—seems to be the prime Hitchcock I’ve never seen
4. The Furies (1950)—mainly cos it looks awesome in Scorsese’s Personal Journey
5. The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)—seen some of the remake but never the original, and I should rectify that
6. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)—musicals aren’t my thing, really, which is probably why I’ve never seen this
7. Mouchette (1967)—would appear to be the major easily available Bresson that I haven’t seen
8. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)—which I’m sure is as good as it’s said to be, but I’ve just never been able to summon up the will to watch it
9. Back to the Future (1985)—since you ask, no, I have no fucking idea how I’ve never seen this at any point. It’s not like Channel 10 don’t show it or one of its sequels seemingly every other week
10. Groundhog Day (1993)—again, no idea how I’ve never seen this
11. The Death of Mr Lazarescu (2005) and
12. Certified Copy (2010)—both of which are, I gather, among the most acclaimed arthouse products of the last decade

I’m probably not challenging myself overmuch with this list, cos I can get my hands on all of the above without too much difficulty; it’s just a matter of stirring myself to actually do so. As I said, this time next year we’ll be able to judge how well I did…

 

 

 

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