My All-Time Favorite Movies

I just canceled my Netflix account because, truth be told, I just really don’t enjoy watching movies at home. I found myself begrudgingly adding movies to my queue and then letting the DVD sit on the coffee table for two weeks before returning it without ever viewing it.

However, there are a few movies that I truly love and I find myself watching them over and over and over. Here’s the list of my most favorite.

I know, I know - - blogging about one’s favorite movies is such a cliché, but I just used the word “cliché” so that makes me special.

Babette’s Feast

This 1987 Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Film is, hands down, THE most beautiful movie ever. Babette is a French refugee who escapes to a tiny village in Denmark in 1871 and, for 14 years, hides the fact that she’s one of the world’s greatest chefs. That is, until she sees a chance to selflessly transform the villagers by preparing her most famous meal for them. The Christological symbolism in this film is astounding. I’ve seen this film so many times, I can practically speak Danish now. This movie makes me weep in a different part every time I see it and THAT is what makes a good movie.

84 Charing Cross Road

Helene Hanff (played by Anne Bancroft) is a struggling writer in New York City who has an affinity for English literature but is unable to find her favorite works in print. She learns of a book shop in London (located on 84 Charing Cross Road) that can supply her with the hard-to-find works of literature from across the pond. For the next 20 years, she develops a charming relationship (by mail) with the staff at 84 Charing Cross Road, namely with the proprietor, played by Anthony Hopkins.
It’s impossible to watch this film and NOT think of the word “poignant.”

Mitt Liv Som Hund (My Life as a Dog)

Apparently, someone in Sweden got hold of my journal written when I was eight years old and made a movie out of it. The similarities are uncanny. The kid looks a lot like me at that age, too. (Note: Michael Jackson contacted the little actor who played my character after this movie came out – eeww.)

Fargo

The juxtaposition between the villains’ stupidity and greed compared to the hero’s intelligence and altruism is sheer brilliance. The backdrop of a bleak Minnesota winter really appeals to me.

The Nun’s Story

Audrey Hepburn plays a young nun in this film about her life in a convent. I first saw this movie when I was considering joining a monastery and I think I have to attribute my final decision to enter to this movie. When I “took the habit” and was assigned my new name (it’s a very solemn ceremony that you’ll see in the movie) I have to admit that I was thinking of Audrey Hepburn.

At the end of the movie, Audrey leaves the convent, hangs her habit on a peg and silently walks out the back door.

I SO did the same thing when I left. It was ever so dramatic.
By the way, the name I was given by the abbot was Br. William.

So, there you have it. My all-time favorite movies.

Go and enjoy.