Director Day In The Age of The Coronavirus

A couple of months back, Tanner, Chris, and myself had settled on doing our next Director Day on April 11th. Chris is up next and we usually get something weird with him, so there was the usual anticipation for the upcoming date. Since then, things have gotten weird without Chris' input and frankly, these days are a little scary. The world at large has started to feel like a movie. With the barrage of "end of days" films that have been prevalent over the past couple of decades, it almost feels like life imitating art doesn't it? 

For us, Director Day is an event. We usually schedule it every 3 months or so, and for me it's one of my favorite days of the year. I'd rather skip any sort of birthday celebration than miss a Director Day. These are people I like to spend time with and since we all love movies, it's a win for all of us. Needless to say, the COVID-19 nightmare has caused us to take pause and re-evaluate our date. Sure, we could have tried to be safe and do all the necessary steps leading up to and during the day itself, but that's just not the prudent thing to do right now. Instead, we brainstormed and came up with an alternative plan. 

We have long decided that since we all love the work of Quentin Tarantino and none of us wanted to be tasked with having to decide on three movies from him that we were all likely very familiar with. With that in mind, we decided this crisis, with it's "shelter in place" and "social distancing" guidelines in full effect, that we would decide on three movies of Tarantino's and communicate with each other before and after each film via ZOOM. Now, that means we don't get to eat some delicious BBQ, but hell, you can't have it all can you? 

Chris devised a plan to whittle us down to three films. We each had to rank QT's movies in order of preference, 1-9. The three films with the lowest number of points, would be the ones we would watch. We were given a couple of days to get our list in order and send it to Chris for compilation. At 9 pm on "Selection Sunday" Chris announced the choices. 

They came out in this order; 

1. Pulp Fiction

2. Kill Bill Volume 2

3. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

 I had no doubt that the top spot would be a consensus and my boys didn't fail me. "Pulp Fiction" is a classic and a masterpiece that has long been a favorite film overall for each of us. The final ranking worked out really well for me, since all of these movies were in my top four picks. Of Tanner's top four picks, two of the films were in there and also two for Chris. With a small sample size, it wasn't very hard to come up with the three that would be most satisfactory. All of the films we are watching were in the top 5 for each of us. There were a few interesting differences though. For example, I had "Jackie Brown" as my third favorite, but both Chris and Tanner have it as their least favorite. They also had the "Kill Bill" films near the top and grouped together, while I had Volume 2 as my 4th favorite, but Volume 1 as my 7th favorite. "Inglorious Basterds" is another film that split us up. It was 2nd on Tanner's list, but Chris and I had it as our 8th favorite. 

I'll likely do either a follow up or an addendum to this just to record how the day went watching movies alone, yet kind of together. I'm rather looking forward to the experience. Take a peek below for how each of us voted on our favorite Tarantino films first to last.....and by last it by no means should indicate that we didn't like the movie. I chose "The Hateful Eight" as my bottom film and I'd prefer to watch that over a large percentage of any other movie not made by our living legend and hero, Quentin Jerome Tarantino. 

CHRIS

1. Pulp Fiction

2. Reservoir Dogs

3. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

4. Kill Bill I

5. Kill Bill II

6. The Hateful Eight

7. Django Unchained

8. Inglorious Basterds

9. Jackie Brown

TANNER

1. Pulp Fiction

2. Inglorious Basterds

3. Kill Bill II

4. Kill Bill I

5. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

6. The Hateful Eight

7. Django Unchained

8. Reservoir Dogs

9. Jackie Brown

FREDDY

1. Pulp Fiction

2. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

3. Jackie Brown

4. Kill Bill II

5. Django Unchained

6. Reservoir Dogs

7. Kill Bill I

8. Inglorious Basterds

9. The Hateful Eight

UPDATE
4/11/2020
We held our day and worked it out that we used ZOOM to communicate before and after each film. We also exchanged texts during the movie and since we all had seen them numerous times it never took us out of the enjoyment. In all, it was kind of interesting and fun to do out Director Day while not being together. If the virus lock down continues, we will likely do this again. Having it go off so flawlessly is a positive so now, we realize we can pretty much do this at any time and enjoy the experience. 

Steven Soderbergh

Steven Soderbergh

Host: Chris

Chris' Take: NONE

Freddy's Take: An enjoyable enough film trio of "Sex, Lies, & Videotape", "Traffic", and "Oceans 11". S,L&V really got the day off to a good start. Great acting, especially by James Spader who actually seemed to be the films "moral" center. I was glad that I got to re-visit this movie, as I didn't really understand it, nor think much of it when I originally saw it years ago. I was also in tune with "Traffic", which can be a bit confusing with the jumping around within a world of many characters and subplots. Michael Douglas' performance was reminiscent of George C. Scott's in "Hardcore". Some movies almost demand that you take a shower to clean the sleeze and degradation off after viewing (Hardcore, 8mm, Leaving Las Vegas, Old Boy, etc) and "Traffic" comes close to that. "Oceans 11" was the final film of the day and it didn't disappoint. I've seen this one several times and it has some really good "caper" action in it and has a quick witted sense of humor. The cast is exceptional and fun. Hopefully Chris will weigh in on what motivated him to choose Soderbergh and what he thought of the films and the director. 

Sex, Lies, & Videotape

Traffic

Ocean's 11

Bernie Mac & Matt Damon killing a scene in Ocean's 11

Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa

Host: Tanner

Tanner's Take: Akira Kurosawa had been in my mind since the beginning but I never knew what the reaction would be from Freddy or Chris, so I stayed clear. His movies tend to be very long, and being Japanese the films would be very different from what we had previously seen. But I had to choose him due to the fact that he is one of the most important and influential directors of all time. Seven Samurai is a fantastic film that I had seen before so that was an easy choice to add in there. It's a very entertaining movie that moves along at a steady pace and is filled with adventure, humor and action. That was the only Kurosawa film I had seen, so the other two were a difficult choice for me. Seeing as how Seven Samurai was a 3 1/2 hour long film, I knew I had to pick two that would bring that night to a close at a good time. Rashomon and Ikiru were two films of his I had wanted to see most and their runtimes worked in perfectly. I feel like I had never quite seen a film like Rashomon before. It touched on a lot of issues that would have been taboo back then and seeing a lot of the Japanese culture working in that time period was very interesting. Ikiru was a film that a lot of us as Americans could relate to due to it's subject matter. And although I feel the ending tended to drag on a bit, it was a fantastic film none-the-less. I'm glad I had the chance to show Freddy and Chris these films because I feel the chances of them watching them on their own was rare. Kurosawa is a very important director, and anyone who has a respect for film needs to indulge themselves in his movies.

Rashomon

Ikiru

Seven Samurai

The Films Of Akira Kurosawa

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock

Host: Chris

Chris' Take: I knew I had to get him before someone else snatched him up. Easily one of the greatest and most influential directors of all time. And yet I was completely ignorant of his work save The Birds and Psycho...and of course his tv series growing up. Got a good education that Saturday. Rear Window reminds me of Blue Velvet a bit...creepy, seedy reality underneath the appearances we like to keep up. Vertigo is mind fuck of a movie and reminded me a bit of Rosemary's Baby. North by Northwest was the weakest for me but was still a solid film with class A actors and acting.

Rear Window

Vertigo

North By Northwest

Alfred Hitchcock: The Difference Between Mystery & Suspense

Jim Jarmusch

Jim Jarmusch

Host: Tanner

Tanner's Take:  Independent film has always had a special place in my heart. I didn't necessarily have it in mind when I chose Jim Jarmusch, but I had thought of choosing him because of my affinity for Dead Man. After learning about his impact in the American Independent film scene I knew he would be my next choice. Choosing 3 films for him wasn't hard seeing as how I had very little knowledge of what exactly he'd done. So I chose 3 that would span across his filmography in terms of when they were made. Down By Law and Mystery Train were both very fun to watch. I wasn't disappointed in either of those choices in the least bit. Most people point out how slow and tedious his films are, but with lots of humor, great characters and dialogue it's hard for me to agree with that. Dead Man is one of my favorite westerns. I wanted to watch it again because it had been so long since I had last seen it. And although it it stands vastly apart from the other two, It's easy to watch all films from that night and see how they were products from the same man. He has a very distinct style and I know Freddy and Chris enjoyed it as much as I did.

Down By Law

Mystery Train

Dead Man

A Conversation With Jim Jarmusch

Cameron Crowe

Cameron Crowe

Host: Freddy

Freddy's Take: Cameron Crowe is a personal favorite. It wasn't very hard for me to select him early in our "Director Day" schedule. He is a gifted writer and his screenplay for "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" is based on his experiences (he also wrote a book) from going back to school and posing as a high school student. Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky are among my favorite movies of all-time, and Say Anything is a simply a classic film with a classic portrayal of Lloyd Dobbler by John Cusak. His use of music in film takes a back seat to no other director as he can burn a scene into your mind forever by adding just the right tune under an important moment (think Lloyd Dobbler holding the boom box as Peter Gabriel sings "In Your Eyes"). The "rewatchability" is very high for each of those films and in my opinion he is one of Hollywood's most underrated directors. Crowe gets the most out of his actors and that shines through in the performances he has coaxed out of Cusak, Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding, Kurt Russell, Kate Hudson, and Billy Crudup over the years. Pretty sure that Chris and Tanner really enjoyed this day as much as I did.   

Say Anything

Vanilla Sky

Almost Famous

Cameron Crowe On Film 89-05

Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski

Host: Tanner

Tanner's Take: Polanski was a left field choice for me. The only film I had seen of his was The Pianist. I assumed Freddy and Chris weren't well versed with him either. I had always known his name was renowned in the industry, and in choosing him I would open us all up to his filmography. So, I thought "Fuck it. If the movies suck, then at least we know." It was quite the opposite. Chinatown was probably my favorite. I'm a sucker for classic noir films and Chinatown had a lot of fresh elements of the genre within the film. Jack Nicholson gave an awesome hotheaded performance (as usual) and the ending was really unexpected. Rosemary's Baby was a fantastic film as well: A very close second. Can't say that I have seen a lot of movies like it. Not exactly "horror" but definitely a great thriller with now my all time favorite dream sequence. Freddy's attention to detail during the film really helped to bring a lot of the political undertones to surface. The Ghost Writer was definitely the weakest. I picked it only because I wanted to see one of his most recent films to see how his direction has stood the test of time. Looking back I wish I had chosen one of his more earlier films like Cul-De-Sac or Knife in the Water. But it was still a decent watch. Slower than the other two and more for the politically inclined. All in all I thought he was a great choice. I have since watched several other of his films, and enjoyed them all. That night definitely opened up Polanski's film library into my own, as I'm sure it did for all of us. 

Rosemary's Baby

Chinatown

The Ghost Writer

Rosemary's Baby Video Spot

David Lynch

David Lynch

Host: Chris

Chris' Take: Lynch got me into film. Before him I just watched movies. Watching Eraserhead was my first experience that film could be more than just a story arc and some entertainment. It was art and it was visceral. It challenged me. I've been hooked ever since. His art is not for everyone. Hell, I can only watch Eraserhead about every 10 years or so without doing serious mental damage. But Blue Velvet is a classic, Lost Highway has the most rewatchability factor, and Wild at Heart is a wild ride indeed (especially if you were in Fred's brain at the time of viewing!)

Wild At Heart

Blue Velvet

Lost Highway

David Lynch Ideas