Welcome! Or if you’re a long-time reader, welcome back. My name is Eden-Nicole, I’m about to be 21, I’m a New Yorker, living and studying at The University of East London, and if there’s one thing that I adore in life it’s talking about films.
You can tell a lot about a person by their favourite films, so how about we take a second to talk about some of mine and my classmates?
Welcome to the Dead Bloggers Society and our Week of Top Threes!
#3. Pride and Prejudice (dir. Joe Wright, 2008)
Don’t worry. This one will be a lot shorter and a lot less of a mindscrew than the next two entries.
Pride and Prejudice is probably the movie I’ve seen most in my life. It is a running joke between my sister and I that anytime you don’t know what to do in a day, you just sit down and watch Pride and Prejudice.
One of the last movies to be shot on film before the rise of HD digital cameras, it is beautiful and riveting. A classic “enemies-to-lovers” romance film with a beautiful soundtrack and some of the most gorgeous lighting/cinematography I’ve ever seen. The witty humour and iconic romantic lines from the original Jane Austen novel translate beautifully thanks to a stellar cast lead by Keira Knightly.
(Side note: Do you ever notice that Keira Knightley almost exclusively plays in period pieces? I don’t think she lives in the present; I think she’s some being of the past that is now moonlighting as a 21st-century actress…)
Call me a softie or a hopeless romantic, but I’m a sucker for a movie that portrays the whirlwind feelings of being in love, and that love helping you improve as a person.
That’s why Pride and Prejudice is the ultimate comfort film. It’s deeply calming.
That is not something that can be said about these next two movies.
#2. Everything Everywhere All at Once (dir. Daniels, 2022)
How to explain Everything, Everywhere All at Once…?
I suppose I could start by saying that it just won seven, of its eleven nominated, Oscars but I’ve never cared much for award ceremonies that attempt to be objective about film. So why do I adore this crazy movie with every fibre of my being?
Maybe part of it is the sentimental value of it being the first movie that I ever saw in the theatre here in London; it touched a part of me that was deeply emotional — a part of me that longed for family and hope while I was alone in a foreign country learning to fend for myself. However, that doesn’t bring us any closer to figuring out what gives it the #2 spot. Plenty of movies have given me emotional experiences.
Everything Everywhere All at Once is a multiverse-spanning argument against nihilism wrapped in the story of a dysfunctional, Chinese immigrant family. It comes complete with legendary actors, hot dog fingers, ketchup covered dildos, tributes to Hong Kongese classic film, and a fanny pack used as nunchucks.
It is something different than you’ve ever seen before. To explain why it’s my second favourite movie of all time would be a disservice; it implies that Everything, Everywhere, All at Once is a movie that can be described in words.
It’s not.
It’s a movie that made me cry at rocks. It is a movie that made me angry at Hollywood for keeping Key Huy Quan, an actor that made his name as a child in Indiana Jones and The Goonies before being put on a 25-year hiatus from acting, away for decades.
It’s a movie that made me wince at the visceral pain of getting a papercut between your fingers, a movie that preaches that nothing matters, that life is confusing, and that kindness is the only way to deal with those two undeniable facts. If you’ve seen it, you will probably understand why it’s my #2 favourite movie of all time, and if you haven’t, watch it and find out.
#1. Speed Racer (dir. The Wachowski Sisters, 2008)
Do you know what I like? Anime. Do you know what else I like? Bright colours. Do you know a third thing that I like? Lilly and Lana Wachowski.
Panned on release, with a disappointing showing at the box office in 2008 – (in no small part due to sharing an opening weekend with Iron Man, the first instalment in what would become the Marvel Cinematic Universe) – Speed Racer is a brilliant, bombastic, emotional adaptation of the 1967 anime created by Tatsuo Yoshida.
The first and last 15 minutes of this movie consistently made me cry every time out of the 16 times I have seen it (to date). From the very beginning, you know you are in for an unrealistic cartoon brought to life. Set in a mostly CGI world where car racing reigns supreme, the titular Speed Racer and his family (a mom named Mom, a dad named Pops, his girlfriend Trixie, his little brother Spritle, mechanic Sparky, their pet ape Chim-Chim, and the memory of his deceased brother Rex) drive this movie, pun entirely intended.
Every performance in this movie is completely genuine and honest. Every actor knows that the movie they’re in is wacky and unrealistic and energized, and they thrive in it.
All the acting and character work is truly genuine, alongside amazingly choreographed action, some of the best special effects work ever put to screen, and a riveting soundtrack. The humour that comes from the affectionate jabs to the janky 60s animation of the original Speed Racer (“Mach Go Go Go!” in Japan) or the irony of lines like “Speed Racer, slow down!” makes me laugh out loud. A genuinely heartfelt monologue about what it’s like to make art from Susan Sarandon’s performance as Mom warms my heart every time I see it.
This is a movie that is silly, this is a movie with mafia Vikings, who drive race cars that shoot a catapult filled with bees. (And yes, you read that sentence correctly).
This is a movie that transports you into the mind of a child, and for somebody who is constantly stressed out by adulthood, there is no better feeling than sitting down with Speed Racer for two hours and being a child again.
It’s been my favourite movie for almost ten years now, and I don’t think it will be dethroned anytime soon.
So that’s me. Hopefully my taste, and writing makes you stick around for a while, spread the word, get in touch and tell us about your top three favourite movies. Come back Monday for the next instalment of Dead Bloggers Society’s Week of Top Threes.
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