Man With A Movie List

Director: Luis Buñuel Year: 1930 Run-time: 1 hr 3 min Source: Kanopy Notable For : This is Buñuel's second film, also a collaboration with Dali.  It's also considerably longer than Un Chien Andalou , and while it's still dream-like in the surrealist tradition, it's more thematically coherent.  Specifically, it takes aim at Catholic and bourgeois values, specifically sexual mores.  It's very deliberately provocative, especially the ending, although as with the previous film it's difficult to decipher any particular message.  However, it was enough to get it attacked by right-wing mobs and eventually even banned. Verdict : As with the last film, it's not easy to judge, since it evades any obvious analysis.  The two films are certainly enjoyable in their own way, and despite the greater length I had no trouble paying attention.  The second film lacks some of the stranger images that Un Chien Andalou conjures up, but it makes up for it by putting togeth...

Director: Luis Buñuel Year: 1929 Runtime: 21 min Source: Youtube Notable For : Being the most famous Surrealist film, as well as the first film by the great Luis Buñuel, which he co-wrote with Salvador Dali.  It's also one of the most referenced silent works, with clear parallels to the modern dream sequence as well as the entire oeuvre of David Lynch.  It's one of the most timeless films of the era. Verdict :  Like any actual dream, it evades all critics, and though there's plenty of Freudian psychoanalysis to be done on the myriad of insane images, I doubt that would be ultimately fruitful.  That's not to say that I didn't heartily enjoy Un Chien Andalou - indeed I'll be thinking about it for a while - but given how prevalent its ideas are now, I'm not sure I would call it essential cinema like some of Buñuel's later works. Best Paired With :  I suppose the obvious choice would be Pixies ' Debaser, but who needs an excuse to listen to Doo...