A few weeks ago, I came across a blog post from The Guardian entitled “The Film That Changed My Life.” In it, filmmaker Brett Ratner (X-Men, Rush Hour) recounts the ways that Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull (1980) inspired his career path. At only 10 years old, the future director had already spotted the power of Method Acting (“De Niro’s commitment to transforming himself into this fat, washed-up boxer was amazing”) and the importance of directorial control (“The way that [Scorsese] moved the camera, the way that he had control over the medium, the way that he used music: the guy is a master film-maker”). Ultimately, Ratner shares, it was Raging Bull that pushed him to enter NYU and study filmmaking (just like his mentor, Scorsese).
The Film That Changed My Life differs drastically from the one that changed Ratner’s. Rather than Raging Bull‘s stark realism and graphic violence, my film features lush scenery and match-making games; rather than black-and-white cinematography and low-key lighting, mine is bathed in vibrant colors and gobs of natural sunlight. But in the end, these differences don’t matter. What matters is that my film affected me in the same way Raging Bull affected Ratner; for after watching it, I too knew what I wanted to do with the remainder of my life.
I took my first class on William Shakespeare as a junior in college, an introductory course on the playwright’s comedies. One day early in the semester, our professor, who left town for a conference, was replaced by a large-screen television and video recorder (yeah, that’s right, kiddos; this is before built-in LCD projectors and DVDs). A departmental assistant strolled into the classroom, inserted a Blockbuster VHS tape, pressed the play button, and left. Her menial task was over; but at that moment, my future career was confirmed. The TV screen was soon filled with a sun-drenched Tuscan countryside, a multi-racial cast of characters in breezy, white cotton attire, and the poetry of Shakespeare.
The film was Kenneth Branagh’s 1993 adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing. The setting was late nineteenth-century Tuscany and the performers an odd combination of British theatre actors (Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson) and Hollywood screen stars (Denzel Washington and Michael Keaton). At the time, this film looked nothing like those from high school. You know the ones — e.g., Olivier’s Hamlet, Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet — which teachers screen hastily during those seemingly endless English periods before lunch. On the contrary, Branagh’s Much Ado seemed sexy, fun, and understandable.
Since my Shakespeare class only lasted fifty minutes, we were unable to watch Much Ado about Nothing in its entirety. But I had seen enough to know that I wanted to see more and, furthermore, that I needed to figure out how to integrate this film and others like it into my profession. Fifteen years and three college degrees later, I’m happy to report that one can indeed fashion a career around Shakespeare and film.
What about you? What’s The Film (or Television Show) That Changed Your Life?
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Professor of film and Shakespeare. Advocate of social media. Lover of popular culture,
But if Scorsese changed your life, why are you making Hollywood schlock like *Rush Hour*? I don't doubt that he's sincere, but seriously? It's like, I don't know, the writers of *Married With Children* explaining how *Madame Bovary* changed their lives. Wait, that might actually make sense.
*Sex, Lies, and Videotape.* I had no idea that American films could be that subtle, well-written, and so full of silence.
Film: *Wings of Desire* – The first subtitled film I can remember watching, and I was fascinated by its thoughts on time and humanity. I had never seen anything like it. It was slow, but I was engaged throughout. It was shot entirely in B&W after color had been around for decades. There is an entrancing performance at the center by Bruno Ganz. It made me think differently about what kinds of films I wanted to watch and how much thought I should be putting into my viewing.
Perhaps more important in terms of career, though, was a television show: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I wrote a little bit about what it meant to me here: http://www.inessentials.com/2009/12/15/television…
You know, I've never seen BUFFY. Honestly, I have never had any interest for TV shows featuring teenagers and high school — even when I was a teenage in high school. SAVED BY THE BELL, nope. FREAKS AND GEEKS, nope. PARTY OF FIVE, nope. DAWSON'S CREEK, nope. THE O.C., nope. BEVERLY HILLS 90210, nope. With that said, I know there is a huge academic cult following for BUFFY (and FREAKS AND GEEKS); so I'll probably need to delve into it a little bit one of these days. =)
PS. Glad to know others lost interest in FRIENDS too! I think I made it through 3 seasons before giving up. I lasted a bit longer with ER; I stopped watching it about 2 seasons before it went off the air.
The film, there are two, that changed my life and consistently give me pleasure to this day? Random Harvest with Ronald Colman and The Letter with Bette Davis. I just keep coming back to those two. It's the story in the former and the acting in the latter.
And RH turned out to be one of my husband's favourites from long before he met me.
I'll admit it: I've not seen either of them. I'll add them to the list! =)
Night of the Hunter (1955) with Robert Mitchum. I saw it as a teenager, and it was so different from anything I had ever seen to that point, it made me want to study movies to help me understand what the heck was going on in it. So like your example, I really owe my academic career to it.
Hi — I've only seen parts of NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (preparing for my Film Noir course). Will have to watch the film in its entirety someday soon! Something about Robert Mitchum creeps me out. I do, however, like OUT OF THE PAST. =)
Brian De Palma's Dressed to Kill (1980). The wordless museum sequence with swelling music still floors me. The movie is like theory in secret code–I had no idea how to crack this code when I was 15. I just knew there was a code behind the images. I've been trying to crack that code ever since, which is probably why I became a film prof. Thankfully, I get just as lost now in that movie as I did back in 1980.
Cool — thanks for your response. I've never seen DRESSED TO KILL. Will have to add it to the (ever-growing) list… =)
I hate admitting this now (since I don't like the movie as much as I once did), but American Beauty pretty much changed how I thought about movies. It was the one that spurred me on to do the AFI List, which was a very rewarding experience.
In terms of TV though…that's a lot harder to pin down, but I think the first time I realized what TV was really capable of was when I watched "17 People", a season two episode of The West Wing. It's a remarkably quiet episode (it's a bottle episode), but kind of woke me up to TV. (Took until TV series started rolling out on DVD for me to get really hooked into thinking about TV though.)
And did you finish the AFI list? I'm ashamed to admit it, but I'm still hovering around 73. So 27 more to go…
PS. I really liked THE WEST WING as well — and thus was hoping for good things from STUDIO 60 AND THE SUNSET STRIP. But no dice. =(
I didn't finish the AFI list. I think I've got about 20 left, most the westerns and the war films, neither my favorite genre to sit through.
TV show that changed my life was Veronica Mars and Friday Night Lights. Veronica Mars is the best mystery series ever on television with season long mystery arcs and great writing. Friday Night Lights is fantastic because it just feels so real.
Hi, Seth — thanks for commenting! I've never seen VERONICA MARS, but I hear that it's definitely worth watching. Re: FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, my husband and I tried it for a season; but neither of us really got into it. Perhaps it was a bit "too real," as you say; we're from LA and TX, where football is King. =)