If only you knew how little I know about the things that matter

Continuing my trip down Empire's top 100 films of the century so far.

#14 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Not an easy film to describe, but definitely worth a watch.  Top 10 for me – and Jim Carrey isn’t annoying, which is always a bonus.

#15 Spirited Away

I really like this – who isn’t going to love a film where a girl has to make friends with a dragon because her parents have been turned into pigs?

#16 Spider Man:Into the Spider-Verse

I liked this, but didn’t really understand the huge amounts of praise it received.  It’s inventive and amusing, but I can’t say there’s anything there to drag me back to it.

#17 Mulholland Drive

Meh.  Highly over-rated and I struggle to imagine too many people ever revisit it.  Either that or I’m wrong.

#18 Inside Out

Now this really is an inventive and amusing animated film.  And heartbreaking.  And hopeful.  And so many other things - almost perfect.

#19 The Wolf Of Wall Street

I’m not really a huge fan of Leornardo DiCaprio, but this is just a really fun blast of a film.

#20 Interstellar

Whereas I am a huge fan of Christopher Nolan, but this most definitely isn’t.

#21 Children of Men 

I’m surprised this is so high on the list, but I really like it.  It’s well worth a look if you haven’t seen it.

#22 Gladiator

My first ever DVD!  I’d say this film is under-rated, but it’s appearance at #22 would suggest otherwise.

#23 City of God

The comment from #21 applies equally here.

#24 La La Land

I don’t like musicals, but I’d happily watch this again.  The start and the end in particular are both magical.

Which brings us on to Call Me By Your Name, which I hadn’t exactly avoided but I’d just never had any desire to watch.  My first comment is that this is most definitely not a film to watch when you’re supposed to be on holiday somewhere sunny but can’t be, given that everyone, everything and everywhere in it is just so foreign and beautiful.  

Surprisingly little happens for large parts of the film, but it doesn’t seem to overly matter since everything is suffused with yearning or an anticipation for what may or may not be about to happen.  The performances are fine, although you don’t get the impression that anyone was trying too hard (so they’re either lazy or effortless – you decide!) but the scenery is just fantastic.

However, I must admit to finding the central relationship problematic – I feel I don’t have much relevant life experience to draw on to comment further (so it’s probably best that I don’t) but I do wonder whether a film depicting a similar mixed-sex relationship would have garnered such critical acclaim. So whilst it did look wonderful (and meant I really wanted to be on my holiday in Portugal!), I can’t say I’ll be revisiting it – I can see why people liked it, but it’s not for me.