4 'PERSONAL' FILMS

 1) VIRIDIANA. I have loved Bunuel's masterpiece since first seeing it in Birmingham's Electric Cinema, (currently the oldest working cinema in the UK), almost 50 years ago and it has stayed with me until the present day. Why? Well, I am a Catholic and I still 'practice' and this is a very Catholic film. Actually, most people would say it is the most 'Anti-Catholic' of films since finally piety is thrown over in favour of 'sin' and this is one of the few great films to tackle the subject of Catholic guilt. You might say all good Catholics are permanently guilty; it's drilled into us from birth so I can see myself somewhere up there on the screen, in the foreground or in the background, every time I see VIRIDIANA. Hopefully. unlike the heroine here, I will have my cake and eat it, too. 

2) THE QUIET MAN. I'm not just Catholic but an Irish Catholic and I love being Irish, as in born on the island of Ireland which is probably why I love THE QUIET MAN so much. This is the greatest (and the worst) of Irish films, a film that conjures up an Ireland that is basically mythical and the Ireland of our dreams. Of course, I have visit Cong where it was filmed and why not and of course it is one of the worst. It paints all us Irish men as priest-loving, women-beating, drunken IRA men...but then stop and think. Is this reality or a fantasy like STAR WARS. I will leave it up to you to decide.

3) SINGIN' IN THE RAIN. My Irish-Catholicism has nothing to do with this one. I fell in love with the cinema almost from the time I learned how to tie my own shoes and my father told me that I was born with a song in my heart, (though unlike him I have never been able to carry a tune) so why shouldn't I love SINGIN' IN THE RAIN and feel it is 'personal' to me since it is the greatest of all screen musicals and one of the few truly great films about the cinema.

4) BLOW UP. I have chosen this as my fourth most personal film because, while I have loved every frame of this masterpiece since first seeing it, (and making a pilgrimage to the film's famous London park), it was the favourite film of my late friend Mike who died in January. Mike was a true cineaste, a great blogger and a fabulous human being. I know I will never watch this film again without seeing him. Hopefully he is now in that big Art-House in the sky and smiling down on me.