Films with a beautiful, literate script

[Emil Miller]

Add into the mix an upper class homosexual and a central character who is a raging alcoholic, plus the grey skies and drizzle, and you have Britain in a nutshell!

Well I can definitely agree with you here.

[hawthorns]

Scripts are crap these days.

Maybe the best ever, imho:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1S3L...2090F8A7A9DBAA

"He told me and, on the instant, it was as though someone had switched off the wireless, and a voice that had been bawling in my ears, incessantly, fatuously, for days beyond number, had been suddenly cut short; an immense silence followed, empty at first, but gradually, as my outraged sense regained authority, full of a multitude of sweet and natural and long-forgotten sounds – for he had spoken a name that was so familiar to me, a conjuror's name of such ancient power, that, at its mere sound, the phantoms of those haunted late years began to take flight."

[KCurtis]

Well I can definitely agree with you here.

I thought that while Redford's Gatsby didn't work extremely well, the pairing of him and Waterston was excellent.

Despite my lack of faith in the director I am getting my hopes up for de Caprio as Gatsby.

I don't know much about the director, he could get it right. Coppola didn't. And DeCaprio can only work with what he is given by direction and a script - I think. We will see.

[kelby_lake]

Well, Luhrman is known for glitzy excess so it should look good, although the excess is often quite camp. I think the elevator scene will be taken full advantage of...

[joelavine]

Chinatown
Rear Window
Notorious
Smiles of a Summer Night
Autumn Sonata
Persona
Fanny and Alexander
Scenes from a Marriage
Hannah and her Sisters
The Shop Around the Corner
The Lady Eve
Sullivan's Travels
Under the Sand
Swimming Pool
The Verdict
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Look At Me
Weekend
Let the Right One In
The Sixth Sense
All About Eve
Ran
The Law of Desire
Nashville
Eat Drink Man Woman
The Wedding Banquet
Life is Beautiful
A Special Day
Midnight
Twentieth Century

[Chris 73]

Forget it or check out the videos on YouTube, it's like all 'cult movies', designed to appeal to those under the age of thirty and usually forgotten thereafter. For a film that really reflects the UK character of its time, just watch Tunes of Glory which has terrific performances by all concerned under the careful direction of Ronald Neame. No pseudo quirky dramatics but a straightforward story about real people, as opposed to phony 'eccentrics' whose behaviour is obviously contrived and is neither amusing or interesting.

http://youtu.be/weBJNrj6g-E

Absolute nonsense. One of the finest films known to humanity. Funny,profane,literate and very moving.

Anywhoo, Silence Of The Lambs also gets my vote. Some beautiful and striking passages there.

Edit: I may be a tad biased here.

[Chris 73]

Shakespeare in Love
The Princess Bride
Manhattan
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Goodbye, Mr Chips
The Railway Children


I don't think that Withnail is quite the work of genius that it's cracked up to be, though it is a very good comic evocation of a specific way of life at a specific time in British recent history (take my word for it). It'd be interesting to know whether it would have been as successful had someone other than Richard E Grant been playing the lead - and it's significant that that's almost impossible to imagine.

Michael Maloney (who?) was offered the role but turned it down. He thought it was homophobic.

[Emil Miller]

Well, Luhrman is known for glitzy excess so it should look good, although the excess is often quite camp. I think the elevator scene will be taken full advantage of...

What's to take of advantage of? Two drunken guys get into a lift and the operator thinks they're going to fool round with the controls. End of story.

[Prairie]

All these are good choices, but I still have to vote for the film written by the man who changed my life, Horton Foote.

There is no adaptation as luminous and quietly powerful as To Kill A Mockingbird.

[educatedNreverS]

Requiem for a dream is the most most beautiful film I have ever seen. It contains all the feeling, which movies simply can't cover in most circumstances because there is only so much time available, that the most emotional and passionate works of literature present. The climax is orgasmic, pretty much everyone has seen it or at least heard of it. Had to mention it though. Also check out any Tarentino movie....

[Kafka's Crow]

Lolita was made into a film in 1998 starring Jeremy Irons:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkB7c...e_gdata_player

My personal favourite was ’Wit' starring Emma Thompson:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wit-Region-N...7510699&sr=8-1

[LunarPlexus]

"Harold and Maude" Was just gorgeous. There are some very silly moments, but it's all put together so beautifully. Anything that comes out of Maude's mouth is lovely and so true, no matter how many times I watch that movie I shed some tears.

"Women in Film" is pretty obscure, but if you can get hold of it, it's so worth watching. It's a series of monologues by three women, and it's gut-wrenching. Portia Di Rossi plays an ego-maniacal whacko, and listening to her is almost hypnotizing.

[Kafka's Crow]

Emma Thompson on 'Wit':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US4oc...e_gdata_player

[Sancho Panza]

It is clear to me that the bast script ever written is that for the film Donnie Darko. For example:

Donnie:
Why do you wear that stupid bunny suit?
Frank:
Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?


Donnie:
You are such a f*ckass.
Elizabeth:
Did you just call me a f*ckass? You can go suck a f*ck.
Donnie:
Oh, please, tell me Elizabeth, how exactly does one suck a f*ck?


Donnie: (reading poem in class)
A storm is coming, Frank says
A storm that will swallow the children
And I will deliver them from the kingdom of pain
I will deliver the children back the their doorsteps
And send the monsters back to the underground
I'll send them back to a place where no-one else can see them
Except for me
Because I... am Donnie Darko.


And not forgetting:

Roberta Sparrow:
Every creature on this earth dies alone.


What more do you need?

[Desolation]

Requiem for a dream is the most most beautiful film I have ever seen. It contains all the feeling, which movies simply can't cover in most circumstances because there is only so much time available, that the most emotional and passionate works of literature present. The climax is orgasmic, pretty much everyone has seen it or at least heard of it. Had to mention it though. Also check out any Tarentino movie....

I can't even look at a still from that movie without going into convulsions. It was a very effective film, I'll give it that...But it's also about the most unenjoyable high-quality movie ever made. Whenever anyone tells me that they "like it" I can't help but feel that they missed the point.