Mixtape Movies Blogathon: Dude, It's A Volleyball!

Andy Hart AKA Fandango Groover has done it again, created another great Lamb Blogathon. This time he challenges us to bring back the mixtape: compile a collection of six movies that fit together, they are not expected to be definitive personal lists, they are just small expressions of creativity in linking the movies. Pick five movies within a chosen theme that compliment each other and one wild card that stands out as different but still maintains the theme.

"I would rather take my chance out there on the ocean than to stay here and die on this shithole island, spending the rest of my life talking TO A GODDAMN VOLLEYBALL!" - Tom Hanks CAST AWAY

I expect this third instalment of Mixtape Movies will be the last for a while but who knows what inspiration I might get between now and tomorrow? If you missed the last two tapes check out Home Sweet Home and A Tiny Flame now!

In honour of Wilson the volleyball from Cast Away this mixtape is intended to highlight loneliness and the various ways we as a species deal with it, at least in cinema anyway. With the idea that these mixtapes are intended to make friends and influence people I started making a list of movies that I love and that aren't widely seen or been used in one of the other mixtapes and I noticed this theme amongst them and it's a theme that has spread to my own writing projects of late. Lost connections, isolation and loneliness are what this mixtape is all about. That and sharing the way I see cinema.

Moon (2009) Dir. Duncan Jones

As with previous mixes I'm going to start the tape off nice and easy, Sam Rockwell in the modern science fiction classic Moon is probably as accessible as it gets when I start to think about this subject. The way he clings to his sanity via GERTY whilst an enjoyable watch is as obvious as it gets without painting a face on a volleyball with your own blood.

The Brown Bunny (2004) Dir. Vincent Gallo

A controversial choice for many but I find Gallo's sophomore effort to be a beautiful, atmospheric study of a man set adrift from society of his own doing. Sure the famous fellatio scene was perhaps a little indulgent but I can't blame the guy. Both of Gallo's films touch on the same subject matter but Brown Bunny is certainly more likely to ignite conversation versus the almost universally loved Buffalo 66.

Atmen (2012) Dir. Karl Markovics

Karl Markovics' debut is a very recent experience for me but it has stayed with me, barely a day passing without thinking about the life of its protagonist, Roman Kogler, a young man who has spent his entire life in an institution of one kind or another struggling to find his place in the world. Truly affecting cinema.

Man Push Cart (2005) Ramin Bahrani

The first film I ever got invited to watch at a film festival, it always struck me as deserving of a much wider audience than it got. Its subject is a lonely Pakistani immigrant in New York working towards his American dream and features a series of indiginities culminating in a heartbreaking ending. Bahrani has gone on to be considered a pioneer of the "neo-neo-realist" American cinema with his films Chop Shop and Goodbye Solo treading similar territory. A director well worth searching out.

Fish Tank (2009) Dir. Andrea Arnold

Fish Tank is my wildcard selection because it doesn't take the idea f loneliness as it's central theme but it underscores the entire piece by being the driving force for the behaviour one of the characters. Andrea Arnold is another director whose work consistently deals with similar events and emotions, whilst Red Road featured a woman who chooses isolation in an attempt to deal with her grief over a tragic event Fish Tank looks at a teenage girl in a working class single parent family and how she reacts to being essentially abandoned by her mother.

Wendy & Lucy (2008) Dir. Kelly Reichardt

Wendy starts the movie with three things, her car, her dog and hope. By the time the end credits roll she has had to give up all but the slightest slither of hope. A wonderful film featuring a wonderful performance from Michelle Williams.

I'm starting to think that I might not be making the best impression on people with all these less than cheerful movie mixtapes, maybe I'll make a bubblegum pop mixtape next. Join in the discussion in the comments or tweet @bbbgtoby #mixtapemovies. Did you make a mixtape I haven't seen yet? Leave a link. If you want to join in head over to Fandango Groovers for the full instructions and for more movie mixtapes check out the complete database here (after 22nd June.)

Mixtape Movies Blogathon: Home Sweet Home

Andy Hart AKA Fandango Groover has done it again, created another great Lamb Blogathon. This time he challenges us to bring back the mixtape: compile a collection of six movies that fit together, they are not expected to be definitive personal lists, they are just small expressions of creativity in linking the movies. Pick five movies within a chosen theme that compliment each other and one wild card that stands out as different but still maintains the theme.

"These children, they're not really bad most of them, just products of rotten neighbourhoods and bad family situations." - Sixteen by No Doubt

I enjoyed making A Tiny Flame to Cup One’s Hand Around and Protect From the Wind so much that I couldn't stop thinking about new ways to share groups of films with people who are in need of my education and so several more mixtapes were recorded to my long play VHS tapes. First up is Home Sweet Home, a movie mixtape title that recalls one of my favourite music mixtapes that I ever made and an early blogging attempt. 

The phrase Home Sweet Home conjures up images of family dinners, cross-stitched sofa covers and a cat to sit on your feet whilst you watch TV but I can't say I've ever cared much for movies about warm, loving parents, hot dinners, family holidays and other such movie cliche. Perhaps because I had never experienced it in real life, when I think of families in cinema I think of the damage that they inflict upon each other without even trying and sometimes when they do.

In keeping with the previous theme of making a mixtape to educate or impress another human being I picked six films that demonstrate my cinematic taste, my "wide" knowledge of world cinema and my cynical outlook on life and family. If you were to watch one of these a day for a week and still want to hang out with me come Sunday then I think we're gonna be good friends.

Festen (1998) Dir. Thomas Vinterberg

A nice easy Dogme '95 movie about buggering your young son to start things off. Without making light of the scenario Vinterberg demonstrates the conflict within a group of adult siblings desperate for parental approval. Material that Arrested Development would mine frequently to great effect.

L'Enfant d'en Haut (2009) Dir. Ursula Meier

Either of Ursula Meier's acclaimed films could have found a home on this mixtape, but it is the more recent Sister that I eventually landed on due to the honest reality presented as opposed to the slightly surreal nature of Home. The familial relationship here whilst bleak also offers real hope that "modern family structures" can provide warmth and support for their young children.

The War Zone (1999) Dir. Tim Roth

I wouldn't be a true cinephile or mixtape impresario if I didn't include something obscure and in desperate need of being seen by more people. Tim Roth's The War Zone is exactly that movie in this instance. It's a film with a scene that made Ray Winstone cry during production and holds a mirror up to a Broken Britain that isn't getting fixed any time soon.

Dogtooth (2010) Dir. Giorgos Lanthimos

Considering some of the dark material included in this mixtape the unusual family situation presented in Dogtooth becomes a remarkably light watch for the most part. This choice allows you to ponder the bliss of not knowing that you are suffering abuse at the hands of your parents whilst thinking that you live in paradise.

Tillsammans (2000) Dir. Lukas Moodysson

I debated on the positioning of this one on the tape, whether to end with something slightly lighter or not. Tillsammans presents a Swedish comic alternative to the traditional family unit, a young boy is moved in to a hippy commune with his mother and all that that entails. Quirky yet serious, a social reevalutation with interesting characters.

There Will Be Blood (2007) Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson

My wild card is my choice to end the mixtape with. It doesn't fit with the whole in that it isn't solely about families but it does feature a relationship that is worth highlighting and any excuse to get somebody experiencing this masterpiece is good enough for me. There Will Be Blood is many things, including a not very pleasant portrait of Daniel Plainview, father. It had to be the last track, how do you follow this film other than a cup of coffee with your new friend who made you this mixtape?

What do you think? I'm bound to have left out some great films on similar subjects, what would you have included? Leave some comments here or on twitter @bbbgtoby with #moviemixtape. Did you make a mixtape I haven't seen yet? Leave a link. If you want to join in head over to Fandango Groovers for the full instructions and for more movie mixtapes check out the complete database here (after 22nd June.)

Mixtape Movies Blogathon: A Tiny Flame to Cup One's Hand Around and Protect From the Wind

“To me, making a tape is like writing a letter – there’s a lot of erasing and rethinking and starting again. A good compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do. You’ve got to kick off with a corker, to hold the attention, and then you’ve got to up it a notch, or cool it a notch, and…oh, there are loads of rules.” - John Cusack in High Fidelity.

Andy Hart AKA Fandango Groover has done it again, created another great Lamb Blogathon. This time he challenges us to bring back the mixtape: compile a collection of six movies that fit together, they are not expected to be definitive personal lists, they are just small expressions of creativity in linking the movies. Pick five movies within a chosen theme that compliment each other and one wild card that stands out as different but still maintains the theme.

To me the two most prominent icons in pop culture regarding mixtapes are High Fidelity in which John Cusack discusses the reasons and method for making a mixtape and Love is a Mixtape by Rob Sheffield, the true story of a relationship told through mixtapes and it is the title of Rob Sheffield's book that inspired my movie mixtape.

In general isn't that why we all make or most likely made mixtapes? We all want to be loved. Whether we want to tell the object of our affection how we feel through a handful of well chosen songs or impress them with just how intelligent and thoughtful we are or even just show off how obscure your tastes are, making the perfect mixtape can get you laid, can make you friends, can even be a cathartic experience. It's that attempt to find the perfect match between pretentious and pop, the attention to detail in your artwork, thinking up a really clever title and waiting anxiously for the response from the recipient, that's where the real pleasure in making the mixtape comes from. And that is the joy experienced once more in this digital world as I made this mixtape of movies.

As I said, making a mixtape is all about love and I've taken that idea literally with this one. Love is what these films have in common, films about that moment, however fleeting, when one soul connects with another and all the joy and pain, laughter and tears that it can bring.

So I give you the blahblahblahgay entry to the Fandango Groovers Mixtape Movies Blogathon:

Lost in Translation (2003) Dir. Sofia Coppola

Bill Murray forms an unlikely bond with Scarlett Johansson whilst they are both in Tokyo. A wonderful way to start the mixtape, it's a cornerstone of modern American cinema that most girls I'd give this to would have at least heard of if not seen already. The mesmerising nature of the cinematography and direction perfectly compliment the melancholy nature of the love story and the punch to the gut as the film closes sums up the entire nature of the mixtape.

Weekend (2011) Dir. Andrew Haigh

The second track is as important as the first, you've hooked them with that opener and now they want to see more but it's important not to peak too soon, so you change it up a little. This is the one I put the most thought in to selecting. Initially I considered the wonderful poetry of Kim Ki-Duk's love story Bin Jip but dismissed it as too difficult for a novice, the second option was Zach Clark's mumblecore romance Quiet City. What hipster wouldn't want to share how awesomely hip they are with a piece of mumblecore? But Weekend is the perfect mix of pretension and pop, it also says the compiler is open to people who choose lifestyles different to their own, see how considerate of others I am? Don't you want to come over whilst my mum is out of town? It's also one of the greatest movies about love ever made.


In The Mood For Love (2000) Dir. Wong Kar-Wai

I'm making this for a female right? This one is a beautiful devastating picture that oozes style and I haven't met a woman yet who hasn't found Maggie Cheung and her costumes to be jaw droppingly beautiful. The third track is the point where you really need to make a statement with this kind of mixtape, and with In The Mood For Love I am saying, hey doesn't loneliness suck, I am guy with heart, I could be good for you, putting the possibility of a relationship out there for consideration as a counterpoint to that loneliness.

Harold and Maude (1971) Dir. Hal Ashby

It's time for the wild card, Hal Ashby's beautiful love story of a really old lady with a lust for life and the teenage boy who has a fascination with death. It shouldn't work but it does and whilst it might creep someone out it also demonstrates the power of love and how little differences between two people can be overcome. See, she might have doubts about our compatibility but if Harold can love Maude surely she can love this hipster even if he doesn't wear skin tight cords or enjoy the music of Morrissey.


Last Life in the Universe (2003) Dir. Pen-Ek Ratanaruang

Two lost and lonely souls are brought together by tragedy in Bangkok. Neither of them speak the same language but their relationship helps them to find meaning in their lives. It's also another weapon in overcoming obstacles, it tells the viewer that love could be fleeting, that life is fleeting and you shouldn't hesitate to make the most of the time you have with this person you are connected with. After Harold & Maude and Last Life if they aren't sending you suggestive snapchat images then you're pretty much out of luck. Either that or you picked a cold, heartless woman who could never love you.

Brief Encounter (1946) Dir. David Lean

Heart wrenching performances from the two leads in this perfect example of how repressing your passions can cause great pain. This is the piece de resistance but also the deal breaker, if she doesn't love this film then I don't want to know her.

What do you think? Would you be putty in my hands after this manipulative mixtape? Leave some comments here or on twitter @bbbgtoby with #moviemixtape. Did you make a mixtape I haven't seen yet? Leave a link. If you want to join in head over to Fandango Groovers for the full instructions and for more movie mixtapes check out the complete database here (after 22nd June.)