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I've heard that movie rentals are comparatively high, as is movie theater attendance, on the weekend following Thanksgiving. So, I thought I'd list my most frequently recommended films in an entry on this long holiday weekend eve. I'm inspired by a diaryland buddy, just because we've recently been talking about one of the films on my list.

Some are obvious, so on many a movie list, but the reasons they appear here are completely my own. I go into some of those reasons here. They are in no particular order and amended now and then:

1. Being There (the peak of Hal Ashby's directorial career, screenplay/novel by Jerzy Kosinski, and Peter Sellers' best role, I believe)

2. My Life as a Dog (Swedish, dir. Lasse Hallstrom's finest, in my humble opinion)

3. Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, Grace Kelly, James Stewart with long lens, and a great story)

4. To Kill a Mockingbird (Gregory Peck! and a favorite novel)

5. The Hairdresser's Husband (French, dir. Patrice Leconte, I want to dance like Jean Rochefort) also in my top 20 or so, I'd recommend Leconte's The Girl on the Bridge, I have a thing for Daniel Auteuil

6. Proof (Australian, dir. Jocelyn Moorehouse, with Hugo Weaving, and Russell Crowe before his head got too big for most rooms, I love this film about a blind photographer)

7. Harold and Maude (dir. Hal Ashby again, with Bud Cort - nearly died when I recognized him at once in Pollock, Ruth Gordon - if I can be her when I'm old, then okay, otherwise, I'd like to die young, and Cat Stevens' music - my first fantasy boyfriend)

8. Cinema Paradiso (dir. Giuseppe Tornatore, Italy!! Cinema!! those film clips make me cry too)

9. The Pillow Book (dir. Peter Greenaway, his characters are canvases and, for me, they don't have to be complete or believable...this is art for art's sake on many levels)

10. Leon (aka The Professional, dir. Luc Besson's La Femme Nikita was also sexy-cool, Leon's best friend was his plant, and yes, Gary Oldman was over-the-top, but as far as I'm concerned, he does that better than anyone, so he's allowed)

11. either Wings of Desire (dir. Wim Wenders, Nick Cave, and images of Berlin that are beautifully surreal and personally meaningful since I, like the angels, was there when the city was still divided), Naked (an unpopular choice, but dir. Mike Leigh and David Thewlis are just WOW), or Crash (dir. David Cronenberg, Holly Hunter - southern actor whose choices and depth always amaze, Deborah Kara Unger and all those other sexy people in a critical flop, but I can't help it...I love the tone of the film and, of course, the kink)

12. Following (dir. Christopher Nolan, Memento left me puzzling and speechless all three times, but Following - that came before - is true film noir, with as many twists and a sexual undercurrent that completely took me in)

13. any of Catherine Deneuve's films, as in: Belle de jour (dir. Luis Bunuel, high class hooking - oh yeah, baby), The Hunger (David Bowie, Willem Dafoe and Susan Sarandon), Les Voleurs (dir. Andre Techine, Daniel Auteuil again, plenty of sex, I loved this movie that got very little attention), and Repulsion (dir. Roman Polanski, her tour de force)

14. All About My Mother (my favorite by Almodovar, whose films I love, this one dedicated to actresses)

15. Chungking Express (dir. Wong Kar-Wai's interwoven stories of big city loneliness, he wrote his script by day and filmed by night)

16. The Elephant Man (dir. David Lynch, I have no words, just blubbering emotion) that, or for something completely different by him: Eraserhead, but I'm no a fan club member for the rest of his films

I'll stop here...I could go on and on...but it's time to go pick up sis at the airport and eat without stopping for days.

edit: addition of a partial (tiny) list of my 4 and 5 star netflix films...picking out just a few beginning with select letters of the alphabet: