5 films recommended by Harvard: works that the prestigious university recommends to its students

There are lists for everything and everyone on the net, and movie lists are clearly one of them. The best movies of all time, the best movies by genre, there’s something for everyone. And one of the best sites to find specific movie listings is Letterboxd.

And that’s where our colleagues at SensaCine found a very curious list: compiled by the Harvard Film Doctoral Program, a list of films that the prestigious university recommends to its PhD students in film and visual studies.

Among them are five: masterpieces for some and not, a list that proves that the criteria of moviegoers is personal and subjective and depends on each person’s affinity.

Tree of Life (2011)

A film that was not unanimous. Terrence Malick’s Swan Song attempts to define what life means to humans. Pretentious? Yes, in the eyes of many, but above all ambitious. Does it achieve its goal? It depends on everyone. The film remains a poem in pictures, which even dares to stage the origin of the universe. With Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain and Sean Penn. An experience you must try if you haven’t already.

United Red Army (2007)

Japan has never been a country with terrorist activity. However, during the 1970s, the United Red Army wanted to contradict this statement. The film consists of three acts: it begins with the student uprisings of the 1960s with archival footage, then continues with the formation of a terrorist group in the mountains of the south of the country and shows the brutality with which they themselves killed the members of the group. for minor violations. Finally, it ends up with a fragmented group after two members escape. A major feature of Japanese cinema, directed by veteran Koji Wakamatsu, which lasts 190 minutes.

The Death of Dante Lazarescu (2005)

Romanian cinema is characterized by the fact that, in addition to the length of the films, they deal with very bad subjects at best. Death of Dante Lazarescu It tells the story of an old man who goes to the hospital because he feels sick and is taken away without the specialized help he deserves. and lasts 153 minutes. This dark comedy by Christie Pouille won the 2005 Cannes Film Prize in the category “A Certain Point of View”.

talk to her (2005)

For many, Pedro Almodovar’s best film is one of Harvard’s recommendations for its students. The film is a love and death story about the strange friendship between two men as they take care of two women who are both in a deep coma. Talk to him Won BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay and Best Foreign Language Film, César for Best EU Film, Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The movie is available to stream on Netflix.

LOVES WOMEN DOGS (2000)

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s first film offered us a wonderful collage of stories around a car accident involving three people in Mexico City. A violent and gritty example of the Crossed Lives subgenre, starring Emilio Echevarria, Gael García Bernal, Goya Toledo, and Alvaro Guerrero, among others. The feature film won the 2002 BAFTA for Best Foreign Language Film.