AN A-Z OF HAPPINESS

Some people like fast cars / fast partners / fast food. Some get thrills from dangerous sports or taming wild animals.

I LOVE film. Of course there are too many too mention, but if I was forced to compile an A to Z these are some 35mm gems I would include:

• Annie Hall
• Belleville Rendez-vous
• Citizen Kane
• Dr. Zhivago
• Eat Drink Man Woman
• Le Fate Ignoranti
• The Great Escape
• Hero
• Infernal Affairs (HK)
• Japanese animé (Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Fist of the North Star etc.)
• Kill Bill
• Lost in Translation
• El Mar Adentro
• Naked
• O’ Brother Where Art Thou?
• The Postmen in the Mountains (China)
• Les Quatre Cent Coups
• Remains of the Day
• A Streetcar Named Desire
• Three Colors Trilogy
• The Usual Suspects
• Volver
• West Side Story
• X-Men
• Y Tu Mama Tambien
• Zorro (Douglas Fairbanks Jr. versions)

On a rainy weekend like this one in Londinium, I curl up in bed with a large cup of hot chocolate, snacks and simply watch old B+W movies like Bringing Up Baby, starring Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Some films are just …MAGIC.

The beauty of film as a creative medium is so complex I don’t know where to begin, middle or end the explanation. All I know is that every film-maker puts his or her unique signature on the 35mm canvas that’s as distinguishable as a Seurat from a Severini, a Van Eyck from a Rembrandt, a Magritte from a Dali and a Gris from a Rauschenburg.

What’s great is that film can provide a glimpse into any film-maker’s personal philosophies on life, politics, passions, hopes, fears and collaboration with other humans.