Best FIlms About Filmmaking

(i think day for night is my fave)

A lot of people claim "Day For Night" as their favorite, but I never cared for that film--of course, I've only seen an English dubbed version. It just seemed like most of Truffaut--too sappy & sentimental for my tastes.

"8 1/2" is probably my favorite, because it takes the most subjective and fantastical approach, which in the end becomes the most realistic: filmmaking is always a blur of ambition, as is life.

"Contempt" is a close second. I love the special features on the Criterion disk, especially the discussion between Fritz Lang and Godard.

"Living in Oblivion" (despite it's early '90's indie cliches like doors closing to end the scene) was fantastic. It made me laugh and cringe at the same time, having been in those situations before. It was a good reminder of why I never pursued narrative filmmaking: working with ego-driven actors and crew is insanity. The idea of "collective art" is great in theory, but in practice it's a disaster waiting to happen. It's amazing indie films come off at all--you really have to love the medium to go through that kind of hell for little to no pay.

you're right, jay - "day for night" is one of the more sentimental of truffaut's films. but i find his delight really contagious in general, and it spills out everywhere in "day for night". i like how that film isn't about any particular kind of movie... just movies in general, the good and the bad alike, and how there's something magical about the welles stills in the dream sequence and the absurd "pamela" movie - even if you know how all of the "magic" is manufactured. i don't really have any angle on the film that hasn't been written about to death, but it works for me. and i wouldn't even say it's in my top 3 truffaut films.

i also thought of:

ed wood
the man with the movie camera (though i suppose this falls into the experimental category)

"Traffic was a bitch."

I'll eat my hat on this one. You're absolutely right about the effectiveness of the "universal movie" being made, and the theft of the citizen kane posters is an absolutely beautiful scene that any filmmaker who was once a kid in love with the movies can identify with. i'll have to watch this film again, this time with subtitles!

I loved 'Ed Wood'.

Jerry Lewis' "The Patsy"

"The Last Tycoon' is an interesting failure.

My favourite film about filmaking is "Irma Vep"....

and CQ was not a mess. It had a charmingly loose structure.

Also: Albert Brooks- Real Life

There is some good stuff about looping in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.

restored Canadian Crime Wave (1985) by John Paizs, praised above, restored and showing at NYC MoMA tom'w night