MIX/VHS | Week 050
We're celebrating the 50th MIX/VHS with a special themed mix treat for you! Each of our contributors was asked to pick a feature-length film that they deem their favorite. What work inspires them. What work they find themselves revisiting year in and year out. 5 contributors 5 films. The 50th Mix. We hope you enjoy!
Jurassic Park
WATCH THE TRAILER HERE!
WATCH THE FILM HERE!
Jurassic Park has consistently been a film that has redefined itself to me my whole life. It is the single most important film to me. The subtle themes, the underlying metaphors, the precise direction, the enigmatic performances, the revolutionary effects, the beautiful and fluid cinematography. But above all else, this cinematic masterpiece continues to instill that sense of childlike wonder, amazement, and inspiration that I remember feeling the first time I watched it. It is pure escapism, which makes it, above all else, reign superior as my favorite feature film of all time.
- Jake
her
WATCH THE TRAILER HERE!
WATCH THE FILM HERE!
Transcendent in soulfulness, somber reflection, and just an around heart-squeezer, her is so masterful. So full of love. So full of joy and sadness and everything in-between. It feels like your favorite blanket you throw in the dryer and wear around yourself when everything in your life is falling apart. The way its characters speak on the matter of love and how it changes for them throughout is something I find myself returning so often in times of emotional weariness. Outside of the beautiful filmmaking that Spike Jonze and his collaborators crafted (cinematography, score, performances, etc etc etc), my favorite effect of the film is that it stirs a conversation well beyond the final credit scroll. It becomes a helpful reminder for us all that love will always grow, even when we feel that it is dying. And I cannot thank it enough for all that it has given me in my life.
- Spencer
Three Colours: Red
WATCH THE TRAILER HERE!
WATCH THE FILM HERE!
Red is the third part of Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Three Colours trilogy, completed in 1994. From its outset, the film explores the connections between a whole net of characters, but the story focuses on two in particular: Valentin, a university student, and Kern, a retired judge. Spiraling outward from these two, Red examines the closeness and the separation between all human beings, as well as the spaces and barriers that fill our lives. At turns unsettling, at others achingly sad, the film also deftly adds comic moments that feel perfectly at home. This is a profoundly humanist film that works due to its soulful score, its stunning cinematography, and its authentic, searching performances. Due to his untimely death just two years later, Red would become Kieślowski’s last film–but luckily, it serves as a truly triumphant final achievement.
- Matt
(500) Days of Summer
WATCH THE TRAILER HERE!
WATCH THE FILM HERE!
I feel like this movie does such a great job of making a time in everyone's life very relatable through not only great acting and story, but even the style choices throughout. It's hard to narrow down what my favorite scene from this film is, but the Dreams Come True scene is such a good one, I'll just say I like it best at the moment. This movie really changed my own personal writing style, and for that, it's certainly at the top of my list.
- Carrie
Dazed and Confused
WATCH THE TRAILER HERE!
WATCH THE FILM HERE!
Yeah, it's a cliche to love this movie and live in Austin. But it probably had more of an impact on me than I care to admit. And judging by the giant Matthew McConaughey cutouts at ACL every year, I'd say I'm probably not alone. Dazed and Confused may be a rose-tinted product of an earlier time when entire towns were cool with middle-schoolers being hazed into oblivion by eighteen years olds, but dammit if it isn't entertaining. Endlessly quotable, endlessly funny, and rocking an endlessly kickass soundtrack, D&C is the ultimate roving stoner movie. Check ya laaaaaaater!
- JJ
Like this mix? Tell us what you think in the comments below, and let us know what you’re recommending for us to watch this week!