Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Controversial Film Festival

So, I'm in the Honors Forum at my school, and to keep my membership, I need to complete a "citizenship project" for the school community.

I think I want to host a weekend-long film festival for controversial films-- movies that have been banned, censored, and generally considered 'unacceptable' by a lot of people. I'd like to play films that aren't as well-known, in addition to the really big ones like Clockwork Orange.

Any ideas?

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Man Bites Dog

Anonymous said...

Contact Crispin Glover to have him do a showing of his film "What is it?"

Anonymous said...

David Cronenberg's Crash - maybe too obvious?

Yeshua (not that one) said...

Irreversible

Requiem for a Dream

Anonymous said...

"Lust, Caution" - pretty well known but fascinating on many levels, the main actress has been banned in China for her performance.

Anonymous said...

Go find an old film called THE RAPTURE with Mimi Rogers and David Duchovny. You will seriously not regret it.

The Bagboy said...

Salo
I Spit On Your Grave
Cannibal Holocaust
Faces of Death
Lolita

Robert said...

I recommend heading over to the horror boards on IMDB to ask for suggestions. A lot of those posters are obsessed with banned and controversial films.

My suggestion: In My Skin (Dans ma peau). It's one of those deeply psychological horror films that had many documented cases of people passing out at festival screenings because the suggested content - self mutilation to become connected to the human body - was so disturbing. You barely see a drop of blood, but hear enough to know exactly what she's doing. Suicide Club and Noriko's Dinner Table fit into that category as well - controversial because the content gets pushed so far over what's acceptable.

Oh, and Battle Royale. How obvious.

Anonymous said...

Spike Lee's "Bamboozled" is certainly confrontational and probably still quite capable of generating controversy.

The movie "Priest" is a great example of a film that wanted to be controversial and provacative and is, sort of, but manages to be, well, WRONG about pretty much everything. Ebert's review (which can be found on his website) nails the film's inability to see itself as it really is much better than I could, so I'll point you there. In any case, with his analysis in one hand and the conclusions the film obviously WANTS you to draw in the other, it's a "fun"-filled night of controversy and disagreement for everyone!

Try "Lars and the Real Girl" for a movie that will have you feeling something for the guy who buys a sex-doll that you didn't expect (i.e., something other than contempt). I consider that controversial.

Try - I kid you not - Bobcat Goldthwait's "Sleeping Dogs Lie." He's not in it, thank god, he just wrote (and I think directed) it. Seriously. Look into it. Not even kidding.

Anonymous said...

I second Cannibal Holocaust; also try Freaks and In the Realm of the Senses. And Life of Brian instead of Last Temptation of Christ.

Anonymous said...

I know they're kind of "big/obvious" ones, but both Rosemary's Baby and Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974, please, as if there was any other) were highly controversial when they were released. And don't forget about Triumph of the Will and Un Chien Andalou. Again, big & obvy, but not seen by many modern audiences.

Anonymous said...

The Battle of Algiers: maybe not so controversial here, but highly controversial in 60's France, where it was banned for 5 years.

Tod Browning's Freaks: a horror movie from 1932, most people at the time felt it went to far in that Browning used actual circus freaks for actors.

Valley of the Wolves: Iraq: A Turkish film that is a very recent and very anti-American take on the current Middle East situation.

Sugar Kane said...

When I was in college (in the Stone Age...actually the late '80s) there was a big brouhaha about a screening of "The Cook, The Thief, The Wife and Her Lover". It was pretty darned controversial (and sold out within minutes).

Hank Mohaski said...

Visitor Q

Ken Park

Boxing Helena

Irreversible

Hail, Mary

Henry, Portrait Of A Serial Killer

Anonymous said...

9 songs or shortbus for the explicit sex on screen angle.

Anonymous said...

Vengence is Mine, Audition, Dumplings, any short by richard kern.

Anonymous said...

IRREVERSABLE

I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE

SHORTBUS

Anjali said...

Bad Boy Bubby
The Corndog Man

oddest movies I remember seeing

Unknown said...

I like the Crispin Glover recommendation.

Spanking the Monkey.

Meet the Feebles.

Zeitgeist.

Kids.

Anonymous said...

"Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song"

Anonymous said...

I recommend Palindromes by Todd Solondz, or anything by Todd Solondz for that matter. Everything he does is disturbing and thought provoking.

Anonymous said...

Baise Moi.

It was banned in Australia, anyway.

Anonymous said...

The Woodsman, Kevin Bacon is the main character and a child molester. Hard to watch, but great acting. (There are no molestation scenes in the film).

Anonymous said...

American History X
Saved!
Jesus Camp

Anonymous said...

Last House on the Left

Anonymous said...

Monty Python's Life of Brian.
Dogma.
Muhammad, Messenger of God.
The Thin Blue Line.

Anonymous said...

The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel)