38 Films on the Love of Films

25. My Big Break (2009)

Love for the silver screen fame is a double-edged sword, this controversial and eminently watchable documentary filmed over ten years, tells us without any sugar coating. Five roommates, four wannabe actors and one aspiring director, try to make it in Hollywood but fail repeatedly. Running out of options, the director resorts to filming his four other roommates. Thanks to that, three of the actors hit it big leaving the fourth bitter and anguished. But when things that one wishes for come true, is it essentially a good thing?

Watch a trailer for the movie here.

26. My Date with Drew (2004)

Love for films takes the most pedestrian hue, stalking a film star, in this not-at-all-pedestrian documentary. Ever since the second grade, Brian, a film buff, has had a virulent crush on Drew Barrymore. After twenty years of harbouring it deep inside, he is at a point of life where his professional, personal and love life are going nowhere. So he decides to make a go for her. Armed with 1100 US$ (prize money of a reality show, no prize for guessing what the winning answer was), a video camera (rented for 30 days), and a few school pals he embarks on a journey to get a date with Drew. He films every bit of his quest. What results is a refreshing documentary full of innocuousness and chutzpah.

Watch a trailer for the movie here.

27. Not Quite Hollywood: OZPloitation (2008)

Who doesn't love all the sex, violence, action and horror in B-Movies? The genre movies of Australia in the late seventies and early eighties had all that was good about Hollywood movies, in Australian-size doses. Before the connoisseur in you dismisses this forgotten cinematic era of boobs, pubes, tubes and Kung Fu, let the luminaries in this documentary remind you, these movies have had deeper influences in the psyche of common moviegoers as well as eminent directors than many other subtle masterpieces.

Watch a trailer for the movie here.

28. Once upon a Time, Cinema (1992)

This poignant Iranian Comedy by Mohsen Makhmalbaf showcases a Cinema hating, censor-wielding Shah's sorry state when he falls hopelessly in love with an old film character. In order to get hold of her, he has to dethrone himself and go after the image on the screen. The Cine connoisseurs has added delights in store as the director pays his homage to several legendary filmmakers in different parts of this film.

Watch a trailer for the movie here.

29. RKO 281(1999)

Love and hate for films collide in this HBO Original TV Movie and create fireworks for Cinephiles. Widely hailed as the best movie ever made, Orson Welles' Citizen Kane had a story of the making that was as, if not more, fascinating. Charles Foster Kane, the protagonist of Citizen Kane, was a thinly veiled fictionalization of William Randolph Hearst, a contemporary publishing tycoon. When he got the wind of this just before the release of the film, despite Welles' best efforts, he unleashed his forces to make sure that not only was the film never publicly screened, but every copy of it was also destroyed. This is the true story of him, failing.

Watch a trailer for the movie here.

30. Safe Conduct (Laissez Passer) (2002)

Love for filmmaking goes through demeaning compromises and dangerous subversions in this French suspense film, based on a true story. The year is 1942, the place is Nazi occupied Paris. Just like everything else, Nazis have control over the movie business. A young French Assistant Director nurses a resurgent heart, as he does as told in Continental Pictures, now run by the Nazis. But when he is promoted to be a Director, it's his chance to subvert the authority.

Watch a trailer for the movie here.

31. Salaam Cinema (1995)

The overwhelming love for cinema in Iran leaves us awestruck in this Mohsen Makhmalbaf masterpiece. When the director runs an audition ad in a Tehran newspaper for one hundred extras, almost five thousand people show up. All hell breaks loose, till the director promises every applicant an audition. He shelves his original idea for the movie and decides to make a documentary on this phenomenon. What's unveiled on the screen is a fascinating exploration of our love affair with the movies.

Watch a trailer for the movie here.

32. Shadow of the Vampire (2000)

Love for authenticity in filmmaking takes a supernatural turn in this cult vampire film which take us back to 1922. The father of all vampire movies, Nosferatu is being filmed, and the director insists on full authenticity. The cast and crew lives in the rundown castle where the film is being shot and the actor playing the vampire, plays his role even off-camera. But when he starts attacking people and feasting on live bats, the crew starts getting paranoid.

Watch a trailer for the movie here.

33. State and Main (2000)

David Mamet shows us that one has to be absolutely nuts in order to love making movies and he creates a laugh riot in the process. While in a small town to film 'Old Mill', about predictably - an old mill, the director (William H Macy) learns that the mill has burned down long back. He falls back on the angsty screenwriter (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to alter the script. What he doesn't foresee is the screenwriter's massive writer's block, the leading lady's (Sarah Jessica Parker) pricey posturing in order to do a nude scene, and the teen-crazy leading man's (Alec Baldwin) increasing hob-nobbing with a crafty local teen.

Watch a trailer for the movie here.

34. Sullivan's Travels (1941)

In this classic depression era comedy, love for authentic filmmaking puts the director on the road, literally. Fed up with playing to the gallery with formula films and making a pile in the process, a director decides his next film will be on a social cause, come what may. So, filled with bleeding-heart fervour, he hits the road, in order to connect with the real people of America. But to his dismay, he finds out that the poor are not so meek after all and can look after themselves very well, thank you very much.

Watch a trailer for the movie here.

35. The Actor (Honarpisheh) (1993)

In this quirky Iranian comedy by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, the love for meaningful roles lands an actor in hot water. Iran's leading comedy man plays a rich and famous comedy actor who is tired of the schlock he plays in every single movie and is hell-bent for a meaningful role. His agent, dismayed at his sudden change of tune, tries his best to sabotage his plans while keeping up a front. Meanwhile his sterile wife is getting more and more hysterical for a child and his popularity is touching ridiculous heights.

Watch a scene from the movie here.

36. The Amateurs (2005)

The love for filmmaking is ignited by the most potent force of all, mid-life crisis coupled with penury. After all his get-rich-quick schemes fizzle out, a small town guy starts making a porn film, with a leading man who fails to rise to the occasion, a random video-camera wielding kid and a non-existent female lead.

Watch a trailer for the movie here.

37. The Star Maker (L'uomo Delle Stelle) (1995)

A conman takes advantage of the cinephilia of the masses in this heartwarming film by the director of Cinema Paradiso. In Sicily, in the early 1950's, a this scam artist travels by truck from village to village posing as a film company representative. He obliges the bumpkins with screen tests, gives them false hopes and helps them part with their money. Everything goes well till a girl gets too insistent on the stardom he has been promising to all and sundry.

Watch a trailer for the movie here.

38. The State of Things (Der Stand der Dinge) (1982)

Love for making a film is an incurable malady which can not be cured even with the heaviest dosage of reality. A film crew runs out of film and the money to buy more on location in Portugal. The producer is absconding and the filmmaker has to trudge back to Los Angeles to find him. Beautifully shot in black and white and reflective of a bitter, almost identical phase the director was going through, this film goes to show that making a film is no easier than bearing a baby.

Watch a trailer for the movie here.

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