Magical Realism films: GO!

[tzikeh]

Local Hero, Pan's Labyrinth, L.A. Story, Milagro Beanfield War, Field of Dreams, Amelie.

More please?

Comments

[loz]

Being John Malkovich?

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

That's a good one, yeah.

[marinarusalka.livejournal.com]

Like Water for Chocolate

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Yes - good one!

[penwiper26.livejournal.com]

Big.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Oh, *duh*

[amireal.livejournal.com]

What Women Want, the Mel Gibson movie where he can read women's minds.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

That's not magical realism, though--more a film with a single, vaguely sci-fi element.

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Tideland
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Don't Look Now
The Milagro Beanfield War
Donnie Darko
Mulholland Drive
The Fisher King
The Science of Sleep
Across the Universe
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (maybe)
Run, Lola, Run (maybe)
Adaptation (maybe)

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Hm. Science of Sleep, yeah, Fisher King maybe, got Milagro up there, I would call Donnie Darko sci-fi, Fear and Loathing is mostly drug-induced *g*, and Mullholland is... unquantifiable. :D

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

I keep going back and forth over whether The Secret of Roan Inish is magical realism, or just fantasy, so I thought I'd throw it out for consideration.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Yeah - it's tough to thread the needle of magical realism.

[esorlehcar.livejournal.com]

Eternal Sunshine?

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

that's a tough call... hm.

[vonnie-k.livejournal.com]

The film adaptation of Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits, even though it isn't a very good movie, sadly. [/still haven't recovered from the casting of Meryl Streep in the central role]

Powell & Pressburger's glorious A Matter of Life and Death. Oh! And I Know Where I'm Going!, definitely -- it's one of my favourite films ever.

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

Adaptation
Wings of Desire? (not sure, but love it)

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

I'm back and forth on Wings of Desire - because the fact that the angels exist throughout the film means it's not rooted in our real world right from the start. Unsure.

Adaptation... is so STRANGE that I don't know what the hell to call it.

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

Hm. Some possibles from my movie collection that I haven't seen mentioned yet:

Big Trouble in Little China
Mirrormask (though really, I think that's fantasy)
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou feels like magic realism, but actually isn't.
O Brother Where Art Thou (see comment on The Life Aquatic)

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

actually, upon reflection, O Brother might actually be. There's the witchwomen in the river, and the devil.

[klia.livejournal.com]

The Natural
Prelude to a Kiss
Powder
The Fisher King

Maybe Joe Versus The Volcano?
What about the classic Jimmy Stewart movie Harvey?
Is Brotherhood of the Wolf considered flat-out sci-fi?
And is Fight Club just mind-fuckery?

I never know where messing with timelines fits in, but these came to mind:

Sliding Doors
Peggy Sue Got Married
13 Going on 30
Somewhere in Time
Groundhog Day
The Family Man
The Bill & Ted movies
Mr. Destiny

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Ohhh Prelude to a Kiss... and of *course* The Natural.

[phoenix64.livejournal.com]

Perfume.

Given time I could probably come up with more.

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

It stretches the definition, but some of the Coen brothers' films come pretty close.

[carbonel]

Field of Dreams (the book) is the one I tried to introduce as a possible example of magical realism at a panel on the subject at a Fourth Street Fantasy Convention. I didn't get much support, though I'm not sure if it's because people hadn't read it (this was pre-movie) or because the author wasn't from South America.

I love L.A. Story and usually describe it as a modern urban fantasy, but there's sufficient off-the-wallness there that magical realism might be appropriate.

Haven't seen the others yet.

[giandujakiss.livejournal.com]

Random FList hopping - don't think it's been said - Practical Magic?

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Hm - don't they acknowledge the magic around them? Part of what makes magical realism what it is, is that nobody finds any of it odd or special.

[gritkitty.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you asked the question. I'm updating my NetFlix queue. ; )

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

LOL! Check the next post, too. ;)

[zhiverny6.livejournal.com]

Rough Magic (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114303/#comment)

It's got Russell Crowe in a fedora and a quietly snarky Richard Schiff. Magical Realism, thick 50's atmosphere, comedy, romance and a touch of slash.

I just loved it (though I remember being a bit twitchy about the portrayal of Mexicans - or at least with Paul Rodriguez. Nobody on IMDB seems to have a problem with it. Maybe that falls under "atmosphere", and all the characters are a bit unreal.) Don't know where you'd find it, though.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD I SAW THAT. I am now on the hunt. *Great* answer.

[(Anonymous)]

"Stranger Than Fiction"
"The Tin Drum"
and possibly Coppola's "One From the Heart" (though it has been so long since I've seen that film that I don't recall how grounded in reality the main story is)

Emily

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, and also "Purple Rose of Cairo"

Emily

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Purple Rose kills me dead. Every time.

WTF LADY ARE YOU STUPID?

[lumenara.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was going to say Stranger than Fiction, probably. Why the need for magical realism?

[lumenara.livejournal.com]

Oh, hang on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_realism . The fantastic elements are remarked on, so it doesn't count. I'm being told that Southland Tales is one, though.

more

[typo.livejournal.com]

Simply Irrestible (kind of a "Like Water for Chocolate" rip off).
LA Story- definitely.
TV:I think the 90's TV series "Northern Exposure"is magical realism
Also the TV series "Twin Peaks" but in a darker way...

oh and also...

[(Anonymous)]

Fisher King- definitely.

In fact, almost anything directed by Tim Burton or David Lynch has those elements.

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

I don't think Chocolat's been mentioned?

And I'm putting in The Tin Drum once more...just because it's so majorly underrated :)

[And thinking of magical realist books...I always though The Unbearable Lightness of Being had a magical realist touch (though it's been too long to recall why I thought that :) I never watched the film, though]

[terrie01.livejournal.com]

Whale Rider.

[jackiekjono.livejournal.com]

Pulp Fiction -the magic is kind of don't blink or you'll miss it but, it is definitely crucial.

[mattador.livejournal.com]

The suitcase?

[jackiekjono.livejournal.com]

I wonder if the TV series "Cupid" would count. None of the characters actually believe he is a God but the quasi-magical things he actually pulls off are never remarked upon (all of the target practice, for instance.)