Bijou Theater Forum

Jaspers · Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Posts: 6

Mystery is defined by AFI as a genre that revolves around the solution of a
crime. The criteria for my selection were films that focused exclusively on crime, the solution, and the suspects, and maintained a sense of suspense throughout.

10. The Big Lebowski
- Up this high only because it subverts the genre instead of extending it. The film's overall structure was influenced by the detective fiction of Raymond Chandler. Watching The Big Sleep for the first time, I thought to myself, 'wow, this is a lot like The Big Lebowski.'

Is there a word for when people experience skewed material before the authentic material? Because that happens a lot to me.

It's also notable for having a selection of people who have no business being anywhere near a kidnapping/extortion/embezzling/framing/property damage via urination plot being the only people working towards the solution.

9. The Man Who Knew Too Much
- A film so nice, Hitchcock filmed it twice, once in 1934 and (more famously) in 1956. Hitchcock claims that he considered his 1956 remake to be superior, saying that the 1934 version was the work of a talented amateur, the 1956 version the work of a professional.

The film's strength is the musical score, at least according to my Intro to Film Sound professor. While a semi-unknown Hitchcock work, it is the strongest piece by Bernard Herrmann, the man Hitchcock had score the majority of his pieces.

8. L.A. Confidential
- Based on the James Ellroy novel of the same name, L.A. Confidential encapsulated the feel of 1950's film noir, the grit of 1930's characters, and the style of 1990's cinematography. The three different police methods employed by the characters make the film seem like three in one.

7. The Usual Suspects
- Sadly, I already knew of the twist ending prior to watching this film. And while I was deprived of the big shock, it didn't ruin my overall enjoyment.

Director Bryan Singer described the film as Double Indemnity meets Rashomon and said that it was made "so you can go back and see all sorts of things you didn't realize were there the first time. You can get it a second time in a way you never could have the first time around." If I hadn't already accrued a three day late fee from Blockbuster, I probably would have watched it again.

6. Memento
-One of the great struggles with storytelling is actually making someone empathize with the characters. If they have some sort of physical disability, such as no long-term memory, how can the filmmaker truly make the viewer understand the problems associated?

Protagonist Leonard Shelby's lack of cognitive abilities are reflected as Memento presents the scenes in reverse chronological order. Just as Lenny cannot remember the events preceding the present, we also have no knowledge of these events.

No memories makes a difficult series of challenging circumstances in and of itself, but now imagine trying to find the man who killed your wife and learning your situation is being abused by all the wrong people.

5. The Big Sleep
- Raymond Chandler's definitive work, and a primary example of people being too damn clever for their own good. While working on the script, writers William Faulkner and Leigh Brackett couldn't figure out from the novel who murdered a particular character. So they phoned Raymond Chandler, who angrily told them the answer was right there in the book. Chandler soon phoned to say that he looked at the book himself and couldn't figure out who killed the character, so he left it up to them to decide.

This is definitely one you'll need to watch twice to catch everything. And even then, some notes or a companion guide would help.

4. Se7en
- You know right from the premise that seven people are going to die based on the seven deadly sins. What you don't know is that instead of being a gimmicky splatterfest, they drag the concept out to make a full-fledged, tense police thriller.

3. North By Northwest
- You'd be hard pressed to find someone who didn't consider Alfred Hitchcock to be the master of horror. But in actuality, he made a bunch of non-horror, mysteries. Of them, North By Northwest stands tallest.

The story of a mistaken identity taken to the worst possible scenario; one-third think Cary Grant's a psychopath, one-third thinks he's a national security threat, and one-third wants him dead. Grant's character, Roger Thornhill, has to not only clear his name but do so without anyone finding him and killing him.

2. The Third Man
- Quite honestly, this is a British film. The only American connections are co-producer David Selznick (the other two producers were British) and stars Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles.

That being said, congratulations on being included among the nominations on some sort of weird technicality.

The deception, the greed, the effects of his misdeed on children paint Harry Lime as one of the greatest con-men ever to be on film. I just have so much trouble calling him a villain because he's just so damn awesome with what he does. Of course, that's Orson Welles in a nutshell.

1. Blue Velvet
- I wasn't blowing smoke when I picked David Lynch as my avatar here. Love him or hate him, Lynch is a master craftsman. Blue Velvet has it all as far as mystery goes; an evil antagonist, a helpless victim, a hero thrown into the mess, suspense, tension, drama, and crimes that make us hope and pray everyone gets their just desserts.

Seriously. Great film.