Home movies
by cezdino | created - 26 Aug 2011 | updated - 29 Aug 2011 | PublicFilms made up entirely (or mostly, towards the end of the list) of old amateur home-movie footage. Not old newsreels, not short amateur fiction films, but real life snapshots, camera tests, wedding clips, etc. I'm also adding some films at the very bottom where renowned professional filmmakers turned the camera on their own lives... mostly on their girlfriends. This is a personal interest of mine. With some filmmakers I wouldn't know where to stop, e.g. Brakhage, Godard... so I'll only be choosing one or two. Comments and suggestions welcome.
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1. Soukromé století (2006– )
52 min | Documentary, Biography
Jan Sikl expertly edits together actual home-movie footage from the 1920s to the 1960s in order to chronicle the history of Czechoslovakia in the 20th century. In eight episodes of 52 ... See full summary »
Votes: 23
aka Private Century, 8-episode series for Czech TV. Private footage from the thirties to the sixties.
2. El Perro Negro: Stories from the Spanish Civil War (2005)
84 min | Documentary
Filmmaker Péter Forgács compiles home movies by a family of Catalan industrialists who have documented their lives as their homeland is besieged by labor unrest, the collapse of the ... See full summary »
Director: Péter Forgács | Stars: Miklós Bodóczky, Fernando Bujarrabal, Nils Blunck, Péter Forgács
Votes: 63
3. The Beaver Trilogy (2000)
83 min | Documentary, Comedy, Drama
In 1979, filmmaker Trent Harris visits the small town of Beaver, Utah to film a talent show. Impressed by a performer called Groovin' Gary, he recreates Gary's act in 1981 with Sean Penn and in 1985 with Crispin Glover.
Director: Trent Harris | Stars: Groovin' Gary, Sean Penn, Crispin Glover, Stefan Arngrim
Votes: 564
4. Un instante en la vida ajena (2003)
80 min | Documentary
Compilation of images of the amateur recordings of Madronita Andreu, Catalan intellectual of the nineteenth century, daughter of Dr. Andreu, famous for its pills and cough syrup.
Director: José Luis López-Linares | Stars: Madronita Andreu, Jesús Agelet, Julio Iglesias
Votes: 64
5. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)
Not Rated | 95 min | Documentary, Biography, Crime
A filmmaker decides to memorialize a murdered friend when his friend's ex-girlfriend announces she is expecting his son.
Director: Kurt Kuenne | Stars: Kurt Kuenne, Andrew Bagby, David Bagby, Kathleen Bagby
Votes: 40,750 | Gross: $0.02M
6. Klíc k urcování trpaslíku podle deníku Pavla Jurácka (2002)
58 min | Documentary, Biography, Drama
A Czech director wrestles with problems personal and political during the Prague spring of 1969.
Director: Martin Sulík | Stars: Marek Juracek, Edita Leva, Julie Ritzingerova, Sárka Dvoráková
Votes: 117
7. Límites: 1ª persona (2009)
8 min | Documentary, Short, Drama
About someone who once loved a woman in a desert with a camera.
Director: Elías León Siminiani | Stars: Luis Callejo, Elías León Siminiani, Ainhoa Ramírez
Votes: 30
8. Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
Not Rated | 107 min | Documentary, Biography, Crime
Documentary on the Friedmans, a seemingly typical, upper-middle-class Jewish family whose world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest son are arrested and charged with shocking and horrible crimes.
Director: Andrew Jarecki | Stars: Arnold Friedman, Jesse Friedman, David Friedman, Elaine Friedman
Votes: 27,148 | Gross: $3.12M
9. Milestones (1975)
195 min | Drama, History
"A many-faceted portrait of those individuals who sought radical solutions to social problems in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. It cuts back and forth between six major story... See full summary »
Directors: John Douglas, Robert Kramer | Stars: Mary Chapelle, Sharon Krebs, Jim Nolfi, Grace Paley
Votes: 258
10. Number Two (1975)
88 min | Documentary, Drama
An analysis of the power relations in an ordinary family.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Sandrine Battistella, Pierre Oudrey, Alexandre Rignault, Rachel Stefanopoli
Votes: 1,056
11. Window Water Baby Moving (1959)
13 min | Documentary, Short
Stan Brakhage films the birth of his first child, Myrrena.
Director: Stan Brakhage | Stars: Stan Brakhage, Myrrena Schwegmann, Jane Wodening
Votes: 2,460
12. Damned If You Don't (1987)
Not Rated | 42 min | Short, Drama, Romance
"Damned If You Don't is a real prize. Beautifully shot in black and white, it blends conventional narrative technique with impressionistic camerawork, symbols and voicovers to create an ... See full summary »
Director: Su Friedrich | Stars: Peggy Healey, Makea MacDonald, Ela Troyano
Votes: 124
13. Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1972)
Not Rated | 88 min | Documentary
Filmmaker Jonas Mekas creates an elegiac diary of a trip to his home country of Lithuania.
Director: Jonas Mekas | Stars: Jonas Mekas, Adolfas Mekas, Pola Chapelle, Ken Jacobs
Votes: 1,252
14. Anna ot 6 do 18 (1994)
100 min | Documentary, Biography
Director Nikita Mikhalkov documents the history of Russia from 1980 to 1991 by annually asking his daughter Anna questions.
Director: Nikita Mikhalkov | Stars: Nikita Mikhalkov, Anna Mikhalkova, Nadezhda Mikhalkova
Votes: 734
15. Lightning Over Water (1980)
91 min | Documentary
Wim Wenders abandons the shoot of one of his own films in order to help his friend and fellow director Nicholas Ray create his swan song before he dies.
Directors: Nicholas Ray, Wim Wenders | Stars: Gerry Bamman, Ronee Blakley, Pierre Cottrell, Stefan Czapsky
Votes: 1,505
16. Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? (1969)
X | 107 min | Comedy, Musical
Heironymus Merkin (Anthony Newley) screens an autobiographical movie of his life, growth, and moral decay.
Directors: Anthony Newley, Richard Williams | Stars: Anthony Newley, Joan Collins, Alexander Newley, Tara Newley Arkle
Votes: 413
17. Tarnation (2003)
Unrated | 88 min | Documentary, Biography
Filmmaker Jonathan Caouette's documentary on growing up with his schizophrenic mother -- a mixture of snapshots, Super-8 film, answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, and more - culled from nineteen years of his life.
Director: Jonathan Caouette | Stars: Jonathan Caouette, Renee Leblanc, Adolph Davis, Rosemary Davis
Votes: 6,710 | Gross: $0.59M
I haven't seen it yet
18. Little Sister (1995)
91 min | Drama, Mystery
Martijn is obsessed with his younger sister Daantje and visits her to make a documentary about her. He manages to invade Daantje's life with his video camera, but soon unresolved issues from a distant past come to the surface.
Director: Robert Jan Westdijk | Stars: Kim van Kooten, Romijn Conen, Hugo Metsers, Bert Pot
Votes: 2,594
This is a piece of fiction. A home-movie story filmed as a home-movie.
19. Scenes from a Marriage (1973)
TV-PG | 283 min | Drama
Ten years within the marriage of Marianne and Johan.
Stars: Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Bibi Andersson, Gunnel Lindblom
Votes: 17,281
My mother insisted I should include Bergman and his wives. This is not a case of a filmmaker turning the camera onto his life/wife, but rather the reverse dynamic: a man bringing in the actresses and love stories from his movies into his private life. Polanski is another case in point. There are many more examples of this, so many that they would crowd out the real home-movies in this list.
20. Bitter Moon (1992)
R | 139 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
After hearing stories of her, a passenger on a cruise ship develops an irresistible infatuation with an eccentric paraplegic's wife.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Hugh Grant, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emmanuelle Seigner, Peter Coyote
Votes: 42,722 | Gross: $1.86M
And one other example from Polanski. Not that I think this story is a reflection of his private life with Seigner, but he was accused at the time of bringing his own 'wet dreams' into the film. A lot of people found that Seigner wasn't that sexy, and the erotic scenes not to be erotic at all, but rather embarrassing. I disagree, but I can see their point.
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