criterionforum.org

From Criterion's Website:

The British Film Institute and London's Barbican arts center recently organized Watch This!, a public debate aimed at defining a list of films that children should be encouraged to see. Participants—including representatives from a number of children's-film organizations across Europe and members of the BFI staff, filmmakers, and teachers—ultimately came up with fifty recommendations for viewers up to the age of fourteen. The list includes eight Criterion titles—Beauty and the Beast, The 400 Blows, M. Hulot's Holiday, My Life as a Dog, Oliver Twist, Playtime, Walkabout, and the upcoming Au revoir les enfants. Click here for the full list of child-friendly classics!

And the list: http://www.bfi.org.uk/education/events/ ... /top50.php

The list seems a strange hybrid of cinefilia and parenting advice. Is there much of a point to composing such a list? And is it not awesome that Fucking Amal made the list?

backstreetsbackalright wrote:The list seems a strange hybrid of cinefilia and parenting advice. Is there much of a point to composing such a list?

Considering how ill-nurtured moving image art is in the UK, I'd say there was a benevolent motivation behind the production of the list. Besides, no child is going to be held to watching the listed films - it's just another BFI initiative (without government support or funding, naturally) that will probably peter out within six months.

Having said that, it's high time that a cultural body here, in the UK, started to readopt the 'mother knows best' policy of cultural and artistic education, and I'm pleased to see that the BFI had the gall to go forward first. Yes, it's quite a high-minded list of films for children, but I'd go so far as to say that anyone who scoffs at the list for being intellectual ego-abatement on the part of the BFI is a cretin.

As for the films on the list itself, well it's a mixed bag from where I'm standing. My Neighbour Totoro and The Princess Bride are outstanding, inspired choices due to their relative obscurity in the UK, but the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast and Kirikou et la sorcière are so unspeakably awful they shouldn't be watched by anyone, let alone children.

Also, I can think of a good number of what I would consider to be notable absentees such as Metropolis, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Grave of the Fireflies, Forbidden Planet, Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Third Man, Dumbo, Bambi, Seven Samurai, and so on and so forth. Oh, and lets not forget those genres criminally under-represented on the list, such as the western, melodramas, crime thrillers, film noirs, horror, action movies and historical epics, not to mention the ridiculous near-complete absence of silent cinema.

It's a pretty good list overall, but it needs to be expanded by at least four times its present size for it to lay any claim to being a substantive representation of films every child should try to see. Still, it's the first step...

-EDIT-

Oh, and where the merry hell is Hitchcock?

but the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast and Kirikou et la sorcière are so unspeakably awful they shouldn't be watched by anyone, let alone children.

Disney's Beauty and the Beast may not be up to par with the Criterion version, but awful it ain't. It is considered the pinpoint of the disney animation revival of the 90's and I haven't heard of one children who hasn't likened it yet.

I think the BFI list is just a suggestion box for kids of what movies to watch that will make them apreciate cinema. I prefer that any kid watch a movie from that list than to watch any stupid Pokemon, Scooby doo, Baby Geniuses, Olsen Twins, Disney crappy sequels, or Digimon crap.

Disney's Beauty and the Beast may not be up to par with the Criterion version, but awful it ain't. It is considered the pinpoint of the disney animation revival of the 90's and I haven't heard of one children who hasn't likened it yet.

Well, that's fair do's I suppose, though I must admit that my dislike for Disney's animated output over the poast 20 years wouldn't make me very receptive of any charms Beauty and the Beast may have.

Beauty and the Beast, The 400 Blows, M. Hulot's Holiday, My Life as a Dog, Oliver Twist, Playtime, Walkabout, and the upcoming Au revoir les enfants.

Is there anyone who seriously believe kids are gonna watch this? Particularly American kids? Oh, I'm sure that one or two of you will brag about your precocious three year old who loves sitting down and watching The 400 Blows right after he or she finishes reading The Collected Works of Rudyard Kipling in the evening (and how the kid'll be in Harvard by the time it's 11), but aside from freaks of nature I can't imagine any normal kid sitting down and watching any of this stuff all the way through. Yeah, yeah...somebody will post how little Jeremiah yadda yadda...

Academics can be so full of shit sometimes...

Tribe

Well, it is up to the age of 14.

14 year olds are not children...they should be at work, like kids the world over. In fact, 14 year olds can get married in some states.

Tribe

Tribe wrote:14 year olds are not children...they should be at work, like kids the world over. In fact, 14 year olds can get married in some states.

Tribe

er...ok.

backstreetsbackalright wrote:
The list seems a strange hybrid of cinefilia and parenting advice. Is there much of a point to composing such a list?

I agree on both points. Essentially, its just another stupid list, cloaked in the respectable shroud of academia.

Kids should sit home and watch Bambi for all I care. What are they going to get in watching The 400 Blows. Sounds like a porn flick anyway.

Tribe wrote:

Beauty and the Beast, The 400 Blows, M. Hulot's Holiday, My Life as a Dog, Oliver Twist, Playtime, Walkabout, and the upcoming Au revoir les enfants.

Is there anyone who seriously believe kids are gonna watch this? Particularly American kids? Oh, I'm sure that one or two of you will brag about your precocious three year old who loves sitting down and watching The 400 Blows right after he or she finishes reading The Collected Works of Rudyard Kipling in the evening (and how the kid'll be in Harvard by the time it's 11), but aside from freaks of nature I can't imagine any normal kid sitting down and watching any of this stuff all the way through. Yeah, yeah...somebody will post how little Jeremiah yadda yadda...

Academics can be so full of shit sometimes...

Tribe

Prizes should be awarded at the end of each thread. Tribe--you get my vote.

"Son," he says as he hands over his beloved pig-skin football to the little tike--"bout time you learned what life is all about: eat shit and die. Like that Eye-talian movie we watched together last night. How 'bout a Fresca?"

Kids would watch these movies if you expose them to it.

I was a weird kid, and because of cable, I remember watching a bunch of bizarre soviet cartoons, Dr. Strangelove, and other films as a kid, and I remember liking them too.

This was aside from regular cartoons, and old sitcom re-runs (which are something kids love for some reason).

Tribe, I'm all for marrying 14 year olds, but I was referencing the description...

fifty recommendations for viewers up to the age of fourteen

When I came across The Tin Drum on Showtime when I was 12 it made quite an impact. I know you have kids and are no dummy, and sure the list, like every list in the history of listdom, is relatively pointless, but do you honestly think kids (and again, up to 14, and working in McDonalds or on the kiddie stroll or wherever) wouldn't appreciate/enjoy The 400 Blows, Fucking Amal, My Life As A Dog, Tati (I'll leave it to those mentioned that I know, I haven't bothered to look at the full list)? I loved Annie Hall before that age and would watch any Woody Allen movie whenever it was on TV, and I grew up in a normal, boring family with no particular interest in music/art/film, and I'd be well surprised if I was the only one here who did. Hell, Michael can go on and on about his young discoveries.

what are these idiotic comments about children getting married at 14? #-o

Either you're asking the lawyer, who I trust knows best...

Tribe wrote:In fact, 14 year olds can get married in some states.

... or we don't share the same sense of humor, which has been obvious to me for some time.

I'm depressed Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein didn't make the list. They were grand entertainment during my childhood.

Hell, it's too bad none of the Universal monster films made the list, they're perfect for kids.

And it wasn't a terribly long time ago since I was 14, and I'll be damned if I can remember a single 14 year old I knew who actually had a job. Ok maybe the fat kid who peddled ice cream around on one of those bicycles with the giant freezer attached to the front, but I don't know anyone who thought that was worth the money.

I'd go so far as to say that anyone who scoffs at the list for being intellectual ego-abatement on the part of the BFI is a cretin.

Catching up with this thread late in the game, I'm amazed that anyone interested in cinema would not see the value of, and the urgent need for, resources that promote children's acquaintance with, and love of, great movies. Does anyone truly believe that kids are better off swilling down the mind-numbing pablum that is force-fed to them on television and at the local multiplex? Children are only stupid if we make them stupid.

Kids need exposure to great cinema in the same way that they need to be acquainted with great books, and for similar reasons. My daughter has seen most of the movies on the BFI list and many more. As a result, she is better equipped to engage and enjoy a broad range of films than are most adults I know. If that makes her a “freak of nature,â€

At the video store where I work, parents come in with their children all the time asking for kids' movies that aren't stupid. In response, we compiled a huge list of our favorite intelligent, fun family films. Since we confined our list to movies that are aimed at kids, involve young characters, or deal with kids' issues, we definitely wouldn't have put Metropolis, Hitchcock, Kind Hearts and Coronets, etc. on the list, but we did include My Life as a Dog and a whole lot of Miyazaki. (Other picks included The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Breakfast Club, Yellow Submarine, and Svankmeyer's Alice.)

I think there's a large difference between "listing classic films that everyone, including kids, should see" and "listing classic children's films which are actually meant to entertain kids."

At any rate, there IS a demand for intelligent children's entertainment out there. The kids themselves are asking for it. Hopefully some parents will check out the BFI's list and rent something more stimulating (and less seizure-inducing) than Pokemon for the youngsters.

I think there's a large difference between "listing classic films that everyone, including kids, should see" and "listing classic children's films which are actually meant to entertain kids."

Penny, I'm not sure which of these two film categories you are endorsing, but I would definitely favor sharing with kids movies that possess the same qualities that we look for in great films as adults--movies that engage, inform, challenge and entertain us. In my family's experience, for example, such films include most of Hitchcock's work (excluding "Psycho" and "Frenzy"). Kids love mysteries, and Hitch's movies, especially "Rear Window," have long been among my daughter's favorites.

"The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" is another great movie for children, despite the appearance of Winged Death, which has never failed to raise a bit of a ruckus.

My daughter is 4 years old and I wonder if anyone could recommend films that might be suitable for her?

So far, her favourites are Kiki's Delivery Service and My Neighbour Totoro - she could see them again and again. She also liked Kirikou and the Sorceress, but found some parts a bit scary.

Shorter films that she's seen and liked are among others Le ballon rouge and Paddle to the sea.

I've thought of Spirited Away and Iron Giant as well, but I think it might be better to wait with them for a couple of years.

Alyosha wrote:I didn't know where to put this thread, but I try here.

My daughter is 4 years old and I wonder if anyone could recommend films that might be suitable for her?

So far, her favourites are Kiki's Delivery Service and My Neighbour Totoro - she could see them again and again. She also liked Kirikou and the Sorceress, but found some parts a bit scary.

Shorter films that she's seen and liked are among others Le ballon rouge and Paddle to the sea.

I've thought of Spirited Away and Iron Giant as well, but I think it might be better to wait with them for a couple of years.

This will probably be better placed as a Lists thread.

I have two daughters: 3 and 4.
Below are some observations/recommendations outside the Disney and Looney Tunes cartoons:
I didn't get too much mileage out of Red Balloon or White Mane yet--perhaps this will grow on them later. The four year old warmed to Paddle to the Sea.
They both love Charlie Chaplin films (especially Modern Times) and we've been enthusiastically going through the MOC Buster Keaton shorts. It's nice to hear them request Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton by name. They also call out for 'Fatty'--at one point I heard what sounded like "I want a Fatty".
They both loved the PWA Children's Animation collection from Poland and today I introduced them to the Marx Brothers' Monkey Business, but given their reluctance to engage in English (Hungarian is their preferred language) they still lean more towards physical comedy.
But their favorites are still the Krtek (little mole) cartoons from Czechoslovakia (they ran from mid-fifties until late eighties if I recall). They released seven volumes on DVD here in Hungary.

The Morris Engel films-- all of them.

And Sword of Doom (just kidding).

How about Watership Down? All the Disney's of course. Four yrs old is still pretty young vis a vis Criterion/MoC/Kino/BFI-Style Cinema.

I was a nanny for a few years and my charges, all under 10, really liked Swiss Family Robinson.
I also recommend the beautifully animated short, "The Man who Planted Trees".

Fanny and Alexander? Not really, unless you feel like frightening your children.

Maybe some more classic comedies, as they seem to like Chaplin and Keaton, maybe introduce them to The Philadelphia Story or Bringing up Baby.

Wizard of Oz and Chaplin films are my recommendation. Also Pixar has done great movies. Some Disney classics (not the lame ass "sequels") are entertaining for kids that age.