RICK CASTRO'S FAVE FILMS-

 RICK CASTRO'S FAVE FILMS IN HIS LIFE THUS FAR

Recently I've been binge watching all my fave flicks from years past, realizing I enjoy viewing my collection of memories from the films embedded in my psychic.

 As of today- 10/19/2021- here is my chronological list.....

 Raw! Live! Video!: A Porn Love Story- Ryan White & Alex Clausen- 2021

The newest of my faves- actually a feature length doco about Jack Fritscher & Mark Hemry's production studio- Palm Drive Video- the kinkiest of the kinks during the 1980s. I predict this doco will become a hit.

I have no fave film of 2020. It was not a good year for films, or anything else.

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood- Quentin Tarantino- 2019

I love the look of this movie. Tarantino's obsession with recreating a couple blocks of Hollywood Boulevard back to 1969 works like a charm. Sadly my last few months of my gallery- Antebellum ends just prior to filming. The revisionist  ending of the Sharon Tate murders is something hard to pull off.. somehow he does so with cartoon, ultra-violent and absurdity. 

CALL  ME BY YOUR NAME-   Luca Guadagnino- 2017

Not the best film ever made, but hopelessly romantic. Quiet films are hard to create in modern times. they have become rare, thus under appreciated.

Thelma-Joachim Trier- 2017

Combo of epileptic/psychokinesis/ultra christian repression smash-mixed with latent lesbian desire drives Themla to the brink of insanity. I found this film to be very original.

Raw- Julia Ducournau- 2016

Bold first film by Julia Ducournau featuring a modern day cannibalistic family. Yes you heard me correctly. Deftly fearless, Ducournau is a director to watch.

Moonlight-  Barry Jenkins - 2016

 "In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue."

 After the first screening while the credits began to role a black woman in front of me stated loudly, WOW! She expressed what I and the sparse audience were thinking. I immediately decided to see this film a second time finding I cried at the exact same scenes each time. When and share a joint on the beach and have their first kiss. Romantic and dreamy without being corny.. actually heartbreaking. Then when ,, confronts the school bully... and bashes him over the head with a classroom folding chair. The release from that scene every adolescent gay person understands. It wasn't violence, it was divine justice. 

The Witch- Robert Eggers- 2015

Like a pre-story to The Crucible. The idea that Christians would flee their mother country, (after destroying it) and then not understand nature in "the new world." Ultimately destroying themselves through superstition and internal fears. Somethings just don't change.

Under The Skin- Jonathan Glazer- 2013

Great example of contemporary sci-fi classic. Intense, beautiful and sad. Jonathan Glazer broke new ground with visual style and intense, uncomfortable scenes. The casting of  Adam Pearson, an actor with neurofibromatosis, is opening the field for handicapped people to be encouraged as actors. 

Django Unchained- Quentin Tarantino- 2012

Tarentino loves to re-write history using old Hollywood westerns as backdrop. Campy and cartoonishly violent. a modern master piece. One of the best films about racism in recent times. 

Melancholia-  Lars von Trier-  2011

The very idea that a film could be created about the end of the world. That it would be so blasé, so family dysfunctional, no hero, only victims.... and starts with a clueless doomed couple who ignore the warnings and get married the day before the world ends!

The Ghost Writer- Roman Polanski- 2010

I love this film. The build up is gradual, intense and perfect with numerous characters loosely based on the Bush era war mongers and Nancy Reagan. Ewan McGregor steers the film. Kim Cattrall holds her own. 

Antichrist- Lars von Trier- 2009

When I think of present day iconic scenes, I think of Willam Dafoe wandering aimlessly in the forest, stubbling on a red fox who's in the form of death or rebirth, as a gust of wind blows through Dafoe's and the audience's souls, and the fox anthropomoizes the words, "chaos reigns!"

Little Ashes- director- Paul Morrison- 2008

Decidedly an uneven film. What saves it for me is the depiction of Federico García Lorca  the most underrated, neglected poet/writer of the 20th century. A gay icon who was executed by Franco while his ex-lover Salvador Dali goes on to become a rich and famous bougiousie star. 

There Will Be Blood- Paul Thomas Anderson- 2007

Maybe the first sweeping epic film of the 21st century. A classic golden Hollywood era story likened to Citizen Kane or Gone With The Wind, told in a modern way.

Brokeback Mountain- Ang Lee- 2005

The first time I saw this film I was angry, thinking it was all hyped up and didn't deliver. I was so befuddled I decided to view a second time. As a middle age woman weeped in front of me, I realized what made me so angry. The love story was just too honest.

I couldn't take it.

Oasis- director- Lee Chang-Dong, 2002

One of the most unusual love stories between a house thief who comes upon a handicapped girl in an empty apartment. She begs him to have sex with her. They fall in love and continue a romantic courtship. 

O Fantasma- João Pedro Rodrigues- 2000

Unabashed fetish presented on film for all to see. Director Joan Pedro Rodrigues has a unique vision. First and only time actor Ricardo Meneses is sexy as fuck.

Shadow of The Vampire- 2000- E. Elias Merhige

Fictional account of the making of the first vampire film without the endorsement of Bram Stroker. Some truth mixed with lore and completely made up antidotes about the actor Max Schreck  who portrayed Count Orlock in the 1922 classic- Nosferatu. Gothically humorous and entertaining.  

Audition- director-  Takashi Miike-1999

Sinister and unexpected. Revenge film with a twist, sadomasocistic and scary, the final scene is intense to say the least.

The Ninth Gate- Roman Polanski- 1999

Only Polanski can build upon each scene of intrigue adding original characters along the search for a book written by the devil.

Jackie Brown-  Quentin Tarantino- 1997

Understated, yet powerful film. Beautifully acted by Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Bridget Fonda, Robert DiNero and legend Robert Forrester. The parking lot scene with DiNero & Fonda is out-of-the box- hysterical. 

Hustler White- Bruce Labruce & Rick Castro- 1996

Is it narcissistic to include my own film? What can I say, I really like my film. Every time I watch HW there's something new for me. I feel it's aging well as a cult-classic. 

Total eclipse- director- Agnieszka Holland- 1995

One of the few, if only films about the relationship of Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine; the original punks. Leonardo De Caprio and David Thewlis‎ are excellent.

Ed Wood- director- Tim Burton- 1994

This film is so cute. I love the black & white and all the characters performed with love.  One of the best of many great lines, Sarah Jessica Parkers reading a bad review of her acting. "Do I really have a face like a horse?"

In A Glass Cage- director- Agustí Villaronga-1986

Controversial and banned in many countries upon it's release, In A Glass Cage tells the story of an Nazi- scientist living in exile in South America haunted by his past of hideous experiments on jews. One of the survivors now a gorgeous young man, hunts him down to become his, "caregiver."

Possession- Andrzej Żuławski-1981

I mean... oh wow..... Isabelle Adjani's scene in the underground tunnel is worth the price of admission on it's own. Now that is acting!

The Elephant Man- David Lynch 1980

This is my favorite among David Lynch's long list of films. There's a sadness and tenderness to the film, not just the acting, but the soft black & white look gives it a otherworldly dreamlike feeling. A beautiful film. 

Ninjinski- director Herbert Ross1980

Dancer George De La Pena had a limited, uneven career as an actor. I think he was underrate. Not a perfect film, but none the less interesting to have a contemorary storytelling of legendary dancer Vaslav Nijinsk, Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes.

La Luna- Bernardo Bertolucci - 1979

Beautiful and dysfunctionally romantic, perhaps the most controversial film by the legendary Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci tells the story of a recently widowed opera singer, (deftly portrayed by Jill Clayburgh) discovering her 16 year old only child is a heroin addict and tries to cure him by having a sexual affair with him! This could only happen is 70s era filmmaking. In the late 70s Jill Clayburgh was the Meryl Streep of the era, after this film her career took a blow. 

Looking for Mr. Goodbar-  Richard Brooks- 1977

A devastating film. Diane Keaton is a great actress.

Valentino - director- Ken Russell -1977

The opening sequence alone is iconic with Rudolf Nureyev as Rudolph Valentino doing the tango with Anthony Dowell as Vaslav Nijinsky.

Desperate Living-  director- John Waters- 1977

Ahhh the memories of driving to see this film when it first came out in 1977- smoking a joint right before the screening, then laughing so hard our sides ached. My personal favorite of John Waters, yet I do love all his films, even A Dirty Shame.

The Tenant-  director- Roman Polanski- 1976

A cinematic study of paranoia and agoraphobia which I can relate to. The always brilliant Shelly Winters and Melvyn Douglas, torment their tenant- Trelkovsky, (Roman Polanski) driving him to jump out of his apartment window not once, but twice!

The Rocky Horror Picture Show- director- Jim Sharman- 1975

My first boyfriend, before he was my boyfriend took me to the  first screening of this film when it came out in 1975. I was in High School at the time. We sat in awe. After the screening I asked him, "what made you think I would like this film?"

Fox And His Friends- Rainer Werner Fassbinder- 1975

All of Fassbinder's films have something to offer. I choose this one, because of the honestly harsh relationship how people will use others to manipulate what they want. All with the support of family and friends. 

Maitresse-  Barbet Schroeder-1975

Great look at the life of a dominitrix, her fantastic dungeon and all the players & slaves in her life. Rubber costumes designed by Karl Lagerfeld !

Salo: 120 Days of Sodom- Pier Paolo Pasolini- 1975

Hands down the best film ever made.. Based on Marquis de Sade's writings, reinterpreted by Pasolini as fascist metaphor. Pasolini chooses the privileged city of Salo which was the seat of government of the Italian Social Republic during WW2 to play out corruption of power thru sex.

Day of The Locust- John Schlesinger- 1975

70's classic film based on the 1938 novel by Nathanael West tells the age-old story of the soul crushing world that is Hollywood.  Tod Hackett, (William Atherton) & Faye Greener, (Karen Black) as two Hollywood hopefuls live at the San Bernardino Arms. Legendary actor Donald Sutherland pays the part of Homer Simpson, 14 years before the long running cartoon. After all.... "it's only a movie."

Chinatown- Roman Polanski- 1974

It takes an outsider to create the best film about Los Angeles's corrupt history of    hoarding water rights. Excellent acting by Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Diane Ladd, and everybody really. "Hay Jack, let it go... It's Chinatown'.

The Exorcist- William Friedkin- 1973

Truly one of the best films ever made. Groundbreaking in it's time and still packs a punch to this day. I ditched high school to wait in ling for this film at the Alcove theater, Westwood. We asked the lady in front of us to say she was our gaurdian since we were underage. Follows William Peter Blaty's novel acturalty. With good writing a film can't go wrong.  William Friedkin has said, "this film could never been made in the present time. there would be too many restrictions and no studio would touch it.

Don't Look Now- Nicolas Roeg- 1973

Errie and haunting from beginning to end. The 1970s is my favorite period for filmmaking. Nude sex scenes are always including weather necessary or not. Any film shot in Venice is a plus for me. Makes you  want to hop on a plane to Venice immediately. 

Cabaret-  Bob Fosse- 1972

Hypnotic and mesmerizing, in this case better than the classic book Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood which for me was surprisingly dullish.  Bob Fosses directs like he choreographs.

A Clockwork Orange- Stanley Kubrick- 1971

All of Kubrick's films are amazing, however  Clockwork Orange left a strong impression on me as a teenager. What's most shocking about the film, (and book) is in 21st century, we have long surpassed the level of ultra-violence depicted.

 In modern times the film now comes off as quaint.

Death In Venice- Luchino Visconti- 1971

This masterpiece is like watching a filmed dream. Heavy atmospheric and melancholic. In modern times much rage has been projected at this film with the fixation on an adolescent and the actor who portrayed Tasio- stating that the film ruined his life. I accept the criticism, but believe that art must be separated from real life and the people who created. Artists, like people are flawed and sometimes do bad things. Art is perfect. 

Teorema- Pier Paolo Pasolini- 1970

My second favorite film by the master. A visitor, (perhaps the messiah?) so etherial and gorgeous portrayed by Terrence Stamp. his unannounced arrival and stay with a bourgeois family projects a hypnotic allure to each member one by one, causing complete fixation and destruction. 

Model Shop- director- Jacques Demy-1969

Wonderfully atmospheric flick presents the best use of Hollywood, Los Angeles and Venice as backdrop in the swinging sixties.

Rosemary's Baby- Roman Polanski- 1968

One of the few films that's as good as the book, maybe because it follows the book to a tee-

Laura-Louise gave a bon voyage party Saturday night in her small dark tannis-smelling apartment on the twelfth floor. The Weeses and the Gilmores came, and Mrs. Sabatini with her cat Flash, and Dr. Shand. (How had Guy known that it was Dr. Shand who played the recorder? Rosemary wondered. And that it was a recorder, not a flute or a clarinet? She would have to ask him.) Roman told of his and Minnie's planned itinerary, surprising Mrs. Sabatini, who couldn't believe they were bypassing Rome and Florence. Laura-Louise served home-made cookies and a mildly alcoholic fruit punch. Conversation turned to tornadoes and civil rights. Rosemary, watching and listening to these people who were much like her aunts and uncles in Omaha, found it hard to maintain her belief that they were in fact a coven of witches. Little Mr. Wees, listening to Guy talking about Martin Luther King; could such a feeble old man, even in his dreams, imagine himself a caster of spells, a maker of charms? And dowdy old women like Laura-Louise and Minnie and Helen Wees; could they really bring themselves to cavort naked in mock-religious orgies? (Yet hadn't she seen them that way, seen all of them naked? No, no, that was a dream, a wild dream that she'd had a long, long time ago.) She wiped her hands on her housecoat, threw back her hair, found a fresh grip on the knife's thick handle, and stepped out where they could every one of them see her and know she had come.

Insanely, they didn't. They went right on talking, listening, sipping, pleasantly partying, as if she were a ghost, or back in her bed dreaming; Minnie, Roman, Guy (contracts!), Mr. Fountain, the Weeses, Laura-Louise, and a studious-looking young Japanese with

eyeglasses—all gathered under an over-the-mantel portrait of Adrian Marcato. He alone saw her. He stood glaring at her, motionless, powerful; but powerless, a painting.

-- Ira Levin, writer of Rosemary's Baby

Reflections in a Golden Eye- director- John Huston-1967

Based on the 1941 novel by  Carson McCullers, with strong direction by John Huston. Every actor in this production is not there to play. They all bring their game with strong one of a kind performances by Marlon Brandon, Elisabeth Taylor, Julie Harris, Brian Keith , gorgeously young Robert Forster and most definitely Zorro David as Anacleto.

The Haunting- Robert Wise - 1963

Neurotic Author Shirley Jackson wrote the quintessential ghost story that all other ghost/haunting stories are based on. Same with this film a classic haunting story copied and redone some many times, one can forget this is the granddaddy master of them all.

Lolita- Stanley Kubrick- 1962

100% morally incorrect then and now, based on the 1955 novel by Vladimir Nabokov of a middle age professor driven to madness over his obsession with a young girl who he sets up to be his step-daughter. James Mason, Shelly Winters, Sue Lyons and Peter Sellars are genius. Kubrick has stated that if he knew all the difficulties he would face with censors , he would not have made the film. 

Walk On The Wild Side- director- Edward Dmytryk- 1962

Such an unusual film unexpected in this era. Barbara Stanwyck plays a lesbian madame obsessed with one of her "dolls," the aloof Halley played by the ice queen model Capucine. The film is filled with quirky character actors and stellar performance by a young, sexy Jane Fonda. All set in the backdrop of a New Orleans Brothel. 

West Side Story- director- Robert Wise- 1961

From the opening credits, fading into the skyscrapers of Manhattan, to glorious dance numbers, sets and performances by Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, and George Chakiris and  Susan Oakes as Anybodys, this film is classic. Although she's good, I do have to point out it's annoying that Natalie Wood is portraying a Puerto Rican. 

Eyes Without A Face- Georges Franju- 1960

French gothic horrors film, heavy on atmosphere and aesthetic as only the French can do. Eerie, creepy, the face transplant, however crude, is a cinematic first.

Peeping Tom-  Michael Powell- 1960- 

Michael Powell wanted to one up Hitchcock as film genres were beginning to include sexual violence. Peeping Tom came out two months before Psycho. Hitchcock became even more famous and infamous. Peeping Tom sorta ended Powell's career. 

Compulsion  director- Richard Fleischer- 1959

Based on the 1956 non-fiction novel of the same name by Meyer Levin, about a couple of college friends who may or may not be lovers. However all homoeroticism is taken out of this production.The "friends" decide to murder a young boy based on German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's Theory of the "Superman". Nietzche's theory was taken out of context and lauded by Adolf Hitler's one of the many faux intellectual theories in defense of white supremacy.  Writer Meyer Levin knew Leopold and Lobe as fellow schoolmates.  In 1959, Leopold tried unsuccessfully to block the publication from his prison cell. 

Night of The Demon- 1957

What darkly beautiful cinematography can do for a film. Heavy and atmospheric, the scenes with the conjuring of the demon are done so well with no FX. The ending scene when the demon grabs the nasty Dr. Karswell looks just like the infamous Alister Crowley drawing.

The Bad Seed- Mervyn LeRoy- 1956

Rebel Without A Cause- Nicholas Ray- 1955

the film of many firsts- 

first teen-flick

first teen idol- James Dean

first depiction of a gay teen- Sal Mineo as Plato

first film depicting the failure of parents to understand their coddled kids. 

first non-sexual, (but sexy) three-way- James Dean, Natalie Wood & Sal Mineo.

Diabolique- Henri-Georges Clouzot- 1955

A Star Is Born- George Cukor- 1954

A Place in The Sun- George Stevens- 1951

Sunset Boulevard- Billy Wilder- 1950

The best beginning and ending scenes of a film . The grind house soullessness that is the Hollywood industry spits out another victim. Gloria Swanson tears up every scene she's in.

The Red Shoes- Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger- 1948

My second fave film of all time after Salo. For me they are the same, lush and hypnotic. No matter where I am, if I see the Red Shoes will be broadcasting, (of course this is before streaming on demand) I would tune in an watch. Mesmerizing from beginning to end. The age old story of love vs art.

Rope- Alfred Hitchcock- 1948

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir- Joseph L. Mankiewicz- 1947

Humoresque- Jean Negulesco- 1946

Drama! drama! drama! Joan Crawford is queen of drama. Her characterization  of socialite Helen Wright is sooo neurotic she literally twitches off the screen. Joan's scene of suicide by drowning accompanied by Acordes do Coração (Tradução) is what noir drama is all about. Amazing.

The Picture of Dorian Gray- Albert Lewin- 1945

Mildred Pierce- Michael Curtiz- 1945

Leave Her to Heaven- John M. Stahl- 1945

Gaslight- George Cukor- 1944

Lifeboat- Alfred Hitchcock- 1944

The Seventh Victim- Mark Robson/Val Lewton- 1943

Rebecca - Alfred Hitchcock- 1940

A Star Is Born- William A. Wellman- 1937

The Bride of Frankenstein- James Whale- 1935

Frankenstein- James Whale- 1931

Dracula- Tod Browning- 1931

I'm drawn to the stillness of this classic film. Bela Lugosi is so pitch perfect in the role- it doomed him to portray a vampire for the entirety of his life. 

Salome- director-  Charles Bryant -1923

Said to have an all gay cast, way ahead of it's time. Panned and censored during it's day. Also forced producer/director Alla Nazimova, (the first and only lesbian director of the 1920s) into bankruptcy.

Camille- director- Ray C. Smallwood- 1921

Historic version of the great love story as tragedy written by Alexandre Dumas.  Producer and star Alla Nazimova gave Rudolf Valentino his first role in this film. 

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari- director-  Robert Wiene- 1920

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Different from the Others- Richard Oswald-1919

The first gay themed film ever made. And it has a positive outcome. Long lost and restored footage by Outfest Legacy Projects, (they also archival my film Hustler White) feature the first gay icon, Conrad Veidt, and the great gay grandfather of sex research, Magnus Hirschfeld. Have you ever seen that horrific stock footage of the SS burning books they deemed as unacceptable? Those were the archives of Hirschfeld

The Golem- directors- Paul Wegener &  Henrik Galeen- 1915

The jewish folklore of a protector/warrior/defender of the people made from clay. In this version the protector runs amok committing several murders. I find the look and image of the Golem mesmerizing.

Frankenstein-  director J. Searle Dawley- 1910

A short version of the story of Frankenstein. The doctor suffers from nightmares about a monster he's created. Historic and rare. All versions of this film have damage, many scenes are lost, so we only have the restored versions.