Frank Ocean Prefers Wong Kar-wai's Early Stuff
Thursday, August 25, 2016 at 9:14AM For anyone still wondering what took Frank Ocean so long to release his follow-up to Channel Orange, a new theory lies within the pages of the R&B angel’s recently released "Boys Don't Cry" zine to accompany his new album Blonde: perhaps he was blowing through his conscientious Blu-ray collection. Demonstrating an eye for the visionary and the visually dazzling – and inadvertently challenging the hot buzz on that BBC critics’ poll and last week’s #7favfilms on Twitter – Ocean scribbled down a list of his 100 favorite films of all time, and his choices make it clear that he’s as much a student of the cinema as he is a singer of stirring emotionality.
A few standout selections. He’s clearly got love for the go-for-broke auteurism of Herzog and Jodorowsky, reflected in his own sonic adventurism, but he flexes his sensitive side and interest in rehashing the past with a Bergman classic like Wild Strawberries. As a David Lynch devotee, his inclusion of the polarizing and patriotically perverse (and, for my money, perfect) Wild at Heart makes me want to paint the town as red as Diane Ladd’s face. A small smattering of silent films make the list but the absences are just as compelling. PTA makes three appearances on the list but Ocean opts for Hard Eight over the far more beloved Boogie Nights. And despite its undeniable genius, it’s a relief to see a Best Of list with a Hitchcock mention that isn’t Vertigo. Mostly, though, I'll take the obvious crossover omission of Boys Don't Cry in favor of including American Beauty as a sly hint that he, too, is a fervent member of Team Bening.
Reader Comments (21)
Too much Tarantino...
Movie lists are this summer's ice bucket challenge.
STOP IT
Paul see Jackie Brown immediately. Peggy his personal top 100 is not a response to the abundance of arbitrary movie lists.
There is something cinematic to Frank Ocean's sound (especially on "Blonde"), so this list is at least interesting to see where his influences might be. Something about "Blonde" almost plays like queer Sofia Coppola to me.
I envisioned a Wes Anderson movie. Especially on the finale of Self Control.
Good film picks, but could a list look any less aesthetic? What happened to good old fashioned columns and numbers.
Any women directors?
I want Ocean to do a split on my face.
I thought he was being too cliche and serious until Phantom of the Paradise and then i straight up clapped.
/3rtful, you should know that I've seen JB, it's the only one I praise here, consistently.
Could of sworn not long ago you confessed to not having seen it? Which I found strange considering its lead and story.
Babe was it Death Proof you never saw?
Yes, I've never seen DP.
I'll say it's his other black girls rock movie.
Babe??????
We're not lovers rick but we have plenty in common.
Oh!!! Good for you...
Don't be weird. This is a gay blog before anything else.
/3rtful - actually it's a movie blog before it's anything else. to quote you "don't be weird"
/3rtful is dead. I killed him. And I'm going to say whatever the fuck I want.
Incidentally, the thesis. All can now compose them. The professionals who will assist and advise on this case are only needed in these cases. It's also nice that my friends supported me and told me where to go for an essay http://justdomyhomework.com . However, study is required so that I write an essay. Great theoretical material will support me very well; you can look here and make necessary assumptions about writing an essay for yourself. I took a lot for myself, for example, and I know how to compose an essay. I hope that, good luck or success, I can support somebody.