Snobbin: Beautiful Trash in the Pop Culture Gutter

Roddy Bogawa's 2004 documentary I Was Born, But is named after Yasujiro Ozu's 1934 silent film and mirrors that film in specifics of identity formation, particularly how class, culture, and nation inform who we are. The film is parts quiet meditation on Japanese American identity, including thoughts on Pearl Harbor, and the formative influence of the punk rock scene. Through additional reflection on his childhood in California and Hawaii and its impact, Bogawa creates an entrancing narrative that feels very different from Ozu but still tells a similar story on how art and identity shapes us.

Film Six: The Flying Ace (1926). The first silent film in my challenge is so much fun. The intriguing mystery plot keeps one guessing. 

L 'inferno (1911), Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovan, Giuseppe De Liguoro The Conquest of the Pol e (1912), Georges Méliès, Star Film Company The Miracle (1912), Michel Antoine Carre, Joseph Menchen The Student of Prague (1913), Stellan Rye and Paul Wegener, Deutsche Bioscop The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914), J. Farrell McDonald, Paramount The Cheat (1915), Cecil B. DeMille, Paramount Intolerance (1916), D.W. Griffith, Triangle Distributing Corporation A Poor Little Rich Girl (1917), Maurice Tourneur, Artcraft Shoulder Arms (1918), Charlie Chaplin, First National The Hoodlum (1919), Sidney Franklin, First National Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920), John S. Robertson, Paramount A Sailor-Made Man (1921), Fred C. Newmeyer, Hal Roach Studios Grandma's Boy (1922), Fred C. Newmeyer, Hal Roach Studios Our Hospitality (1923), Buster Keaton and John G. Blystone, Joseph M. ...

I completed my film viewing goal for 2019 by watching at least one film made in each year from the beginning of film history until now. For the earliest years, I watched what was available and formative, but starting with 1911, each film had to be full-length. This was an enjoyable and eye-opening experience, and I hope to write blog posts about specific films that stood out. I will be posting my top ten once I am done posting each part of my viewing list. Man Walking Around Corner ( 1887), Louis Le-Prince Round Hay Garden Scene (1888), Louis Le-Prince Monkeyshines 1 and 2 (1889), William K.L. Dickson and William Heise, Edison Manufacturing Company Trafalgar  (1890) Traffic in King's Road, Chelsea (1890), William Friese-Greene Dickson Greeting (1891), William K.L. Dickson, Edison Manufacturing Company Pauvre Pierrot (1892), Charles Emile-Reynaud Blacksmith Scene #1 ( 1893), William K.L. Dickson, Edison Manufacturing Company...