Which (arthouse) films to show to your kids?

[jegharfangetmigenmyg]

Couldn't find a thread about this, but I'm hopeful it could be relevant to many in here. I remember the moment at a very young age when I watched 2001 and for the first time found out that cinema could be something different, and I want to "help" my children get that cinephile breakthrough at an early age, too.

However, when I search the web for ideas for arthouse and non-Hollywood cinema to show to an 11-year-old, the results are really boring and trivial, and mostly has a child protagonist. I'm sure my daughter won't need a same age actor to connect to a film, so now I'm posting here for tips, since I'm sure at least some of you have some experience.

Of course, I'm looking for non-violent awe-inspiring and quiet film because the speed of the crap she watches on youtube is already running on 1000 miles per hour. My own list would include Tati, of course, and I was thinking about some Ozu as well. But it would be nice if any of you had input actually tried on your own kids for "indoctrionation" so I can make sure my offspring will become film snobs just like me.

Also hoping that this thread will serve as helpful inspiration for others.

[domino harvey]

I thought we had a thread like this but I can’t find it, so this is that thread for now! These threads might be helpful:

Middle school film suggestions

High school film suggestions

[HinkyDinkyTruesmith]

I would like to suggest Roger Ebert’s The Great Movies series as a helpful source both for suggestions, as well as accessible but thoughtful reviews to read after the movies. I was a little bit older when I started to watch art house and old Hollywood films (14 or 15) and Ebert was a great point of access to me, especially for films that were slightly beyond my reach. But as I think anyone who got into “Cinema” early in their life will probably attest, movies that are beyond our immediate comprehension are an important part of growing. I remember one particular night where I watched The Third Man, The Lady Eve, M, and Bride of Frankenstein that was particularly revelatory — all of which were from Ebert’s The Great Movies.

[domino harvey]

As a teen, I rented Solaris on double VHS from Hollywood Video after Ebert’s effusive suggestion. I was more lost than I would have been anyways because I inadvertently watched the tapes out of order

[denti alligator]

I started my son with Tati and Chaplin (age 7-8). When he was ready: Kiarostami (age 8 or 9). You can't get much better than these. He still calls Where Is the Friend's House? his favorite movie of all time.

[Mr Sausage]

Likewise I got into arthouse films as an older teen (15-16), and it was the Criterion canon that did it for me: 8 1/2, Seven Samurai, Contempt, The Seventh Seal, Alexander Nevsky, Gertrude, etc. A lot of these I wouldn’t grasp until I was older and had seen and experienced more, but that initial excitement and wonder at what arcane, profound meanings were going on in these films fuelled my years-long effort to figure out how to understand art.

So more than title suggestions I just want to echo what others have said, re: don’t overlook the benefit of showing kids stuff beyond their capabilities. An intelligent and curious child is more likely to be enticed by a glimpse of the adult world of profundity and meaning than repelled. Some European art house canonical stuff might be just the thing.

[therewillbeblus]

I really liked the weird stuff like Brazil and Repo Man when I was a kid, and that opened my palette up to older, non-mainstream type films pretty quickly. I think some of those very imaginative fantasy/sci-fi/dystopia stuff can be catnip for a child's brain

[ermylaw]

We watch a lot of stuff on TCM with my kids (ages 11 and younger) so they’re familiar with black and white films generally. And we regularly watch subtitled films so they’re used to that as well. So, generally, it was just a matter of making older, black and white, and subtitled films the norm.

My oldest (11-year-old daughter) has watched Seven Samurai, which she liked. And The Third Man, which is one of her faves. Just last week her friend asked her favorite actor, and she said William Powell (we’d been watching a lot of his films with Myrna Loy on TCM last month). And my boys like all the Godzilla movies, even when they’re too young to read the subtitles (we went to see the 1954 Japanese original at the cinema, and we just saw Minus Zero this week).

So, I think it’s generally a matter of exposure and normalization to older films. If I’m watching something that’s okay for their age in terms of content, they can watch along with me.

[beamish14]

I’d recommend films that emphasize the beauty of the natural world with an arthouse bent like Jean-Jacques Annaud’s The Bear and the films of Carroll Ballard

[denti alligator]

So, I think it’s generally a matter of exposure and normalization to older films.

This is key. Once they reach 12-13 you can throw all kinds of great stuff at them, including Sausage's and TWBB's recs and more. Brazil was the gateway drug for me; then Blue Velvet (at 14--probably too young). Then Eraserhead. But that was in the days when you had to hunt them down in the lesser-known mom & pop VHS shops.

[Zot!]

Pretty violent, but I would guess Kurosawa is a great introduction to reading subtitles and getting started on arthouse fare.

[kindaikun]

Just to add my own tuppence, my own personal interest in foreign and 'older' movies (rather than just what I was shown by my parents) came after catching Kurosawa's Sanjuro on TV (FilmFour maybe?) and being surprised how funny and light (and relatively short) it was. I guess I'd had the image of classic films being slow and long epics and that helped challenge my expectations.

[Big Ben]

I don't know if you would consider Godzilla to be arthouse specifically but the original film would be an incredibly easy way to introduce a child to a film in a foreign language that I would consider readily accessible. Yojimbo on the other hand would actually be my other recommendation. Yojimbo is most certainly not as violent (Yes, even including the severed hand!) as the things seen on television and certainly nowhere near as violent as things like modern video games. Yojimbo is what, 12A in the UK? It's certainly less violent than say, Jaws or Raiders of the Lost Ark which I doubt many parents would have qualms about.

[Michael Kerpan]

Big Ben -- I think Sanjuro is more family friendly than Yojimbo.

Some foreign films we showed our children early on -- Ozu's Good Morning, Zhang Yimou's Not One Less. Truffaut's Small Change. Before that, they had seen an assortment of (silent) Harold Lloyd films. Also Marx Bros and WC Fields. And things like Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Maltese Falcon.

[therewillbeblus]

Big Ben -- I think Sanjuro is more family friendly than Yojimbo.

I think not