Earlier this week we told you how for all the compositional brilliance present in Brooklyn-via-Wales producer Until the Ribbon Breaks‘ latest EP, A Taste of Silver, what truly sets the elusive beatmaker – real name: Peter Lawrie Winfield – apart is a sense of drama and narrative very much rooted in a love of the cinema. Well, always keen to follow our journalistic noses, we couldn’t resist asking the Welsh transplant to run us through ten of his most influential flicks; from the always evocative Oldboy to the Tarantino-penned True Romance, which Winfield describes as potentially having, “the best ensemble cast of all-time.” Oh, and Hook‘s in there too because, well, obviously.
But first, remind yourself what all the fuss is about by revisiting Until the Ribbon Breaks’ stargazing street ballad ‘Romeo‘, taken from A Taste of Silver.
1. Cinema Paradiso (1988)
“For the music alone, this would be in my top ten of all-time. The whole thing is just so lovingly made, which, is of course fitting for the theme. A film so in love with the art that it could only ever have been this beautiful. A triumph of sentimentality that never verges on saccharine. A love letter to the cinema and the greatest score of all.”
2. The Thin Red Line (1998)
“In some respects my favourite film of all-time and in my mind easily one of the most underrated. Considering the plaudits given to other historic war films, it is a mystery to me that this is not placed on top of more lists, let alone on them at all. It is an incredibly compassionate work. Malick’s use of nature as metaphor is astounding, showing us both its cruelty and its beauty. An incredibly moving experience and one that I revisit often.”
3. Baraka (1992)
“Certainly more visual poetry than a traditional, narrative-led ‘movie’. Baraka is breathtaking to look at and an often stark reminder of how beautiful a planet we are taking for granted. It allows you to question ‘man’ and our place in the universe without ever letting you know that is what it is doing or forcing an agenda on you. Just by holding what is up to the light, it is as powerful a message as I have seen on screen.”
4. Moon (2009)
“Amazingly, this film is directed by the son of David Bowie, who dispels any notion that he may have walked his way into the director’s chair. An incredibly claustrophobic and disconcerting atmosphere, it allows for one man’s descent into madness in the loneliest of locations. I’m not a huge science fiction fan, but for me this allows an incredible central performance to convey the themes, corruption, identity and looniness, without ever relying on needless SFX. Castaway on the moon this is not. It’s dark, thought-provoking and unnerving: perfect science fiction.”
5. Oldboy (2003)
“I was recently shocked to discover that a remake was already in production. The ‘American’ version, directed by Spike Lee. On the whole I am a Spike fan, but I have no idea why this almost perfect and relatively recent film needs an overhaul. Revenge, in my mind is one of the all-time greatest narrative platforms and director Chan-wook Park goes all out. Its surrealist edge stops it from ever becoming conventional. It is graphically violent, but never self-indulgent; all underpinned by a surprisingly moving score.”
6. UP (2009)
“‘By tying thousands of balloons to his home, 78-year-old Carl sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America’: with this as a premise and Pixar on top form, this was never going to disappoint. Humour and a heart of gold makes for an incredibly human animation. It looks and sounds stunning. More than any of the other films on this list, the score has a central role; practically becoming a character in the movie. Adult themes on a child’s journey. Perhaps the truest family film to date.”
7. Hook (1991)
“Whilst on the theme of children’s films, I had to include this. Not the most critically acclaimed Spielberg work and by no means his best, but… It is the film that transports me to childhood like no other. It is a mainline injection of nostalgia and specifically Christmas, watching this with my sister. It just looks like it would have been so much fun to make: real sets and real love put it into every detail and a world that I could live in forever, if I didn’t have to grow up! ‘Rufio! Rufio!’”
8. Into the Wild (2007)
“I am not afraid to admit that this film made me shed a tear. It’s just so human and similar in scope visually to the work of Terence Malik; an incredible job by one of the truly great actors turned director, Sean Penn.The film is just so still, letting nature fill up every shot and yet the pacing never feels lumbered. Into the Wild is not an easy film and I never feel like we are being told to sympathise with our character, as much as we are being warned to respect our surroundings. It made me question my own choices and I don’t take that for granted. Family, idealism and nature. Oh, and lest I forget, it’s soundtracked by Eddie Vedder too.”
9. True Romance (1993)
“I have never heard a bad word spoken about this film. From the casting to the screenplay to the music, it is surely the greatest modern love story in cinema. Utterly melodramatic and all the better for it. Val Kilmer as the toilet-dwelling ghost of Elvis Presley in a non-surrealist romantic gangster movie. What could be better? Well amazingly, what is better is Dennis Hopper accepting his fate in the greatest monologue I have ever seen, to Christopher Walken in the very same movie. The best ensemble cast of all-time?”
10. The Big Lebowski (1998)
“If the film ended immediately after the opening credits, there is a chance it would still make it into this list. Perhaps the greatest piece of casting of all-time, it is difficult to believe that the Coen brothers didn’t aim this script specifically at the thought of a permanently high, bathrobe-wearing Jeff Bridges. It is cartoon-like at times and often feels more like a stage play – much like a lot of the Coen brothers work – but that being said, it never once loses its humanity. There (hopefully) is a little of the dude in everyone I know.”
- Alex Cull
For more information on Until the Ribbon Breaks and to grab a copy of the Taste of Silver EP, visit his website.
