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I Am An Existentialist

I Love Existentialist Movies

By: Jamarian
Written on February 26th, 2012
The best existentialist movie I've seen is Port Djema.  I don't think this film has been issued on DVD or VHS, unfortunately.  But it is probably occasionally still shown at film festivals.   Anyhoo, I was stunned by this movie.  It's filmed in Africa somewhere, and is about Eritrea, although it's called Port Djema in the story.   One keeps thinking there is, or is going to be, a plot.  There is no plot.  People meet, people disconnect.  The male protagonist meets a beautiful photo journalist.  You think this will lead to a romantic interest, but No.  We see he again once or twice, but it's never clear what, if any, the connection between the two people is, was, or will be.  That's only a small part of the film, but a significant one, because...well...isn't that how life really is?  Friends come, friends go.  People wander through our lives, and then the relationship, even with family, ends.  Somebody is untrue, somebody dies, or you die, etc.

I'm hoping some people in this group will share more existentialist movies.   I have other favorites I can share, also.
By: Jamarian
Age: 70+ , Female
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2 responses
  • Jamarian
    Jamarian

    hi, angsty, Thanks very much to responding to this issue of movies. I haven't seen "Cold Souls" but have put into my netflix queue.



    Port djema has not come out vhs or dvd. it's unavailable, but is sometimes shown at art film houses or festivals. The uS distributor took pity on me and sold me a pirate copy on vhs. But when i gave away all my vhs movies and got dvd's, I accidentally gave that away by putting it on the free table that used to be in the community room at my apt. building where i live. It is a great loss. i liked watching it several times a year. I admit it was a poor copy, and am hoping the flick comes to a theatre.



    Here are some other good existentialist films, at least in my view. The 400 Blows (Francois Truffaut, French); 'Every man for himself and God against all, the story of kaspar Hauser" (Werner Herzog, German). For some reason I also consider 'The Wizare of Oz" to be an existential movie. Maybe not. I know it's a morality tale.



    Some existentialist books are; Abbott and Avery; The River Below; The Consequences of love. These are three of my favorite books. The Consequences of love is available free for the eReader, and maybe Kindle, from a site called Library2Go. Maybe your public library subscribes to library2go. mine does and get check books out for my Sony eReader.

    Mar 10, 2012
    1 like
  • angsty
    angsty

    Hm..."Cold Souls" comes to mind, if only because it's the most recent one I've seen.

    This is a head-scratcher, Jammie.

    Give me a liitle time, and the old neurons may kick in.

    Mar 3, 2012
    3 likes