Outsiders All the Way Down
Bill Murray alone in a Tokyo hotel bar, not sleeping, not quite drunk, being filmed for a Suntory whisky ad he doesn’t fully believe in. That’s where the list starts.
Someone wanted to know my desert island films—the real ones, not the respectable-dinner-party ones—so I wrote them down in order: Lost in Translation, Pirates of the Caribbean, Battle Royale, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Thirteen, Cruel Intentions, Amélie, City of God, Soloalbum, Spirited Away.
Ten films, and looking at them now I notice that nearly all of them are about outsiders dropped into worlds that weren’t built for them. A middle-aged American stranded in Tokyo. Schoolchildren forced to murder each other. A gonzo journalist spiraling through a desert city. A girl tumbling into a realm of spirits and labor disputes. Even the pirate movie is fundamentally about a man who doesn’t belong to his own era. I apparently have a type.
Battle Royale was still genuinely shocking in those years—Fukasaku’s last film, made while he was already ill, and it carries the specific fury of someone who doesn’t have time to be careful. City of God hits like a gut punch every single time, regardless of how well you know what’s coming. And Spirited Away remains one of the very few films I’d recommend to any living person in any mood at any age, which is an almost suspicious quality for a single work to possess.
The list probably hasn’t changed much since. Which either means I got it right the first time, or I’ve stopped paying attention.