Sixtyg's Top 150: My Personal Favourites
This is not a list of the greatest movies ever made (although some are) but my own personal favourites, some watched many times over the years, others maybe only seen a couple of times but have made an impression (not in any order)
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- DirectorRidley ScottStarsKeith CarradineHarvey KeitelAlbert FinneyFrance, 1801. Due to a minor perceived slight, mild-mannered Lieutenant d'Hubert is forced into a duel with hot-headed irrational Lieutenant Feraud. The disagreement ultimately results in scores of duels spanning several years.Ridley Scott's first feature and second in standing after Blade Runner in his body of work in my opinion, beautifully photographed, fantastic locations and great story from a short by Joseph Conrad.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsRoman PolanskiIsabelle AdjaniMelvyn DouglasA bureaucrat rents a Paris apartment where he finds himself drawn into a rabbit hole of dangerous paranoia.Polanski weirds it up as a Paris tenant who starts to develop the persona of the flats previous occupant, Polanski himself is great in this.
- DirectorMikhail KalatozovStarsTatyana SamoylovaAleksey BatalovVasiliy MerkurevVeronica plans a rendezvous with her lover, Boris, at the bank of river, only for him to be drafted into World War II shortly thereafter.A movie that really is all about the cinematography, the story is good but you could almost watch this without subtitles, it's all in the visuals, one reason is that Kalatozov used to make silent movies and he puts every camera technique in the book into this, an amazing piece of cinema.
- DirectorJoseph H. LewisStarsJohn DallPeggy CumminsBerry KroegerTwo disturbed young people release their fascination with guns through a crime spree.Best B-noir ever made (that includes Detour) some great early realism where they just stuck a camera man in the back seat of a car and drove around streets filming without telling anyone including the cops and improvised the dialogue, when they're looking for a parking space to rob a bank they really are looking for a parking space.
- DirectorFrank PerrySydney PollackStarsBurt LancasterJanet LandgardJanice RuleA man spends a summer day swimming as many pools as he can all over a quiet suburban town.One of the most overlooked movies of all time, Lancaster in top form and probably the first movie to deal with the death of the American dream.
- DirectorVíctor EriceStarsFernando Fernán GómezTeresa GimperaAna TorrentIn 1940, after watching and being traumatized by the movie Frankenstein (1931), a sensitive seven year-old girl living in a small Spanish village drifts into her own fantasy world.Childhood imagination, no Hollywood sentimentality here just kids doing scary kid stuff.
- DirectorTed KotcheffStarsDonald PleasenceGary BondChips RaffertyAfter a bad gambling bet, a schoolteacher is marooned in a town full of crazy, drunk, violent men who threaten to make him just as crazy, drunk, and violent.One of the best Aussie movies ever made and about as brutal and nightmarish a descent into hell as you are ever likely to see, it was essentially lost for years until someone found one surviving original copy and it was re-released in 2009.
- DirectorErmanno OlmiStarsAnna CanziCarlo CabriniDespite his fiancee's reluctance, a young man moves to Sicily for a better job, but soon starts questioning his decision.An engineer goes to Sicily on a contract, themes of loneliness, detachment and love.
- DirectorJohn BoormanStarsLee MarvinAngie DickinsonKeenan WynnAfter being double-crossed and left for dead, a mysterious man named Walker single-mindedly tries to retrieve the money that was stolen from him.Lee Marvin at his menacing best in this 60's thriller, edgy and mystical.
- DirectorMichelangelo AntonioniStarsMonica VittiAlain DelonFrancisco RabalA young woman meets a vital young man, but their love affair is doomed because of the man's materialistic nature.Everything in this is loaded with with style, modern apartments, modern art, eerie unusual locations, great cinematography, not to mention depth and mystery, my favourite from Antonioni.
- DirectorJacques TatiStarsJacques TatiJean-Pierre ZolaAdrienne ServantieMonsieur Hulot visits the technology-driven world of his sister, brother-in-law, and nephew, but he can't quite fit into the surroundings.My favourite Jaques Tati movie where he visits the modernist house with lots of gadgets and the centre piece fish fountain.
- DirectorRené ClémentStarsAlain DelonMaurice RonetMarie LaforêtTom Ripley is a talented mimic, moocher, forger and all-around criminal improviser; but there's more to Tom Ripley than even he can guess.Forty years before Hollywood made The talented Mr Ripley the French made this original adaptation which has way more style and is superior in just about every way, particularly Alain Delon who's brilliant as the narcissistic Ripley.
- DirectorFred M. WilcoxStarsWalter PidgeonAnne FrancisLeslie NielsenA starship crew in the 23rd century goes to investigate the silence of a distant planet's colony, only to find just two survivors, a powerful robot, and the deadly secret of a lost civilization.The Citizen Kane of Sci-fi.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsLeon NiemczykJolanta UmeckaZygmunt MalanowiczA couple pick up a hitchhiker on the way to their yacht. The husband invites the young man to come along for their day's sailing. As the voyage progresses, the antagonism between the two men grows. A violent confrontation is inevitable.Roman Polanski's first feature, one of those movies where not much really happens but there's a lot going on, it's all about mind games and who's in control, beautifully shot with very stylish camera angles.
- DirectorStefan UherStarsMarián BielikJana BelákováOlga SalagováOldrich "Fajolo" Fajták (Marián Bielik), a student who directs quasi-existentialist verbal abuse at his girlfriend Bela Blazejová (Jana Beláková), takes off to a formally volunteer summer work camp at a farm where he meets her grandfather.Early Czech new wave with beautiful cinematography, fantastic little movie.
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenAlida ValliPulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, Harry Lime.True British noir, atmospheric, full of long shadows and not a spirit level in sight. Alida Valli is great as the melancholic detached girlfriend and a young slim Welles before he discovered pies and Emerald Dry, the long walk final scene is one of cinema's greatest closing shots.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsGanjirô NakamuraMachiko KyôHaruko SugimuraThe head of a Japanese theatre troupe returns to a small coastal town where he left a son who thinks he is his uncle, and tries to make up for the lost time, but his current mistress grows jealous.Ozu's beautiful and charming tale of a traveling theatre troupe spending summer in a small seaside town, stylish, classy and stunning cinematography by the bucket load.
- DirectorYoshishige YoshidaStarsMariko OkadaShigeru TsuyuguchiTamotsu HayakawaA married woman lets her lover take naked pictures of her. The photos end up in possession of a man who starts blackmailing the couple.One of the most stylish and visually stunning movies to have come out of Japan.
- DirectorErick ZoncaStarsÉlodie BouchezNatacha RégnierGrégoire ColinThe lives of two dissimilar girls turned out in different ways."The dreamlife of angels" two broke girls try to escape life's daily grind.
- DirectorJacques RozierStarsCaroline CartierDanièle CroisyFrançoise GuéganA patient observation on the adventures a group of three young girls spending their three-week summer vacation at a small village, a quotidian that includes cooking, excursions, playing cards and going out with guys, enjoying the simple pleasures life has to offer.A film that totally captures the feel of holidaying young friends, natural, awkward and bittersweet, a real timeless gem.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsShôichi OzawaSumiko SakamotoKeiko SagawaWhile avoiding the mob and local authorities, a world-weary pornographer finds being a family man the most difficult as he wrestles with his own desires and afflictions.Brilliantly strange and slightly surreal Japanese new wave.
- DirectorJuan Pablo RebellaPablo StollStarsAndrés PazosMirella PascualJorge BolaniWhen his long-lost brother resurfaces, Jacobo, desperate to prove his life has added up to something, looks to scrounge up a wife. He turns to Marta, an employee at his sock factory, with whom he has a prickly relationship.Another of those movies where not much seems to happen but lots is going on as two sock factory owning brothers meet up in an off season seaside resort, a little gem of a movie from Uraguay
- DirectorAlexander MackendrickStarsAlec GuinnessPeter SellersCecil ParkerFive oddball criminals planning a bank robbery rent rooms on a cul-de-sac from an octogenarian widow under the pretext that they are classical musicians.Great Ealing comedy, Guinness gives one of his best performances as the professor
- DirectorJean-Pierre MelvilleStarsHoward VernonNicole StéphaneJean-Marie RobainIn occupied France, an elderly man and his niece are forced to give shelter to a German army lieutenant who seemingly loves their country and culture.Jean-Pierre Melville's debut feature set in occupied France where a German officer takes residence in the home of an old man and his niece and they decide not to speak to him, it's really powerful and atmospheric with some great expressionist style lighting. This is a greatly overlooked film probably due to Melville's later "Army of Shadows" although this isn't strictly about the resistance as such, it's still a fantastic movie.
- DirectorJacques TatiStarsJacques TatiBarbara DennekRita MaidenMonsieur Hulot curiously wanders around a high-tech Paris, paralleling a trip with a group of American tourists. Meanwhile, a nightclub/restaurant prepares its opening night, but it's still under construction.Jaques Tati's take on modern life, still very relevant.... we're there already.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsCatherine DeneuveJean SorelMichel PiccoliA frigid young housewife decides to spend her midweek afternoons as a prostitute.Reality v fantasy, a housewife becomes a prostitute during the day for kicks...or does she? Luis Bunuel's most well known movie.
- DirectorAki KaurismäkiStarsMatti PellonpääKati OutinenSakari KuosmanenAn episode in the life of Nikander, a garbage man, involving the death of a coworker, a love affair and much more.Great movie from Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki which was his first real breakthrough feature about the life of a garbage collector, dour, laconic and deadpan, first of the "trilogy"
- DirectorErmanno OlmiStarsSandro PanseriLoredana DettoCorrado AprileBursting with big dreams and plans, an Italian teen goes to Milan to work in a big impersonal corporate office, where he becomes disillusioned and drained of all his individualism.Another little gem of realism from Ermanno Olmi where a teenager applies for his first job to join a big faceless corporation and all the hope and nervous expectation is captured perfectly along with feelings of first love for a female applicant.
- DirectorChristopher PetitStarsDavid BeamesLisa KreuzerSandy RatcliffIn 1970s Britain, a man drives from London to Bristol to investigate his brother's death, and the purpose of his trip is offset by his encounters with a series of odd people.Obscure British indie road movie, bleak and detached with some great camera work and music.
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsBernard VerleyZouzouFrançoise VerleyThough he has an adoring wife, a bourgeois man is still tempted to pursue other women.AKA Chloe in the afternoon.
- DirectorJanusz MajewskiStarsOlgierd LukaszewiczEwa DalkowskaMalgorzata PritulakA young Austrian lieutenant Alfred Kiekeritz, who is stationed in a small Galician town, wants to give some meaning to his life in the last phase of WWI. He starts to collect works of art.Poignant and beautiful little movie about an officer dying of TB at the end of WWI in a remote town in Ukraine where he spends his time collecting art and artifacts and drifts towards mysticism as he tries to find some meaning to his life which is plagued by flashbacks of his time in combat.
- DirectorJuraj HerzStarsZdena StudenkováVlastimil HarapesVáclav VoskaIn this gothic rendition of the classic fairy tale, a merchant's youngest daughter is held prisoner by a mysterious winged beast.Visually stunning and beautifully crafted dark fantasy version of the tale, has to be one of the most underrated and obscure fantasy movies of all time.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsFranchot ToneAnne BaxterAkim TamiroffIn the North African campaign a British straggler manages to pass himself off as a waiter at the hotel commandeered as Rommel's headquarters. He has thoughts of assassinating Rommel but his cover may have an even better use.Great little WWII movie set in a remote desert hotel, it's all plot, tension and intrigue, Von Stroheim plays Rommel.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsJohn MillsValerie HobsonTony WagerA humble orphan boy in 1810s Kent is given the opportunity to go to London and become a gentleman, with the help of an unknown benefactor.David Lean's version of the Dickens story which I think is the best, one reason is it has a somewhat gothic look about it, it's also Alec Guinness debut he's 32 but looks about 15.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMartin SheenMarlon BrandoRobert DuvallA U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.War is hell.
- DirectorAki KaurismäkiStarsKati OutinenKari VäänänenElina SaloThe recession hits a couple in Helsinki.Another great laconic look at life and changing times in Finnish director Kaurismaki's trademark style, probably my favourite of his.
- DirectorJerzy KawalerowiczStarsLucyna WinnickaLeon NiemczykTeresa SzmigielównaJerzy enters a train set for the Baltic coast. He seems to be on the run from something - as does the strange woman with whom he must share a sleeping compartment.Not really a thriller, it's a stylish, moody and haunting train trip, a snapshot of the lives of those on board each on a journey to somewhere or nowhere.
- DirectorSam PeckinpahStarsSteve McQueenAli MacGrawBen JohnsonA recently-released ex-con and his loyal wife go on the run after a heist goes awry.McQueen and Mcgraw in great form as the couple on the run, nice little sub plot of their pursuer and his female hostage.
- DirectorAntonio PietrangeliStarsStefania SandrelliMario AdorfJean-Claude BrialyAdriana, a naive Italian country girl, moves to Rome to become a movie star and experiences the dark side of the business.Fragile hopes and dreams of making the big time in classy 60's Italian style, Sandrelli alone is worth the price of admission.
- DirectorPier Paolo PasoliniStarsAnna MagnaniEttore GarofoloFranco CittiAn ex-prostitute reunites with her son, but an extortion scheme threatens her aspirations for a decent life.Pasolini's second feature which is a lot more accessible than his later stuff, neo-realist style with great cinematography and locations and a storyline which in some ways is almost like a Shakespearian tragedy where a son who's mother is an ex-prostitute falls for a part time prostitute with gang culture thrown in, it's also heavy on religious themes right from the opening shot to the passion of Christ like finale.
- DirectorJohn GuillerminStarsMelvyn DouglasPatricia GozziDean StockwellAgnes, a lonely teenage girl, and her father befriend an escaped convict, named Joseph, who arrives at their farm in Brittany, France. When Joseph develops an attraction to Agnes, her father threatens to break up the union.Outstanding performance from Patricia Gozzi who was 15 at the time and looks just like a young version of Juliette Binoche.
- DirectorJames William GuercioStarsRobert BlakeBilly Green BushMitchell RyanAmbitious but diminutive motorcycle cop John Wintergreen patrols the Arizona highways, yearning for promotion to Homicide Detective, while investigating a murder tied to hippies.Underrated 70's movie, a minor cult classic. Great Arizona locations, a short arsed cop, ambition, disillusionment and another of my favourite closing sequences.
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsSimone SimonTom ConwayKent SmithAn American man marries a Serbian immigrant who fears that she will turn into the cat person of her homeland's fables if they are intimate together.Tourneur's classic horror all done by shadows and suggestion, also introduces the "Lewton bus" effect which has been used in every horror movie since, although in this it really is a bus.
- DirectorEduardo de GregorioStarsLeslie CaronBulle OgierMarie-France PisierAn English novelist is lured, with disconcerting and disorienting results, into purchasing a crumbling mansion by what he imagines are the deliberately 'literary' ploys of its housekeeper (Leslie Caron) and two mysterious, lurking women.A writer turns up at a rundown Chateau with plans of buying it and finds it occupied by two beautiful Bohemian type women and a maid and gets suspicious as they don't behave like the owners. Intriguing, engaging and mysterious, comparisons have been made to Rivette because of Eduardo de Gregorio's previous collaborations plus the Pisier/Ogier combination.
- DirectorYves AllégretStarsMadeleine RobinsonGérard PhilipeJean ServaisDuring the cold and rainy off-season a man arrives in a seaside town and, giving his name only as Pierre, checks into the only hotel which remains open. His arrival arouses curiosity and a degree of suspicion, as people note that he appears to know the area, yet gives no explanation for his presence at that bleak time of year in the dead-end town.Beautiful melancholic noir, every character in it is broken, lost, and on a road to nowhere in a tiny seaside town in Normandy, a true forgotten near classic of French cinema.
- DirectorYimou ZhangStarsGong LiJingwu MaSaifei HeChina in the 1920s. After her father's death, Songlian is forced to marry the wealthy Master Chen. With three wives already, each living in a separate house, there is fierce competition for his attention and the privileges that are gained.Stunningly beautiful and haunting story of concubine rivalry in old China from director Yimou Zhang who went on to do "Hero" and "House of flying daggers".
- DirectorBertrand BlierStarsGérard DepardieuMiou-MiouPatrick DewaereTwo thugs harass assault, steal, murder, Marie-Ange, a jaded, passive hairdresser, joins them as lover, cook, and mother confessor, on her own search for seemingly unattainable sexual pleasure.Depardieu and Dewaere are in impressive form the hapless women chasing louts in amazingly large flares.
- DirectorJohn BoormanStarsJon VoightBurt ReynoldsNed BeattyIntent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's dammed and turned into a lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a canoeing trip they'll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.The daddy of all vacationing city guys meets hostile inbred locals type movies, only this still does it better.
- DirectorMichelangelo AntonioniStarsGabriele FerzettiMonica VittiLea MassariA woman disappears during a Mediterranean boating trip. During the search, her lover and her best friend become attracted to each other.A woman disappears then nothing happens for two hours, classic Antonioni.
- DirectorAnh Hung TranStarsLe Van LocTony Leung Chiu-waiNu Yên-Khê TranWhen a poor bicycle-taxi driver has his cyclo stolen, he is forced into a life of crime. Meanwhile, his sister becomes a sex worker.A tour de force of cinema, poetic, vibrant, surprising, graphic.
- DirectorBostjan HladnikStarsDusa PockajMiha BalohRado NakrstPeter is the dark brooding type. Leading a vacuous, shapeless life, he longs for the ideal woman, while at the same time, half heartedly continuing with his habitual girlfriend, Marusa , who is considerably older, a fact that Peter is quick to point out. As an ageing actress, struggling for parts in her local theatre, she oozes insecurity and breathes uncertainty. Together, they spend their time in the local restaurant, smoking, drinking and trading verbal blows. "I bet you'll just end up a drunk," she tells Peter each time. Peter just grins and tells her how old she looks. Compounded by a thankless director who soon shows her the door, Marusa finds her identity being squeezed harder and harder against the wall. To escape, Peter and Marusa dream...Magical and dreamlike Slovenian new wave.
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsDeborah KerrDavid FarrarFlora RobsonA group of nuns struggle to establish a convent in the Himalayas, while isolation, extreme weather, altitude, and culture clashes all conspire to drive the well-intentioned missionaries mad.One of the The Archers best in my opinion, frustrated nuns, sexual undercurrents, red lipstick and sister Ruth goes over the edge in more ways than one, it's all the more remarkable as there's no real location shots to speak of it's all studio matte and looks imperssive.
- DirectorAndrei TarkovskyEduard AbalovStarsNikolay BurlyaevValentin ZubkovEvgeniy ZharikovDuring WWII, Soviet orphan Ivan Bondarev strikes up a friendship with three sympathetic Soviet officers while working as a scout behind the German lines.Beauty, war and dreams
- DirectorAleksey BalabanovStarsMikhail SkryabinYuriy MatveevAleksandr MosinThe film, set in the mid 1990s outside of St. Petersburg, tells the story of an ethnic Yakut, Major Skryabin, a shell-shocked veteran of the Afghan-Soviet War, who works as a stoker.Balabanov's penultimate film about a Soviet Afghan war veteran who stokes the boilers in a factory and disposes of a hitman's victims as part of his routine, brilliantly grim and dark with very dark humour but a compelling portrait of the underbelly of Soviet life in keeping with Balabanov's other offerings like Cargo 200 which would make a nice companion viewing with a bottle of Vodka and Semechki for good measure.
- DirectorCatherine BinetStarsMichael LonsdaleCarol KaneKatia WastchenkoIn Paris, a young woman, Louise visits her old friend, Nena in a psychiatric clinic, who tells her that she has just finished a novel about a girl who committed suicide. She begins to read, and the events of the novel are bizarrely intertwined with the life of Louise herself, who is experiencing a severe depression. The reality in her mind changes places with imagination, and it is already difficult to understand what exactly is happening and what is invented. Was the thief who died in a trap set up by Louise's husband the same person, because of whom the girl jumped out of the window, and what will happen to herself when the book ends?Fascinating arty story within a story, exploration of sexual awakenings and taboo's in a beautifully structured tale, this was Catherine Binet's only directorial effort, a shame because this is very impressive on many levels.
- DirectorIvan PasserStarsKarel BlazekZdenek BezusekVera KresadlováOne of the most important films of the Czech New Wave 60s, it was ranked among the top ten domestic films of all time. In this original sad comedy set in a small town, two classmates meet each other for the first time in ten years. They are both musicians: one is a member of the regional symphony orchestra, while the other is a local music teacher who performs at funerals.
- DirectorBernardo BertolucciStarsJean-Louis TrintignantStefania SandrelliGastone MoschinA weak-willed Italian man becomes a fascist flunky who goes abroad to arrange the assassination of his old teacher, now a political dissident.One of the most visually stunning movies ever made mostly due to the cinematography of Vittorio Storaro, plus period detail, great locations and an unconventional storyline.
- DirectorJirí MenzelStarsVáclav NeckárJosef SomrVlastimil BrodskýAn apprentice train dispatcher at a village station seeks his first sexual encounter and becomes despondent when he is unable to perform.Beautifully observed human behaviour but it's mostly about sex.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsLana TurnerKirk DouglasWalter PidgeonAn unscrupulous movie producer uses an actress, a director and a writer to achieve success.One of the best movies about the movies, there's a great scene where they want to make a scary movie and don't have the budget so decide the best plan is not to show the monster, which of course is a reference to "Cat people".
- DirectorBernardo BertolucciStarsAdriana AstiFrancesco BarilliAllen MidgetteFollowing the death of his friend, an Italian youth grows increasingly closer to his young aunt.Bertolucci does French new wave better than the French.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsTerence StampSamantha EggarMona WashbourneA man kidnaps a woman and holds her hostage just for the pleasure of having her there.A film way ahead of it's time as Terence Stamp gives a brilliant performance as the creepy obsessive Butterfly collector who has a woman in mind for his collection.
- DirectorEugène GreenStarsAdrien MichauxNatacha RégnierAlexis LoretParis in the seventies. A depressed graduate student hears music that will change his life; he becomes fascinated by the singer.Strange enigmatic and haunting film centering around a piece of music.
- DirectorNuri Bilge CeylanStarsMuzaffer ÖzdemirMehmet Emin ToprakZuhal GencerAfter his wife leaves him, a photographer has an existential crisis and tries to cope with his cousin's visit.Solitude, solitude and a reference to Tarkovsky in it at one point as the characters are watching Stalker on TV. and as it turns out they're not fans, this is really accessible although certainly not mainstream and there's even occasional humour in it but where it excels is that it really nails human behaviour and the human condition.
- DirectorAllen BaronStarsAllen BaronMolly McCarthyLarry TuckerA hired killer from Cleveland has a job to do on a second-string mob boss in New York, but a special girl from his past and a gun dealer with pet rats get in his way.Late B-Noir with great locations, study of a hitman on a job in New York at Christmas with memorable gravel voiced narration by Lionel Stander.
- DirectorMichelangelo AntonioniStarsGabriella PallottaSteve CochranAlida ValliA man wanders aimlessly away from his town, away from the woman he loves, emotionally and socially inactive.Great early Antonioni and probably his most Melancholic film, it still has his trademark off beat desolate and industrial locations, Valli adds to the melancholy, Gray and Shaw add the glamour.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMalcolm McDowellPatrick MageeMichael BatesIn the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.Kubrick's low budget weird and disturbing vision of a dystopian future, pass the synthemesc.
- DirectorMichelangelo AntonioniStarsJeanne MoreauMarcello MastroianniMonica VittiA day in the life of an unfaithful married couple and their steadily deteriorating relationship.This seems to be the odd one out of the Antonioni "Trilogy" and seems to divide opinion on it being all style over substance, to be fair the plot was never really the thing with Antonioni although some of his movies have more depth than others, this is not lacking style that's for sure, all his trademark stuff like modern apartments contrasted with some quite strange locations and the occasional building site and the story which is actually about shallow superficial people with no emotional commitment.
- DirectorAndrzej ZulawskiStarsFrancis HusterValérie KapriskyLambert WilsonAn inexperienced young actress is invited to play a role in a film based on Dostoyevsky's 'The Possessed'. The film director, a Czech immigrant in Paris, takes over her life, and in a short time she is unable to draw the line between acting and reality. She winds up playing a real-life role posing as the dead wife of another Czech immigrant, who is manipulated by the filmmaker into committing a political assassination.A masterpiece of batshit insanity, parts of this I was laughing my head off even though it's not a comedy and Valérie Kaprisky does the best naked dance routine in cinema.
- DirectorMartin RittStarsRichard BurtonOskar WernerClaire BloomInstead of coming in from the Cold War, British agent Alec Leamas chooses to face another mission.Great cold war study of spycraft, dark, sinister and uncompromising, Burton is great in this.
- DirectorAki KaurismäkiStarsMarkku PeltolaKati OutinenAnnikki TähtiM arrives in Helsinki only to be viciously attacked by thugs and pronounced dead by medics. He revives but with no memory of his past or his identity. He rebuilds his life from scratch, but the past inevitably catches up with him.More gloriously depressing yet uplifting stuff from Kaurismaki.
- DirectorJacques BeckerStarsAndré BervilJean KeraudyMichel ConstantinDistrust and uncertainty arise when four long-term inmates cautiously induct a new prisoner into their elaborate prison-break scheme.The most detailed and methodical study of a prison break ever made bar none and based on a real story, doesn't even have a soundtrack it's all character study and intensity, totally realistic right up to casting one of the actual cons involved in a leading role. (Jean Keraudy).
- DirectorBenoît DelépineGustave KervernStarsBenoît DelépineGustave KervernMichel de GavreIn this pitch black comedy the rivalry between two neighbors escalates into an all out war. Through a maintenance error on a tractor they both end up, paralyzed, in a wheelchair. It seems they are doomed to stay together. They no longer focus their rage on each other but on the manufacturer of the tractor, located far up north in rural Finland. So get ready for a hilarious wheelchair road movie.A Belgian road movie like no other.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsYella RottländerRüdiger VoglerLisa KreuzerA German journalist is saddled with a nine-year-old girl after encountering her mother at a New York airport.Wim Wenders unique take on the road movie.
- DirectorKlaus LemkeStarsDieter GeisslerChristiane KrügerMonika ZinnenbergA young man pays the amateurish attempt to gain wealth by betraying industrial secrets and securing a place in the fascinating world of jet-set life.German crime movie that's got a lot of style to it although light on substance, very nicely shot in black and white, big on late 60's aesthetics, fashion, cool German chicks, casual nudity, over the shoulder driving on freeways, some frantic camerawork, pulpy and minimalist, nice....just my kind of thing, this was the debut feature of Klaus Lemke who did very little of note after this apart from TV stuff.
- DirectorVíctor EriceStarsOmero AntonuttiSonsoles ArangurenIcíar BollaínA woman reflects on her childhood relationship with her father, attempting to understand the depths of his despair and the truth of his myths.Another great offering from the director of "Spirit of the Beehive"
- DirectorFrantisek VlácilStarsPetr CepekEmma CernáJan VostrcilIn the aftermath of World War II, a former Czech soldier takes charge of a manor formerly owned by a German family. He falls in love with the daughter, who is now a maid, and is forced to confront the stress between his love and his conscience when he discovers her sheltering her German-soldier brother.Haunting, melancholic, tragic, great piece of Czech cinema.
- DirectorLarisa ShepitkoStarsBoris PlotnikovVladimir GostyukhinSergey YakovlevTwo Soviet partisans on a mission to gather food contend with the winter cold, the occupying Germans, and their own psyches.this is one of those great Russian war films that tells it like it is bleak, harrowing and full of memorable imagery, it's a movie that looks cold, feels cold, and is beautifully photographed as it follows a couple of Partisans who get separated from the group and have to survive behind the lines or it could be the passion of Christ set on the eastern front but it really comes into it's own in the last third which has some of the most powerful scenes I've seen in any war movie, a great piece of Soviet cinema.
- DirectorNicolas RoegStarsJenny AgutterDavid GulpililLuc RoegTwo city-bred siblings are stranded in the Australian Outback, where they learn to survive with the aid of an Aboriginal boy on his "walkabout": a ritual separation from his tribe.Strange and haunting, survival, culture clash, a teenage Jenny Agutter and an annoying kid, also some nice oddball stuff like the goings on of the Italian meteorological team working in the desert.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMatthew ModineR. Lee ErmeyVincent D'OnofrioA pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.Once described as Kubrick's worst move this has certainly got better with time, it's not like any other Vietnam movie, starting with the low budget Beckton gas works locations it's filled with bizarre off the wall stuff form R. Lee Ermey's mad rantings through to the Mickey mouse closing song, it now looks more Kubrick than ever.
- DirectorDusan MakavejevStarsMilena DravicJanez VrhovecEva RasA love romance between older, respectable engineer that came in the industrial town to do some expert job and young hairdresser in whose house he stayed in and the consequences of that relationship, especially after young driver gets involved.Love in a commie workers paradise, Yougoslav style.
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerRouben MamoulianStarsJennifer JonesDavid FarrarCyril CusackA beautiful, superstitious, animal-loving Gypsy is hotly desired by a fox-hunting squire even after she marries a clergyman.While this isn't from the Archers prolific period it's not anything approaching sub-standard that some people seem to think it is, in fact I think it's underrated Archers. Sure, it has it's issues namely Jennifer Jones bizarre Scottish/Irish/West country/American accent, other than that there's a lot going for it, probably the best Technicolor film I've ever seen, absolutely stunning and you cant fault the cinematography.
- DirectorSergio LeoneStarsHenry FondaCharles BronsonClaudia CardinaleA mysterious stranger with a harmonica joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad.Leone's operatic western, great score, Claudia Cardinale looks fantastic and has one of the best opening sequences in cinema history, as the man said " the landscape is the soundtrack"
- DirectorSidney J. FurieStarsMichael CaineNigel GreenGuy DolemanIn London, a wisecracking spy investigates the kidnapping and brainwashing of British scientists while dealing with the constraints of his agency's bureaucracy.First and most well known the Harry palmer trilogy which is much about the old establishment order as it is about the cold war, plus one of Barry's best soundtracks complete with hammer dulcimer which became the soundscape for cold war spy thrillers.
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsJean-Louis TrintignantFrançoise FabianMarie-Christine BarraultA devout Catholic man's rigid principles are challenged during a one-night stay with Maud, a divorced woman with an outsize personality.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKeir DulleaGary LockwoodWilliam SylvesterAfter uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.Kubrick's masterful sci-fi and acid trip, effects still hold up today.
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsMelvil PoupaudAmanda LangletGwenaëlle SimonAs a reserved young graduate vacations in a seaside town, he hopes his girlfriend will join him. But he ends up bonding with a local young woman whose female friend is also smitten with him.Most people think the "Winters tale" is the best of the quartet, for me this was much more memorable, a guy goes to a seaside resort without his girl and ends up having to pick from three, it's full of intelligent dialogue, well structured and beautifully understated stuff from Rohmer.
- DirectorDouglas SirkStarsJohn GavinLiselotte PulverJock MahoneyOn the Russian front in 1944, German private Ernst Graeber receives a leave and visits his family in Germany but Germany isn't the same country he left behind.Douglas Sirk mostly known for cheesy 50's melodrama's shows another side here with a WWII offering of a German soldier returning from the Russian front on leave, something Hollywood wouldn't touch with a barge pole these days, it's a stunningly beautiful movie to look at filmed in authentic locations and for the time way better than the kind of gung-ho heroic war movies Hollywood spewed out in the 50's.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsWilliam HoldenGloria SwansonErich von StroheimA screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return.Classic noir, even has a dead narrator for extra noir points, Von Stroheim excels as the overly loyal butler.
- DirectorKazuo KurokiStarsMariko KagaHiroyuki NagatoShôichi OzawaFollowing the journey of a caterpillar along the Japanese islands from Nagasaki to Hokkaido, this allegorical and oblique first feature film by Kuroki depicts in exquisite images a series of encounters and life's turning points.
- DirectorJacques RivetteStarsMichel PiccoliJane BirkinEmmanuelle BéartThe former famous painter Frenhofer revisits an abandoned project using the girlfriend of a young visiting artist. Questions about truth, life, and artistic limits are explored.Michel Piccoli takes four hours to paint Emmanuelle Béart naked. Highly atmospheric with long sequences of actual sketching/painting from the artist point of view done in real time, certainly not a movie for everyone (not that anything from Jacques Rivette is)
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsHarrison FordRutger HauerSean YoungA blade runner must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.Scott's finest in my opinion, still looks amazing, in fact a testament to how good pre CGI effects can look and with a great noir style and fantastic sets to match. (the final cut)
- DirectorMauro BologniniStarsRosanna SchiaffinoElsa MartinelliLaurent TerzieffIn Rome, small-time thieves Scinttilone and Ruggeretto steal four rifles and catch prostitutes Anna and Supplizia on the street to mislead the police. They seek the jobber Mosciarella, but he is at a funeral and gives them no attention. But Gino "Bellabella" overhears them and offers to deal the merchandise with another contact. He fails and the whores present a deaf-mute acquaintance who lives on the outskirts of Rome to buy the guns; the prostitute Nicoletta who was with the man returns to Rome with the quintet. When the youngsters propose to have sex in the middle of nowhere, the prostitutes believe that they intend to leave them there. Scinttilone, Ruggeretto, and Bellabella sneak out to the car and leave the women in the countryside. Later they discover that the women stole their money. They seek them out on the streets and fight against another gang. However, when the police arrive, the six youngsters leave the place together and head to the house of one of them, and Ruggeretto falls for the host's sister. However, Bellabella steals the host's bountiful wallet and Ruggeretto fights him to get the wallet and return it to the host. While they are fighting, Scinttilone flees with the wallet to the house of his girlfriend Rossana. Ruggeretto chases Scinttilone along a night of alienation, illusions, and adventures.Screenplay by Pasolini and as you'd expect from him a tale of alienated, nihilistic Italian youth in the shape of three guys observed over one day and night living in the moment as they take every opportunity for casual sex and petty crime while getting just a brief glimpse of what the good life might look like, ably directed by Bolognini it's as relevant as "La Dolce Vita" in my opinion.
- DirectorJohn MaringouinStarsDavid ZellnerSpecialistRobert LongstreetA dullard Texas entrepreneur reinvents himself as a cowboy in China's tech wild west, but finds himself at the mercy of corrupt American expats looking to reinvent him once more.The capitalists Heart of Darkness.
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsEric PortmanSheila SimDennis PriceThree modern-day pilgrims investigate a bizarre crime in a small town while on their way to Canterbury.Weird and wonderful film set in possibly the most idyllic world in movie history, plot makes no sense but it doesn't matter one bit, this is full of beautiful imagery and beautifully observed moments in time.
- DirectorMarguerite DurasStarsLucia BosèJeanne MoreauGérard DepardieuThis art film has no conventional dialog between the main characters. This tells a strangely compelling story of two women in a suburban home who are listening to radio news broadcasts about a missing child in their area.Two stony faced women live in a small house (Duras's actual house) and go about mundane daily tasks, the housework, the garden, then a washing machine salesman turns up who clearly isn't a washing machine salesman and tries to sell them a washing machine, is any of this actually happening? are the woman witches? what is going on in Marguerite Duras's head? it's enigmatic, abstract and dourly funny.
- DirectorZbynek BrynychStarsMiroslav MachácekOlga ScheinpflugováZdenka ProcházkováA Jewish doctor in Nazi-occupied Prague risks his life by assisting a gravely injured member of the resistance.Czech New Wave movie set in Nazi occupied Prague but is also a statement on the totalitarian state, control and surveillance which is why it was banned after 1968, I've noticed comments about this being edited, the version that seems to exist now runs at 1hr 34mins which is 6mins shorter than the runtime stated but whatever was missing I didn't find anything that detracted or dampened my viewing, in fact I'd go as far as saying this is a forgotten near masterpiece, certainly one one the best movies ever made about a controlling state.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsRita HayworthOrson WellesEverett SloaneFascinated by gorgeous Mrs. Bannister, seaman Michael O'Hara joins a bizarre yachting cruise, and ends up mired in a complex murder plot.Has some of the best one liners in Noir and who knew Rita Hayworth could speak Mandarin.
- DirectorLarisa ShepitkoStarsMayya BulgakovaSergey NikonenkoZhanna BolotovaA fascinating and human portrayal of a once-famous fighter pilot and loyal Stalinist named Nadezhda Petrovna. Now a 41-year-old provincial schoolmistress, she has so internalized the military ideas of service and obedience that she cannot adjust to life in peacetime.A former female WWII pilot doing a mundane job yearns for the past but is also haunted by the past, this was Larisa Shepitko's only other notable movie other than "The Ascent" which was her last, she died aged 41.
- DirectorPeter YatesStarsSteve McQueenJacqueline BissetRobert VaughnA nonconformist San Francisco cop is determined to find the underworld kingpin who killed the witness under his protection.McQueen + '68 Mustang + Schifrin = Stylish classic
- DirectorJirí MenzelStarsIvan BarnevOldrich KaiserJulia JentschA look at the glamorous life at an old-world Prague hotel.Great satire about the rise and fall of a waiter through the years, the German occupation segment is especially brilliant, I think this is the most expensive Czech movie ever made and it shows.