| The world according to Chairman Tony... |
| The Best Films Ever Made
From the DVD Collection of Antonio C. Abaya Last updated in December 2006 |
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| Out of a collection of more than 1,800 titles, I have chosen about 700 as good enough to watch more than once, from which I have classified 250-plus as the best films ever made. Items in red are the cr�me-de-la-cr�me. Items in blue are films in my Cinematic Purgatory: films that have been acclaimed as masterpieces but which in my opinion do not deserve such acclaim. Not for sale, rental or loan.
Click here for The Worst Films Ever Made by Serious Directors. under construction Click here for Outstanding Classical Music DVDs. under construction Click here for Outstanding Documentary DVDs. under construction The Adventures of Robin Hood, by Michael Curtiz. (1938, US.) The all-around favorite in my boyhood days, meaning, after the Japanese Occupation. The sword plays were memorable as were the daring exploits of the wholesomely heroic brigands of Sherwood Forest led by the swashbuckling Robin. Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Claude Rains. After-Life, by Kore-eda Hirokazu. (1998, Japan, in Japanese.).In the after-life, the recently dead are kept in a holding station where they are given three days to decide which single, most cherished memory they will keep with them through Eternity. Arata, Oda Erika, Terajima Susumu. Aguirre, Wrath of God, by Werner Herzog. (1972, West Germany, in German.) When Pizarro and his conquistadors landed in Peru to conquer the Inca Empire, a party of 40 separated from the main force and climbed down the Andes to the Amazon river in a doomed search for El Dorado. A riveting portrait of megalomania, though I found it a bit disconcerting to hear Spanish colonizers and their Indian porters talking in German. Klaus Kinski, Ruy Guerra, Helena Rojo, etc. Alfie, by Lewis Gilbert. (1966, GB.) An incorrigible womanizer, chasing one �bird� after another, seemingly unconcerned about anything or anybody else besides his own selfish pursuits, is moved to tears at the sight of the aborted foetus of one of his paramours, and in the end wonders, �What�s it all about?� Michael Caine, Vivien Merchant, Sally Ann Field, Shelley Winters. Alice Doesn�t Live Here Anymore, by Martin Scorsese. (1979, US.) When her husband dies, a middle-aged woman, with a young son, is left penniless and must fend for herself. A poignant story of her gritty determination to survive as she earns a few dollars here and there with her only talent, a passable singing voice. Ellen Burstyn, Kris Kristofferson, etc. All That Jazz, by Bob Fosse. (1979, US.) The autobiopic of the legendary dance choreographer, whose libidinal excesses finally catch up with him at the height of his career. Includes exceptional dance sequences, including a valedictory death scene appropriate to his talents as a dancer. Roy Scheider, Ann Reinking, Jessica Lange. Amadeus, by Milos Forman. (1984, US.) A rousing biopic of Mozart as told by Antonio Salieri, jealous composer, who was Mozart�s rival for imperial patronage in the Vienna court and who claimed to have caused Mozart�s death. F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge. American Beauty, by Sam Mendes. (1999, US.) The suburban American family is the focus of this scathing satire: mom and dad who have stopped caring for each other, and teenaged daughter who is embarrassed by, and contemptuous of, both of them. Dad tells their story from the grave. Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Mena Suvari Amistad, by Steven Spielberg. (1997, US.) African slaves being transported to the Americas on board a Spanish ship mutiny and kill all crewmen except two. Brought to an American court for mutiny and murder, they are defended by John Quincy Adams, who raises the fundamental question of their status: chattel or freemen? Based on a true story. Anthony Hopkins, Djimon Hounsou, Morgan Freeman, etc. Amores Perros, by Alejandro Inarritu. (2000, Mexico in Spanish.) Parallel lives in the slums and condos of Mexico City intersect in a powerfully staged automobile crash that affects everyone. Robert Altman in Spanish, a smashing directorial debut by Inarritu. Not to be missed. Emilio Echevarria, Gael Garcia Bernal, Goya Toledo, etc. Angels in America, by Mike Nichols. (2003, US) Based on the play by Tony Kushner. A complex, overlong (six hours) dissertation on life in America in the mid-1980s, especially for those whose existence are touched by AIDS, religious visions and the machinations of right-wing lawyers. Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Justin Kirk, Ben Shenkman, etc. Annie Hall, by Woody Allen. (1977, US.) Most comedies lose their �funnyness� after two or three viewings. This one still makes me laugh even after ten. Woody Allen is the perfect nerd who wears his angst on his face. Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, etc. The Apu Trilogy, by Satyajit Ray. (1955-59, India, in Bengali.) The three films in this trilogy (Pather Panchali, Aparajito, The World of Apu) chronicle the life and struggles of Apu and his family to survive, first in a rural village, later in a slummy flat in the holy city of Benares. Kanu Banerjee, Karuna Banerjee, Pinaki Sen Gupla, etc. As Good As It Gets, by James L. Brooks. (1997, US).Romantic comedy in which a misanthropic writer, who hates blacks, Jews, Latinos, homosexuals and dogs, falls in love, ever so grudgingly, with a diner waitress and reconnects, again ever so grudgingly, with the rest of the world. Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Cuba Gooding, etc. Atlantic City, by Louis Malle. (1981, Canada ) Character study of an ageing casino factotum, now reduced to being a runner for the numbers game, who stumbles into some money from the drugs trade. His delusions of former grandeur and importance, shared by his equally ageing Betty Grable look-alike, is contrasted to the ongoing demolition of old casino buildings to make way for new ones. Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Kate Reid. Ballad of a Soldier, by Grigori Chukhrai. (1959, USSR, in Russian.) A young soldier knocks out two German tanks in battle and is rewarded with a furlough home to visit his mother. Delayed by one incident after another, he finally reaches home but has enough time left only to embrace her for one wordless, emotionally charged eternal moment, before he must ship back to the front. Vladimir Ivashov, Zhanna Prokhorenko, etc. The Barbarian Invasions, by Denys Arcand. (2003, Canada, in French.) An iconoclastic professor is suddenly stricken ill. His estranged son rushes home and arranges for his dad�s last days to be lived in joyous and cheerful reunion with old friends and former mistresses. A celebration of life in the face of death. In this case, a pre-arranged death. Remy Girard, Stephane Rousseau, Marie-Josee Croze, etc. Barry Lyndon, by Stanley Kubrick. (1975, GB.) Based on the novel by William Thackeray. The life and times of an Irish adventurer in 18th century England, as his fortune wanes and waxes, told in a series of masterfully composed tableaux. Ryan O�Neal, Marisa Berenson, John Alcott. Battle of Algiers, by Gillo Pontecorvo. (1965, Algeria/Italy, in French.) Realistic, almost documentary-style retelling of the Algerian war of independence against France. Hard to believe that the cast is made up of non-professionals, so vivid and compelling is the narrative. Jacef Saadi, Jean Martin, etc. Battleship Potemkin, by Sergei Eisenstein. (1925, USSR, silent.) Recreation of the mutiny in 1905 by the sailors of the battleship moored in Petrograd. Its companion film, October (1928) was commissioned to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Despite the pronounced ideological bias, both films stand out as cinematic masterpieces in their own right. Alexander Antonov, Vladimir Barsky. Before the Rain, by Milchio Manchevski. (1994, Macedonia, in Macedonian and Albanian.) Set in the Balkan cauldron of simmering ethnic animosities, three separate stories play out in three different locales and then intersect towards the end, just �before the rain.� Rade Serbedzia, Karen Cartlidge. Being There, by Hal Ashby. (1979, US). How a dim-witted gardener becomes a serious contender for the US presidency after his innocent remarks about plants and trees are interpreted as profound comments on the economy by Republican power brokers in Washington. Shades of FPJ! Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, etc. La Belle Noiseuse, by Jacques Rivette. (1991, France, in French.) The emotional complexities of the creative process. A famous artist returns to his art after a ten-year hiatus, inspired by the insouciance of his new model, but in the end aborts his new creation. Emmanuelle Beart, Michel Piccoli, Jane Birkin. The Bicycle Thief, by Vittorio de Sica. (1948, Italy, in Italian.) An unemployed man in postwar Rome finally lands a job, but loses his bicycle to a thief. Because he needs the bike for his new job, the man faces a moral dilemma on how he can replace it. The best of Italian neo-realist films. Lamberto Maggiorani, Lianella Corelli, Enzo Staoila, etc. The Birth of a Nation, by D. W. Griffith. (1915, US, silent.) The first ever Hollywood epic, about two families caught in the turmoil of the American Civil War. Though unabashedly racist � the Ku Klux Klan are the film�s salvific heroes � this was a landmark achievement in cinematic storytelling. Lilian Gish, Mae Marsh, etc. Black Adder, Books I to IV, by various directors. (1983-99, GB, BBC mini-series.) Rowan Atkinson, better known as Mr. Bean, stars in this madcap sitcom series, reincarnating at various high (or low) points in English history from 1380 to 1917 as the main inheritor of the regressive genes of the Blackadder dynasty. History was never this hilarious. But don�t bother with Book V. Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Brian Blessed, etc. Black Orpheus, by Marcel Camus. (1958, Brazil, in Portuguese.) A retelling of the Orpheus-Eurydice legend, set in the favela slums of Rio de Janeiro during carnival season. Infectious samba music complements the natural mellifluousness of the Portuguese language. Breno Mello, Marpessa Dawn, etc. The Blue Angel, by Josef von Sternberg. (1930, Germany, in German/English.) A proper and repressed schoolteacher succumbs to the sensual spontaneity of a cabaret singer whom he had warned his students to stay away from. Her role in this film propelled Marlene Dietrich to international stardom. Dietrich, Emil Jannings, etc. Bonnie and Clyde, by Arthur Penn. (1967, US.) A portrait of Middle America during the Great Depression in the 1930s, in which a car thief and the daughter of a victim team up to become the most notorious bank robbers of the day, with almost casual nonchalance. Faye Dunaway, Warren Beatty, Gene Hackman, etc. Das Boot, by Wolfgang Petersen. (1981, West Germany, in German.) A look at the naval war in World War II, from the point of view of the losing side, specifically from the claustrophobic confines of a submerged submarine while it is under attack. The best of its genre. Jurgen Prochnow, Herbert Gronemeyer, etc. Born on the Fourth of July, by Oliver Stone. (1989, US.) Based on the autobiography of Vietnam-vet-turned-antiwar-activist Ron Kovic. Initially gung-ho about the war, a young soldier is transformed by his experiences at the front and at the rehab center into a very angry young vet. Tom Cruise, Willem Dafoe, Raymond J. Barry, etc. Bound, by Andy and Larry Wachowski. (1996, US.) Two apartment neighbors become lesbian lovers and then partners in crime as they betray their mobster contacts for a suitcase full of money and must guard from being betrayed themselves. A modern film noir classic with some steamy lesbian love scenes. Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon, etc. Brazil, by Terry Gilliam. (1985, US.) A darkly satiric look into the future in which the all-powerful bureaucratic state intrudes into people�s lives. A person is mistakenly ordered executed because of a clerical error and our hero tries to correct the error, to his misfortune. Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Kim Greist, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins, etc. Breaker Morant, by Bruce Beresford.,(1979, Australia.) During the Boer War in South Africa, three Australian officers are court-martialed and executed by firing squad for killing unarmed Boer prisoners-of-war. Based on a true story. Edward Woodward, Bryan Brown, Jack Thompson, John Waters. Brideshead Revisited, by Charles Sturridge. (1980, GB, BBC mini-series.) Based on the novel by Evelyn Waugh. Eleven hours long, this mini-series covers the period from the 1920s towards the end of the Second World War. The middle-class author reminiscences about his relationship with an aristocratic family and their doomed son, his friend, in their estate at Brideshead.. His remembrance of things past is evocative and melancholic. Jeremy Irons, Phoebe Nicholls, Anthony Andrews, Claire Bloom, etc. Brief Encounter, by David Lean. (1946, GB.) A middle-class housewife doing her weekly shopping and a doctor on his way to his hospital become acquainted in a dreary suburban train station and begin a short, angst-ridden relationship. Trevor Howard, Celia Johnson. Brokeback Mountain, by Ang Lee. (2005, US). I am glad to see that most of the judges in the 78th Academy Awards may have shared my opinion that this film was a boring, over-rated ho-hum affair that had everyone agog with hyperactive press agentry, only to turn out to be a dud. As I wrote in my review, if the two cowboys had buggered one of their sheep, instead of each other, there might have been more human interest in the plot. Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger and a lot of sheep. Bugsy Malone, by Alan Parker. (1976, GB.) An infinitely charming film for children. The 1920s Chicago gangster scene is recreated with barely pubescent child actors and actresses, including the pre-teen Jodie Foster. Their Ford Model Ts are pedal-powered and their Tommy guns fire volleys of cream puffs. Until November 2005, the only film in this list not yet available in DVD. Scott Baio, Foster, Florrie Augger, etc. Cabaret, by Bob Fosse. (1972, US.) The last decadent days of pre-Nazi Berlin as reflected in the cynical songs and dances at the Kit Kat Club. The choreography by Fosse is a preview of his even bigger success in his auto-biopic All That Jazz (1979). Liza Minelli, Michael York, Joel Grey, Helmut Griem, Maria Berenson. La Cage aux Folles, by Edouard Molinaro. (1978, France, in French.) A pair of gay lovers must pretend to be husband-and-wife for the sake of �his� straight son who is introducing to them his fianc� and her conservative parents. French Riviera setting for some comical situations. A sequel followed in 1980, but it did not match the comedic inventiveness of the first. Ugo Tognazzi, Michel Serrault, Michel Galabra, etc. Camelot, by Joshua Logan. (1967, GB.) Film version of the Broadway hit by Lerner and Lowe, about the goings-on in the once congenial spot, until betrayal and infidelity ruined the harmony around the Round Table. Some of the best songs ever composed for the stage and screen. Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, Franco Nero, etc. Cape Fear, by Martin Scorsese. (1991, US.) A recently released convict looks for and terrorizes the lawyer (and his family) who lost the case for him and cost him 14 years of his life in prison. Nothing more terrifying than a relentless pursuer who will not die. Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Juliette Lewis, etc. Capote, by Bennett Miller (2005, US.) Based on the �non-fiction novel� In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. A sensitive portrayal of The New Yorker essayist who journeyed to Kansas in Middle America in search of the humanity that he thought was within the two aimless young drifters who massacred an entire farm family for no apparent reason. This incident was the subject of the 1967 film In Cold Blood, by Richard Brooks, also in this list. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, etc. Carandiru, by Hector Babenco. (2003, Brazil, in Portuguese.) Carandiru was the largest prison in Sao Paulo, until it became the site of a major prison riot, after which it was leveled with dynamite. The film is a searing social portrait of Brazil�s underclass who populate its prisons, with a few middle-class types. Luis Carlos Vasconcelos, Milton Goncalvez, Juan de Almeida, etc. Casablanca, by Michael Curtiz. (1942, US.) No film has immortalized so many memorable phrases and one-liners in the English language as this one. Sparkling dialogue plus chemistry between the lead actors make this an enjoyable experience, over and over. Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Paul Henried, Peter Lorre, etc. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, by Richard Brooks. (1984, US.) Based on the play by Tennessee Williams. Family drama featuring a sexually frustrated housewife and her guilt-ridden husband, dominated by the family patriarch forebodingly called Big Daddy. Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives, Judith Anderson, etc. Catch-22, by Mike Nichols. (1970, US.) Based on the novel by Joseph Heller. Black comedy about profiteering, pilfering and black-marketeering at an American airbase in Italy during World War II. Alan Arkin, Jon Voight, Martin Sheen, Orson Welles, etc. Central Station, by Walter Salles. (1998, Brazil, in Portuguese.) A spinster letter-writer (for illiterates) in Sao Paulo�s main train station takes custody of a recently orphaned young boy and tries to reunite him with his estranged father in Brazil�s remote interior. Fernanda Montenegro, Marilia Pera, Vincius de Oliveira, etc. Chaplin�s Essanay Comedies, by Charlie Chaplin. (1915, US, silent.) These are the shorts made by Chaplin for the Essanay Film Manufacturing Co, after his earlier stint in the Keystone comedies of 1914. Although some of the skits are obviously dated, others (such as The Champion) are classics. In three volumes. Chaplin, etc. Chicago, by Rob Marshall. (2002, US.). I didn�t know that Richard Gere could sing. Or that Catherine Zeta-Jones could dance. Or that Renee Zellweger could I don�t know what. Learn something new everyday. What delicious fun this musical is, even after a dozen viewings. Gere, Zeta-Jones, Zellweger, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly. Children of Heaven, by Majid Majdi. (1998, Iran, in Farsi.) One of several outstanding films from Iran focusing on children. A nine-year old boy loses his sister�s sneakers and, to avoid the anger of his father, uses all kinds of ruses to hide the loss. Mohammad Amir Naji, Mir Farrakh Hashemian, Bahareh Seddiqi. Chinatown, by Roman Polanski. (1974, US.) A modern film noir classic in which a private detective, hired to tail a possibly unfaithful wife, uncovers official corruption and a dysfunctional family�s secrets instead. Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston. Cirque du Soleil (1994-2002, Canada, live circus performances.) There are about a dozen titles in these productions of gravity-defying live circus acts of outstanding artistic merits. My favorites are Quidam, Saltimbanco and Dralion Citizen Kane, by Orson Welles. (1941, US.) A thinly veiled biopic of publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst, done with great skill and craftsmanship, using innovative techniques in cinematic storytelling. Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead. City Lights, by Charlie Chaplin. (1931, US.) Chaplin�s last silent film is also his most poignant. He plays the Little Tramp who falls in love with a blind girl peddling flowers at a street corner, and vows to raise money for an eye operation to restore her sight. Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Harry Myers, Hank Mann, etc. City of God, by Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund. (2003, Brazil, in Portuguese.) An unapologetic portrayal of life in the incredibly scruffy ghettoes of Brazil (which almost look like urban Africa), as gangs of armed children and their teenaged leaders wage merciless turf wars against each other. Often with sensuous samba and salsa music in the background to soften the harsh edges. In this case, in a housing project outside Rio de Janeiro ironically called Cidade de Deus, which God has obviously abandoned. After Pixote (1981), Midnight (2000) and Carandiru (2003), we are aware that life for Brazil�s underclass is not a bed of roses, but this film takes social realism to a higher dimension. Based on a true story. Mattheus Nachtergaele, Seu Jorge, Alex Rodrigues. Cleopatra, by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. (1963, US.) Admittedly it verges on the campy. But what a spectacular production. Mark Antony was right in abandoning boring, politics-ridden Rome for the glitzy paradise on the Nile. Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, etc. Clerks, by Kevin Smith. (1994, US.) Halliwell�s Film and Video Guide best describes this film as �a witty, episodic, foul-mouthed account of the slacker generation doing what it does best: nothing in particular.� A really funny piece of inconsequential Americana. Brian O�Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Kevin Smith.. A Clockwork Orange, by Stanley Kubrick. (1971, GB.) Based on the novel by Anthony Burgess. A disturbing look at a future Britain in which violence-prone dysfunctional youth are tamed through clinical brain-washing. Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee. The Color of Paradise, by Majid Majdi. (1999, Iran, in Farsi.) A blind boy, home for vacation from an institution, discovers that his hard-up, widowed father plans to disown him so that he can marry a wealthy woman. A poignant story of childhood innocence and adult machinations. Hosein Mahjoob, Salameh Feyzi. Crash, by Paul Haggis. (2005, US.) A meditation on the phenomenon of racial prejudice in American life. Not only white against black, but also black and against white, Chinese against latino, Jew against Arab, white against latino, black against Chinese and all other combinations, as experienced by interlocking lives in the asphalt jungle of Los Angeles, the cesspool of US society. As one of the characters sighs, �I�m angry all the time, and I don�t know why.� Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, etc. Crimes and Misdemeanors, by Woody Allen (1989, US.) Two intertwined stories, one comedic and the other tragic, play out in Allen�s favorite landscape of tortured souls and walking wounded suffused with self-doubt. Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Martin Landau, Anjelica Huston, Alan Alda, Jerry Ohrbach. Crimson Gold, by Jafar Panahi. (2003, Iran, in Farsi.) A pizza-delivery man and his companion are thrust by the nature of their jobs into all crannies of Tehran society. They come face-to-face with its many injustices and hypocrisies, from the arbitrariness of the morals police to the conspicuous consumption of the super-rich, which push them over the edge. Ehsan Amani, Hussein Emadeddin, Azita Raveji, etc. The Crying Game, by Neil Jordan. (1992, GB.) Living up to his promise to a dying British solider-captive that he will look after his girlfriend, a disaffected IRA gunman pays her a visit and falls in love with her, even after she springs a surprise on him. Not just a political thriller but an essay on sexual identity as well. Stephen Rea, Jaye Davidson, Miranda Richardson, Jim Broadbent. Cyrano de Bergerac, by Michael Gordon. (1950, US.) Based on the play by Edmond Rostand. A sympathetic portrayal of the incurable romantic with the large nose. Jose Ferrer makes Rostand�s words sing like poetry. Ferrer, Mala Powers, William Prince. Dangerous Liaisons, by Stephen Frears. (1988, US.) Sexual politics and seduction games in the imperial court as a calculating and manipulative virago wagers with her lover on his ability to seduce an innocent newcomer in the palace. Glenn Close, John Malkovitch, Michelle Pfeiffer, Keannu Reaves, Uma Thurman, etc. The Day of the Jackal, by Fred Zinnemann. (1973, GB.) A taut political thriller revolving around a plot by French-Algerian military malcontents to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle, using a British assassin, drawn from a real-life gun-for-hire. Edward Fox, Alan Badel, Cyril Cusack, Delphine Seyrig, Derek Jacobi. Days of Heaven, by Terence Malik. (1978. US.) Lyrically photographed amid the golden wheat fields of Texas, where a Depression drifter, running from an unintended killing in the city, flees with his girlfriend, only to fall into a tragic triangle with the landowner. Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard. Death in Venice, by Luchino Visconti. (1971, Italy, in English.) Based on the novel by Thomas Mann. A composer vacationing in turn-of-the-century Venice during a cholera epidemic becomes obsessed with the unattainable charms of a beautiful teen-aged boy. Dirk Bogarde, Bjorn Andersen. The Decalogue, by Krysztof Kieslowski. (1988, Poland, in Polish.) Made for Polish TV, each of the ten 55-minute episodes in this mini-series focuses on one of the Ten Commandments, as lived by residents in the same seedy apartment block in Warsaw. Not a religious film in the traditional sense: many or most of the characters are atheist or agnostic, but a deeply spiritual film nonetheless. Various actors and actresses. The Decline of the American Empire, by Denys Arcand. (1986, Canada, in French.) Witty and incisive conversation among a group of eight intellectuals as they sit down for dinner and discuss their attitudes towards sexuality in the face of certain death and annihilation. A precursor to the director�s The Barbarian Invasions (2003), using some of the same cast. Dorothee Berryman, Louise Portal, Remy Girard, Pierre Curzi, etc. Deconstructing Harry, by Woody Allen. (1997, US.) Having just written a bestseller that earns him an award from his alma mater, novelist Woody has to untangle ex-wives and ex-girl friends from his hair as they protest their portrayal in the book. Woody Allen, Elisabeth Shue, Judy Davis, Kirstie Alley, Demi Moore, Billy Crystal. Delicatessen, by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro. (1991, France , in French.) A delicious, if indigestible, morsel of madcap black comedy on cannibalism. In a post-nuclear future, when meat has become scarce, an enterprising butcher enjoys a flourishing trade selling what his customers are not aware of, human flesh. Dominique Pinon, Marie-Laure Dougnac, Jean Claude Dreyfus, Karin Viard, etc Deliverance, by John Boorman. (1972, US.) Gripping adventure drama about four business executives who go on a weekend canoe trip downriver in the wilds of Tennessee and run up against some nasties among the local hillbillies. Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cruz, etc. The Devil�s Eye, by Ingmar Bergman. (1960, Sweden , in Swedish.) The Devil in Hell has a sty in his eye, and the only cure is to send Don Juan back to earth to seduce a young and loving virgin on the eve of her marriage. A delicious sex comedy adapted from a play by George Bernard Shaw. Bibi Andersen, Jarl Kulle, Nils Poppe, Gunnar Bjornstrand Diabolique, by Henri-Georges Clouzot. (1954, France, in French.) Nail-biting thriller set in a boys� boarding school in which the tyrannical headmaster is murdered by his wife and his mistress. Then his body disappears��.. Simone Signoret, Vera Clouzot, etc. Diary of a Country Priest, by Robert Bresson. (1950, France, in French.) Based on the novel by Georges Bernanos. The tragic life and death of a young priest who fails to establish a good connect with the parishioners in his very first parish. Claude Layou, Jean Riveyre, etc. Dias de Santiago, by Josue Mendez. (2004, Peru, in Spanish.) After six years in the military, Santiago returns to civilian life in the seedy parts of Lima and encounters cultural shock as well as internal conflicts. He insists that �without order, nothing exists,� but everywhere he sees nothing but chaos, frivolity, infidelity and self-indulgence. Done in cinema verite style, and alternating between color and black and white to reflect his moods, the film is a searing social document as well as a cinematic character study of the first order. Pietro Sibille, Milagros Vidal, Marisela Puicon, Ricardo Mejica. Dr. Strangelove, by Stanley Kubrick. (1964, GB.) Black comedy about the dangers of nuclear annihilation, a real concern in the 60s. Peter Sellers plays three roles, the funniest being as a German-American missile scientist (Werner von Braun?) who cannot control his right hand from executing the Nazi salute. Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden. Doctor Zhivago, by David Lean. (1965, GB.) Based on the novel by Boris Pasternak. Love story set against the human tragedies of the Russian Revolution as the tidal wave of events sweep lovers apart and then reunite them with equal ease. Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger, Alec Guinness, etc. Dodsworth, by William Wyler. (1936, US.) Based on the novel by Sinclair Lewis. A retired automobile tycoon and his wife take a �second honeymoon� to Europe which transforms their lives, each in a different way, through the people they meet. William Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Mary Astor, etc. La Dolce Vita, by Federico Fellini. (1960, Italy, in Italian.) After examining religious fanatics and bourgeois family life, a jaded journalist wades into the decadent lifestyle of the rich and famous in Rome�s upper class, seduced by the non-stop partying and pleasure-seeking. Marcelo Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimee, etc. Double Indemnity, by Billy Wilder. (1944, US.) Falling for an unhappily married woman, an insurance man schemes with her to kill her husband, but not before he (the husband) signs up, without knowing it, for an accident insurance policy with double indemnity in case of accidental death. But the plot unravels. Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, etc. Downfall, by Oliver Hirschbiegel. (2004, Germany, in German.) Based on the book by Historian Joachim Fest and the memoirs of Hitler�s personal secretary. The last days of Adolf Hitler and his dwindling entourage as Soviet armies closed in on the Bunker in Berlin, in the Gotterdamerung of the Third Reich. Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara. The Dreamers, by Bernardo Bertolucci. (2003, France/US, in English and French) A young American film buff, looking for �atmosphere� in the Paris of the student revolt of the 1968, strikes up a relationship with a quirky brother-and-sister duo at the Cinematheque, who turn up to be identical twins in more ways than one. Michael Pitt, Eva Green, Louis Garrel. Duck Soup, by Leo McCarey. (1933, US.) The wackiest of the Marx Brothers� wacky escapades. A total incompetent (Groucho) becomes president of his stupid country and declares war on its neighbor. I knew FPJ reminded me of something. Groucho, Harpo, Zippo, Margaret Dumont, etc. 8 1/2, by Federico Fellini. (1963, Italy, in Italian.) Fellini�s film about making a film about making a film. The director�s self-portrait as he begins to have doubts about the flow of his own creative juices. Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimee, etc. Elizabeth R, by different directors. (1971, GB, BBC mini-series.) With Glenda Jackson in the title role, this nine-hour long series in a cycle of six plays recounts the life and times of Elizabeth, from her days as a young princess through almost 50 years as reigning monarch over England�s Golden Age. Jackson, etc. Elvira Madigan, by Bo Widerberg. (1967, Sweden, in Swedish) At the turn of the century, a circus tightrope walker and an army officer get involved in a doomed love affair. Glorious cinematography and syrupy excerpts from a Mozart piano concerto (no. 21) embellish the otherwise paper-thin plot. Pia Dagermark, Thommy Berggren. L�Enfer, by Claude Chabrol. (1993, France, in French.) Chilling portrayal of a mind in its gradual spiral into insanity. A hotelier becomes increasingly suspicious of the fidelity of his beautiful wife and suspects her of carrying on with the hotel guests. Emmanuelle Beart, Francois Cluzet. Erin Brockovich, by Steven Soderbergh. (2000, US.) A single mom with no academic training lands a job as a legal assistant and becomes instrumental in filing a lawsuit against, and winning the biggest settlement in US history from, California�s giant utility firm. Based on a true story. Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart. Eve�s Bayou, by Kasi Lemmons. (1997, US.) A sensitive evocation of childhood memories set in the mournful bayou landscape of Louisiana , with a philandering father, a paranormal auntie, and a sibling rival for her daddy�s attention. Samuel L. Jackson, Lynn Whitfield, Jurnee Smollett, Debbi Morgan, Diahann Carroll, etc. Fanny and Alexander, by Ingmar Bergman. (1982, Sweden, in Swedish.) In turn-of-the-century Sweden, a wealthy family spends Christmas holidays in their ancestral home. Thus begins the autobiopic of Bergman through the melancholic eyes of a ten-year old boy. A cinematic masterpiece crafted to perfection with loving care, sumptuous details and glorious cinematography. Pernillia Allwin, Bertil Guve, Erland Josephson, etc. Far Away, So Close, by Wim Wenders. (1993, Germany, in German.) Sequel to Wings of Desire (1988). An angel keeping watch over Berlin decides to try being a human being and becomes prey to human foibles and disappointments. Otto Sander, Peter Falk, etc. Farewell, My Concubine, by Chen Kaige. (1993, China, in Mandarin.) The relationship between two stars of the Peking Opera through the turbulent decades of Chinese history, from the 1920s when they were students in opera school, to the Cultural Revolution in the 1970s when they had become national icons. Leslie Cheung, Zhong Fengyi, Gong Li. Fawlty Towers, by John Howard Davies. (1975-76, GB, BBC mini-series.) John Cleese, of Monty Python fame, plays Basil Fawlty, short-tempered owner of Fawlty Towers, a small resort hotel in Torquay, populated by bizarre characters who fall into bizarre situations. Five hundred minutes of almost non-stop laughing actually hurt. Cleese, Prunella Scales, Andrew Sachs, Connie Booth, etc. Fiddler on the Roof, by Norman Jewison. (1971, US.) It would be hard to find a �serious� musical that had more bathos in its music than this. Tevye and other Jewish villagers in turn-of-the-century Russia live out their Judaic traditions amid dizzying social and political changes. Chaim Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, etc. Fitzcarraldo, by Werner Herzog. (1982, West Germany, in German.) A driven Irishman with a passion for opera sets out to open an opera house deep in the Amazon, even if it means having to haul an entire ship up a mountain, which he does. Klaus Kinski, etc Forrest Gump, by Robert Zemeckis. (1994. US.) An endearing village idiot manages to insert himself into every major event, from de-segregation in Alabama to Vietnam War protests in Washington DC. A major box-office success, but US critics wondered out loud why a simpleton had become such an instant national icon. And George W wasn�t even president yet. Tom Hanks, Sally Field, Gary Sinise, Robin Wright, etc. The 400 Blows, by Francois Truffaut. (1959, France, in French.) A 12-year old boy, unhappy in his home, runs away and winds up in a juvenile center, from which he eventually also runs away. Said to be autobiographical of the director�s own childhood. Jean Pierre Leaud, Claire Maurier, Jeanne Moreau. The French Connection, by William Friedkin. (1971, US.) Busting a drug cartel was never as exciting as in this police action thriller, based on the experiences of a real-life New York cop. The car chase under the elevated rail tracks is superb. Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, Fernando Rey. The Fugitive, by Andrew Davies. (1993, US.) Gripping suspense thriller in which a respected surgeon is falsely convicted of murdering his wife, and escapes from detention to hunt down the real killer, as he himself is relentlessly pursued by a detective. From a highly popular TV series that emptied streets in many cities during its final episode. Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, Jeroen Krabbe, Julianne Moore, etc. Gallipoli, by Peter Weir. (1981, Australia.) Two young Australians, budding track athletes, enlist in the army and become runners for the ANZAC contingent trapped on the murderous slopes of Gallipoli during the First World War. Mel Gibson, Mark Lee, etc. Gandhi, by Richard Attenborough. (1982, GB.) A sympathetic biopic of the man who led the non-violent struggle of India for independence from British imperial rule, ironically felled by an Indian nationalist assassin�s bullet at his moment of triumph. Ben Kingsley, Candice Bergen, John Gielgud, John Mills, Trevor Howard. Germany Year Zero, by Roberto Rossellini. (1947, Germany/Italy, in German.) Shot amid the ruins of Berlin barely two years after its wartime destruction, this neo-realist classic follows a 12-year old boy as he scavenges the devastated city for food, coal and money, and gets involved in a heinous crime. Edmund Moeschke, etc. Gladiator, by Ridley Scott. (2000, US.) An almost stereotype historical costume drama that nevertheless packs a wallop because of the sympathetic character played by Russell Crowe: an idealistic Roman general who has been wronged and is out to seek revenge for his murdered family. Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Richard Harris. Glengarry Glen Ross, by James Foley. (1992, US.) Real estate salesmen in the US are said to watch this film during their training in order to develop sales techniques, mental attitudes and the proper psychological drives. The five diverse characters in the film certainly show you how to survive in their dog-eat-dog world. Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey, Alec Baldwin. The Godfather, Parts I and II, by Francis Ford Coppola. (1972-74, US.) Based on the novel by Mario Puzo. The best gangster film ever. The rise of the Sicilian immigrant Vito Corleone, from community do-gooder to Mafia boss, and the fall of his son Michael, trace a unique trajectory in the pursuit of the American Dream. Part III is below par. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Robert De Niro, James Caan, Diane Keaton, Sterling Hayden, John Cazale, etc. The Gods Must Be Crazy, by Jamie Uys. (1980, South Africa.) The clash of civilizations reduced to its gentlest comedic denominators as a Bushman innocently tangles with the modern world, while a klutzy wildlife researcher attempts to overcome his sexual shyness with a visiting city girl. A sequel was made in 1990. N!xau, etc. The Gold Rush, by Charlie Chaplin. (1925, US, silent.) Chaplin plays a lone prospector during the gold rush in the Klondikes, weaving in and out of one misadventure after another. The sequences in the prospectors� hut and in the saloon are especially funny. Gone with the Wind, by Victor Fleming. (1939, US.) Based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell. Against the backdrop of the American Civil War (1861-1865), a strong willed Southern woman meets her match in a dashing Northern charmer. Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Olivia de Havilland, Leslie Howard, Hattie McDaniel. Good Bye, Lenin, by Wolfgang Becker. (2004, Germany, in German). In 1989, a middle-aged woman, faithful aparatchik of the East German communist party, suffers a heart attack and goes into a coma. When she wakes up eight months later, the communist regime is gone and so is the Berlin Wall. How to break the news to her gently requires her family to concoct a scheme. Daniel Bruhl, Katrin Sass, Chulpan Khamatova. Goodfellas, by Martin Scorsese. (1990, US.) Hailed as one of the best gangster films ever, it follows the career in crime of a young Irish-Italian, from his early initiation as a teenaged punk to his rise in the ranks as one of the boys, to his inevitable comeuppance. Robert De Niro, Lorraine Bracco, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Samuel L. Jackson. Gosford Park, by Robert Altman. (2001, US/GB.) A murder during a weekend gathering at a sprawling English estate reveals the simmering conflicts between the aristocrats upstairs and their servants downstairs. That Altman was able to tame and hone to perfection such a huge cast is a measure of his directorial skills. Derek Jacobi, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren, Jeremy Northam, Clive Owen, Kristen Scott Thomas, etc. The Graduate, by Mike Nichols. (1967, US.) Romantic comedy about a recent college grad who has an affair with the over-sexed wife of his father�s business partner�and then falls in love with her daughter. Film debut of Dustin Hoffman and the Simon and Garfunkel team whose music sets the tone of the film. Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katherine Ross, Norman Fell. Guantanamera!, by Tomas Gutierrez Alea. (1995, Cuba, in Spanish.) Not everyone has had the experience of transporting a dead human body from one end of Cuba to the other, so we must take Director Alea�s word that this is how it is done. A satire on the workings of bureaucracy. Carlos Cruz, Mirta Ibarra, Jorge Perugorria, Raul Eguren. |
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| All Quiet on the Western Front, by Lewis Milestone. (1930, US.) Based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque. One of the few memorable films set in World War I, and one of the most eloquent anti-war films ever made. Follows a group of young German students whose patriotic fervor during recruitment gradually morphs into disillusionment and cynicism at the front lines. Lew Ayres, Loni Wolheim, Slim Summerville, etc. |
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