| |
|
151
|
|
152
|
|
153
|
|
Belle de jour |
|
LUIS BUÑUEL
(140) |
 |
|
1967 | 100m | Col |
France-Italy | Drama, Satire |
|
Catherine Deneuve, Jean
Sorel, Michel Piccoli, Genevieve Page, Pierre Clementi, Francisco Rabal,
Georges Marchal, Francoise Fabian, Maria Latour, Macha Meril |
|
"Never before has
Buñuel’s view
of the spectacle seemed so obliquely
Ophülsian in its shy gaze from behind
curtains, windows and even peepholes...
Buñuel was one of the few men of the
left not afflicted by Puritanism and bourgeois inhibitions about the sex
lives of the masses." - Andrew Sarris, The New York Observer,
2006 |
|
Selected by
Andrew Sarris,
Molly Haskell,
Philip Kaufman,
John Powers, Bryan
Forbes. |
|
159 → 126 → 140 →
151 |
|
Amazon
Strictly Film School
Slant Magazine |
|
|
|
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles |
|
CHANTAL AKERMAN
(141) |
 |
|
1975 | 201m | Col |
Belgium-France | Avant-garde/Experimental, Feminist Film |
|
Delphine Seyrig, Jan
Decorte, Henri Storck, Chantal Akerman, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, Yves
Bical |
|
"Chantal
Akerman's greatest film is one of those lucid puzzlers that
may drive you up the wall but will keep you thinking for days or
weeks... Akerman
forges a major statement, not only in a feminist context but also in a
way that tells us something about the lives we all live."
-
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader |
|
Selected by Amy Taubin,
John Greyson, Laura Mulvey,
Dennis Lim, Nina Menkes. |
|
145 → 142 → 141 →
152 |
|
Amazon
The New York Times (1983)
Slant Magazine |
|
|
|
The
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari |
|
ROBERT WIENE (144) |
 |
| • Das
Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (original title) |
|
1919 | 69m | BW | Germany
| Horror, Costume Horror |
|
Werner Krauss, Conrad
Veidt, Lil Dagover, Friedrich Feher, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski,
Rudolf Lettinger, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Hans Lanser-Ludolff, Henri
Peters-Arnolds, Ludwig Rex |
|
"Aided and abetted by
one of Carl Mayer's best scripts and remarkable, distorted sets painted
by Hermann Warm, Walter Röhrig, and Walter Reimann, this is more than
just a textbook classic; the narrative frame creates ambiguities that
hold certain elements of the story in disturbing suspension. A
one-of-a-kind masterpiece."
-
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader |
|
Selected by
Dusan Makavejev,
Peter Wollen, Roger
Corman, Michael Wood, Paul
Bartel. |
|
133 → 129 → 144 →
153 |
|
Amazon
All Movie Guide
Movie Reviews UK |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
154
|
|
155
|
|
156
|
|
Days of Heaven |
|
TERRENCE MALICK (164) |
 |
|
1978 | 95m | Col | USA |
Rural Drama, Romantic Drama |
|
Richard Gere, Brooke
Adams, Sam Shepard, Linda Manz, Robert J. Wilke, Jackie Shultis, Stuart
Margolin, Timothy Scott, Gene Bell, Doug Kershaw |
|
"Days of Heaven is
above all one of the most beautiful films ever made.
Malick's
purpose is not to tell a story of melodrama, but one of loss. His tone
is elegiac. He evokes the loneliness and beauty of the limitless Texas
prairie." - Roger
Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, 1997 |
|
Selected by
Michel Chion, Gavin Smith, Nick Schager, M. Owen Lee, Pawil
Pawlikowski. |
|
165 → 170 → 164 →
154 |
|
Amazon
Criterion Collection Essay
Village Voice |
|
|
|
Badlands |
|
TERRENCE MALICK (166) |
 |
|
1973 | 95m | Col | USA |
Crime Drama, Road Movie |
|
Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek,
Warren Oates, Ramon Bieri, Alan Vint, Gary Littlejohn, John Carter,
Bryan Montgomery, Gail Threlkeld, Charles Fitzpatrick |
|
"One of the most
impressive directorial debuts ever... What distinguishes the film,
beyond the superb performances of Sheen and Spacek, the use of music,
and the luminous camerawork by Tak Fujimoto, is
Malick's
unusual attitude towards psychological motivation."
- Geoff Andrew, Time Out |
|
Selected by
Sofia Coppola, David Siegel, Adrian Martin,
Susan Seidelman,
Hal Hartley. |
|
183 → 179 → 166 →
155 |
|
Amazon
Senses of Cinema
Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert) |
|
|
|
The
Band Wagon |
|
VINCENTE MINNELLI
(157) |
 |
|
1953 | 112m | Col | USA |
Musical Comedy, Backstage Musical |
|
Fred Astaire, Jack
Buchanan, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray, James Mitchell,
Robert Gist, Thurston Hall, Ava Gardner, LeRoy Daniels |
|
"The whole point about
The Band Wagon, and one which sometimes makes people underrate it,
was the way everything seems to mesh so seamlessly--almost effortlessly,
in fact. That was due to
Minnelli, whose flair and
imagination... was matched by his almost perfect control." -
Derek Malcolm, The
Guardian, 1999 |
|
Selected by
D.A. Pennebaker,
Michael Phillips, Ed Buscombe,
Julien Temple,
Bernard Jannin. |
|
210 → 159 → 157 →
156 |
|
Amazon
Roger Ebert's Great Movies
Senses of Cinema |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
157
|
|
158
|
|
159
|
|
Ivan the Terrible, Part Two |
|
SERGEI EISENSTEIN
(150) |
 |
| • Ivan
Groznyy II: Boyarsky zagovor (original title) |
|
1946 | 88m | BW | USSR |
Historical Film, Biography |
|
Nikolai Cherkasov,
Serafima Birman, Mikhail Nazvanov, Pavel Kadochnikov, Mikhail Zharov,
Amvrosi Buchma, Vsevolod Pudovkin, Mikhail Kuznetsov, Aleksandr Mgebrov,
Andrei Abrikosov |
|
"Thematically
fascinating both as submerged autobiography and as a daring portrait of
Stalin's paranoia... this is one of the most distinctive great films in
the history of cinema--freakishly mannerist, yet so vivid in its
obsessions and expressionist angularity that it virtually invents its
own genre."
-
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader |
|
Selected by
Paul Verhoeven,
Alexandre Astruc, Ian Christie, Jean-Louis Leutrat, Jonathan Rosenbaum. |
|
130 → 140 → 150 →
157 |
|
Amazon
Criterion Collection Essay
Film Reference |
|
|
|
Sweet Smell of Success |
|
ALEXANDER MACKENDRICK
(174) |
 |
|
1957 | 96m | BW | USA |
Drama, Media Satire |
|
Burt Lancaster, Tony
Curtis, Susan Harrison, Martin Milner, Sam Levene, Barbara Nichols,
Emile Meyer, Jeff Donnell, Joseph Leon, Edith Atwater |
|
"A
psychopathic gossip columnist (Burt Lancaster) rules Broadway with an
iron fist, destroying everyone who dares to cross him. These include a
small time press agent (Tony Curtis) and a sister (Susan Harrison) on
whom he casts an incestuous eye. The dialogue (by Ernest Lehman and
Clifford Odets) is etched in acid, and
Mackendrick's
direction perfectly captures the dark side of The Great White Way." -
Richard Schickel, Time,
2005 |
|
Selected by
F. Gary Gray,
Terence Davies,
Scott McGehee, Philip Kemp,
James Mangold. |
|
142 → 155 → 174 →
158 |
|
Amazon
Images Journal
Film Reference |
|
See Also:
250 Quintessential
Noir Films |
|
|
|
Shoah |
|
CLAUDE LANZMANN (152) |
 |
|
1985 | 566m | Col | France
| History, Documentary |
|
Simon Srebnik, Michael
Podchlebnik, Motke Zaidl, Hanna Zaidl, Jan Piwonski, Itzhak Dugin,
Richard Glazer, Paula Biren, Pana Pietyra, Pan Filipowicz |
|
"Shoah is one
of the most remarkable films ever made - a terrible matter-of-fact
document that makes David Irving's anti-history fade into
insignificance. Strangely, the quieter Shoah gets, the more it
resonates. Once seen, never forgotten."
- Derek Malcolm, The Guardian, 2000 |
|
Selected by
Amy Taubin, Jean-Michel Frodon, Pier Marton, Daniel Talbot, Nina Menkes. |
|
117 → 148 → 152 →
159 |
|
Amazon
Fred Camper
Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert) |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
160
|
|
161
|
|
162
|
|
A
Woman Under the Influence |
|
JOHN CASSAVETES (156) |
 |
|
1974 | 155m | Col | USA |
Marriage Drama, Psychological Drama |
|
Peter Falk, Gena Rowlands,
Katharine Cassavetes, Lady Rowlands, Fred Draper, O.G. Dunn, Elsie Arnes,
Vincent Barbi, Cliff Carnell, Nick Cassavetes |
|
"John Cassavetes's 1974 masterpiece, and one of the best films of its decade...
Cassavetes
makes the viewer's frustration work as part of the film's
expressiveness; it has an emotional rhythm unlike anything else I've
ever seen." - Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader |
|
Selected by
Tom
Charity, Michael
Haneke, Dennis Lim, Lodge Kerrigan, Neil Hunter. |
|
161 → 145 → 156 →
160 |
|
Amazon
Criterion Collection Essay
Reverse Shot |
|
|
|
Rocco and His Brothers |
|
LUCHINO VISCONTI (185) |
 |
| • Rocco e i
suoi fratelli (original title) |
|
1960 | 180m | BW |
Italy-France | Family Drama, Urban Drama |
|
Alain Delon, Renato
Salvatori, Annie Girardot, Katina Paxinou, Roger Hanin, Paolo Stoppa,
Suzy Delair, Claudia Cardinale, Spiros Focas, Claudia Mori |
|
"Rocco and His Brothers,
Luchino Visconti's recently restored 1960 film about the
struggles of a poor southern Italian family to adjust to industrialized,
big-city life, may not be a masterpiece, but it is, nonetheless, a
watershed film -- turgid, overwrought, yet still profoundly affecting."
- Hal Hinson, Washington Post, 1992 |
|
Selected by
Albert Maysles, Gavin Lambert, Jana Bokova,
Daniil Dondurei, Ramin
Bahrani. |
|
204 → 185 → 185 →
161 |
|
Amazon
Films de France
Bright Lights Film Journal |
|
|
|
Cries and Whispers |
|
INGMAR BERGMAN (154) |
 |
| •
Viskningar och rop (original title) |
|
1972 | 106m | Col | Sweden
| Drama, Family Drama |
|
Harriet Andersson, Kari
Sylwan, Ingrid Thulin, Liv Ullmann, Anders Ek, Inga Gill, Erland
Josephson, Henning Moritzen, Georg Arlin, Lena Bergman |
|
"Dreamlike and surreal,
this movie impacts directly upon the soul, not the mind. Images and the
disquieting feelings they engender linger long after the movie's 90
minutes have elapsed. In order to understand why Cries and Whispers
is a great film, it must be experienced, not merely watched."
- James Berardinelli, Reel Views, 2002 |
|
Selected by
Michael
Winterbottom,
Terence Davies, Jonathan Glazer,
Fernando Martin Pena, Santosh Sivan. |
|
148 → 167 → 154 →
162 |
|
Amazon
Senses of Cinema
Criterion Collection Essay |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
163
|
|
164
|
|
165
|
|
Brazil |
|
TERRY GILLIAM (176) |
 |
|
1985 | 131m | Col | UK |
Science Fiction, Satire |
|
Jonathan Pryce, Robert De
Niro, Katharine Helmond, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins, Michael Palin, Ian
Richardson, Peter Vaughan, Kim Greist, Jim Broadbent |
|
"Terry
Gilliam's ferociously creative black comedy is filled with
wild tonal contrasts, swarming details, and unfettered visual invention
-- every shot carries a charge of surprise and delight."
- Dave Kehr,
Chicago Reader |
|
Selected by
Ari Folman, Mark Kermode, Alexei Balabanov, Ernest R. Dickerson, Vadim Jean. |
|
162 → 171 → 176 →
163 |
|
Amazon
Images Journal
Slate Magazine |
|
|
|
Ivan the Terrible, Part One |
|
SERGEI EISENSTEIN
(149) |
 |
| • Ivan
Groznyy I (original title) |
|
1944 | 96m | BW | Russia |
Historical Film, Biography |
|
Nikolai Cherkasov,
Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, Serafima Birman, Mikhail Nazvanov, Mikhail
Zharov, Amvrosi Buchma, Mikhail Kuznetsov, Pavel Kadochnikov, Andrei
Abrikosov, Aleksandr Mgebrov |
|
"Thematically
fascinating both as submerged autobiography and as a daring portrait of
Stalin's paranoia... this is one of the most distinctive great films in
the history of cinema--freakishly mannerist, yet so vivid in its
obsessions and expressionist angularity that it virtually invents its
own genre."
-
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader |
|
Selected by
Hal Hartley, Ian Christie, Jean-Louis
Leutrat, Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Theo Angelopoulos. |
|
128 → 138 → 149 →
164 |
|
Amazon
Criterion Collection Essay
Film Reference |
|
|
|
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly |
|
SERGIO LEONE (187) |
 |
| • Il Buono,
il brutto, il cattivo, Il (original title) |
|
1966 | 161m | Col |
Italy-Spain | Spaghetti Western, Epic Western |
|
Clint Eastwood, Eli
Wallach, Lee Van Cleef, Aldo Giuffre, Luigi Pistilli, Rada Rassimov,
Enzo Petito, Claudio Scarchilli, John Bartha, Mario Brega |
|
"Leone's
magnificent style is all contrasts (huge panoramic shots alternating
with tight close-ups, very slow build-ups to lightning-fast action).
This perfectly matches a narrative that encompasses sadistic brutality,
wild humor and, yes, a tragic vision of war and its consequences."
- Richard Schickel, Time |
|
Selected by
Gore Verbinski,
Quentin Tarantino,
Errol Morris,
Richard Schickel, Bruce Ricker. |
|
173 → 189 → 187 →
165 |
|
Amazon
Roger Ebert's Great Movies
Chicago Tribune |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
166
|
|
167
|
|
168
|
|
The
Conversation |
|
FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA
(177) |
 |
|
1974 | 113m | Col | USA |
Psychological Thriller, Paranoid Thriller |
|
Gene Hackman, John Cazale,
Cindy Williams, Allen Garfield, Frederic Forrest, Teri Garr, Robert
Duvall, Michael Higgins, Elizabeth MacRae, Harrison Ford |
|
"Between The
Godfather (1972) and The Godfather, Part II (1974),
Francis Ford Coppola
wrote and directed a small-scale thriller, The Conversation,
which, like
Hitchcock’s Rear Window, is an authentic American
classic of voyeurism and paranoia." - David Denby, The New Yorker,
2007 |
|
Selected by
Apichatpong Weerasethakul,
Joel Schumacher,
Ted Bonnitt, Yvonne Tasker, Lizzie Francke. |
|
180 → 183 → 177 →
166 |
|
Amazon
Senses of Cinema
Gerald Peary |
|
|
|
Un
Chien andalou |
|
LUIS BUÑUEL
(167) |
 |
| • An
Andalusian Dog (English title) |
|
1928 | 20m | BW | France |
Surrealist Film, Avant-garde/Experimental |
|
Pierre Batcheff, Simone
Marevil, Jaime Miravilles, Salvador Dali, Luis Bunuel, Robert Hommet,
Marval, Fano Messan, Jeanne Rucas |
|
"Neither the title (An
Andalusian Dog) nor anything else in the film was intended to make
sense. It remains the most famous short film ever made, and anyone
halfway interested in the cinema sees it sooner or later, usually
several times." -
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, 2000 |
|
Selected by
Ian Christie, Lalitha Gopalan, Babak Payami, Matt Zoller Seitz,
Andrzej Wajda. |
|
193 → 152 → 167 →
167 |
|
Amazon
Senses of Cinema
Slant Magazine |
|
|
|
The Palm Beach Story |
|
PRESTON STURGES
(168) |
 |
|
1942 | 90m | BW | USA |
Screwball Comedy, Comedy of Manners |
|
Claudette Colbert, Joel
McCrea, Rudy Vallee, Mary Astor, Siegfried Arno, Robert Warwick, William
Demarest, Franklin Pangborn, Arthur Stuart Hull, Torben Meyer |
|
"Rudy Vallee turns in
his best performance as a gentle, puny millionaire named Hackensacker in
this brilliant, simultaneously tender and scalding 1942 screwball comedy
by Preston Sturges--one
of the real gems in
Sturges's hyperproductive period at Paramount."
- Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader |
|
Selected by
Gus Van Sant, Tom Charity,
Kevin MacDonald,
Taylor Hackford,
James Mangold. |
|
175 → 164 → 168 →
168 |
|
Amazon
Ozu's World Movie Reviews
Time Out |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
169
|
|
170
|
|
171
|
|
The
Maltese Falcon |
|
JOHN HUSTON (161) |
 |
|
1941 | 100m | BW | USA |
Mystery, Film Noir |
|
Humphrey Bogart, Mary
Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Gladys George, Peter Lorre, Barton MacLane,
Elisha Cook Jr., Lee Patrick, Ward Bond, Jerome Cowan |
|
"Don't miss The Maltese
Falcon if your taste is for mystery fare. It's the slickest exercise
in cerebration that has hit the screen in many months, and it is also
one of the most compelling nervous-laughter provokers yet."
- Bosley Crowther, The New York Times, 1941 |
|
Selected by
Charles Burnett,
Richard Schickel, Nasreem Munni Kabir, George Armitage, Robert Benayoun. |
|
158 → 173 → 161 →
169 |
|
Amazon
Roger Ebert's Great Movies
Film Reference |
|
See Also:
250 Quintessential
Noir Films |
|
|
|
Partie de campagne |
|
JEAN RENOIR (153) |
 |
| • A Day in
the Country (English title) |
|
1936 | 45m | BW | France |
Comedy Drama, Romance |
|
Sylvia Bataille, Georges
St. Saens, Jane Marken, Andre Gabriello, Jacques Brunius, Paul Temps,
Gabrielle Fontan, Jean Renoir, Marguerite Renoir, Pierre Lestringuez |
|
"It may be only a
featurette, but this masterly adaptation of a Maupassant story is rich
in both poetry and thematic content... The careful reconstruction of
period (around 1860) is enhanced by a typically touching generosity
towards the characters and an aching, poignant sense of love lost but
never forgotten. And, as always in
Renoir, the river is far, far more than
just a picturesque stretch of water. Witty and sensuous, it's pure
magic. "
- Geoff Andrew, Time Out |
|
Selected by
D.A.
Pennebaker, Denys Arcand,
Kevin MacDonald,
John Pym, Richard Armstrong. |
|
216 → 147 → 153 →
170 |
|
Amazon
Film Reference
The Film Journal |
|
|
|
The
Travelling Players |
|
THEO ANGELOPOULOS (155) |
 |
| • O Thiasos
(original title) |
|
1975 | 230m | Col | Greece
| Drama, Political Drama |
|
Eva Kotamanidou, Aliki
Georgouli, Stratos Pahis, Maria Vassiliou, Petros Zarkadis, Kiriakos
Katrivanos, Yannis Firios, Nina Papazaphiropoulou, Alekos Boubis, Kosta
Stiliaris |
|
"A masterpiece in a dozen
different ways, The Traveling Players is so complex that a critic
attempting to explain it is in the same quandary as the proverbial blind
men discovering an elephant."
- Henry
Sheehan, 1990 |
|
Selected by
Michel Ciment, Fredric R. Jameson, Dan Georgakas, Dan Fainaru, Martin McLoone. |
|
179 → 174 → 155 →
171 |
|
Amazon
Derek Malcolm's Century of Films
Time Out |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
172
|
|
173
|
|
174
|
|
Trouble in Paradise |
|
ERNST LUBITSCH (162) |
 |
| 1932
| 83m | BW | USA | Sophisticated Comedy, Romantic Comedy |
|
Herbert Marshall, Miriam
Hopkins, Kay Francis, Charlie Ruggles, Edward Everett Horton, C. Aubrey
Smith, Robert Greig, George Humbert, Rolfe Sedan, Luis Alberni |
|
"Trouble in
Paradise is the most fondly memorable—if rarely seen—Hollywood
screwball comedy. Its combination of suaveness, hilarity, and sexiness
has had a mighty influence." -
Armond White, Criterion
Collection |
|
Selected by Todd McCarthy, James Naremore,
Richard Schickel, Pascal Merigeau, Jean-Loup Bourget. |
|
169 → 182 → 162 →
172 |
|
Amazon
San Francisco Chronicle
Images Journal |
|
|
|
The
Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie |
|
LUIS BUÑUEL (163) |
 |
| • Le Charme
discret de la bourgeoisie (original title) |
|
1972 | 100m | Col | France
| Satire, Black Comedy |
|
Fernando Rey, Delphine
Seyrig, Stephane Audran, Bulle Ogier, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Paul Frankeur,
Julien Bertheau, Claude Pieplu, Michel Piccoli, Milena Vukotic |
|
"In addition to being
extraordinarily funny and perfectly acted, The Discreet Charm
moves with the breathtaking speed and self-assurance that only a man of
Buñuel's
experience can achieve without resorting to awkward ellipsis." -
Vincent Canby, The New York Times, 1972 |
|
Selected by
Denys Arcand,
Karel Reisz,
Neil Hunter, Sophie Barthes,
Federico Fellini. |
|
120 → 151 → 163 →
173 |
|
Amazon
Roger Ebert's Great Movies
Criterion Collection Essay |
|
|
|
The
Quiet Man |
|
JOHN FORD
(160) |
 |
|
1952 | 129m | Col | USA |
Comedy Drama, Romance |
|
John Wayne, Maureen
O'Hara, Victor McLaglen, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond, Mildred Natwick,
Arthur Shields, Jack MacGowran, Francis Ford, Eileen Crowe |
|
"A love story that
packs a fearsome punch, The Quiet Man is a passionate,
full-blooded film. Ford
constructs the picture carefully, and lavishes the tale with some of the
most visually extraordinary scenes ever filmed."
- Baseline Movie Guide, 1992 |
|
Selected by
George A. Romero,
Stephen Frears,
Amos Gitai, Franc Roddam, Montxo Armendariz. |
|
263 → 188 → 160 →
174 |
|
Amazon
BBC
Combustible
Celluloid |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
175
|
|
176
|
|
177
|
|
La Belle et la bête |
|
JEAN COCTEAU
(196) |
 |
| • Beauty
and the Beast (English title) |
|
1946 | 95m | BW | France |
Fairy Tale, Romantic Fantasy |
|
Jean Marais, Josette Day,
Marcel Andre, Mila Parely, Nane Germon, Michel Auclair, Georges Auric,
Raoul Marco, Noel Blin, Jean Cocteau |
|
"I'm prepared to
entertain the argument that Beauty and the Beast is not
Cocteau's
most "important" film and that it does have some creaky moments. But it
is probably his most perfect, because it speaks to so wide an audience
with its intensity of vision and the emotions that it inspires in us."
- Derek Malcolm, The Guardian, 1999 |
|
Selected by
Ken Russell,
David Siegel, Tim Lucas, Shawn Levy,
Xavier Dolan. |
|
259 → 190 → 196 →
175 |
|
Amazon
Film Reference
Criterion Collection Essay |
|
|
|
The
Mother and the Whore |
|
JEAN EUSTACHE (172) |
 |
| • La Maman
et la putain (original title) |
|
1973 | 210m | BW | France
| Psychological Drama, Urban Drama |
|
Jean-Pierre Leaud,
Francoise Lebrun, Bernadette Lafont, Isabelle Weingarten, Jacques Renard,
Jean-Noel Picq, Pierre Cottrell, Bernard Eisenschitz, Jean Douchet, Jean
Eustache |
|
"The Mother and
the Whore has the energy and quick, almost surreptitious
illumination of the best improvised work. The low-contrast black and
white photography gives the film a cool, astringent look that cuts
nicely against the gathering force of the script." - Jay Cocks, Time,
1974 |
|
Selected by
Richard Linklater,
Mark Cousins, John
Waters, Quim Casas, Doug Block. |
|
221 → 156 → 172 →
176 |
|
Amazon
Chicago Reader (Jonathan Rosenbaum)
Strictly Film School |
|
|
|
Freaks |
|
TOD BROWNING (207) |
 |
|
1932 | 64m | BW | USA |
Drama, Psychological Thriller |
|
Harry Earles, Olga
Baclanova, Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Henry Victor, Daisy Earles, Roscoe
Ates, Rose Dione, Daisy Hilton, Violet Hilton |
|
"Browning's
film succeeds in being, as one critic has put it, 'moving, harsh, poetic
and genuinely tender'. It was undoubtedly before its time and no one has
equalled it... Today, it looks like a damning antidote to the cult of physical
perfection and an extraordinary tribute to the community of so-called
freaks who made up its cast."
- Derek Malcolm,
The Guardian, 1999 |
|
Selected by
Werner Herzog, Carlos Garcia Brusco, Dan Georgakas,
Jean-Max Mejean, Ed Gonzalez. |
|
284 → 221 → 207 →
177 |
|
Amazon
Bright Lights Film Journal
Slant Magazine |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
178
|
|
179
|
|
180
|
|
The
Last Laugh |
|
F.W. MURNAU (173) |
 |
| • Der
Letzte Mann (original title) |
| 1924
| 77m | BW | Germany | Drama, Psychological Drama |
|
Emil Jannings, Maly
Delschaft, Max Hiller, Emilie Kurz, Hans Unterkircher, Olaf Storm,
Hermann Vallentin, Georg John, Emmy Wyda, Harald Madsen |
|
"The 1924 film in
which F.W. Murnau
freed his camera from its stationary tripod and took it on a flight of
imagination and expression that changed the way movies were made.
Cameras had tracked and panned before, but never to such a deliberate
and spectacular degree."
- Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader |
|
Selected by
Gilles Jacob,
Ingmar Bergman,
Sidney Gottlieb, Richard Brody, Lawrence Kardish. |
|
187 → 184 → 173 →
178 |
|
Amazon
Senses of Cinema
Roger Ebert's Great Movies |
|
|
|
Do the Right Thing |
|
SPIKE LEE (205) |
 |
|
1989 | 120m | Col | USA |
Urban Drama, Ensemble Film |
|
Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis,
Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Spike Lee, Bill Nunn, John
Turturro, Paul Benjamin, John Savage |
|
"With the possible
exception of his cable miniseries When the Levees Broke, this
1989 feature is still Spike Lee's best work... Overall this is a
powerful and persuasive look at an ethnic community and what makes it
tick--funky, entertaining, packed with insight, and political in the
best, most responsible sense."
- Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader |
|
Selected by
Kevin Smith, Pam Cook, David Parkinson, Asif Kapadia, Chris Borrelli. |
|
213 → 235 → 205 →
179 |
|
Amazon
Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
Reel Views |
|
|
|
The
World of Apu |
|
SATYAJIT RAY (165) |
 |
| • Apur
Sansar (original title) |
|
1959 | 103m | BW | India |
Drama, Family Drama |
|
Soumitra Chatterjee,
Sharmila Tagore, Swapan Mukherji, S. Alke Chakravarty, Alok Chakravarty,
Dhiresh Majumdar, Sefalika Devi, Dhiren Ghosh, Balarani, Shanti
Bhattacherjee |
|
"In The World of
Apu, the third film in his Apu Trilogy, the late Indian film
maker Satyajit Ray
offers a rich, sympathetic portrait of his title character as an adult
-- struggling with artistic aspirations, stumbling into an arranged
marriage and finding his way as the grieving father of a young son."
- Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle, 1995 |
|
Selected by
Bill
Rothman, Daniel Talbot, Joseph Strick,
Mary Harron, Simon Louvish. |
|
164 → 178 → 165 →
180 |
|
Amazon
Roger Ebert's Great Movies
Strictly Film School |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
181
|
|
182
|
|
183
|
|
The
Gospel According to St. Matthew |
|
PIER PAOLO PASOLINI (159) |
 |
| • Il
Vangelo secondo Matteo (original title) |
|
1964 | 135m | BW | France-Italy | Drama, Religious Drama |
|
Enrique Irazoqui,
Margherita Caruso, Susanna Pasolini, Marcello Morante, Mario Socrate,
Settimo Di Porto, Otello Sestili, Ferruccio Nuzzo, Giacomo Morante,
Alfonso Gatto |
|
"Pasolini's
is one of the most effective films on a religious theme I have ever
seen, perhaps because it was made by a nonbeliever who did not preach,
glorify, underline, sentimentalize or romanticize his famous story, but
tried his best to simply record it." - Roger Ebert, Chicago
Sun-Times, 2004 |
|
Selected by
Scott Hicks,
Jonathan Glazer, Veronique Godard, Bruce LaBruce, Rajko Grlic. |
|
138 → 157 → 159 →
181 |
|
Amazon
Derek Malcolm's Century of Films
The New York Times |
|
|
|
Monsieur Verdoux |
|
CHARLES CHAPLIN (170) |
 |
|
1947 | 123m | BW | USA |
Black Comedy, Crime Comedy |
|
Charles Chaplin, Martha
Raye, Isobel Elsom, Mady Correll, Marilyn Nash, Irving Bacon, William
Frawley, Charles Evans, Allison Roddan, Robert Lewis |
|
"Monsieur Verdoux
is an engrossingly wry and paradoxical film, screamingly funny in
places, sentimental in others, sometimes slow and devoted to an
unusually serious and sobering argument." - Bosley Crowther, The
New York Times, 1964 |
|
Selected by
Gavin Lambert, Jean Douchet,
Mrinal Sen, Pascal Merigeau, Elliott Stein. |
|
172 → 176 → 170 →
182 |
|
Amazon
Chicago Reader (Dave Kehr)
Slant Magazine |
|
|
|
Vampyr |
|
CARL DREYER (183) |
 |
| • Vampyr -
Der Traum des Allan Grey (original title) |
|
1932 | 73m | BW |
France-Germany | Horror, Gothic Film |
|
Julian West, Henriette
Gerard, Jan Hieronimko, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel, Sybille Schmitz,
Albert Bras, N. Babanini, Jane Mora |
|
"With
the help of
Rudolph Maté's
luminous photography,
Dreyer creates a film of great beauty. Often the close-ups
are particularly haunting, but the main achievement is the correctness
of each shot, and their relationship to each other."
-
Chris Petit, Time Out |
|
Selected by
Fritz Gottler, Yomota Inuhiko, Linda
Williams, Jacques Aumont, Alexandre Astruc. |
|
186 → 193 → 183 →
183 |
|
Amazon
Film Reference
Chicago Reader |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
184
|
|
185
|
|
186
|
|
Nights of Cabiria |
|
FEDERICO FELLINI
(180) |
 |
| • Le Notti
di Cabiria (original title) |
|
1957 | 110m | BW |
Italy-France | Melodrama, Tragi-comedy |
|
Giulietta Masina, Francois
Perier, Amedeo Nazzari, Aldo Silvani, Franca Marzi, Dorian Gray, Mario
Passante, Pina Gualandri, Polidor, Enio Girolami |
|
"In Nights of
Cabiria, Fellini
weighs the cost of both isolation and connection, but it's such a
graceful picture that his technique comes off as anything but ponderous
-- it's more like a graceful soft-shoe, a muted shuffle on a sandy
floor."
- Stephanie Zacharek, Salon Magazine |
|
Selected by
James Gray, Hubert Cornfield,
Susan Seidelman, Paul
Mazursky, Yevgeny Yevtushenko. |
|
156 → 162 → 180 →
184 |
|
Amazon
Bright Lights Film Journal
Roger Ebert's Great Movies |
|
|
|
The
Exorcist |
|
WILLIAM FRIEDKIN (193) |
 |
|
1973 | 121m | Col | USA |
Horror, Occult Horror |
|
Ellen Burstyn, Max von
Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Jason Miller, Jack MacGowran, Kitty Winn, Linda
Blair, Vasiliki Maliaros, Wallace Rooney, Titos Vandis |
|
"Friedkin's
real genius, it seems to me, was to juxtapose the scary rite of exorcism
with the barbaric medical technology of the lumbar puncture. Max von
Sydow and Ellen Burstyn give maturity and substance to this movie,
especially considering the teen-irony-fest the genre was to become."
- Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 2000 |
|
Selected by
Alex Proyas,
M. Night Shyamalan,
Mark Kermode, Geoffrey Wright, Danny Cannon. |
|
194 → 186 → 193 →
185 |
|
Amazon
Pop Matters
The A.V. Club |
|
|
|
Performance |
|
NICOLAS ROEG & DONALD CAMMELL (188) |
 |
|
1970 | 105m | Col | UK |
Psychological Drama, Satire |
|
James Fox, Mick Jagger,
Anita Pallenberg, Michele Breton, Ann Sidney, Johnny Shannon, Anthony
Valentine, John Burdon, Stanley Meadows, Allan Cuthbertson |
|
"Back in 1971, I
wrote the first long piece on Performance and I've revisited and
written about it often since then. A landmark in British cinema and our
greatest gangster movie, it's a film that encapsulates and transcends
its confused time" - Philip French, The Observer, 2004 |
|
Selected by
Todd Haynes,
Chris Chang, Trevor Steele Taylor, Noel King, Chuck Stevens. |
|
177 → 195 → 188 →
186 |
|
Amazon
Screen Online
Senses of Cinema |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
187
|
|
188
|
|
189
|
|
Death in Venice |
|
LUCHINO VISCONTI (184) |
 |
| • Morte a
Venezia (original title) |
|
1971 | 130m | Col | Italy | Drama, Period Film |
|
Dirk Bogarde, Bjorn
Andresen, Silvana Mangano, Romolo Valli, Mark Burns, Nora Ricci, Marisa
Berenson, Carole Andre, Leslie French, Franco Fabrizi |
|
"Dirk Bogarde gave
the greatest performance of his career, in fact one of the greatest of
any screen performances, in
Visconti's magnificent 1971 version of
the Thomas Mann novella, played out in a series of long, often wordless
takes which are miraculously suffused with spiritual meaning." -
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 2003 |
|
Selected by
Nikita Mikhalkov,
Henrik Uth Jensen, Alfredo Guevara, George Sluizer, Suzi Feay. |
|
226 → 207 → 184 →
187 |
|
Amazon
Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
BBC |
|
|
|
Raiders of the Lost Ark |
|
STEVEN SPIELBERG (179) |
 |
|
1981 | 115m | Col | USA |
Adventure, Action |
|
Harrison Ford, Karen
Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott,
Alfred Molina, Wolf Kahler, Anthony Higgins, Vic Tablian |
|
"Steven
Spielberg's
Raiders of the Lost Ark plays like an anthology of the best parts
from all the Saturday matinee serials ever made... The movie is just
plain fun. The Kasdan screenplay is a construction of one damn thing on
top of another." -
Roger Ebert,
Chicago-Sun Times, 2000 |
|
Selected by
M. Night Shyamalan,
Edgar Wright, Anurag Mehta, Louis Leterrier, Garth Jennings. |
|
247 → 233 → 179 →
188 |
|
Amazon
Film Reference
Reel Views |
|
|
|
The
Music Room |
|
SATYAJIT RAY (192) |
 |
| • Jalsaghar
(original title) |
|
1958 | 95m | BW | India |
Drama, Psychological Drama |
|
Chhabi Biswas, Gangapada
Basu, Pinaki Sengupta, Padma Devi, Tulsi Lahiri, Kali Sarkar, Waheed
Khan, Roshan Kumari, Sardar Akhtar, Tulshi Chakraborty |
|
"Ray's
fourth film, a wonderfully evocative anecdote about an elderly
aristocrat, slowly dying amid the crumbling splendours of the past, who
decides to defy the egalitarian age that is encroaching... Slow, rapt
and hypnotic, it is - given some appreciation of Indian music - a
remarkable experience. " -
Tom Milne, Time Out |
|
Selected by
Charles Tesson, Derek Malcolm, Gilles Jacob,
Mira Nair, Amos Gitai. |
|
171 → 180 → 192 →
189 |
|
Amazon
Derek Malcolm's Century of Films
San Francisco Chronicle |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
190
|
|
191
|
|
192
|
|
Celine and Julie Go Boating |
|
JACQUES RIVETTE (181) |
 |
| • Céline et
Julie vont en bateau (original title) |
|
1974 | 192m | Col | France
| Surrealist Film, Avant-garde / Experimental |
|
Juliet Berto, Dominique
Labourier, Bulle Ogier, Marie-France Pisier, Barbet Schroeder, Nathalie
Asnar, Marie-Therese Saussure, Philippe Clevenot, Anne Zamire, Jean
Douchet |
|
"There’s
cinema, and then there’s Céline and Julie Go Boating.
Jacques Rivette's
free-form dissertation on the interzone between performance and
spectatorship is the ideal filmgoing experience, even as the “story”
transcends all long-standing rules of narrative engagement. It’s the
Ulysses of moving pictures: You can feel
Rivette
exploring the art form’s modes of expression and then erasing their
borders, one by one." -
David Fear, Time Out,
2008 |
|
Selected by
Ty Burr, Michael Atkinson,
Dennis Lim, Neil Hunter, Peter Hames. |
|
135 → 161 → 181 →
190 |
|
Amazon
Senses of Cinema
Slant Magazine |
|
|
|
Paths of Glory |
|
STANLEY KUBRICK
(195) |
 |
| 1957
| 86m | BW | USA | Anti-War Film, War Drama |
|
Kirk Douglas, Adolphe
Menjou, Ralph Meeker, George Macready, Wayne Morris, Timothy Carey,
Joseph Turkel, Richard Anderson, Peter Capell, Suzanne Christian |
|
"Paths of Glory is
both a terrifying, grim look at battle and an excruciatingly tense
courtroom thriller. Together, it's a devastating indictment of war as
conducted by opportunists and liars."
- Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune, 2005 |
|
Selected by
Barry Norman, Peter Bradshaw, Fernando Martin Pena,
Freddie Francis,
Rod
Lurie. |
|
166 → 181 → 195 →
191 |
|
Amazon
Roger Ebert's Great Movies
Salon Magazine |
|
|
|
Blow-Up |
|
MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI (197) |
 |
| • Blowup
(alternative spelling); Blow Up (alternative title) |
|
1966 | 111m | Col |
Italy-UK | Mystery, Psychological Thriller |
|
David Hemmings, Vanessa
Redgrave, Peter Bowles, Sarah Miles, Jane Birkin, Gillian Hills, John
Castle, Julian Chagrin, Harry Hutchinson, Susan Broderick |
|
"This
is so ravishing to look at (the colors all seem newly minted) and
pleasurable to follow (the enigmas are usually more teasing than
worrying) that you're likely to excuse the metaphysical pretensions." - Jonathan
Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader |
|
Selected by
William Friedkin,
Trevor Steele Taylor, Tom
Tykwer, Pavel Branko, Raoul Coutard. |
|
229 → 206 → 197 →
192 |
|
Amazon
Senses of Cinema
Slant Magazine |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
193
|
|
194
|
|
195
|
|
L'Eclisse |
|
MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI
(182) |
 |
| • The
Eclipse (English title) |
|
1962 | 123m | BW |
France-Italy | Psychological Drama, Urban Drama |
|
Monica Vitti, Alain Delon,
Francisco Rabal, Lilla Brignone, Louis Seigner, Rosanna Rory, Mirella
Ricciardi, Cyrus Elias |
|
"Alternately an essay
and a prose poem about the contemporary world in which the "love story"
figures as one of many motifs, this is remarkable both for its
visual/atmospheric richness and its polyphonic and polyrhythmic mise en
scene. "
-
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader |
|
Selected by
Gavin Smith, Tim Lucas, Andrey Plakhov, George Kuchar, Gilberto Perez. |
|
149 → 197 → 182 →
193 |
|
Amazon
Criterion Collection Essay
Film Reference |
|
|
|
It
Happened One Night |
|
FRANK CAPRA
(198) |
 |
|
1934 | 105m | BW | USA |
Romantic Comedy, Screwball Comedy |
|
Claudette Colbert, Clark
Gable, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns, Alan Hale, Ward Bond, Henry
Wadsworth, Claire McDowell, Arthur Hoyt, Blanche Frederici |
|
"It Happened One
Night was made in 1934, in the years before there was such a thing
as screwball romantic-comedy formula. It's among the first of its kind,
and it's one of the greatest. Audiences responded at the time (the
picture was a huge hit), and today It Happened One Night still
feels unbeatably fresh and shiveringly touching." -
Stephanie Zacharek , Salon, 2001 |
|
Selected by
Kevin Thomas, Andrew
Bergman, Ursula Vossen, Simon Relph,
Fernando Vizcaino Casas. |
|
197 → 202 → 198 →
194 |
|
Amazon
Senses of Cinema
Film Reference |
|
|
|
Late Spring |
|
YASUJIRO OZU
(190) |
 |
| • Banshun
(original title) |
|
1949 | 108m | BW | Japan |
Drama, Family Drama |
|
Chishu Ryu, Setsuko Hara,
Yumeji Tsukioka, Hohi Aoki, Masao Mishima, Kuniko Miyake, Haruko
Sugimura, Yoshiko Tsubouchi, Jun Usami, Yoko Katsuragi |
|
"Late Spring is one
of the best two or three films
Ozu ever made, with Early Summer
deserving comparison. Both films use his distinctive later visual style,
which includes precise compositions for a camera that almost never
moves."
- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, 2005 |
|
Selected by
Carl Franklin,
Peter von Bagh, Bill Rothman, Barbet
Schroeder,
Phil Solomon. |
|
151 → 166 → 190 →
195 |
|
Amazon
Strictly Film School
Criterion Collection Essay |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
196
|
|
197
|
|
198
|
|
Throne of Blood |
|
AKIRA KUROSAWA
(227) |
 |
| •
Kumonosu-jou (original title) |
|
1957 | 108m | BW | Japan |
Drama, Samurai Film |
|
Chishu Ryu, Setsuko Hara,
Yumeji Tsukioka, Hohi Aoki, Masao Mishima, Kuniko Miyake, Haruko
Sugimura, Yoshiko Tsubouchi, Jun Usami, Yoko Katsuragi |
|
"It remains a
landmark of visual strength, permeated by a particularly Japanese
sensibility, and is possibly the finest Shakespearean adaptation ever
committed to the screen."
- Derek Malcolm, The Guardian, 1999 |
|
Selected by
Alex Cox,
Jonathan Glazer,
Peter Greenaway,
Andrzej Wajda, Yiwen Chen. |
|
219 → 187 → 227 →
196 |
|
Amazon
Criterion Collection Essay
Images Journal |
|
|
|
The
River |
|
JEAN RENOIR
(219) |
 |
|
1951 | 99m | Col |
USA-India | Drama, Romantic Drama |
|
Patricia Walters, Radha,
Adrienne Corri, Nora Swinburne, Esmond Knight, Arthur Shields, Suprova
Mukerjee, Thomas E. Breen, Sahjan Singh, Richard Foster |
|
"Made on location in
Bengal, this was Renoir's
first movie after his wartime sojourn in Hollywood and his first in
colour (the exquisite photography is by his nephew, Claude)... It's a
beautifully observed rite-of-passage and culture-clash story of a
crippled American war veteran's impact on a British community in the
last days of the Raj." - Philip French, The Observer, 2006 |
|
Selected by
Wes Anderson, Carlos F.
Heredero, Amos Gitai, Alexandre Astruc, Kent Jones. |
|
522 → 246 → 219 →
197 |
|
Amazon
Roger Ebert's Great Movies
The Village Voice |
|
|
|
The Great Dictator |
|
CHARLES CHAPLIN
(234) |
 |
|
1940 | 128m | BW | USA | Comedy, Anti-War Film |
|
Charles Chaplin, Paulette
Goddard, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner, Henry Daniell, Maurice Moscovich,
Billy Gilbert, Emma Dunn, Grace Hayle, Carter DeHaven |
|
"Though the slapstick
may seem tired now. there are moments of greatness, notably
Charlie's
graceful globe-juggling routine and, for all its idealism, the final
speech during which any sense of the barber, the dictator or the little
tramp fades away, leaving only
Chaplin himself speaking directly from
the heart." -
David
Parkinson, Empire |
|
Selected by
Michel Gondry,
Bernard Jannin, Daniel Serceau, Santosh Sivan, Angela Baldassarre. |
|
280 → 252 → 234 →
198 |
|
Amazon
Roger Ebert's Great Movies
Reverse Shot |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
199
|
|
200
|
|
|
|
Pandora's Box |
|
G.W. PABST
(189) |
 |
| • Die
Büchse der Pandora (original title) |
|
1928 | 110m | BW | Germany
| Drama, Melodrama |
|
Louise Brooks, Fritz
Kortner, Franz Lederer, Carl Goetz, Alice Roberts, Krafft Raschig,
Gustav Diessl, Daisy d'Ora, Michael von Newlinsky, Siegfried Arno |
|
"With his brilliant
staging and visual mastery of the rich, shadowy blacks and whites that
would later mark American film noir,
Pabst re-creates the rigid, mercenary
society around Lulu (Louise Brooks). Then he shows how her impish beauty
throws open its doors." - Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune, 2007 |
|
Selected by
Quentin Tarantino,
Yvonne Rainer,
Gavin Lambert, Derek
Jarman, Suzanne Liandrat-Guigues. |
|
198 → 209 → 189 →
199 |
|
Amazon
Derek Malcolm's Century of Films
Criterion Collection Essay |
|
|
|
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul |
|
RAINER WERNER FASSBINDER
(186) |
 |
| • Angst
essen Seele auf (original title); Fear Eats the Soul (alternate
title) |
|
1974 | 94m | Col | Germany
| Melodrama, Psychological Drama |
|
Brigitte Mira, El Hedi ben
Salem, Barbara Valentin, Irm Hermann, Elma Karlowa, Anita Bucher, Gusti
Kreissl, Doris Mattes, R.W. Fassbinder, Karl Scheydt |
|
"Vital link between
Douglas Sirk's
All That Heaven Allows and
Todd Haynes's recent homage Far From
Heaven, Rainer
Werner Fassbinder's achingly tender, brutally wise 1974
masterpiece retained
Sirk's scenario of a scandalizing romance and rendered it
extra verboten."
- Dennis Lim, Village Voice, 2003 |
|
Selected by Stig Bjorkman, Jill Godmilow, Bruce
LaBruce, Park Kiyong, Lodge Kerrigan. |
|
199 → 214 → 186 →
200 |
|
Amazon
Bright Lights Film Journal
Criterion Collection Essay |
|
|
• To 201-250
 |
|
|