When it comes to defining the masterpieces of history of films happen to find rankings of all kinds, for all audiences and manipulated by the marketing of the big production companies. Rankings that have little or nothing to do with the art of cinema. It happens to see such commercial films included in these lists that one wonders if those who wrote them wanted to make fun of the readers or if they really believe that certain films are great timeless masterpieces.
If you think that Star Wars, Saving Private Ryan, Titanic, Toy Story or the latest film by the fashionable intellectual director who won an award at Cannes are to be included among the great masterpieces of cinema history then stop reading, this article it’s not for you. There are tons of blogs and magazines that tell you anything for a variety of commercial or cultural reasons. The authoritative world-class academy of Pinco Pallino could also include Jurassic Park in the list.
If, on the other hand, you want to clarify and understand what really goes beyond the fashions of the moment and get an idea about the true art cinema, the cinema conceived and designed to go beyond the time and space in which we live, in the vision of what is understood and perceived as art in the millenary Tradition , in which cinema is the latest arrival, then this list of cinematic masterpieces is for you.
Nosferatu (1922)
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror is a 1922 German silent Expressionist horror film directed by F. W. Murnau and starring Max Schreck and Gustav von Wangenheim. The film is an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, and it tells the story of Count Orlock (Schreck), a Transylvanian vampire who travels to Wismar, Germany, in search of fresh blood.
Thomas Hutter is sent to Transylvania by his company, real estate agent Herr Knock, to visit a new client called Count Orlok who intends to buy a residence from the same house as Hutter. As he embarks on his journey, Hutter walks out to an inn where residents are startled by the mere mention of Orlok’s name.
The Land of Ghosts and the Call of the Bird of Death: One of the first (though unauthorized) adaptations of Dracula is still one of the most distressing. Max Schreck’s insect-like efficiency as the bloodthirsty Count Orlok is just as overwhelming and undesirable as it was virtually a century ago. The haunting images of a twilight world by German expressionist director FW Murnau have set the chilling standard for generations of horror movies future.
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Battleship Potemkin (1925) is a silent Soviet film directed by Sergei Eisenstein. It tells the story of the mutiny of the crew of the armored cruiser Kniaz Potemkin Tavricevskil, which broke out in Odessa on June 27, 1905, one of the events that took place in Russia during the revolutionary movements of 1905.
This must-see drama was developed in the heat of Soviet propaganda and used by the Communist government to celebrate an event 20 years earlier. It tells of a rebellion of sailors that turns into a real revolt of the workers in the city of Odessa; the movie is most famous for a spectacular – much imitated and parodied – sequence of a baby carriage rolling down the steps in Odessa.
Battleship Potemkin is full of powerful imagery and intoxicating ideas, and the director Sergei Eisenstein is rightfully considered one of the pioneers of the cinematographic language, with his enormous influence over the decades.
The General (1926)
How I Won the War (1926) is a silent American comedy film directed by Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman. The film tells the story of Johnny Gray, a young engineer who, during the American Civil War, finds himself facing the Union Army alone to save his fiancée, Annabelle Lee.
To please Annabelle, Johnnie is quick to be the first in line to enlist in the American Civil War, however he is turned down because he is much more useful as an engineer, even if he is not informed of the real reason . Upon exiting, he meets Annabelle’s father and also Annabelle’s brother, who motion him to join them in line, but walks away, leaving them with the impression that he doesn’t want to enlist.
It may not seem like your normal romance, but that’s exactly what it is comedy by one of the fundamental artists in the history of cinema, Buster Keaton. An impressive display of photographic technique, rhythm and comic timing, all supported by a genuine sentiment. Trust us, it’s a must see movie – it’s like a locomotive.
Faust (1926)
Faust (1926), directed by F. W. Murnau, is a 1926 German silent horror fantasy film loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s epic poem Faust.
The film tells the story of Faust, a professor of theology who has lost his faith. Faust is a discontented and disillusioned man, who finds himself longing for knowledge and power. One day, Faust meets Mephistopheles, a demon who offers him a pact: in exchange for his soul, Mephistopheles will grant him anything he desires.
Faust is a powerful and dramatic film that explores universal themes such as the nature of evil, the price of knowledge, and the power of redemption. The film is also a technical masterpiece, with stunning cinematography and Expressionist staging.
Technical Innovations
Faust is a technically innovative film. Murnau employed a number of groundbreaking cinematic techniques, including:
- Panorama: Murnau was one of the first directors to use the pan extensively. This technique allowed him to create a more dynamic and immersive viewing experience for the audience.
- Multiple exposures: Murnau used multiple exposures to create dreamlike and surreal effects. These techniques helped to convey the otherworldly nature of Faust’s pact with Mephistopheles.
- Deep focus: Murnau was one of the first directors to use deep focus consistently. This allowed him to keep both the foreground and background in focus, creating a more realistic and immersive image.
Expressionist Style
The sets and costumes in Faust are designed in the Expressionist style. Expressionism is characterized by its use of distorted shapes, exaggerated features, and unnatural colors. This helped to create a sense of unease and foreboding, which is appropriate for the story of Faust.
Metropolis (1926)
Metropolis (1927) is a German expressionist science fiction silent film directed by Fritz Lang. It is considered a landmark of cinema and is one of the most influential films ever made.
Plot
Metropolis is set in a dystopian future where the working class toils underground, while the wealthy elite live in a luxurious skyscraper city. The film tells the story of Freder Fredersen, the son of the city’s ruler, who falls in love with Maria, a worker’s leader. Maria is spreading a message of peace and equality, which threatens the power of the ruling class. Fredersen’s right-hand man, Rotwang, creates an android that looks exactly like Maria, in order to sow discord among the workers.
Reception
Metropolis was a commercial and critical success upon its release. It was praised for its technical innovations, its highly stylized sets and costumes, and its exploration of important themes such as class, technology, and the human spirit.
The film was also controversial for its representation of the working class. Some critics accused the film of being anti-socialist and of promoting the idea that the working class is ignorant and easily manipulated.
Despite the controversy, Metropolis has remained a classic of cinema. It has been restored and re-released several times and is still a popular and influential film today.
A Page of Madness (1926)
A Page of Madness (狂った一頁, Kurutta Ichipeiji) is a 1926 Japanese silent experimental horror film directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa. It is considered by many to be one of the greatest Japanese silent films ever made, and is praised for its innovative use of camera techniques, its Expressionist sets and costumes, and its powerful performances. The film is loosely based on the short story “Diary of a Madman” by Ryunosuke Akutagawa.
Plot
The film tells the story of a former calligrapher who is forced to work in an asylum after his wife goes insane. The calligrapher becomes obsessed with a young patient, and his obsession soon turns into madness.
Themes
The film explores themes of madness, obsession, and the nature of reality. It is also a critique of the Japanese social system of the time.
Style
The film is made in the Expressionist style, which is characterized by its use of distorted shapes, exaggerated features, and unnatural colors. This style creates a sense of unease and foreboding, which is appropriate for the film’s story.
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927), directed by F.W. Murnau, is a German silent romantic drama film that is widely considered to be one of the greatest films ever made. The film is a story of love, redemption, and the power of nature.
Plot
The film tells the story of a young farmer who is tempted by a city woman to kill his wife and join her in the city. However, as he is about to commit the crime, he is overcome by remorse and returns to his wife.
Themes
The film explores themes of love, temptation, redemption, and the power of nature. It is also a story about the importance of trust and forgiveness.
Style
The film is made in the style of German Expressionism, which is characterized by its use of distorted shapes, exaggerated features, and unnatural colors. This style is used to create a sense of unease and foreboding, which is appropriate for the film’s story.
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
The Passion of Giovanna d’Arco (1928), directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, is a Danish historical dramatic film that is considered one of the most important and influential films made. The film is a realistic and comfortable interpretation of the process and the death of Giovanna d’Arco.
Plot
The film tells the story of Giovanna d’Arco, an illiterate contadine who believes she was invited by Dio to liberate English France. Giovanna guides the French army alla vittoria, but she comes catturata e processata per esesia.
Style
The film is made in a realistic style, with minimal use of special effects. Dreyer has chosen to concentrate on the interpretation of the actors and the narration of the story.
Review
Director Carl Theodor Dreyer shows rigor with setting and editing; the film focuses largely on the comings and goings between Joan and her inquisitors. Made at the end of the silent era, a grandiose historical drama because it set new standards in film acting, because it took the avant-garde cinema of the 1930s. And for 100 other reasons.
The Crowd (1928)
The Crowd (1928), directed by King Vidor, is an American silent romantic drama film that is widely considered to be one of the greatest silent films ever made. The film is a story of a young man’s struggle to achieve the American Dream.
Plot
The film follows John Sims, an ambitious young man who moves to New York City with his wife Mary in search of a better life. John works his way up from a menial job to a high-paying position, but he never seems to be able to achieve the happiness and success he desires.
Themes
The film explores themes of ambition, disillusionment, and the nature of the American Dream. It is also a story about the importance of family and love.
Style
The film is made in a naturalistic style, with a focus on realism and social commentary. Vidor uses a variety of techniques to create a sense of realism, including location shooting, handheld camerawork, and deep focus cinematography.
M, A City Searches for a Murderer (1931)
M (1931) is a German film directed by Fritz Lang. It tells the story of a child serial killer who terrorizes the city of Düsseldorf. The film is considered one of the precursors of the noir genre and has had a significant influence on subsequent cinema.
The story of the film is simple but effective. A child serial killer, nicknamed “M”, begins to terrorize the city of Düsseldorf. The police are powerless to stop him, and the population is in a panic. A group of criminals decides to take matters into their own hands and capture the killer themselves.
The film is set in pre-Nazi Germany, and the story reflects the fears and insecurities of German society at the time. The film is also an exploration of the nature of evil and justice.
One of those landmark films – there is only a handful of them – that sits on the border between silent cinema and the era of sound but draws on the virtues of both, the serial killer movie burns with deep visual darkness as he pleases the ears with his whistle “In the Hall of the Mountain King” (played by Lang himself with purse lips; his star, Peter Lorre, couldn’t whistle).
The theme of the movie is vigilance: we must protect our children, but who will protect society from itself? Masterpiece not to be missed by the legendary director Fritz Lang.
City Lights (1931)
City Lights (1931) is a silent comedy-drama film directed by Charlie Chaplin. The film tells the story of a tramp who falls in love with a blind flower girl. He sets out to help her get back her sight, even though it means sacrificing his own happiness.
City Lights is considered to be one of Chaplin’s greatest films. It is a heartwarming and moving story that has been praised for its humor, pathos, and social commentary. The film was a critical and commercial success upon its release, and it has remained popular ever since.
Chaplin, reluctant to give up the visual techniques he had learned, insisted on making his new one comedy A silent film even if viewers wanted sound films. As always, the star got the last laugh: not only was the movie a huge commercial success, it also ended with the most heartbreaking close-up of the films history, the height of emotion, no dialogue required.
Vampyr (1932)
Vampyr (1932) is a Danish surrealist horror film directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. The film tells the story of Allan Gray, a young occultist who arrives in a French village to investigate a series of mysterious murders.
One of the greatest horror cinema masterpieces . Vampyr by Carl Theodor Dreyer is made in the years of the change between sound cinema and silent cinema, using the aesthetic language of the previous one to bring the horror style into the new era. In Vampyr reigns a constant feeling of anxiety and invisible presences that lurk in every corner. Rudolph Maté’s photography documents every shade of light and dark in an extraordinary dance.
Pictorial images entered the history of cinema, such as that of a man with a scythe that rings a bell as well as the indication of an inn that protrudes against a dark sky. Cult scenes such as the one in which Allan is placed by the vampire’s henchmen in a coffin, in which Dreyer uses a claustrophobic subjective point of view.
Zero for Conduct (1933)
Zero for Conduct is a 1933 film written and directed by French director Jean Vigo. Also known by the international title “Zero for Conduct”, it is a classic of avant-garde cinema and is often considered one of the masterpieces of French cinema from the 1930s.
The film is set in a boarding school run by an authoritarian and repressive system, where the young students are forced to live in an oppressive environment without freedom. The story follows a group of four boys, Ribera, Tabard, Bruel and Caussat, who decide to rebel against the school system and its oppressive rules.
The rebellion begins with seemingly harmless acts of protest, but soon the movement evolves into a full-blown revolt. The boys try to overthrow the established order and ruin the end-of-year party organized by the teachers and the principal.
The film is a social critique against authoritarianism and traditional education, symbolized by the figure of the principal, played by Michel Simon. Jean Vigo employs an innovative and experimental directorial style, with the use of unusual angles and innovative editing techniques to create a surreal and dreamlike atmosphere.
Unfortunately, the film was initially met with negative reviews and was subject to several censorships. It was shown in only a few cinemas and was rarely shown until after the Second World War. Only later, thanks to the re-evaluation and recognition from critics, “Zero for Conduct” became a cult film and a milestone in the history of cinema.
Despite its short running time (approximately 44 minutes), the film left a significant imprint on the cinematic landscape and inspired numerous generations of subsequent filmmakers. His legacy lives on today, as an example of innovative cinema and protest against social injustice.
L’Atalante (1934)
“L’Atalante” is a 1934 film directed by French director Jean Vigo. It is considered one of the masterpieces of auteur cinema and has had a great impact on the history of cinema. The film tells the story of a young married couple, Juliette and Jean, who will marry and begin their life together aboard a barge called “L’Atalante”, sailing along the French canals.
“L’Atalante” is an example of poetic cinema, characterized by a dreamy narration and a profound reflection on life and human emotions. Jean Vigo uses an innovative approach in directing him, with a combination of realistic and fantastical elements. The film is known for its stunning sequences on board the ship, the depiction of the lives of sailors and the portrayal of a young and conflicted love.
Unfortunately, Jean Vigo died at the age of 29 shortly after the making of “L’Atalante”, and was never able to see his work recognized as a masterpiece of cinema. However, over the years, the film has been re-evaluated and admired by critics and film enthusiasts around the world, establishing itself as a seminal work of cinematography. If you have the chance, I recommend seeing “L’Atalante” to immerse yourself in its poetic and unique visual experience.
Sazen Tange and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo (1935)
Modern Times (1936)
Modern Times (1936) is a comedy-drama film directed by Charlie Chaplin. It is considered one of Chaplin’s masterpieces, and one of the most important and influential films in cinema history.
Plot
The film tells the story of Charlie, a factory worker on an assembly line at a steel mill. Charlie is a diligent worker, but the assembly line is so fast that it drives him mad.
Charlie is fired from the factory and finds himself wandering the streets of an industrial city. He finds work as a newspaper vendor, but even this job is tiring and poorly paid.
Charlie meets a young orphan named Gamin, and the two fall in love. However, their relationship is hampered by the hardships of city life.
Themes
The film explores themes of alienation, exploitation, and class struggle. It is also a story about the importance of love and solidarity.
Style
The film is made in a comedy-drama style, with a focus on the humanity of the characters. Chaplin uses a variety of techniques to create a sense of comedy and pathos, including physical gags, pantomime, and music.
Among the best funny movies of all time, relentlessly imaginative, rarely needs an introduction. The gags come almost as quickly as you can process them, with the style of Chaplin evoked here by circumstances that seem purpose-built to end in catastrophe.
La Grande Illusion (1937)
La Grande Illusion (1937), directed by Jean Renoir, is a French war drama film widely considered to be one of the greatest films ever made. The film is a story of friendship and loyalty between two French officers captured during World War I.
Plot
The film follows Captains Maréchal and de Boëldieu, two French officers captured by the Germans. The two men are transferred to a prisoner-of-war camp, where they befriend other French officers.
The prisoners plan an escape, but the plan fails and the two captains are transferred to a high-security fortress. In the fortress, the two men meet Captain von Rauffenstein, a German officer who is also a man of honor.
Themes
The film explores themes of friendship, loyalty, and the nature of war. It is also a story about the importance of compassion and mutual respect, even between enemies.
Style
The film is made in a realistic style, with a focus on the humanity of the characters. Renoir uses a variety of techniques to create a sense of realism, including location shooting, handheld camerawork, and deep focus cinematography.
La Bête Humaine (1938)
La Bête Humaine (1938), directed by Jean Renoir, is a French romantic thriller film based on the novel of the same name by Émile Zola. The film tells the story of Jacques Lantier, a steam engine engineer who is driven to violence by his own inner demons.
Plot
The film is set in the late 19th century. Jacques Lantier is a steam engine engineer who is married to Flore. However, he is also attracted to Séverine, the wife of Roubaud, the stationmaster at Le Havre.
Jacques and Séverine begin an affair, and they plan to murder Roubaud. They lure him onto a train and push him off the tracks. However, their plan goes awry, and Jacques is the only one who survives.
Themes
The film explores themes of passion, obsession, and the dark side of human nature. It is also a story about the destructive power of violence.
Style
The film is made in a realistic style, with a focus on the characters and their motivations. Renoir uses a variety of techniques to create a sense of realism, including location shooting and handheld camerawork.
The Zero Hour (1939)
The Zero Hour (1939) is an American crime drama film directed by Sidney Salkow and starring Otto Kruger, Frieda Inescort, and Adrienne Ames. The film is a remake of the 1938 French film La Bête Humaine (The Human Beast), which was directed by Jean Renoir and based on the novel of the same name by Émile Zola.
Plot
The film tells the story of Steve Reynolds, a pilot who is haunted by the memory of a crash that killed his wife and child. He is also struggling with his alcoholism and his relationship with his girlfriend, Susan.
One night, while flying home from a trip, Steve is forced to make an emergency landing in a snowstorm. He is helped by a young woman named Linda, and they soon develop a romantic relationship.
Themes
The film explores themes of guilt, obsession, and the destructive power of violence. It is also a story about the human condition and the struggle to overcome personal demons.
Style
The film is made in a dark and atmospheric style, with a focus on the psychological turmoil of the characters. Salkow uses a variety of techniques to create a sense of tension and suspense, including low-key lighting, extreme close-ups, and rapid editing.
Rules of the Game (1939)
The Rules of the Game is considered one of the masterpieces of French cinema and one of the most important films of the 20th century. The film was a critical and commercial success upon its release and has continued to be appreciated by critics and audiences around the world.
The aviator André Jurieux arrives in Paris after crossing the ocean in his plane. He is greeted by his friend Octave, who informs André that Christine, the Austro-French noblewoman, has not come to greet him. Christine’s past relationship with André is accepted by her partner, her maid and their friend Octave.
Jean Renoir cemented his mastery with this perfect search for the social strata among the stupid, idle, about to be wiped out by the Second World War. Matters between aristocrats and servants flourish during a week-long hunting trip to a castle, where the only crime is to mistake frivolity for sincerity.
His Girl Friday (1940)
His Girl Friday (1940) is an American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell and featuring Ralph Bellamy and Gene Lockhart. The film is a fast-paced, witty, and charming look at the world of journalism, and it features some of the most memorable dialogue in cinema history.
Walter Burns is editor of The Morning Post newspaper who learns that his ex-wife and also former top journalist, Hildegard “Hildy” Johnson, is about to marry her. dull insurer Bruce Baldwin and for making a quiet life as a wife and mother in Albany, New York. Walter decides to prevent this from happening and lures a reluctant Hildy to cover up one last story: the imminent execution of Earl Williams, an accountant found guilty of the murder of an African American police officer.
Among the many high-level movies directed by the director Howard Hawks, His Girl Friday is his most enchanting and verbose. The laconic Hawks would have played down his proto-feminism throughout his life, the movie is also his freest; strong women who had jobs and worked better than male reporters were simply what she wanted to see. A fun masterpiece of comedy. If you love words, you will love this movie.
Fantasia (1940)
Fantasia is an animated movie produced by Walt Disney Productions and released in 1940. It is an innovative and experimental work for the time, as the film mixes animation and classical music to create a sort of “synaesthesia” between the senses of hearing and vision.
The film consists of eight segments, each of which is accompanied by a soundtrack composed by great musicians such as Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and Bach. The segments, animated by some of the best artists of the time, include ballet scenes, dance of the fairies, the fight between good and evil and much more.
One of the most famous segments of Fantasia is probably Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring,” which chronicles the evolution of life on Earth, from the birth of the sun to the appearance of the dinosaurs. The segment was criticized at the time for its brutality and violence, but has become a cornerstone of modern animation.
Fantasia was a big box office success, but met with mixed reactions from critics. However, in the following years it has become a cult film, appreciated both for its visual beauty and for its artistic audacity. The film was also very influential on popular culture, and inspired many other films and artistic productions.
Citizen Kane (1941)
Citizen Kane (1941) is a film directed by Orson Welles, his first feature film. The film tells the story of Charles Foster Kane, a newspaper magnate, through the memories of his friends and acquaintances.
In a castle called Xanadu, part of a huge estate in Florida, Elder Charles Foster Kane is on his deathbed. Holding an object that represents a snowy landscape in his hand, he pronounces a word, “Rosabella”, and he dies.
A newsreel obituary tells the life story of Kane, an enormously wealthy newspaper publisher and industrial magnate. Kane’s death becomes astounding news around the world, as newsreel producer instructs journalist Jerry Thompson to uncover the meaning of “Rosabelle”.
An existential drama – played with inexhaustible talent by the prodigious actor and director Orson Welles – from a despised child to a baron of the press. You can immerse yourself in the film’s revolutionary methods, such as Gregg Toland’s deep focus photography, the genius of its staging as well as its examination of American capitalism. It’s also just a damn good story that you definitely shouldn’t miss.
Maltese Falcon (1941)
The Maltese Falcon (1941) is a film noir directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart. The film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett.
In San Francisco in 1941, private investigators Sam Spade and Miles Archer meet potential client Ruth Wonderly. Later that night, Spade is awakened by a police phone call informing him that Archer has been killed. Dundy suggests that Spade had the opportunity and motive to kill Thursby, who probably killed Archer.
Later that morning, Spade meets his client, who confesses that she created the story and now goes by the name Brigid O’Shaughnessy. In his office, Spade meets Joel Cairo, who first offers him $ 5,000 to find a “black figure of a bird” on behalf of its alleged rightful owner. When Cairo returns, he hires Spade.
The film premiered in New York City on October 3, 1941 and was nominated for three Academy Awards. It was cited by Panorama du Film Noir Américain as the first major film noir. Among the best noir films to see.
Double Indemnity (1944)
Double Indemnity (1944) is a film noir directed by Billy Wilder and starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson. The film is an adaptation of the short story of the same name by James M. Cain.
In 1938, insurance salesman Walter Neff returns to his office in downtown Los Angeles with a gunshot wound to his shoulder and records an admission on a dictaphone. A flashback follows. Neff meets the charming Phyllis Dietrichson during a home visit to advise her husband to restore his vehicle insurance policy. Phyllis asks to acquire an accident insurance plan for her partner.
The delightfully dark and elegant genre of film noir simply would not exist without Double Indemnity. This one really has it all: memories, murders, shadows and cigarettes galore and, of course, a devious femme fatale (Barbara Stanwyck). One of the excellent directors of Hollywood’s golden age, Billy Wilder distinguished himself in a wide range of movie genres, however this hard-boiled gem is his most influential work.
Rome, Open City (1945)
Rome, Open City (1945) is a drama and war film directed by Roberto Rossellini. The film is set during the Nazi occupation of Rome and tells the story of three characters who oppose the regime: Don Pietro, a priest, Manfredi, a worker, and Pina, a young woman.
German SS troops are trying to jail Giorgio Manfredi, Communist engineer and head of the Resistance against Italian Nazis and Fascists. Initially he believes that Giorgio is a policeman, however when he makes it clear that he is a Confederate Giorgio asks him to transfer messages and even cash to a group of Resistance fighters outside the city, as he is now recognized in the Gestapo and cannot do it alone.
Few cinematographic movements can boast the success rate of Italian neorealism, a post-World War II wave engaged in the struggle of the working class that seems to be nothing but masterpieces. Roberto Rossellini was responsible drama movies, including Germany Year Zero and also this drama of repression and resistance, which boasts not one but two of the most extraordinary death scenes in all of cinema.
Bicycle Thieves (1948)
Bicycle Thieves (1948) is an Italian drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica. The film is set in post-war Rome and tells the story of Antonio Ricci, a man who is robbed of his bicycle, an essential tool for his job as a bill poster.
In the post-World War II Roman community of Val Melaina, Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani) is without hope of work to support his wife Maria (Lianella Carell), son Bruno (Enzo Staiola) and the little son. Since the job requires a bicycle, he informs Maria that he cannot buy it.
Maria resolutely removes the sheets of her dowry – precious objects for a poor family – from the bed and takes them to the pawnshop, where they are paid enough money to buy Antonio’s bicycle.
Vittorio de Sica’s neorealist masterpiece is set in a world where owning a bicycle is the key to working, but it could just as easily be set in a world where the absence of a car, or of affordable daycare, or a home, or social security are insurmountable barriers to putting food on the table. This is what makes it both a movie for post-war Italy and for the present day everywhere.
Rashomon (1950)
Rashomon (1950) is a Japanese drama film directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film is set in feudal Japan and tells the story of a murder and rape of a woman, as told from the perspectives of four witnesses: a woodcutter, a monk, a vagrant, and the spirit of the woman.
The story begins in the Heian era in Kyoto. A woodcutter and a priest are seated under the city gate of Rashōmon to stay dry in a downpour when a commoner (Kichijiro Ueda) joins them and they begin to tell an extremely disturbing story regarding a rape and murder. Neither the shepherd nor the woodcutter acknowledges that everyone involved may have provided substantially different accounts of the exact same story.
It is no exaggeration to say that Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon has redefined cinematic storytelling and that it is one of the must-see movies in the history of cinema. With its changing and unreliable narrative structure – in which 4 individuals offer different accounts of a murder – the film is extremely bold and also acts as an indicator of how exactly each one can fool us.
Umberto D. (1952)
Umberto D. is an Italian drama film from 1952, directed by Vittorio De Sica, starring Carlo Battisti as Umberto Domenico Ferrari, a pensioner trying to survive in a post-war Rome.
The film tells the poignant story of an elderly man who tries to cope with the difficulties of everyday life: rent, insufficient pension, social isolation. Umberto D. lives with his faithful dog, Flike, and tries to keep his apartment despite the constant calls from the owner.
Despite his efforts, Umberto D. cannot find a job that allows him to maintain his lifestyle. He tries to sell the valuables, but is forced to abandon the idea due to the too low prices that are offered to him.
Umberto D.’s situation worsens when he is hospitalized for an illness and discovers, on his return, that the owner has decided to evict him. Umberto D. seeks help among his friends, including the young governess Maria, but realizes that no one can help him.
The film ends with Umberto D. who, after trying in vain to find a solution to his problems, decides to leave his apartment and go away with his dog Flike.
Umberto D. is considered one of the masterpieces of Italian neorealism, a cinematographic movement that developed after the Second World War and which was characterized by the realistic representation of daily life and the economic and social difficulties of post-war Italy. The film was appreciated for its delicacy and profound humanity, which made Umberto D. an icon of Italian and world cinema.
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953) is a Japanese drama film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. The film is set in 16th-century Japan and tells three stories of love, death, and ambition.
In the agricultural town of Nakanogō, on the shore of Lake Biwa in the province of Ōmi during the Sengoku period, Genjūrō, a potter, brings his wares to nearby Ōmizo. He is accompanied by his brother-in-law Tobei, who wants to be a samurai.
A revered sage tells Genjūrō’s wife, Miyagi, to warn him of the riots and attacks on the village. Returning with the profits, Miyagi asks him to stop going to town to sell the pots, however Genjūrō works to finish his pottery. That night, Shibata Katsuie’s army wipes out Nakanogō.
Greed, respect for family members, the dignity of sincere work are some of the themes of a masterpiece of Japanese cinema . The film won the Silver Lion at the 1953 Venice Film Festival as well as other awards.
Ugetsu is one of the most famous films of Mizoguchi , considered by critics a work of art of Japanese horror cinema , credited for helping to promote Japanese cinema in the West and influence subsequent Japanese cinema. It is also a esoteric movie that can be read at different levels.
Tokyo Story (1953)
Tokyo Story (東京物語, Tōkyō Monogatari) is a 1953 Japanese drama film directed by Yasujirō Ozu and starring Chishū Ryū and Chieko Higashiyama. It is widely considered one of Ozu’s greatest films and one of the greatest films ever made.
Retired couple Shūkichi and Tomi Hirayama reside in Onomichi, western Japan, with their daughter Kyōko, an elementary school educator. The couple travel to Tokyo to see their son, daughter and widowed daughter-in-law. Their eldest son, Kōichi, is a medical professional who runs a small clinic in suburban Tokyo, as does their eldest daughter, Shige, who runs a hair salon.
Kōichi and Shige are both very busy with work and don’t have much time for their parents. Only their widowed daughter-in-law, Noriko, the wife of their middle son Shōji, who was losing her job and believed to be dead during the Pacific War, goes out of her way to be with them.
The family drama was created with rigor and flawlessly. Chishu Ryu and Chieko Higashiyama are dignified and touching as parents who visit their grandchildren and children, only to be overlooked. Gently interpreted, perfectly captured (usually with the camera a few centimeters from the ground), the work of art by Yasujiro Ozu is a film that offers magnificence and intimacy.
Seven Samurai (1954)
In 1587, an outlaw gang talks about breaking into a mountain village, but their leader decides to wait until after the harvest. The villagers hear this and rely on Gisaku, the town elder and miller, who claims they must hire samurai to protect them.
Since they have no money and can only use food, Gisaku suggests they locate the hungry samurai. A number of villagers travel to the city and eventually also locate Kambei, an elderly but experienced rōnin, who they see rescued a child held hostage by a cornered thief.
A young samurai named Katsushiro asks to become a Kambei devotee. Arthouse film, 207 minutes of great cinema. Toshiro Mifune is superb as the self-styled half-mad samurai, but it’s also Takashi Shimura who gives the film its thrill.
Sansho, the Bailiff (1954)
A virtuous governor is banished by a feudal lord in a distant province. His wife, Tamaki, and his children, Zushiō and Anju, are sent by his brother. Before separating, Zushiō’s father tells him: “Without grace, the male looks like a monster. Even if you are hard on yourself, be merciful to others”.
She invites her boyfriend to remember her words and also offers him a figurine of Kannon, the goddess of mercy. The mother is introduced into the world of prostitution in Sado and the young men are sold by slaveholders on an estate of wealthy people where slaves are brutalized and branded when they try to escape.
The Japanese cinema had the ability to shoot impressive ghost stories (Ugetsu) and behind-the-scenes dramas (The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums), however his greatest trait was a deep and unwavering compassion for women, depressed by patriarchy and torn apart in their suffering. A theme that runs through a large part of the work of Kenji Mizoguchi.
This is one of his masterpieces. These women are the protagonists of Sansho the bailiff, one historical drama of family dissolution that will surely strike you, both from the point of view of the auteur film show, and for the intensity of the story told. Don’t apologize for your emotions.
The Apu Trilogy (1955)
The 3 movies comprise a narrative by a bildungsroman; they are three dramas about initiation and training that tell the years of childhood, education and also the first maturation of a young Bengali named Apu (Apurba Kumar Roy) in the first part of the 20th century.
Song of the Little Road
The first experiences of Apu in Bengal are presented as the son of a high caste family. Apu’s father, Harihar, a Brahmin, struggles to support his family. After the death of Apu’s sister, Durga, the family moves to the divine city of Benares.
The Unvanquished
The financial resources of the family are still scarce. After his father died there, Apu and his mother Sarbajaya also return to a city in Bengal. Despite relentless destitution, Apu gets a formal education and ends up being a brilliant intern. He moves to Calcutta to seek his education and learning. He gradually distances himself from his peasant origins and from his mother who was not well at the time.
The World of Apu
Trying to become an author, Apu suddenly finds himself forced to marry a girl whose mother rejected her mentally ill husband on the day of their wedding celebration. Their marriage ends with her death in childbirth. Desperate Apu abandons his son, but eventually returns to accept his duties.
We’re cheating by including all three movies (Pather Panchali, Aparajito and The World of Apu), but really, how do the installments of Satyajit Ray’s magnificent coming-of-age trilogy separate? Some of the best Indian movies ever made are also fully recognizable, whether you are from Calcutta, Rome or New York.
A Man Escaped (1956)
On the way to the prison, Fontaine, a member of the French Resistance, takes a chance to escape his German captors when the car carrying him is forced to stop, however he is quickly arrested , beaten for his escape attempt, handcuffed and taken to prison.
He is initially incarcerated in a prison cell where he can talk to three French boys who are training in the courtyard. The men get a safety pin for Fontaine, which gives him the ability to unlock his handcuffs.
It is based on the memoirs of André Devigny, a participant in the French Resistance detained in the Montluc prison by the occupying Germans during the Second World War. The protagonist of the film is called Fontaine. Bresson himself was put behind bars by the Germans as a participant in the French Resistance. The second part of the title originates from the Bible.
Unmissable masterpiece film: almost everything made in a prison cell, with only one actor, without sets. Absolute rigor, absolute cinema. The best of Bresson together with Au hasard Balthasar.
The Seventh Seal (1957)
The knight Antonius Block and his squire Jöns return from the Crusades to discover the country ravaged by the plague. The knight meets Death, which he challenges to chess, believing he can survive as long as the game continues. The game they start continues throughout the tale. The knight and his squire pass a caravan of actors: Jof and his wife Mia, with their baby Mikael and also actor-manager Jonas Skat. Waking up early, Jof has a vision of Mary and
Jesus great drama about the death of Ingmar Bergman is not just any film, but it is one of the fundamental films in the history of cinema. It is a work of profound philosophical thought to be seen absolutely at least once. But also 3, 4, 5, 6…
The 400 Blows (1959)
The 400 Blows (1959) is a French drama film directed by François Truffaut. The film stars Jean-Pierre Léaud as Antoine Doinel, a troubled teenager who is sent to a reformatory.
The first ever of an autobiographical collection of five movies, The 400 Shots of Francois Truffaut is the story of Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud), stuck in a miserable family life. Antoine finds solace in wandering, smoking and even stealing with his friends. The greatest cinema reenactment of a troubled childhood.
A drama about the difficulty of becoming an adult to be seen absolutely, exciting, poetic, sincere as rarely happens in cinema. The masterpiece that made the movement of the Nouvelle Vague.
Vertigo (1958)
Vertigo (1958) is a psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film stars James Stewart and Kim Novak.
The film tells the story of Scottie Ferguson, a retired police officer who suffers from acrophobia. Scottie is hired by his friend Gavin Elster to follow his wife Madeleine, who he believes is possessed by the spirit of her ancestor.
Vertigo is a complex and fascinating film that explores the themes of love, loss, and madness. The film is characterized by a haunting and suspenseful atmosphere, and by Hitchcock’s masterful direction.
A Freudian mental upheaval that is usually considered to be the masterpiece of Alfred Hitchcock, Vertigo lives in an existential and suspenseful world. Changing through Edith Head’s costumes, Kim Novak finds herself in two roles: Madeleine Elster and Judy Barton, both wishes for James Stewart’s ex-cop. To conclude this brilliant psychological thriller there is the music of Bernard Herrmann, which turns into an imposing ending.
La Dolce Vita (1960)
La Dolce Vita (1960) is an Italian satirical drama film directed and co-written by Federico Fellini. The film stars Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, and Anouk Aimée.
The film tells the story of Marcello Rubini, a scandal journalist living in Rome. Marcello is a cynical and disillusioned man, who tries to find meaning in his life in a world that seems empty and artificial to him.
La Dolce Vita is a complex and fascinating film that explores the themes of emptiness, superficiality, and the loss of values. The film is characterized by a decadent and decadent atmosphere, and by Fellini’s masterful direction.
Paradoxically, the film’s portrayal of this environment as a corrosive hedonism to the soul is astonishing. Because Fellini movies everything with such cinematic verve and wit that it is often difficult not to get caught up in the delusional events on the screen. Much of how we see stardom still dates back to this movie; he even offered us the word paparazzi. Definitely, The Sweet Life is one of those movies that change your life.
The Adventure (1960)
L’avventura (1960) is an Italian drama film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. The film stars Monica Vitti, Gabriele Ferzetti, and Lea Massari.
The film tells the story of a group of friends who go on vacation to Sicily. During a boat trip, one of the girls, Anna (Lea Massari), mysteriously disappears.
L’avventura is a complex and fascinating film that explores the themes of incommunicability, alienation, and the search for meaning. The film is characterized by a suspended and dreamlike atmosphere, and by Antonioni’s masterful direction.
Born from a story by Antonioni written with co-screenwriters Elio Bartolini and Tonino Guerra, a arthouse film about the disappearance of a girl (Lea Massari) during a boat trip in the Mediterranean, and also about the subsequent betrayal of her lover (Gabriele Ferzetti) with her friend (Monica Vitti).
It was shot in Rome, the Aeolian Islands and also in Sicily in 1959 in difficult economic and physical conditions. A masterpiece to see to understand the essence of Antonioni’s cinema and its impact on all other filmmakers.
Breathless (1960)
Michel is a lively criminal who loves the risk that is modeled on the film character of Humphrey Bogart. After stealing a car and a truck in Marseille, Michel eliminates a policeman who tries to stalk him. Afflicted by poverty and on the run from the police, he finds a love affair with an American, Patricia, a student and aspiring journalist, who sells the New York Herald Tribune on the boulevards of Paris. Patricia hides him unaware in her apartment while he tries to seduce her and looks for money for their escape to Italy.
Film critic Jean-Luc Godard’s seismic directorial debut could be called a drama movie with influences of gangster movie and romance, but it is actually a work that escapes any genre: it is a avant-garde film revolutionaryIt features cubist cuts, agitated hand-held shots, location shots, quirky pacing, as well as unexpected digressions about painting, verse, pop society, literature, and even film. An attractive adventure between the little thief Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg turns into a strangely touching existential reflection. It is a pulp fiction, but alchemically profound.
Psycho (1960)
Psycho (1960) is an American psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin, and Martin Balsam. It was based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. The film is known for its innovative editing, music, and cinematography, as well as its iconic shower scene, which has been widely imitated and parodied.
The film tells the story of Marion Crane, a young woman who embezzles $40,000 from her employer and drives off to start a new life. She stops at the Bates Motel, which is run by the disturbed Norman Bates. Marion is murdered in the shower by Norman’s mother, who sees her as a threat to her son’s happiness.
Alfred Hitchcock wanted to shoot his next film after Psycho at Disneyland, but still Walt Disney refused, calling Psycho “revolting”. Psycho is credited by some as one of the earliest examples of slasher films, however, while it certainly had an impact on the slasher subgenre, it is actually among the best psychological horror films of all time.
Anthony Perkins plays Norman Bates, a motel manager whose friendly nature hides a sick mind. Perkins’ ability to credibly expose Norman’s disturbed mind layer by layer is among the fantastic achievements of horror cinema , along with Hitchcock’s style. Psycho is one of those psychological horror films to watch absolutely once in a lifetime.
The Virgin Spring (1960)
The Virgin Spring is a 1960 Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman. It is based on the medieval Swedish ballad “Töre’s döttrar i Wänge”.
The story is set in medieval Sweden and tells the story of a young girl named Karin who is raped and murdered by three shepherds. The shepherds, unaware of what they have done, take refuge in the house of Karin’s father. The father, Tore, seeks revenge and kills the shepherds.
The film is an exploration of the themes of guilt, forgiveness, and faith. Bergman uses the story to explore the nature of humanity and the existential questions that we all ask ourselves.
The film was a critical and commercial success and won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1961.
The Virgin Spring is a complex and symbolic film. Bergman uses the story to explore the nature of humanity and the existential questions that we all ask ourselves.
One of the main themes of the film is guilt. Karin is an innocent girl who is raped and murdered. The shepherds, on the other hand, are guilty of her murder. However, Bergman does not present the shepherds as simply evil. They are simple men who have made a terrible mistake. They are also men who suffer for what they have done.
Another major theme of the film is forgiveness. Tore, Karin’s father, is consumed by anger and a desire for revenge. He wants to kill the shepherds who killed his daughter. However, in the end, Tore decides to forgive the shepherds. This gesture of forgiveness is difficult, but it is also a gesture of love and compassion.
Accattone (1961)
Vittorio (Franco Citti), nicknamed “Accattone”, leads a life of a slacker until his prostitute, Maddalena, is exploited by her rivals and sentenced. Without a steady income, he first tries to settle down with his son’s mother, but is chased away by his parents; after which he runs into the naive Stella and tries to induce her to prostitute herself for him.
She is willing to try, but when her first client starts beating her, she cries and even gets out of the car. Accattone tries to support her, but gives up after, in addition to having an unusual vision of his own death, he goes stealing with his friends.
Regardless of whether it was filmed from a screenplay, Accattone is usually perceived as a film version of Pasolini’s early tales, especially Ragazzi di vita and also Una vita violenta. It was Pasolini’s first film as a director, and he uses faces that would surely later be seen as attributes of the Pasolini brand: non-professional actors from the place where the film is set, it is one of the great cinematic masterpieces to be absolutely seen on individuals affected by poverty.
The Night (1961)
“The Night” is a 1961 film directed by the Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni. It is part of the director’s famous “solitude trilogy”, together with “The Adventure” and “The Eclipse”. The film is a significant example of Italian auteur cinema and has had a lasting impact on the history of cinema.
The plot of “The Night” follows a day in the life of a Roman intellectual, Giovanni Pontano (played by Marcello Mastroianni), and his wife Lidia (played by Jeanne Moreau), during an evening where they attend an elegant party and then confront the problems in their relationship. The film explores themes of alienation, existential dissatisfaction and the difficulty of communication between people.
“The Night” is known for its distinctive visual style, with long takes and precise framing that capture the solitude of the characters and the surreal atmosphere of urban scenes. Antonioni often uses the urban landscape as a central element of his works, conveying a sense of disconnection between individuals and the city.
The film was praised by critics for its profound psychological analysis of the characters and its subtle yet powerful reflection on the human condition. “The Night” is a complex and immersive cinematic work that continues to be appreciated for its fine cinematography and cultural impact. If you are interested in auteur cinema, this film is definitely a must-have choice.
The Eclipse (1962)
“The Eclipse” is a film directed by the Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni, released in 1962. As I mentioned before, “L’eclisse” is part of Antonioni’s famous “trilogy of solitude”, together with “L’avventura” and “La notte”. The film is considered one of the masterpieces of Italian auteur cinema and received critical praise for its innovative vision and unique cinematic style.
The plot of “L’eclisse” follows the story of a young woman, Vittoria (played by Monica Vitti), who is in a phase of emotional transition after the end of a relationship. During the course of the film, Vittoria meets an ambitious young man named Piero (played by Alain Delon), and an ambiguous relationship develops between the two. The film explores themes of alienation, isolation and dissatisfaction with modern life.
Antonioni uses his distinctive visual style, with long takes and precise framing, to create an atmosphere of uncertainty and emotional bleakness. The director examines the difficulty of communication between people and the existential emptiness in their relationships. “The Eclipse” is also known for its iconic conclusion, in which a scene of love transforms into a scene of abandonment and loss.
The Exterminating Angel (1962)
During a formal dinner at the extravagant manor of Señor Edmundo Nóbile and his better half Lucía, the servants inexplicably leave their jobs until only the butler remains. After dinner, visitors meet in the lounge where one of the ladies, Blanca, plays a piano. Later, when they are normally expected to return home, guests strangely take off their coats, loosen their clothes, and settle for sleeping on sofas, chairs, and the floor.
Guests consume what little food and drink left over from the previous night’s party. Only Dr. Carlos Conde, applying logic and reason, manages to keep calm and guide guests through the ordeal. A guest, Elder Sergio Russell, dies and his body is placed in a large closet.
The Exterminating Angel is rated in the New York Times top 1,000 movies, and was adapted into a work in 2016. Must-see movie, one of the pinnacles of surrealist cinema.
Carnival of Souls (1962)
Carnival of Souls (1962) is an American psychological horror film produced and directed by Herk Harvey and written by John Clifford from a story by Clifford and Harvey, and starring Candace Hilligoss.
Carnival of Souls is a film that follows the trail of Night of the Hunter: creatively genuine, by a novice director, but mostly forgotten in its initial launch until its rediscovery years after it turned it into a real cult movie . That said, it’s not the Night of the Hunter artwork, but it’s a disturbing and extraordinary little story of evil spirits, regrets, and restless spirits.
The plot tells of a woman (Candace Hilligoss) on the run from her past who is haunted by visions of a pale-faced man, beautifully filmed and played by the director Herk Harvey . Carnival of Souls is a classic ghost horror movies, made on a budget limited, and has even been referred to as a dream cult by directors as David Lynch.
8½ (1963)
Guido Anselmi, a well-known Italian film director, is grappling with the “director’s block”. Stuck in his brand new science fiction movie that includes veiled autobiographical references, he actually lost interest in life, amid marital and artistic issues. While trying to recover from his anxieties at the Chianciano spa, Guido contacts a famous film critic to evaluate the ideas for his movie, but the critic tears them apart.
Guido has recurring visions of a woman he considers crucial to his story. His mistress Carla plans to visit him, but Guido puts her in a separate hotel. The movie’s production team moves to Guido’s hotel in an unsuccessful attempt to get him to work on the film. Guido confesses to his wife’s best friend, Rosella, that he wanted to make a film that was pure as well as sincere: he is fighting for something honest to say.
After the success of La Dolce Vita, Fellini has recovered from a creative impasse with this autobiographical masterpiece about a director living in a creative block. Taking its title from the number of films that Fellini had actually finished up to this point (including a few short segments for anthology films), Otto e mezzo features Guido besieged by flatterers and collaborators as he struggles to get the start of a cumbersome science fiction movie.
A cult film by directors from all over the world, Fellini’s film has been cited and imitated in numerous subsequent movies. Movies to watch at least once before you die to understand the highest peaks of cinema.
The Birds (1963)
The Birds (1963) is an American psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, and Jessica Tandy. The film is based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier published in 1952.
The film tells the story of Melanie Daniels, a wealthy and sophisticated woman who follows a young bird expert, Mitch Brenner, to a small town in California. When Melanie gets close to Mitch, the birds in the town begin to attack humans in an unexplained way.
One of the masterpieces among horror films based on true stories, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, The Birds centers on a small California town terrified by a giant flock of aggressive birds. It’s based on the short story by Daphne Du Maurier but the film is also based on a true story, when residents of Capitola, California, woke up to a scene straight out of a horror movie. It was a complete mystery at the time, but scientists now believe that domoic acid and its neurotoxins were the cause of the birds’ bizarre behavior.
I Mostri (1963)
I mostri is among the highest peaks of Italian comedy films, and was shot in 1963 by director Dino Risi. The film was a notable success in Italy and was among the highest grossing of the year. He was censored in Spain for vulgar and embarrassing situations.
Almost unknown outside Italy, it was only released in 1968 in the United States and in 1977 a sequel was shot, absolutely not up to the first, which was even nominated for an Oscar, entitled The new monsters.
The main protagonists are Ugo Tognazzi and Vittorio Gassman are the main performers with characters who become a symbol of the vices of most Italians in the Sixties, in a long gallery of 20 hilarious episodes.
Undoubtedly the funny characters and circumstances are staged in a way that touches the extreme limits of satire. The satire of the episodes hits characters of all kinds and social classes, politicians and policemen who abuse their power and the middle classes.
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) is a French drama film directed by Robert Bresson and starring Michel Simon, Anne Wiazemsky, and François Lafarge. The film is set in France and tells the story of a donkey, Balthazar, who passes from hand to hand, experiencing the cruelty and kindness of humanity.
In the French countryside near the Pyrenees, a donkey is adopted by small children: Jacques and his sisters, who live on a farm. When one of Jacques’ sisters dies, his family leaves the farm and Marie’s family takes over the donkey. Marie’s father gets involved in legal disputes over the farm with Jacques’s father and the donkey is relegated to a local bakery for delivery jobs.
Inspired by Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Idiot of 1868-69, the movie tells of a donkey passing through several owners, many of whom treat it violently. Remembered for the rigorous style of the direction of Robert Bresson is also considered a work of great emotional impact, often described as one of the greatest films of all time. One of those movies that can change your life and give you greater awareness.
Persona (1966)
Alma is a young registered nurse hired by a doctor to care for actress Elisabet Vogler. Alma reads her a letter from Elisabet’s husband who has a photo of their baby, and the actress tears up the photo. The doctor speculates that Elisabet can recover better in a small house by the sea, and he also sends her there with Alma.
At the cottage, Alma informs Elisabet that no one has ever paid attention to her before. Alma tells the story of how, while already in a relationship with Karl-Henrik, he sunbathed naked with Katarina, a woman he had met.
Ingmar Bergman has the power of turning mere movie followers into delusional drug addicts; Persona is a movie you can’t miss, one psychodrama double-sided that somehow seems to have been shot last weekend with two of best friends (Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann).
For its intimacy and economy alone, the movie feels like a preview of the difficult years to come. Bergman, recovering from severe pneumonia, composed the script in the health center, struggling with a crisis that he sublimated into art of the highest level.
Andrei Rublev
Andrei Rublev is a historical drama divided into eight episodes, with a beginning and an ending that relate only vaguely to the main film. The main film traces the life of the great symbol painter through 7 episodes that are parallel to his life or represent anecdotal transitions in his life. The era is 15th-century Russia, a rough time setting identified by the fighting between rival princes and Tartar intrusions.
The epic portrait of Soviet director Andrei Tarkovsky from the time of the most famous Russian medieval painters highlights such qualities as landscape, mood and characters. It is the story of one man’s effort to overcome his dilemma of faith in a world that seems to have an endless supply of physical violence and quarrels, and is also an extraordinary testimony to the perseverance of artists working in oppressive societies. One of the highest peaks in the arthouse cinema, great film on a figurative level: images that leave you breathless.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
In a prehistoric era, a hominid people are pushed back from their waterhole by a rival tribe. The next day, they discover that an alien monolith has appeared among them; it helps them understand exactly how to use a bone as a weapon and to chase away their opponents.
Millions of years later, Dr. Heywood Floyd, President of the US National Council of Astronautics, takes a trip to Clavius Base, a US lunar outpost. His goal is to inspect a recently located artifact, a similar monolith buried four million years earlier near the Tycho lunar crater. He and others travel on a Moonbus to the monolith. 2001: A Space Odyssey is a story of technological development and related disaster steeped in humanity, in all its glory, weakness, nervousness and mad aspiration.
The science fiction film in most important and most stunningA stoned target market, stunned by its Star Gate sequence and the introduction of psychedelic visuals, immediately established it as one of the greatest films in cinematic history. The frightening vision of the future of Kubrick – AI and all – still looks prophetic after more than 50 years. A film that you absolutely must see if you love the art of moving images: visual and sound ecstasy.
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) is an Italian Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, Henry Fonda, and Jason Robards. The film is set in the American West of the 19th century and tells the story of a mysterious gunfighter, Harmonica, who arrives in a small town to avenge the murder of his family.
A man named “Harmonica” seeks revenge against the criminal Frank. Second, Frank works as a killer for the railroad tycoon, Morton, who is looking to acquire certain lands owned by the Brett McBain family. The dusters they put on make them think they’re the Cheyenne boys. Frank leaves evidence to blame Cheyenne for the murders.
Masterpiece of spaghetti western is set in a civilized America, although filmed mainly in Rome as well as Spain. The movie takes place in an abstract frontier of old versus new, of life’s heroes who vanish in memory. It is a triumph of a vanished world and an impressive cinema. Henry Fonda’s cold gaze, Ennio Morricone’s guitars and the huge Charles Bronson as the ultimate gunslinger are just three factors out of a million precious things.
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
As an agnostic, Roman Polanski has intentionally woven a thread of uncertainty in his adaptation of the book. That uncertainty increases the element of Rosemary’s Baby’s psychological horror.
When a young couple, Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and Guy (John Cassavetes), move into a New York home and befriend an elderly couple, their lives begin to take different paths.
The profession of man is evolving, and in the meantime Rosemary imagines dark scenarios. Rosemary’s growing fear could be due to a mental disorder or it could be due to something sinister happening inside the apartment.
Rosemary’s Baby is a horror masterpiece that has ended up being one of the milestones of the genre.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Night of the Living Dead is a 1968 apocalyptic movie and horror made on a low budget by George A. Romero and a group of his friends. In the film the protagonists Barbra (played by Judith O’Dea) and Johnny (Russell W. Streiner) are viewing their dad’s grave in a Pennsylvania country cemetery when an unknown person there hits. During the fight, Johnny is killed, but Barbra manages to escape. He seeks refuge on a farm, where he finds the owner’s half-eaten corpse. Terrified, she runs into an army of the undead.
The horror movie that becomes a real calling card for its director, George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead begins with a single zombie in a graveyard and develops into an army of the undead attacking a house private. Many contemporary scary clichés start with this indie movie. However, absolutely nothing surpasses it in style, biting wit, racial criticism, politics, and fear.
Block Notes di un regista (1969)
Block Notes of a Director is a 1969 documentary film directed by Federico Fellini. The film was shot in Cinecittà and follows Fellini as he works on his film Satyricon. The film is a mix of interviews, backstage scenes and moments of daily life in Cinecittà.
Fellini talks about his creative process and his vision of cinema. He also talks about his relationship with his actors and his passion for cinema. The film is an intimate portrait of Fellini as an artist and as a man.
Block Notes of a Director is an important film in Fellini’s career. It is one of the first films in which Fellini let himself go to the more personal and autobiographical side of him. The film was a critical and commercial success and helped consolidate Fellini’s reputation as one of the greatest directors of the 20th century.
Here are some of the things Fellini says in the film:
“Cinema is a dream. It’s a way to escape from reality. It’s a way to explore our fears and desires.”
“Actors are my tools. They help me bring my stories to life.”
“Cinema is a game. It’s a way to have fun. It’s a way to communicate with people.”
Block Notes of a Director is a grandiose avant-garde film that talks about cinema, but it is also a film that talks about life and deeply excites. It is a masterpiece of experimental cinema that makes us reflect on the nature of cinema and the nature of life. It is a film that makes us dream and entertains us. It is a film that makes us think.
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is a 1970 film directed by the master of the Italian Giallo movie Dario Argento, in his directorial debut. The film is the first of the Italian thriller genre that inaugurated a long period of success in the category. Upon its release, the film was very successful at the box office with receipts of 1,650,000,000 Italian lire. It was also a success outside Italy.
Sam Dalmas is an American author on vacation in Rome with his English girlfriend, Julia, who is experiencing writer’s block and is on the verge of returning to America, however he witnesses the assault of a lady in an art gallery by a strange fellow in black gloves wearing a raincoat. Trying to reach him, Sam is trapped between 2 mechanically operated glass doors and can simply watch the man escape.
The lady, Monica Ranieri, was attacked and the police seized Sam’s passport to prevent him from leaving the country. The assailant is thought to be a serial killer who is killing girls across town and Sam is a crucial witness.
Clockwork Orange (1971)
A Clockwork Orange (1971) is a dystopian science fiction film directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Adrienne Corri, Michael Bates, and Warren Clark. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Anthony Burgess published in 1962.
The 4 thugs protagonists of the movie break into a cottage, beating up an old writer and also raping his wife, who later dies. When a robbery attempt goes wrong and Alex kills an elderly woman with a huge marble phallus, he is sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Immersed in an England dystopian, is the first-person account of a juvenile delinquent undergoing state-sponsored emotional rehabilitation. Cinematic masterpiece, movie to watch and review. One of those movie that changes your life, incredible satire on extreme political systems that are based on opposite versions of human perfectibility.
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather (1972) is an epic gangster film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte, and Diane Keaton. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Mario Puzo published in 1969.
From the essays of Goodfellas to The Sopranos, all the empires of criminal activity that followed The Godfather are sons of the Corleones: Francis Ford Coppola’s magnum opera is one of the seminal masterpieces of the mafia category. A significant opening line (“I Believe in America”) sets Mario Puzo’s drama in motion, before Coppola’s epic turns into a chilling tale that destroys the American dream.
The story steeped in corruption tells of a family of immigrants grappling with the paradoxical values of power and religion; those moral oppositions crystallize in an epic series of baptisms, beautifully curated in parallel with the killing of four people of power among the clans. With countless legendary details – the severed head of a horse, the panting voice of Marlon Brando, the memorable waltz of Nino Rota – the authority of the Godfather lives on in time.
Roma (1972)
Federico Fellini tells about his youth in Rome. The movie opens with a rowdy and picturesque crowd welcoming the young man who gets off a train at Termini station. Sequences follow that show Rome during the fascist regime in the 1930s and 1970s.
A young Fellini (Gonzales) moves into a huge Roman apartment inhabited by grotesque people (including a Benito Mussolini double) and also run by an obese woman. He visits 2 brothels – one run down and overcrowded and the other more luxurious and elegant – and apparently also loves a prostitute who works in the latter. Then there is a cheap vaudeville theater, streets, tunnels, as well as an ancient catacomb with frescoes that are destroyed by the fresh air soon after the excavators discover it.
It is a tribute to the city, shown in a series of loosely connected episodes set in both the present and the past of Rome. The plot is very small, and the only “character” to assert itself considerably is Rome itself. Peter Gonzales plays the young Fellini and the movie includes many non-professional actors.
Movie to watch for the unique, anti-narrative style, in blocks of autonomous sequences. Visionary, psychedelic, delusional. Each sequence is a masterpiece, a film within a film. Each shot, even those that last only two seconds, is a painting worthy of a prestigious one art gallery. One of the great visual journeys of the 20th century.
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)
Petra von Kant (Carstensen) is a famous fashion designer based in Bremen. The movie is almost completely shot in the bedroom of his apartment, decorated with a significant recreation of Poussin’s Midas and also of Bacchus (c.1630), depicting naked and partially clothed women and men. The room also contains various life-sized mannequins for his work.
Petra’s marital relationships ended in death or separation. Her first spouse Pierre was a great love, who died in a car accident while Petra was pregnant; the 2nd started the same way, but ended badly. Petra lives with Marlene, another designer, whom she treats like a slave, and this relationship reveals Petra’s kinky tendencies.
This drama is probably his most acute and psychologically complex; unquestionably, he is his most asshole. There is so much to love about Fassbinder’s showdown, that it goes beyond the spectacle of two dueling fashionistas, into a deep exploration of aging and obsolescence.
Solaris (1972)
Solaris is a science fiction film from 1972, directed by the Soviet filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky. The film is based on the 1961 science fiction novel written by Polish author Stanisław Lem. It is considered one of the masterpieces of Soviet cinema and one of the greatest science fiction films ever made.
Plot
The plot of “Solaris” revolves around Dr. Kris Kelvin, played by Donatas Banionis, a cosmonaut and psychologist sent to a space station in orbit around the alien planet Solaris. The space station is populated only by a few scientists and seems to be involved in strange phenomena.
Solaris is a planet covered by an intelligent, vast ocean that appears to be capable of materializing the fears, hopes, and memories of the crew members in the form of physical manifestations.
Review
The film explores philosophical and psychological themes, focusing on isolation, loneliness, love, memory, and the nature of reality. “Solaris” is a slow and contemplative work, characterized by long takes, evocative scenes, and stunning cinematography. Tarkovsky’s direction emphasizes the surreal and dreamlike atmosphere of the alien planet, while the actors deliver engaging performances that capture the emotional intensity of the story.
Amarcord (1973)
Amarcord (1973) is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Federico Fellini and starring Bruno Zanin, Pupella Maggio, Magali Noël, Armando Brancia, and Enzo Fazioli. The film is set in Fellini’s hometown of Rimini, Italy, in the 1930s, and tells the story of Titta, a young boy growing up in a small town during a time of political and social upheaval.
Amarcord is considered one of Fellini’s most personal and autobiographical films. It is a celebration of childhood, memory, and the beauty of cinema. The film is full of humor, pathos, and nostalgia, and it is a must-see for any fan of Fellini’s work.
The title of the movie is a univerbation of the Romagna expression a m ‘arcôrd (“I keep in mind”). Titta’s character is undoubtedly based on Fellini’s youth companion from Rimini, Luigi Titta Benzi. Benzi ended up being a lawyer and continued to be in close contact with Fellini throughout his life. A masterpiece full of humanity and poetry, it is a must-see film for everyone, even for those who do not fully understand Fellini’s most complex films.
The Exorcist (1973)
In northern Iraq, Catholic priest Lankester Merrin participates in a historical excavation where he discovers a medallion of St. Joseph and an artifact representing Pazuzu, a demon. As Merrin prepares to leave Iraq, he finds a large sculpture of Pazuzu and also observes 2 pets fighting in the desert.
In Georgetown, actress Chris MacNeil works on a film directed by her friend Burke Dennings. Georgetown priest Damien Karras visits his mother in New York. Chris hears noises in the attic and Regan tells her about an imaginary friend named “Captain Howdy”.
There’s a reason why viewers were walking away from the cinema on stretchers when William Friedkin unleashed his cinematic hell on humanity, and that’s the same reason we become shaking shadows after. spending some time with Regan – you just can’t miss it. Masterpiece film and one of the scariest horror movies ever.
Phantom of Paradise (1974)
The story follows songwriter Winslow Leach, seen by the hellish record producer Swan during his performance in support of the nostalgic 1950s-style band The Juicy Fruits, created by Swan. Swan thinks Winslow’s songs are the best to open “The Paradise” – Swan’s highly anticipated new auditorium – and orders his right-hand man Arnold Philbin to acquire the rights to Leach’s songs.
A month later Winslow goes to Swan’s Death Records to inquire about his music, but is thrown out. He sneaks into Swan’s mansion and watches as women practice his songs for an audition. One is Phoenix, an aspiring singer, whom Winslow considers ideal for his songs. Winslow falls in love with Phoenix. Winslow discovers Swan’s plan to open Heaven with his songs, sneaks into Swan Records, but Swan orders his minions to beat Winslow and frame him for drug dealing.
cult horror movie, a must see for its madness and the innovation that Brian De Palma has brought into the language of cinema. One of the milestones of the Italian-American director’s career.
Jaws (1975)
In the seaside town of Amity Island, New England, a girl, Chrissie Watkins, dives into the sea. While swimming, she is attacked by a large fish. The following day, his remains are found on the beach. According to the doctor, the death was due to a shark attack. Police chief Martin Brody is persuaded to close the coasts.
Mayor Larry Vaughn convinces him to reverse his choice, fearing the city’s tourism business will be destroyed. The medical examiner tentatively accepts the mayor’s theory that Chrissie was killed in a boating accident. Brody reluctantly accepts their decision until the shark kills a young boy, Alex Kintner, off a crowded beach.
Steven Spielberg‘s relentless success requires no political foresight to remain relevant – it’s a movie about a big shark that consumes people. Thanks in large part to the movie itself, this is an illogical anxiety that audiences never let go. Whenever an inept state official appears it’s hard not to think of Mayor Vaughn in his silly printed jumpsuit telling the people of Amity Island it’s safe to get back in the water. What makes The Shark a must-see is that sharks are terrifying, but greed and incompetence are far more fearsome.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
This asylum movies and madness is based on the 1962 book of the same name by Ken Kesey, and among only 3 films in Hollywood history to win all 5 major Oscars for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actress and Actor. The Cuckoo’s Nest is based on a book by Ken Kesey that uses psychiatric abuse as a metaphor for the ruthlessness of the state.
In the fall of 1963, Randle McMurphy is found on an Oregon farm for the rape of a 15-year-old woman. He pretends to be psychologically unstable in order to be transferred to a psychiatric institution and avoid forced labor. The ward is controlled by head nurse Mildred Ratched, a cold passive-aggressive autocrat who scares her clients.
Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Brussels (1975)
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) is a drama film directed by Chantal Akerman. The film tells the story of Jeanne Dielman, a Belgian widow who lives with her teenage son in a small apartment in Brussels. Jeanne is a neat and methodical woman who takes care of her son and earns a living as a prostitute.
This is not just a arthouse films, but a window on a universal condition, represented in a structuralist style. Bringing us into the routine, Akerman and actress Delphine Seyrig create an extraordinary sense of sympathy rarely matched by other movies. Jeanne Dielman represents a total commitment to a woman’s life, hour by hour, minute by minute.
Taxi Driver (1976)
Travis Bickle is a 26 year old Vietnam War veteran struggling with psychic trauma. He lives alone in New York City. Travis takes a job as a night shift taxi driver to manage his persistent insomnia and isolation. She often visits porn theaters on 42nd Street and also keeps a journal in which she consciously tries to write down her thoughts. He rebels against the criminal activity and the degeneration of the city he witnesses, as well as fantasizing about cleaning the streets of crime.
A trip to a vanished New York and a portrait of a twisted man, Taxi Driver is at the height of the arthouse films that have characterized the New Hollywood of the 70s. Martin Scorsese’s vision is charged with a restless atmosphere, suspended between drama and noir, and even the screenplay of Paul Schrader’s movie probes the depths of the human soul that were given by the memorable interpretation of Robert De Niro.
That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)
A sometimes terrible and even useless love between Mathieu (Fernando Rey), a rich middle-aged Frenchman, and a young and poor flamenco dancer from Seville, Conchita, played by Carole Bouquet and also Ángela Molina. The two actresses each appear unexpectedly in separate scenes and vary not only physically, but also temperamentally.
Most of the movie is a flashback remembered by Mathieu. The film opens with Mathieu passing by train from Seville to Paris. He is trying to distance himself from his young girlfriend Conchita. As Mathieu’s train prepares to leave, he discovers that Conchita is chasing him. From the train he throws water over her head, humiliating her. She believes this will hinder her, but she insists and gets on board.
Based on the 1898 novel The Woman and the Puppet by Pierre Louÿs. It was the last effort to direct Luis Buñuel before his death in July 1983. Set in Spain and France against the backdrop of a terrorist uprising, the movie tells with surrealist style the story through a series of flashbacks by an elderly Frenchman, Mathieu (played by Fernando Rey), who tells the falling in love of a beautiful young Spanish woman, Conchita (played interchangeably by two actresses, Carole Bouquet and Ángela Molina) , who repeatedly frustrates her sexual and romantic desires.
Apocalipse Now (1979)
During the Vietnam War, US Army Special Forces Colonel Walter E. Kurtz has gone insane and is waging ruthless guerilla warfare against NVA and PLAF pressures without consent of its commanders. At an outpost in Cambodia, he commands American troops who see him as a demigod. The burned MACV-SOG agent, Captain Benjamin L. Willard, is mobilized at the I Field Force headquarters in Nha Trang.
His mission is “to end Kurtz’s command. The Vietnam War is relentless as Martin Sheen attempts to eliminate renegade Colonel Marlon Brando. Along the way, there are searches, a fantastic helicopter raid, the smell of napalm, tigers. and Playboy bunnies, until Sheen gets off the boat.
Alien (1979)
The spaceship Nostromo is returning to Earth with a team of seven in tension: Captain Dallas, Executive Officer Kane, Warrant Officer Ripley, Navigator Lambert, science officer Ash, designers Parker and even Brett. By detecting a transmission from a nearby moon, the ship’s computer, the Mother, puts the personnel on edge. Ripley discovers the contents of the transmission, identifying it as a warning, but cannot communicate the information to those on the abandoned ship.
If all Alien did was introduce a franchise business focused on Sigourney Weaver’s survivor, Ridley Scott’s standard of claustrophobic sci-fi horror would still be cemented into the film canon. Yet Alien turns into a subversive work of art. Special effects and HR Giger’s double-jawed creature, a horrifying sight, is one of the most extraordinary pieces of pure craftsmanship in cinema. One of the unmissable movies of science fiction cinema.
Fanny and Alexander (1982)
Fanny and Alexander (original title: “Fanny och Alexander”) is a 1982 film written and directed by the famous Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. It is one of Bergman’s best known and most acclaimed works and is considered one of his masterpieces.
The film is set in early 20th century Sweden and tells the story of two siblings, Fanny and Alexander, who belong to a family of actors and live in a theatrical environment. The plot develops around the life experiences of the two boys, who go through moments of joy and happiness, but also periods of sadness and difficulty.
Fanny and Alexander’s family is made up of complex and multifaceted characters, including Fanny and Alexander’s stepfather, the cruel and manipulative bishop Vergérus, played by Jan Malmsjö, who represents a dark and authoritarian figure in the boys’ lives.
The film explores profound and universal themes such as childhood, family, love, spirituality, death and the magical and surreal dimension of life. Bergman employs an extraordinarily rich and engaging visual and narrative aesthetic, with an eye for scenic detail and intense dialogue.
“Fanny and Alexander” was a great international success, winning four Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film. The film also garnered critical and commercial admiration, consolidating Ingmar Bergman’s prestige as one of the most influential directors in the history of cinema.
It is important to note that there are different versions of ‘Fanny and Alexander’, including a shorter film version and a longer television version. Both versions offer a valuable cinematic experience, but the television version is particularly complete and allows you to immerse yourself even more deeply in the richness of the story and the characters.
Blade Runner (1982)
In November 2019 in Los Angeles, former police officer Rick Deckard is detained by Officer Gaff and taken by his former manager, Bryant. Deckard, whose job as a “blade runner” was to track down bioengineered humanoids and “retire” them in a terminal fashion, is informed that 4 replicants are illegally found on Earth. The two watch a video of a blade runner named Holden performing the Voight-Kampff test, which is done to differentiate replicants from humans based on their actions.
Ridley Scott’s vision of a dystopian future is just one of the most elegant science fiction movie ever. With a noir-inspired visual and also a haunting soundtrack by Vangelis (a huge influence on Prince), Blade Runner is iconic not only for its era-defining look, but also for its deeper philosophical reflection of it. indicating human being.
Many have actually tried to mimic the movie’s stunning setting, however these rain-soaked streets and bleak views present something unique.
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Once Upon a Time in America (1984) is an epic gangster film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Joe Pesci, and Diane Keaton. The film is based on the 1952 autobiographical novel of the same name by Harry Grey (The Hoods in English).
Once Upon a Time in America is considered one of the greatest films of all time. The film has been praised for its direction, screenplay, cinematography, performances, and soundtrack.
Maybe more. First, Leone’s movie is 4 hours long. It’s not often shown in its original form, and even the film’s producers themselves thought it was too long for people to watch in full.
The original version of Leone for the film was two 180-minute movie that would be shown on consecutive days. After the initial release, the director plans to change the two parts to a single version of four hours and 29 minutes. A movie to watch about virile friendship and the passage of time, to enter the dimension of myth, typical of Sergio Leone’s films.
Stand By Me (1986)
Author Gordie Lachance reads a news article about a fatal stabbing. Remember a youth event when he, his friend, Chris Chambers, and 2 other friends, Teddy Duchamp and Vern Tessio, traveled to discover the body of a missing boy near the Castle Rock, Oregon community over Labor weekend. Day in September 1959.
For many people born in the 70s or 60s Stand By Me is the cult film of the 80s which brought together cinephiles and ordinary spectators. It is certainly among the best films of the 1980s. The film has a beauty and depth that seems to resonate with each generation. An intense and engaging feeling of youthful nostalgia that becomes a profound reflection on the meaning of human life.
Stand by me is an ageless masterpiece film with a following of loyal fans who celebrate it every year, a staple of the memories of the youngest for the initiatory passage between the years of childhood and adulthood, an uncommon film that always improves with the passage of time.
They Live (1988)
“They Live” is a horror film from the 1980s by John Carpenter. The film is set in a dystopian Los Angeles, where aliens have assumed the form of humans and secretly control society.
The protagonist of the film is Nada, an unemployed man who finds himself living on the streets. One day, Nada finds a pair of black sunglasses that allow him to see reality for what it really is: the aliens are actually monstrous creatures that control people’s minds through subliminal messages transmitted by television and advertising.
Stunned by this revelation, Nada embarks on a relentless struggle to free humanity from the control of the aliens. One of the cult of alien movies .
Goodfellas (1990)
Goodfellas is a 1990 American biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Scorsese and Nicholas Pileggi, based on the book Wiseguy by Pileggi, which chronicles the life of mobster Henry Hill.
Plot
The film tells the story of Hill, a young Italian American who grows up in Brooklyn in the 1950s. Hill is fascinated by the world of organized crime, and he begins working for Paulie Cicero, a local mob boss. Hill quickly rises through the ranks, and he becomes friends with Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito, two ruthless gangsters.
The three friends live a life of luxury and crime, but their friendship begins to falter when Tommy becomes increasingly violent and unstable. Hill, meanwhile, begins to regret his life as a gangster, but it is too late to turn back.
Three decades later it is still pure cinematic adrenaline: the gangster opera of Martin Scorsese is a gloriously executed epitaph for heroes who are revealed to have clay feet and blood-soaked hands. He is famous for many things: the iconic Copacabana, the thousand moments of agony, the death of Billy Batts, the shirt collars of Joe Pesci, and more … but if there is only one reason why he is a favorite by all, it is certainly the misadventure of Ray Liotta’s anti-hero, Henry Hill.
Cape Fear (1991)
Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro may have reached their peak since psychological thriller with the epochal Taxi Driver in 1976, however the 90s horror film Cape Fear is another must-see movie.. As Max Cady, a psychopathic rapist, De Niro hatches revenge against his former legal representative Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte) for hiding evidence that may have acquitted him.
Cady invades every aspect of Bowdens’ life like a thick shadow that covers his family and his work in an inevitable spiral of murder and cruelty. Cady seduces like a snake, enthralling her victims, and transforms into a psycho monster who hits the Bowden family during a torrential storm. Cady’s unpredictability and sadism make Cape Fear a absolutely superb movie of its kind.
Recent Masterpiece Films
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Betty is surprised to discover a woman suffering from amnesia and calls herself “Rita” after seeing a poster of the movie Gilda with Rita Hayworth. To help the woman remember her identity, Betty looks into Rita’s purse, where she discovers a large amount of money and also an unusual blue secret.
You may see Mulholland Drive, no doubt among the best psychological thrillers and among the most significant films of the new century, a hundred times and still get something different with each viewing. The extravagant Los Angeles headache of David Lynch is full of secrecy, fear and even disturbing sensuality, themes that had long been a constant in the author’s work, but which right here reached their inescapable apotheosis.
Spirited Away (2001)
It is a 2001 Japanese animated movie directed by the legendary director Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The film follows the adventures of Chihiro, a young girl who finds herself trapped in a supernatural world after her parents are turned into pigs by a curse.
Chihiro must try to save her parents and find a way back home, but to do so she will have to overcome a series of challenges and meet a variety of strange and wonderful characters, including the river spirit Haku and the mysterious witch Yubaba.
One of the most fascinating aspects of the film is its surreal fantasy world, which is filled with weird and wonderful creatures, such as dragons, nature spirits, and other magical beings. The animation is incredibly detailed and the visuals are full of vivid colors and details that make the world of Spirited Away a breathtaking and enchanting place.
The film also addresses important themes such as the importance of family, inner strength and the value of humanity, all wrapped up in a fantastic and engaging story that has been acclaimed by critics and audiences around the world. The film won numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2003, and is considered one of the best animated movies of all time.
The Pianist (2002)
In September 1939, Władysław Szpilman, a Polish Jewish pianist, was playing live on the Warsaw radio during the Nazi invasion of Poland. Hoping for quick success, Szpilman rejoices with his family in the house when he learns that Britain and even France have declared war on Germany, but the guaranteed aid is not coming.
The fighting lasted a little over a month, with the German and Soviet armed forces invading Poland simultaneously on several fronts. Warsaw joins the Nazi-controlled general government. Jews are soon prevented from working or having companies and are also forced to wear blue Star of David bracelets.
A historical drama produced by France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Poland. The pianist premiered at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival on May 24, 2002, where it won the Palme d’Or, and was launched on a large scale in September; the movie gained wide and important acclaim, with film critics praising
Polanski’s directing, Brody’s performance and Harwood’s script. At the 75th Academy Awards, the film won Best Director (Polanski), Best Adapted Screenplay (Harwood) and Best Actor (Brody), and was nominated for 4 more, including Best Picture.
Oldboy (2003)
Probably the best Korean horror film of all time, a 2003 Park Chan-wook revenge thriller “Oldboy”. Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) was imprisoned in a small windowless apartment for 15 years. He has no idea who did it or why. One day he is freed and begins the search for those who have ruined his life so that he can enact his revenge on him. Along the way, Dae-su falls in love with a woman, and this makes it difficult to carry out revenge.
This is a film full of twists, turns, conspiracies and lies; when you think you understand where the movie is going, Park turns your expectations upside down. Park is an exceptionally gifted director and records the subtlety and complexity of revenge, a style he expands into the rest of his Revenge Trilogy, which consists of “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” and “Lady Vengeance”.
No Country for Old Men (2007)
“No Country for Old Men” is a film based on the novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy. It’s a neo-western thriller that follows the story of Llewelyn Moss, a hunter who finds a briefcase full of cash after a shootout between drug traffickers in the Texas desert. This act will trigger a series of violent events, including the relentless pursuit of Anton Chigurh, a ruthless killer, and the attempt of the old sheriff Ed Tom Bell to stop the violence that seems inexplicable and senseless.
The film achieved huge success and won four Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem’s outstanding performance as Anton Chigurh. It is a critically acclaimed film known for its tension, distinctive visual style and impeccable performances by the cast.
Sicilian Ghost Story (2017)
Sicilian Ghost Story is a 2017 film directed by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza. The film is inspired by a true story that happened in Sicily in the 90s. It is a mixture of elements of fantasy cinema and social drama, which tells the story of a love story between two young people: Luna, a 13-year-old girl, and Giuseppe, a boy of the same age who mysteriously disappeared due to the mafia.
The film explores themes such as the violence of organized crime, the innocence of children and the power of love. The narrative unfolds through an intertwining fusion of magical realism and visual metaphors, offering a unique perspective on the consequences of an era marked by crime and corruption.
The film was critically acclaimed for its emotional depth and message, as well as the filmmakers’ technical and visual mastery. In our opinion it is one of the best mafia films ever made, a work of art of great value unknown to the mainstream circuits.
Isle of Dogs (2018)
Isle of Dogs is a 2018 stop-motion animated movie directed by Wes Anderson. The film is set in a dystopian future where the mayor of Megasaki City, Japan has declared that all dogs are sick and exiled them to a garbage dump on the Isle of Dogs.
The story follows a twelve-year-old boy named Atari Kobayashi, the mayor’s nephew, who ventures to the Isle of Dogs in search of his pet dog, Spots. There, he meets a group of stray dogs who help him in his search. The Dog Gang includes the leader, Rex, the German Shepherd; Boss, the American bulldog; Duke, the stray dog; King, the dog who was once a circus leader; and Chief, the lonely stray.
The film is notable for its unique aesthetic and soundtrack, which incorporates elements of Japanese culture and traditional Japanese taiko orchestra. The voice cast includes names like Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton and Yoko Ono.
The film was generally well received by critics and won the Silver Bear Award for Best Director at the 2018 Berlin Film Festival. However, the film has also been criticized for its depiction of Japanese culture and its use of cultural stereotypes.
Suspiria (2018)
Suspiria is a 2018 film directed by Luca Guadagnino, an Italian director known for works such as “Call me by your name” and “I am love”. It is a remake of the 1977 horror film of the same name directed by Dario Argento. The film is a modern retelling that deviates significantly from the original, both in terms of plot and style.
Plot
Suspiria” is set in 1977 Berlin and follows young American dancer Susie Bannion (played by Dakota Johnson) who joins a prestigious dance school run by Madame Blanc (played by Tilda Swinton). Soon, Susie discovers that the school is filled with mysteries, dark secrets and supernatural forces. During her stay, suspected murders and disappearances begin to surface, leading Susie to a shocking truth about her school and teachers.
Style
Unlike the original, which focused heavily on its colorful and experimental aesthetic, Guadagnino has created a very different atmosphere in his “Suspiria”. The film is characterized by a darker, gray and oppressive tone, with elaborate and spectacular dance scenes intertwined with disturbing and visceral sequences. The soundtrack, composed by Thom Yorke of Radiohead, contributes to the eerie and eerie atmosphere.
Performances: The film’s cast is led by Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton and Mia Goth, and they all deliver impressive performances. Tilda Swinton deserves a special mention as she plays not only Madame Blanc but other characters as well, including a male character who is not credited in the credits.
“Suspiria” received mixed reviews from critics and audiences. Some praised it for its audacity and originality, while others preferred the atmosphere and style of Dario Argento’s original film. However, it is undeniable that Guadagnino’s film is an interesting and ambitious work of authorship, with a distinctive and provocative vision of horror.
Bardo (2022)
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths is a 2022 Mexican film directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu. The film stars Daniel Giménez Cacho as a famous Mexican journalist who prepares for his death. The film had its world premiere at the 78th Venice Film Festival on September 2, 2022, where it won the Golden Lion.
The film is a journey through the memory and identity of the protagonist, who is confronted with his past and his present. The film is an exploration of the human condition, of loss and mourning. The film was praised for its direction, cinematography and performances.
The film was praised for its direction, cinematography and performances. Iñárritu’s direction is masterful. He creates a dreamlike and surreal atmosphere that mirrors the protagonist’s inner world. Rodrigo Prieto’s photography is beautiful. He captures the beauty of Mexico, but also its cruelty.
The performances of the actors are all excellent. Giménez Cacho is particularly good in the title role. He manages to convey the complexity of the character and his struggle to find the meaning of life. Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths is a powerful and moving film. It’s a film that will stay with you long after you’ve seen it.
