Cinematic Banquet
by jkdreams | created - 02 Aug 2011 | updated - 07 Oct 2011 | PublicA list essentially non- Hollywood yet genuinely entertaining and thought-provoking movies to give that perfect cinematic journey and experience like a great banquet.
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1. The Celebration (1998)
R | 105 min | Drama
At Helge's 60th birthday party, some unpleasant family truths are revealed.
Director: Thomas Vinterberg | Stars: Ulrich Thomsen, Henning Moritzen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Paprika Steen
Votes: 93,824 | Gross: $1.65M
Latent secrets.
2. The Experiment (2001)
R | 120 min | Drama, Thriller
For two weeks, 20 male participants are hired to play prisoners and guards in a prison. The "prisoners" have to follow seemingly mild rules, and the "guards" are told to retain order without using physical violence.
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel | Stars: Moritz Bleibtreu, Christian Berkel, Oliver Stokowski, Wotan Wilke Möhring
Votes: 96,088 | Gross: $0.14M
Preying experiment
3. Son of the Bride (2001)
R | 123 min | Comedy, Drama
A dissatisfied 40-year-old, separated and without time for his own daughter and girlfriend must rethink his life when his father decides to marry his mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, by church.
Director: Juan José Campanella | Stars: Ricardo Darín, Héctor Alterio, Norma Aleandro, Eduardo Blanco
Votes: 16,504 | Gross: $0.62M
Reliving memories
4. Sin Nombre (2009)
R | 96 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
A young Honduran girl and a Mexican gangster are united in a journey across the U.S. border.
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga | Stars: Paulina Gaitan, Marco Antonio Aguirre, Leonardo Alonso, Karla Cecilia Alvarado
Votes: 34,043 | Gross: $2.53M
Journey called life
5. Confessions (2010)
Not Rated | 106 min | Drama, Thriller
A psychological thriller of a grieving mother turned cold-blooded avenger with a twisty master plan to pay back those who were responsible for her daughter's death.
Director: Tetsuya Nakashima | Stars: Takako Matsu, Yoshino Kimura, Masaki Okada, Yukito Nishii
Votes: 42,042
Revenge and redemption
6. I Saw the Devil (2010)
Not Rated | 144 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A secret agent exacts revenge on a serial killer through a series of captures and releases.
Director: Jee-woon Kim | Stars: Lee Byung-hun, Choi Min-sik, Jeon Gook-hwan, Chun Ho-jin
Votes: 146,112 | Gross: $0.13M
Hunting the hunter
7. After the Wedding (2006)
R | 120 min | Drama
A manager of an orphanage in India is sent to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he discovers a life-altering family secret.
Director: Susanne Bier | Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Rolf Lassgård, Neeral Mulchandani
Votes: 37,064 | Gross: $0.41M
Binding truth
8. Cell 211 (2009)
113 min | Action, Crime, Drama
The story of two men on different sides of a prison riot -- the inmate leading the rebellion and the young guard trapped in the revolt, who poses as a prisoner in a desperate attempt to survive the ordeal.
Director: Daniel Monzón | Stars: Luis Tosar, Alberto Ammann, Antonio Resines, Manuel Morón
Votes: 70,760
Destined
9. Elite Squad (2007)
R | 115 min | Action, Crime, Drama
In 1997 Rio de Janeiro, Captain Nascimento has to find a substitute for his position while trying to take down drug dealers and criminals before the Pope visits.
Director: José Padilha | Stars: Wagner Moura, André Ramiro, Caio Junqueira, Milhem Cortaz
Votes: 110,192 | Gross: $0.01M
War of the forces
10. Dogtooth (2009)
Not Rated | 97 min | Drama, Thriller
A controlling, manipulative father locks his three adult offsprings in a state of perpetual childhood by keeping them prisoner within the sprawling family compound.
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos | Stars: Christos Stergioglou, Michele Valley, Angeliki Papoulia, Christos Passalis
Votes: 110,335 | Gross: $0.11M
Leashed freedom
11. Broken Embraces (2009)
R | 127 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
Harry Caine, a blind writer, reaches this moment in time when he has to heal his wounds from 14 years back. He was then still known by his real name, Mateo Blanco, and directing his last movie.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Penélope Cruz, Lluís Homar, Blanca Portillo, José Luis Gómez
Votes: 42,670 | Gross: $5.01M
Frames of past
12. Gitmek: Benim Marlon ve Brandom (2008)
93 min | Drama, Romance, War
Three years ago, in real-life, Hama Ali, a charismatic actor from Iraq famous locally for his performance as Iraq's version of Superman, met Ayca on a film-set. He and Ayca, a fiery actress... See full summary »
Director: Hüseyin Karabey | Stars: Ayça Damgaci, Hama Ali Kahn, Cengiz Bozkurt, Nesrin Cavadzade
Votes: 1,074
Love amid war
13. The Barbarian Invasions (2003)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
During his final days, a dying man is reunited with old friends, former lovers, his ex-wife, and his estranged son.
Director: Denys Arcand | Stars: Rémy Girard, Dorothée Berryman, Stéphane Rousseau, Marie-Josée Croze
Votes: 30,026 | Gross: $3.43M
End of the beginning
14. Viva Cuba (2005)
Not Rated | 92 min | Comedy, Drama
In a tale akin to Romeo and Juliet, the friendship between two children is threatened by their parents' differences. Malu is from an upper-class family and her single mother does not want ... See full summary »
Directors: Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti, Iraida Malberti Cabrera | Stars: Malú Tarrau Broche, Jorge Milo, Luisa María Jiménez Rodríquez, Larisa Vega Alamar
Votes: 1,093
Confronting hopes
15. The Chorus (2004)
PG-13 | 97 min | Drama, Music
Pierre, a successful orchestra conductor, returns home when his mother dies. He stumbles upon an old diary and recollects the childhood school memories and his music teacher Clement Mathieu.
Director: Christophe Barratier | Stars: Gérard Jugnot, François Berléand, Jean-Baptiste Maunier, Kad Merad
Votes: 67,127 | Gross: $3.64M
Hymns and values
16. Flickering Lights (2000)
Not Rated | 109 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A gang of 4 Danish criminals are ordered by Færingen to steal a bag from a safe. When they see DKK4,000,000 in the bag, they keep it for themselves and head for Spain. They end up in a ruin of an old restaurant on Jutland and renovate it.
Director: Anders Thomas Jensen | Stars: Søren Pilmark, Ulrich Thomsen, Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas
Votes: 24,200
Igniting hope
17. The Memory of a Killer (2003)
R | 123 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Vincke and Verstuyft are the best detectives of the Antwerp police department. They are confronted with the murder on a leading executive and put all their effort to catch the murderer.
Director: Erik Van Looy | Stars: Koen De Bouw, Werner De Smedt, Jan Decleir, Laurien Van den Broeck
Votes: 10,628 | Gross: $0.33M
Flashes of memory
18. Jar City (2006)
Not Rated | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A murder opens up a bleak trail of long buried secrets and small town corruption for a worn out police detective and his squad.
Director: Baltasar Kormákur | Stars: Ingvar Sigurdsson, Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Ólafía Hrönn Jónsdóttir
Votes: 5,634
Crime and criminal
19. Control (2003)
R | 111 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A tale about a strange young man, Bulcsú, the fellow inspectors on his team, all without exception likable characters, a rival ticket inspection team and racing along the tracks - and a tale about love.
Director: Nimród Antal | Stars: Sándor Csányi, Eszter Balla, Zoltán Mucsi, Csaba Pindroch
Votes: 27,067 | Gross: $0.24M
Subway of dreams
20. Persona (1966)
Not Rated | 83 min | Drama, Thriller
A nurse is put in charge of a mute actress and finds that their personae are melding together.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Margaretha Krook, Gunnar Björnstrand
Votes: 130,834
Self reflected
21. Kikujiro (1999)
PG-13 | 122 min | Drama, Comedy
A young, naive boy sets out alone on the road to find his wayward mother. Soon he finds an unlikely protector in a crotchety man and the two have a series of unexpected adventures along the way.
Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Takeshi Kitano, Yusuke Sekiguchi, Kayoko Kishimoto, The Great Gidayû
Votes: 22,161 | Gross: $0.20M
Ways of innocence
22. Evil (2003)
Not Rated | 113 min | Drama
A teenage boy expelled from school for fighting arrives at a boarding school where the systematic bullying of younger students is encouraged as a means to maintain discipline, and decides to fight back.
Director: Mikael Håfström | Stars: Andreas Wilson, Henrik Lundström, Gustaf Skarsgård, Linda Zilliacus
Votes: 42,055 | Gross: $0.02M
Rules of survival
23. 101 Reykjavík (2000)
Not Rated | 88 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Will the 30 y.o. Hlynur ever move out of his mother's apartment in Reykjavík? Social welfare keeps him passive but things change when his mother's Spanish friend, Lola, arrives and stays through Xmas and New Year's Eve.
Director: Baltasar Kormákur | Stars: Hilmir Snær Guðnason, Victoria Abril, Hanna María Karlsdóttir, Þrúður Vilhjálmsdóttir
Votes: 9,936 | Gross: $0.01M
Hidden emotions
24. Revanche (2008)
Not Rated | 121 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Ex-con Alex plans to flee to the South with his girl after a robbery. But something terrible happens and revenge seems inevitable.
Director: Götz Spielmann | Stars: Johannes Krisch, Irina Potapenko, Andreas Lust, Ursula Strauss
Votes: 15,938
Forgiving revenge
25. Lantana (2001)
R | 121 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
The relationships of four couples unravel after the discovery of a young woman's body in Lantana bush in suburban Sydney.
Director: Ray Lawrence | Stars: Anthony LaPaglia, Geoffrey Rush, Rachael Blake, Kerry Armstrong
Votes: 20,222 | Gross: $4.46M
Ways of life
26. The Wave (2008)
Not Rated | 107 min | Drama, Thriller
A high school teacher's experiment to demonstrate to his students what life is like under a dictatorship spins horribly out of control when he forms a social unit with a life of its own.
Director: Dennis Gansel | Stars: Jürgen Vogel, Frederick Lau, Max Riemelt, Jennifer Ulrich
Votes: 115,065
Revolt and catalyst
27. Breathless (2008)
Not Rated | 130 min | Crime, Drama
A bitter loan shark strikes a friendship with a troubled schoolgirl as he faces his own troubled past with his abusive father.
Director: Yang Ik-joon | Stars: Kim Kkobbi, Hwan Lee, Yang Ik-joon, Jeong-soon Park
Votes: 5,559
Vicious
28. Fireworks (1997)
103 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Nishi leaves the police in the face of harrowing personal and professional difficulties. Spiraling into depression, he makes questionable decisions.
Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Takeshi Kitano, Kayoko Kishimoto, Ren Ôsugi, Susumu Terajima
Votes: 33,155 | Gross: $0.23M
Redemption
29. The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005)
Not Rated | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Music
Will Thomas still lead a life of crime and cruelty, just like his thuggish father, or will he pursue his dream of becoming a pianist?
Director: Jacques Audiard | Stars: Romain Duris, Aure Atika, Emmanuelle Devos, Niels Arestrup
Votes: 20,494 | Gross: $1.02M
Choice and inheritance
30. Half Moon (2006)
107 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Mamo, an old and legendary Kurdish musician living in Iran, plans to give one final concert in Iraqi Kurdistan. After seven months of trying to get a permit and rounding up his ten sons, he... See full summary »
Director: Bahman Ghobadi | Stars: Ismail Ghaffari, Allah-Morad Rashtian, Farzin Sabooni, Kambiz Arshi
Votes: 3,088 | Gross: $0.00M
Journey to destiny
31. Turtles Can Fly (2004)
PG-13 | 98 min | Drama, War
Near the Iraqi-Turkish border on the eve of an American invasion, refugee children like 13-year-old Kak (Ebrahim), gauge and await their fate.
Director: Bahman Ghobadi | Stars: Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif, Saddam Hossein Feysal, Hiresh Feysal Rahman
Votes: 20,750 | Gross: $0.26M
Preys of war
32. Let the Right One In (2008)
R | 114 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Oskar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl.
Director: Tomas Alfredson | Stars: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl
Votes: 226,710 | Gross: $2.12M
Instinct and love
33. Fotograf (2001)
66 min | Drama
Two young people named Ali and Faruk meet on the bus journey. this journey leaves them with an end that they know but cannot prevent.
Director: Kazim Öz | Stars: Feyyaz Duman, Nazmi Kirik, Mizgin Kapazan, Muhlis Asan
Votes: 143
Me moires of past
34. The Return (2003)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama
In the Russian wilderness, two brothers face a range of new, conflicting emotions when their father - a man they know only through a single photograph - resurfaces.
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev | Stars: Vladimir Garin, Ivan Dobronravov, Konstantin Lavronenko, Nataliya Vdovina
Votes: 47,494 | Gross: $0.50M
Life and void
35. Survive Style 5+ (2004)
120 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
Five bizarre stories with no apparent connection to one and other eventually become intertwined, resulting in surreal circumstances.
Director: Gen Sekiguchi | Stars: Tadanobu Asano, Reika Hashimoto, Kyôko Koizumi, Hiroshi Abe
Votes: 10,142
Ways to live
36. No Man's Land (I) (2001)
R | 98 min | Comedy, Drama, War
Bosnia and Herzegovina during 1993 at the time of the heaviest fighting between the two warring sides. Two soldiers from opposing sides in the conflict, Nino and Ciki, become trapped in no man's land, whilst a third soldier becomes a living booby trap.
Director: Danis Tanovic | Stars: Branko Djuric, Rene Bitorajac, Filip Sovagovic, Georges Siatidis
Votes: 48,814 | Gross: $1.06M
War and tarries
37. Jesus of Montreal (1989)
R | 120 min | Drama, Romance
A group of actors put on an unorthodox, but acclaimed Passion Play which incites the opposition of the Catholic Church while the actors' lives themselves begin to mirror the Passion itself.
Director: Denys Arcand | Stars: Lothaire Bluteau, Catherine Wilkening, Johanne-Marie Tremblay, Rémy Girard
Votes: 7,547 | Gross: $1.60M
Living god
38. Vivre sa vie (1962)
Not Rated | 85 min | Drama
Twelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman and her slow descent into prostitution.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Anna Karina, Sady Rebbot, André S. Labarthe, Guylaine Schlumberger
Votes: 34,982
Life and choices
39. Red Desert (1964)
Not Rated | 117 min | Drama
In an industrial area, unstable Giuliana attempts to cope with life by starting an affair with a co-worker at the plant her husband manages.
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni | Stars: Monica Vitti, Richard Harris, Carlo Chionetti, Xenia Valderi
Votes: 17,628
Grey scaled life
40. Thirst (2009)
R | 134 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Through a failed medical experiment, a priest is stricken with vampirism and is forced to abandon his ascetic ways.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Kim Ok-bin, Choi Hee-jin, Seo Dong-soo
Votes: 51,387 | Gross: $0.30M
Thirst of greed
41. Tell No One (2006)
Not Rated | 131 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An accidental discovery near a doctor's estate stirs up some painful memories eight years after his wife's hideous murder, and now, things are bound to take a turn for the unexpected. Does the good doctor know more than he's letting on?
Director: Guillaume Canet | Stars: François Cluzet, Marie-Josée Croze, André Dussollier, Kristin Scott Thomas
Votes: 57,971 | Gross: $6.18M
Testing love
42. The Vanishing (1988)
Not Rated | 107 min | Mystery, Thriller
Rex and Saskia, a young couple in love, are on vacation. They stop at a busy service station and Saskia is abducted. After three years and no sign of Saskia, Rex begins receiving letters from the abductor.
Director: George Sluizer | Stars: Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Gene Bervoets, Johanna ter Steege, Gwen Eckhaus
Votes: 44,126
Preying Circumstances
43. My Sweet Little Village (1985)
PG | 98 min | Comedy
The life of a small village runs on its own.
Director: Jirí Menzel | Stars: János Bán, Marián Labuda, Rudolf Hrusínský, Rudolf Hrusínský
Votes: 4,838
Sweet tale of lives
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