Mark Kermode: 50 films every film fan should watch
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- DirectorJean CocteauRené ClémentStarsJean MaraisJosette DayMila ParélyA beautiful young woman takes her father's place as the prisoner of a mysterious beast, who wishes to marry her.“Personally I think Mexican filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro, the maestro of the modern screen fairytale, said it best when he declared La Belle et la Bête simply to be the most perfect cinematic fable ever told.”
- DirectorNicolas RoegStarsArt GarfunkelTheresa RussellHarvey KeitelA psychiatrist, living in Vienna, enters a torrid relationship with a married woman. When she ends up in the hospital from an overdose, an inspector becomes set on discovering the demise of their affair.“Roeg himself reported that a friend refused to talk to him for three years after seeing the film. Today, Bad Timing still divides audiences: monstrosity or masterpiece? Well, watch it and decide for yourself.”
- DirectorClio BarnardStarsManjinder VirkChristine BottomleyNatalie GavinPortrayal of the late Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar.“Somehow the disparate elements form a strikingly cohesive whole, conjuring a portrait of the artist and her offspring that is both emotionally engaging, stylistically radical and utterly unforgettable.”
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsDeborah KerrDavid FarrarFlora RobsonA group of nuns struggle to establish a convent in the Himalayas, while isolation, extreme weather, altitude, and culture clashes all conspire to drive the well-intentioned missionaries mad.“Black Narcissus is a vividly sensual work, which looks unlike any other British film of the period. Oscar wins for Jack Cardiff’s cinematography and Alfred Junge for production design confirm it as a technical triumph, but it is still so much more than that. It is a work of extraordinary power and passion from Powell and Pressburger.”
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsRex HarrisonConstance CummingsKay HammondA man and his second wife are haunted by the ghost of his first wife.“A spicy screen comedy filmed in blushing technicolour… why Lean is still considered one of Britain’s greatest directors.”
- DirectorSaul DibbStarsAshley WaltersLuke FraserLeon BlackIn one of East London's most volatile neighborhoods, pride, rivalry and revenge are the only codes on the street. Touted as a British Boyz in the Hood, Bullet Boy is a gripping and authentic drama that takes an unflinching look at two troubled, street-smart boys. Fresh out of jail, 18-year-old Ricky (Ashley Walters, Get Rich or Die Tryin') and his 12-year-old brother, Curtis, struggle to walk the straight and narrow when a minor street clash escalates into an all-out neighborhood war. For Ricky and Curtis, friendships, family and loyalty will be tested to the extreme in a world where guns are a fact of everyday life and boys try to be men before they're even teenagers. Music by Massive Attack.“Both Dibb and Walters have travelled far since the days of Bullet Boy, but this urgent, low-budget British drama remains a defining moment in both of their diverse careers.”
- DirectorPeter HyamsStarsElliott GouldJames BrolinBrenda VaccaroWhen the first manned flight to Mars is deemed unsafe and scrubbed on the launch pad, anxious authorities must scramble to save face and retain their funding - and so an unthinkable plot to fake the mission is hatched.“After the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, it was easy for audiences to believe that governments were corrupt and recordings could be doctored – it is no wonder that so many people took Capricorn One at face value.”
- DirectorJacques RivetteStarsJuliet BertoDominique LabourierBulle OgierA mysteriously linked pair of young women find their daily lives preempted by a strange boudoir melodrama that plays itself out in a hallucinatory parallel reality.“A comparative commercial hit on its release, Céline and Julie Go Boating has since gone on to become a much sought after cult item and has influenced everyone from David Lynch to Susan Seidelman. It was also hailed as an influential female buddy movie by critic Jonathan Rosenbaum who wrote that many women consider it to be their favourite film about female friendship, and many men too.”
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsPierre BatcheffSimone MareuilLuis BuñuelLuis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí present 16 minutes of bizarre, surreal imagery.“Arguably the most celebrated work of surrealist cinema, a satirical gem which, when I first saw it at the Museum of the Moving Image as an unsuspecting young film fan, caused me to faint.”
- DirectorNeil JordanStarsSarah PattersonAngela LansburyDavid WarnerA teenage girl in a country manor falls asleep while reading a magazine, and has a disturbing dream involving wolves prowling the woods below her bedroom window.“Pitched somewhere between arthouse tract and exploitation horror movie, The Company of Wolves drew mixed responses from some baffled critics, but proved an enduring audience favourite. Today, it has become a timeless classic, which is studied by film scholars and adored by film fans alike. If you like your fairy tales to have teeth, this is the film for you.”
- DirectorPeter SasdyStarsIngrid PittNigel GreenSandor ElèsIn 17th-century Hungary, elderly widow Countess Elisabeth Nádasdy maintains her misleading youthful appearance by bathing in the blood of virgins regularly supplied to her by faithful servant Captain Dobi.“A bona fide screen icon, at the very height of her dark powers.”
- DirectorVal GuestStarsEdward JuddJanet MunroLeo McKernWhen the U.S. and Russia unwittingly test atomic bombs at the same time, it alters the nutation (axis of rotation) of the Earth.“Today, the film may seem almost quaint, but it’s as captivating as ever.”
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJeremy IronsGeneviève BujoldHeidi von PalleskeTwin gynecologists take full advantage of the fact that nobody can tell them apart, until their relationship begins to deteriorate over a woman.“It’s not the visual effects that dazzle, the real magic is in the performances, with Jeremy Irons using the Alexander technique to give Elliot and Beverly different stances, different energy points… The result is overwhelming, at times horrifying, but mostly heartbreaking.”
- DirectorTerence DaviesStarsPete PostlethwaiteFreda DowieAngela WalshThe lives of an English working-class family are told out of order in a free-associative manner. The first part, "Distant Voices", focuses on the father's role in the family. The second part, "Still Lives", focuses on his children.“Described at one point as ‘a forgotten masterpiece’, Distant Voices Still Lives has grown in stature over the years, and in 2011 it was voted the third best British film in a survey conducted by TimeOut magazine, beaten only by Nic Roeg’s Don’t Look Now and Carol Reed’s The Third Man.”
- DirectorYorgos LanthimosStarsChristos StergioglouMichele ValleyAngeliki PapouliaA controlling, manipulative father locks his three adult offsprings in a state of perpetual childhood by keeping them prisoner within the sprawling family compound.“Balancing astute social commentary with absurd tragi-comedy, Dogtooth has been read as a dissection of Greek society, both personal and political. Lanthimos retains a Lynchian quality of refusing to discuss his work, saying that, ‘If I wanted to discuss social problems I would have become a writer, but I am a filmmaker it is all I can do’.”
- DirectorPeter GreenawayStarsAnthony HigginsJanet SuzmanAnne-Louise LambertA young artist is commissioned by the wife of a wealthy landowner to make a series of drawings of the estate while her husband is away.“It is weirdly wonderful, from Nyman’s Purcell-influenced score to Sue Blane’s eye-catching costumes. Most importantly the film shows a unique talent getting to grips with narrative cinema that is as engaging and alluring as it is baffling and perplexing.”
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsAnthony HopkinsJohn HurtAnne BancroftA Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of kindness, intelligence and sophistication.“There was nothing John Hurt couldn’t do, but it is a role in which his famous face was all but hidden and his mellifluous voice almost unrecognisable that ironically garnered some of his greatest reviews.”
- DirectorAntonia BirdStarsRobert CarlyleRay WinstoneSteve SweeneyIn the face of demise in his values, a socialist in England decides to form a gang and rob banks for a living.“A cracking but often overlooked crime thriller from 1997, featuring a sharp script, a stellar cast, and a dynamite soundtrack. Directed by Antonia Bird, Face one of the UK’s most versatile and sorely missed filmmakers, Face is an ace heist-gone-wrong thriller that was correctly hailed by London’s Time Out magazine as a ‘muscular, raw and aggressive slice of vividly authentic populist cinema.’”
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsBrigitte MiraEl Hedi ben SalemBarbara ValentinA lonely widow meets a much younger Moroccan worker in a bar during a rainstorm. They fall in love, to their own surprise and to the outright shock of their families, colleagues, and drinking buddies.“Sit back and experience a film that seems even more relevant today than it did in 1974.”
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsKlaus KinskiClaudia CardinaleJosé LewgoyThe story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an extremely determined man who intends to build an opera house in the middle of a jungle.“‘I live my life or end my life with this project’, declared Herzog, and he wasn’t kidding. No wonder Fitzcarraldo remains such an overwhelming experience.”
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsTakashi ShimuraAkihiko HirataAkira TakaradaAfter a dinosaur-like beast - awoken from undersea hibernation by atom bomb testing - ravages Tokyo, a scientist must decide if his similarly dangerous weapon should be used to destroy it.“While the scenes of destruction viscerally recall the destruction of America’s nuclear strikes, the dialogue offers a surprisingly thoughtful meditation on the guilty responsibilities of scientific advancements… reveal in the mastery of this superb creature feature.”
- DirectorBruno DumontStarsJulie SokolowskiKarl SarafidisYassine SalimeA young nun is expelled from a convent because of her extreme devoutness and forms a relationship with a radical Muslim.“Make no mistake, Hadewijch is not for everyone, but if you are looking for something different, it’s challenging, arresting and thought-provoking fare.”
- DirectorPeter SasdyStarsEric PorterAngharad ReesJane MerrowAs a young child Jack the Ripper's daughter witnesses him kill her mother. As a young woman she carries on the murderous reign of her father. A psychiatrist tries to cure her with tragic consequences.“For all the film’s shortcomings, Sadsy brings a dash of Argento-esque style to the increasing splatter, ensuring that the hands of the Ripper continue to grip audiences even today.”
- DirectorAlex CoxStarsRoberto SosaBruno BichirVanessa BaucheAgainst his father's wishes, Pedro, a naive kid from Mexico City, joins the Federal Highway Patrol. His simple desire to do good rapidly comes into conflict with the reality of police work.“A Mexican drama from British director Alex Cox, who made his name with the cult classic Repo Man, and cemented his reputation as the new rose of post-punk cinema with Sid & Nancy. It was described by the Los Angeles Times in 1991 as ‘Cox’s finest film to date.’”
- DirectorWalerian BorowczykStarsLise DanversFabrice LuchiniCharlotte AlexandraAn erotic collection of short stories, an anthology comprised of tantalizing tales about sexual desire and its diverse manifestations.“Today it remains divisive, with scholars referring to it as Borowczyk’s least substantial work while others succumb to its bawdy pleasures. Art or exploitation? Watch it and decide for yourself.”
- DirectorJames FrancoTravis MathewsStarsVal LaurenChristian PatrickJames FrancoFilmmakers James Franco and Travis Mathews re-imagine the lost 40 minutes from Cruising (1980) as a starting point to a broader exploration of sexual and creative freedom.“Interior. Leather Bar. is not for everyone, but for anyone fascinated by Friedkin’s cause celebre it is by turns infuriating, indulgent and intriguing.”
- DirectorSidney J. FurieStarsMichael CaineNigel GreenGuy DolemanIn London, a wisecracking spy investigates the kidnapping and brainwashing of British scientists while dealing with the constraints of his agency's bureaucracy.“By 1999, it was ranking at number 59 in the BFI’s Top 100 list of Best British Films of the century, ahead of classics like The Dam Busters, Passport to Pimlico, Oliver, Hope and Glory, and The Wicker Man. Watch the film and see why.”
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsMargaret LockwoodMichael RedgravePaul LukasWhile travelling in continental Europe, a rich young playgirl realizes that an elderly lady seems to have disappeared from the train.“So successful was The Lady Vanishes that it persuaded the producer David O. Selznick to sign up the director for a seven-year contract, sending Hitchcock to Hollywood where he would make some of the most celebrated screen thrillers of all time.”
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJune TrippIvor NovelloMarie AultA landlady suspects that her new lodger is the madman killing women in London.“The film offers early evidence of the director’s longstanding association between sex and murder, ecstasy and death, introducing fetishistic tropes that would become defining moves in Vertigo and Psycho.”
- DirectorBarbet SchroederStarsGérard DepardieuBulle OgierAndré RouyerA common thief (Depardieu) breaks into the house of a professional dominatrix (Ogier), and begins to help her "train" her clients. Though this world is alien to his experience, he finds himself falling in love with her. Eventually he discovers that she does this in order to support her son, and he attempts to help her out of this life, which she is not sure she really wants to leave.“When the film first came before the BBFC in 1976 it was banned outright, with one examiner noting that, ‘this sort of depiction of sexual pathology goes way beyond what we can certificate for showing in a public cinema…’ Yet that same examining conceded that ‘the film is very well made, with good acting performances from two of France’s leading stars…’ but concluded ‘…opulent excrescence, for all its glitter, remains excrescence.’”
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsDavid NivenKim HunterRobert CooteA British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court, hoping to prolong his fledgling romance with an American girl.“Breathtaking cinematography from Jack Cardiff, superb locations work at places like Saunton Sands in Devon, and an intriguing camera obscura subplot featuring the photophilic themes that would appear in Powell’s later film Peeping Tom, all combine to make this an utterly flawless classic.”
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsBrigitte BardotJack PalanceMichel PiccoliA French writer's marriage deteriorates while working on Fritz Lang's version of "The Odyssey", as his wife accuses him of using her to court favor with the film's brash American producer.“A tale of artistic compromise and marital strife, Le Mépris is a playfully self-reflexive affair, the poster of which focused on the pillowy charms of Brigitte Bardot, but which in fact offered something altogether edgier, more angular and anarchic.”
- DirectorBong Joon HoStarsKim Hye-jaWon BinJin GooA mother desperately searches for the killer who framed her son for a girl's horrific murder.“Having scored Korea’s biggest box-office hit with The Host, Bong wanted to do something completely different for the follow-up. From the surreal opening – from which the fate, tragedy and madness of the subsequent narrative is subtly laid out – that difference is clear and present.”
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsKlaus KinskiIsabelle AdjaniBruno GanzCount Dracula moves from Transylvania to Wismar, spreading the Black Plague across the land. Only a woman pure of heart can bring an end to his reign of horror.“‘It was clear that there would never be a vampire of his calibre again’, said Herzog some years later, insisting that in four centuries to come Kinski would remain the definitive embodiment of this mythical creature. Well, we may only be four decades away from Herzog’s Nosferatu, but so far Kinski still looks unsurpassable.”
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsHenrik MalbergEmil Hass ChristensenPreben Lerdorff RyeFollows the lives of the Borgen family, as they deal with inner conflict, as well as religious conflict with each other, and the rest of the town.“A hit with the public and the critics alike, Ordet won the Golden Lion at Venice, shared a Golden Globe for foreign language film and is one of the highlights of the Dreyer collection on BFI Player Plus.”
- DirectorAbel FerraraStarsWillem DafoeNinetto DavoliRiccardo ScamarcioA kaleidoscopic look at the last day of Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini in 1975.“The blend of politics, religion and blow jobs is pure catnip for Ferrara, although those not versed in the controversy surrounding Sálo might want to do a little background reading to fully appreciate what is going on… This show belongs to Ferrara and Dafoe, both of who seem besotted with a bygone age, in which a filmmaker promoting his new movie could talk to the press about philosophy, poetry and politics and the whole world would listen.”
- DirectorMichael PowellStarsKarlheinz BöhmAnna MasseyMoira ShearerA young man murders women, using a movie camera to film their dying expressions of terror.“With its lurid Eastman coloured hues, and its daringly confrontational POV camera work, Peeping Tom remains a startling uncomfortable watch to this day. Watch, but be warned: to do so is dangerous.”
- DirectorStephen FrearsStarsGary OldmanAlfred MolinaVanessa RedgraveBiographer John Lahr is writing a book about playwright Joe Orton. Joe and Kenneth meet at drama school and live together for ten years as lovers and collaborators. Both want to be writers, but only one of them is successful.“Having already earned plaudits for My Beautiful Laundrette, director Stephen Frears would go on to helm such hits as Dangerous Liaisons, Dirty Pretty Things, The Queen and Philomena. But this early hit remains one of his best works – rich, ribald and worthy of repeat viewing.”
- DirectorChristopher PetitStarsDavid BeamesLisa KreuzerSandy RatcliffIn 1970s Britain, a man drives from London to Bristol to investigate his brother's death, and the purpose of his trip is offset by his encounters with a series of odd people.“Radio On is a genuine British classic, which perfectly captures the unsettling architecture both cultural and physical of country seen through the windscreen of a two-tone vintage Rover.”
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneMachiko KyôMasayuki MoriThe rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.“As the various stories unfold we come to question what is true and what is false, and whether darkness really does lurk at the heart of mankind, and whether honour may triumph over – or be defeated by – treachery.”
- DirectorMichelangelo AntonioniStarsMonica VittiRichard HarrisCarlo ChionettiIn an industrial area, unstable Giuliana attempts to cope with life by starting an affair with a co-worker at the plant her husband manages.“With its evocative electronic music and its startling off-kilter vistas, there is a hint of science fiction about Red Desert, where Vitti becomes the woman who fell to earth… yes, this is a world of pollution and poison, both physical and emotional. But it is also a world of fable and fantasy, of imagination and hallucination – worldly and otherworldly. Or to put it another way, it is a film by Antonioni.”
- DirectorAndrea ArnoldStarsKate DickieTony CurranMartin CompstonJackie works as a CCTV operator. Each day she watches over a small part of the world, protecting the people living their lives under her gaze. One day a man appears on her monitor, a man she thought she would never see again, a man she never wanted to see again. Now she has no choice, she is compelled to confront him.“Despite diverse comparisons with the cruelty of Michael Haneke, the social realism of the Dardenne brothers and the visual poetry of Lynne Ramsay, Arnold’s style is distinctively her own and has continued to grow through her subsequent, critically acclaimed features, Fish Tank, Wuthering Heights and, most recently, American Honey.”
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsAnton WalbrookMarius GoringMoira ShearerA young ballet dancer is torn between the man she loves and her pursuit to become a prima ballerina.“The Red Shoes is a dizzying blend of dazzling dance and daring darkness.”
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsAnna MagnaniAldo FabriziMarcello PaglieroDuring the Nazi occupation of Rome in 1944, the Resistance leader, Giorgio Manfredi, is chased by the Nazis as he seeks refuge and a way to escape.“Ubaldo Arata’s visceral cinematography blends the grit of reportage with the heart and soul of a drama as the people of Rome struggle with the constraints, compromises and collusion of life during wartime.”
- DirectorJosé Ramón LarrazStarsAngela PleasencePeter VaughanLorna HeilbronA young woman is invited by her girlfriend, who lives in an English country mansion, to stay there with her. The estate, however, isn't quite what it seems--and neither is the friend who issued the invitation.“Symptoms opened to rave reviews but quickly became a cult oddity rarely seen in cinemas or on TV. Only when the title flagged up as one of the BFI’s Most Wanted was the negative located by Deluxe, providing the source of a new digital transfer.”
- DirectorBill ForsythStarsTom MannionEddie BurtRichard DemarcoRonnie, Wal, Andy and Vic are four bored, unemployed teens in dreary, rainy Glasgow. Ronnie comes up with a great idea. He has noticed that stainless steel sinks are worth a lot of money and comes up with a complicated scheme: to steal sinks from a warehouse dressed as girls and using a stop-motion potion.“A British comedy with more urban grit and whimsical wit than anything else that was around at the time. When it played the Edinburgh Film Festival in 1979, That Sinking Feeling became the toast of the town.”
- DirectorAndrew KottingStarsRebecca PalmerShane AttwoollDemelza RandallThe tragic story of two sisters whose lives are disrupted by two men. Amidst a landscape of rural hardship and a community consumed with superstition, events unfurl which threaten their sibling bond.“Epic and untamable, Kötting’s films have rarely obtained commercial success. Despite early rave reviews, he has shown no interest in working within the mainstream, preferring instead to plough his own field. Thank God, as This Filthy Earth demonstrates that cinema needs more filmmakers cut from Kötting’s uncompromising cloth.”
- DirectorAnthony AsquithStarsBrian AherneElissa LandiCyril McLaglenA working-class love story set in and around the London Underground of the 1920s. Two men, gentle Bill and brash Bert, meet and are attracted to the same woman on the same day at the same Underground station. But the lady chooses Bill, and Bert isn't the type to take rejection lightly.“This is a film that I want you to watch with your ears, an early 20th-century silent, with a superb 21st-century score by the incomparable Neil Brand.”
- DirectorJoanna HoggStarsKathryn WorthHarry KershawEmma HiddlestonA woman in an unhappy relationship takes refuge with a friend's family on holiday in Tuscany.“With just three films in a decade, Hogg is hardly prolific, but her style is acute, incisive, so utterly distinctive that all her features are worth the wait.”
- DirectorBarbet SchroederStarsBulle OgierJean-Pierre KalfonMichael GothardConsul's wife, Viviane took part in an expedition to New Guinea. She falls in love with Gaetan, the leader of a group of explorers, whose objective is to reach a mysterious valley.“It has a far more cynical attitude towards its colonial adventures than some critics give it credit for. Watch the film for yourself and ask yourself, ‘Can you see the valley?’”