Weerasethakul’s debut feature is like a living folk tale, a radical blend of documentary and fiction, shaped through the surrealist ‘exquisite corpse’ method as ordinary Thais collectively spin an evolving story.
Somai’s tender and transformative masterwork, about a child grappling with her parents’ divorce, boasts an extraordinary acting debut by Tomoko Tabata, capturing the emotional, physical and psychological aspects of separation with such empathy.
Hovering between introspection and narcissism, Allen channels Fellini’s ‘8½’ in this self-reflexive work that sees a filmmaker at his own retrospective wrestling with fans, fame and failed relationships, shot artfully by the great Gordon Willis.
Arguably Tsui’s angriest film, this live-wire and nihilistic HK New Wave entry sees the collision of rebellious youth, lowly gangsters and nasty foreigners as society crumbles into death, violence, cruelty and insanity.
The Japanese master’s greatest achievement, this is an anime of endless imagination and hypnotic power, winning the coveted Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
This confirms Aster as one of America’s most provocative auteurs, as he uses a fictional town on the brink of the coronavirus to capture the post-2020 zeitgeist of rage-baiting politics, the toxicity of social media and post-truth nihilism, backed by a sensational turn by Joaquin Phoenix.
The US version features clunky news segments that spell out the spectacle, but when the two kaijus are pitted like pro-wrestlers with comical moves, the movie somewhat works on a childlike level with its reliance on rear projection and miniature toys.
Shot in solemn black-and-white, Hong’s elegiac, non-linear reflection on infidelity, regret and emotional burden sees a condemned man trying to move on from his extramarital affair.
Friends commit suicide or disappear in this eerie, prophetic J-Horror essential as Kurosawa shows how the web would exacerbate collective angst and loneliness as ghosts are stuck in liminal spaces between the afterlife and reality, mediated by the digital screen.
A contemplative exploration of neediness and the transient nature of human connection, Hong’s drama about creative paralysis sees a film director having a fling with his friend’s girlfriend, sparking psychological clarity.
Eternality Tan 