An explosives expert must fight a personal battle with alcoholism in this minor WWII effort from Powell and Pressburger, which features one of the most suspenseful bomb disarmament scenes in early black-and-white cinema.
As far as European crime mysteries about disappearances are concerned, this is one of the most unforgettable flicks of the ‘80s—a psychological thriller with an exacting disposition and a denouement that will haunt you for weeks.
‘Exploring’ features the filmographies of filmmakers that I’ve completed and celebrates them on the week of their birthdays.
French New Wave icon Jean-Pierre Leaud lies bedridden for two hours in Albert Serra’s exquisite, slow-burning 18th-century take on the agonising final days of the famous Sun King, shot with such a high fidelity to history that one might mistake it for documentary authenticity.
A drama exploring the pent-up angst between a mother and daughter with emotionally intense performances by Bergman and Ullmann.
This largely-narrated hour-long anime in three parts captures with introspection and quiet solace the bliss and despairing nature of first love, with breathtaking visuals to boot.
Bava put Italian giallo movies on the world map with this ominous serial-killer mystery, packed with solid scares and features the breathtaking use of colours and shadows.
This acidic, darkly comic French neo-western adapted from Jim Thompson’s Texas-set novel, but brilliantly transposed to West Africa, is one of Tavernier’s greatest accomplishments.
Using familiar genre tropes to tackle provocative themes, this shot-in-Istanbul, Cairo-set Cannes Best Screenplay winner asks hard questions about the troubling intersections between political and religious institutions.
Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried do heat up the screen in this erotic drama about the fears of infidelity, but the mind games under Egoyan’s slick direction don’t always work deeply or satisfyingly.
