Rosselliniโs work here is masterful, shot in a neorealist if also painterly style, that captures the purity and spirituality of ascetic Roman Catholicism in the early 13th century.
Rosselliniโs breakthrough film is not just a defining work of Italian neorealism, but a powerful anti-war statement.
Emotions run deep in Godardโs masterwork as it charts the deterioration of a coupleโs marriage whilst set against the chronic uncertainties of a movie production.
A triptych of stories of ordinary women in Montana, whose vulnerabilities and desires are given the quiet Kelly Reichardt touch in this slow and contemplative work.
Polanskiโs Golden Berlin Bear winner traverses the territory of absurdist cinema in what is a sporadically engaging but sharp commentary on power plays associated with psychological sadism and the gender and classist pressures to conform.
Mizoguchiโs superb late career form continues with this masterful period drama about strict social norms and gender roles, with themes of adultery and romantic passion giving it thematic complexity.
A young woman becomes her married bossโ mistress to help her debt-ridden father in this โ30s classic from Mizoguchi that would pave way thematically for his later films about โfallen womenโ.
There may not be much action, but this quite solid 12th instalment takes its time to give us well-developed characters in a narrative about strategic one-upmanship.
Mizoguchi’s magnum opus is one of the all-time greatest films ever made – a haunting tale of greed, lust and morality that is steeped in Eastern sensuality and supernatural mythology.
Eternality Tan 