Wong’s rather conventional debut feature is a ‘Mean Streets’-esque gangster thriller that provides cursory pleasures with the odd heady rush of romance, and backed by a trio of committed performances from Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung and Jacky Cheung.
Dreary yet comforting and a brilliant example of how to tell a story with poetic economy, this is a near-perfect work by Kaurismaki about a miner who loses his job but inadvertently encounters a parking attendant whom he falls in love with in the drollest possible way.
A comforting if bittersweet retelling of Sammo Hung’s formative years at the Peking Opera School where he plays a master mentoring his younger self, as it explores tradition and passion at the crossroads of societal and cultural change.
One of the most iconic anime ever produced, Otomo’s landmark work of dystopia and politics remains mind-blowing in its execution and acts as a stern warning to humanity not to destroy ourselves.
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.
Greek arthouse master Angelopoulos serves us one astonishing scene after another in this deliberately-paced elegiac road movie that also works as a powerful time capsule of late 1980s Greece.
Zulawski’s unfinished sci-fi epic, disrupted by the then Communist Polish government, about the perils of forming a new civilisation on an inhospitable planet is manic, ambitious if somewhat befuddling filmmaking at its best, rendered generously with jump cuts, astonishing imagery and the commitment to highly-physical performances.
A brilliant Isabelle Huppert headlines Chabrol’s true-story WWII drama about French women who had to deal with illegal abortion and prostitution, while bearing the brunt of legal and moral injustices.
Chan does his stunts and comedy with aplomb, but this sequel is let down by a wafer-thin plot and poor pacing.
Denis’ semi-autobiographical feature debut sees her reflect on the distant colonialist memory of being a white girl living in Cameroon, in a filmmaking style that is unmistakably hers—sensual, tactile and poetic.
Eternality Tan 