A docu-fiction that explores the process of history’s becoming as De Leon boldly if cheekily subjects his country’s anti-colonialist national hero, Jose Rizal, to an artistic interrogation, yielding interesting takeaways on art’s discourse with the past.
A man is accused of being a paedophilic killer in Chabrol’s effortlessly-mounted small-town crime mystery, shot with breezy naturalism by the acclaimed cinematographer Eduardo Serra.
A lesser but somewhat stylishly-crafted effort by Scorsese, featuring Nicolas Cage as a burnt-out paramedic who works the graveyard shift and is haunted by the victims he couldn’t save.
A riveting if underrated postmodernist tale by Jarmusch about the multiplicities and intersections of cultures new and old, starring an excellent Forest Whitaker as a hip-hop listening African-American hitman deeply influenced by the ancient mythos of the Japanese samurai.
Slow cinema as an anti-police procedural, Dumont’s fascinating if unclassifiable work features a hypnotic Emmanuel Schotte (in his only film role), whose face must be one of the most arresting in all of cinema.
Kiarostami’s observant eye for landscapes and people reaches its apotheosis here in this graceful, if sometimes elusive, meditation on life and mortality.
Perhaps too unfairly dissed, this is electrifying filmmaking by Stone as he captures the excessive machismo of sport—in this case, American football—with flashy editing and an energetic ensemble cast that includes strong turns by Al Pacino and Jamie Foxx.
A landmark ‘90s sci-fi masterpiece with that rare combo of style and substance—two decades later, it loses none of its sobering philosophical inquiry.
This is a superb early work from Chang Tso-chi, focusing on a family whose members are mostly visually-impaired, and shot in a poetic, dreamy style that accumulates emotional power by the end.
Studio Ghibli’s first full digital animation is a light-hearted and free-spirited take on urban family life told in humorous, sometimes fantastical, vignettes that are created in a minimalist watercolour style.
Eternality Tan 