A textbook example of how to produce a handsome adaptation of an iconic novel, Polanski fashions a naturalistic if elegiac tale featuring an excellent Nastassja Kinski in a breakthrough performance.
Some centuries-old Beninese treasures are returned by France, sparking debate over its neocolonial political posturing sublimating as cultural diplomacy as Diop’s quaint Berlinale Golden Bear-winning documentary highlights the dissonances inherent in this ‘homecoming’.
Far from the kind of erotica that masquerades as political art, Terayama’s largely uninteresting cult oddity featuring Klaus Kinski is an absurd tale of sadomasochism as a white man forces his mistress to become a prostitute to test her deep love for him.
Containing the hallmarks of great sci-fi fantasy movies, this enthralling but underseen animation from the ‘Fantastic Planet’ director, with art stylings from Mœbius, gives us intergalactic, mind-bending travel, as an urgent rescue crew attempts to reach a boy stranded on a hostile planet.
A beautifully animated French drama that focuses on the nuts and bolts of mountain scaling as a Japanese photojournalist hopes to find historical and existential clarity about the exploits of several mountain climbers.
Visually stunning, contemplative and disruptive, Denis’ brilliant take on toxic masculinity—for men, and by men—revolves around one French Foreign Legion sergeant’s attraction and repulsion towards a new recruit.
Godard’s work goes right into the heart of French youths at odds with politics and sex, locating the mounting angst and ennui as he imbues his freewheeling drama with a serious ‘documentary’ disposition.
Marker’s early documentary is a remarkable gem that constantly surprises with its eclectic approach to observing the world, in this case, Siberian culture, history and its peoples.
Dupieux’s outstanding single-location film works as a sardonic meta-filmic commentary on art and performance as an audience member with a gun takes a theatre show hostage for producing ‘boring work’.
One of 2024’s absolute gems, this rapturous, stunningly-edited Sundance award-winning documentary sets the GOATs of American jazz against the tumultuous political history of Congo’s struggle for independence during the decolonisation phase of the Cold War.
Eternality Tan 