One of the greatest films of all time, Spielberg’s masterstroke was projecting narrative uncertainties against an acute sense of historical certainty that was the Holocaust, resulting in a work that is harrowingly tense but also imbued with moments of cathartic empathy.
Remarkably crafted and told refreshingly in a non-linear way, Guadagnino transforms tennis into a three-way psychological match in hell, where romantic entanglements serve up ‘underhands’ and ‘double-dealings’ that take morally contentious turns.
Probably Fincher’s zeitgeistiest film, this initially misunderstood but now modern classic traverses effortlessly between popular and cult realms as its unflinching takedown of capitalism and consumerism is marked by a thick, poisoned air of existential malaise.
Scorsese’s criminally ignored work based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is exquisite and expressive, as the psychological violence of complicated romances and illicit affairs threaten to implode in the cloistered high society of New York’s ‘Gilded Age’.
The film that solidified Jack Nicholson as a leading star as this New Hollywood classic about alienation follows an empty shell of a man who decides to visit his estranged ailing father while trapped in a loveless relationship with his girlfriend.
Garland’s sometimes tonally suspect fourth feature isn’t as sharp or clear-eyed as it set out to be, but it is technically strong and works as a cautionary tale as journalists attempt to chronicle the chaos and violence that come from an imploding America.
Cronenberg mixes the weird with the normal in this anti-Hollywood satire that is biting but doesn’t quite touch the clouds.
Franco’s work features nuanced and quietly affecting performances from Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard, as it explores the unlikely encounter between a man suffering from the onset of memory loss and a woman with unresolved trauma.
A Chinese conglomerate sets up shop in a vacant factory plant in Ohio, transforming livelihoods but also creating cultural and social tensions in this well-made if not particularly memorable Oscar-winning documentary.
Bogdanovich’s best-known work and one of New Hollywood’s most elegiac films, this is a deeply felt early ‘50s portrait of a dusty old Texan town fading away along with its downtrodden characters.
Eternality Tan 