‘A Touch of Zen’, directed by King Hu in 1971, is a Hong Kong and Taiwanese wuxia movie. Gu, a mild-mannered rural portrait painter in medieval China, is drawn into a plot of political intrigue and spiritual superheroes. This is a strange, rambling film with wild shifts in tone that, for someone not steeped in…
The Iron Horse (1924)
“Accurate and faithful in every particular of fact and atmosphere is this pictorial history of the building of the first American transcontinental railroad.” ‘The Iron Horse’, directed by John Ford in 1924, is a silent American western movie. The film follows the development and construction of the transcontinental railroad. The focus is on the small…
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
“Every memory has a piece of its artist.” ‘Blade Runner 2049’, directed by Denis Villeneuve in 2017, is an American dystopian science fiction thriller. A sequel to the 1982 movie ‘Blade Runner’, ‘Blade Runner 2049’ takes place thirty years later. A cop, played by Ryan Gosling, has the special responsibility of hunting down and killing…
Five (2003)
‘Five’, directed by Abbas Kiarostami in 2003, is an Iranian conceptual movie. The film contains no dialogue, no characters and no plot. Kiarostami sets a DV camera at five locations, each by the sea, and films for fifteen minutes. The camera is static so the only movement is of the landscape, animals and occasional humans…
Songs from the Second Floor (2000)
“May those who sit down be loved.” ‘Songs from the Second Floor’, directed by Roy Andersson in 2000, is a Swedish comedy focusing on the ever increasingly surreal lives of modern city dwellers. The film is formed by a series of vignettes showing middle aged men in a number of bizarre situations, or normal situations…
Lourdes (2009)
‘Lourdes’, directed by Jessica Hausner in 2009, is a French drama set at the famous site of Catholic pilgrimage. Sylvie Testud plays Christine, a woman with severe multiple sclerosis who is unable to move below the neck. She, along with other afflicted people, is taken on the pilgrimage and cared for by nuns. The film…
The Princess Bride (1987)
“Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” ‘The Princess Bride’, directed by Rob Reiner in 1987, is an American fantasy comedy written by William Goldman and based on the screenwriter’s book. Robin Wright plays buttercup, the bride of the title. Five years before the story proper begins, Buttercup falls…
Hana-bi (1997)
‘Hana-bi’, directed by Takeshi Kitano in 1997, is a Japanese crime drama starring Kitano as Yoshitaka Nishi, a retired detective. Nishi was forced into retirement after a violent incident that lead to the deaths of two of his colleagues and the injury of others. Without a job and struggling to care for this sick wife,…
Jour de fête (1949)
‘Jour de fête’, directed by Jacques Tati in 1949, is a French comedy written, directed and starring the creator of Monsieur Hulot. In this, his directorial debut, Tati plays François, a postman in a small rural village in France. François is bumbling and easily distracted by drink and socialising with his fellow villagers. Inspired by…
I Am Curious (Yellow) (1967)
“Are there any interesting social cases here? People in sleazy flats? People with unpaid dental bills? Drug cases will do, too. I work for “Expressen” the paper with a sting. My paper is planning a conservative victory in the ’68 elections. We’re doing a series on the ten most sordid social welfare cases” ‘I Am…
Cabiria (2014)
“The movie feels old, and by that I mean older than 1914. It feels like a view of ancient times, or at least of those times as imagined a century ago. We are looking into two levels of a time machine. Silent films in general create a reverie state for me; sound films are more…
Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
“I have to make it clear that not even for a moment is there doubt that it is not a technical but a philosophical question. So that the tonal system in question, through researches, has led us inevitably to a test of faith, in which we ask: on what do we base our belief that…
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978)
“In the mind of a true snob there are certain limited criteria to denote the value of human existence. Jimmie’s criteria were: home, hearth, wife, land. Those who possessed these had beatitude unchallengable. Other men had accidental, random life. Nothing better.” ‘The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith’, directed by Fred Schepisi in 1978 and based on…
Blood and Sand (1922)
“Movie stars then were Gods and Goddesses, not mere mortals that walked amongst us, and Rudolph Valentino was, perhaps, the greatest of them all.” ‘Blood and Sand’, directed by Fred Niblo and starring Rudolph Valentino, is an American silent movie drama. Valentino plays Juan Gallardo, a Spaniard who grows up in poverty but becomes a…
Shoeshine (1946)
“In here they feed us, they shelter us, they give us clothes, and they even entertain us. What else could we want? This is paradise!” ‘Shoeshine’, directed by Vittorio De Sica in 1946, is an Italian neorealist movie from the director of ‘Umberto D.’, ‘Bicycle Thieves’ and ‘Two Women’. Rinaldo Smordoni and Franco Interlenghi play…
Syndromes and a Century (2006)
“Instead of depicting life and death dramas of patients in jeopardy, Weerasethakul focuses on herbal cures, reincarnation, the quirky private lives of monks, orchids, romance, holistic healing techniques, and the tranquil beauty of the natural world.” ‘Syndromes and a Century’, directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul in 2006, is a Thai movie that, like the director’s earlier…
Gommorah (2008)
“Everyone I know is either dead or in jail. I want to become a boss. I want to have supermarkets, stores, factories, I want to have women. I want three cars, I want respect when I go into a store, I want to have warehouses all over the world. And then I want to die….
The Black Cat (1934)
“You must be indulgent of Dr. Verdegast’s weakness. He is the unfortunate victim of one of the commoner phobias, but in an extreme form. He has an intense and all-consuming horror of cats.” ‘The Black Cat’, directed by Edgar G. Ulmer in 1934, is an American horror movie starring Béla Lugosi and Boris Karloff. Lugosi…
The Sacrifice (1986)
“I studied philosophy, history of religion, aesthetics. And ended up putting myself in chains. Of my own free will.” ‘The Sacrifice’, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky in 1986, is a Swedish apocalyptic movie and the last by the Russian director. Erland Josephson plays Alexander, a journalist and intellectual who lives in a remote part of Sweden…
Quadrophenia (1979)
“No, Kev, that’s it. Look, I don’t wanna be the same as everybody else. That’s why I’m a Mod, see? I mean, you gotta be somebody, ain’t ya, or you might as well jump in the sea and drown.” ‘Quadrophenia’, directed by Franc Roddam in 1979, is a British drama starring Phil Daniels as a…
Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971)
“Like you gonna have to kinda lay out, stretch out a little while, be real cool. Kinda lay dead. Ol’ Beetle’ll let you know what’s happenin’, what’s goin’ down. You don’t have to worry about nothin’. If you need anything, anything at all, brother, just keep the faith in Beetle, ol’ Beetle goin’ to bring…
Shadows (1959)
“The trouble with you is, you have a case of self-induced hysteria every time you hear the word ‘existentialism’.” ‘Shadows’, directed by John Cassavetes in 1959, is an American movie set amongst the ‘beat generation’ in New York. Three siblings of African-American descent move through the jazz clubs and nightlife of the city. Two are…
Limelight (1952)
“Think of the power that’s in the universe! Turning the Earth. Making the trees grow. Well that’s the same power within you! If you’d only have courage and the will to use it!” ‘Limelight’, written and directed by Charles Chaplin in 1952, is an American comedy drama. Chaplin plays Calvero, an aging stage comedian in…
Princess Mononoke (1997)
“In ancient times, the land lay covered in forests, where, from ages long past, dwelt the spirits of the gods. Back then, man and beast lived in harmony, but as time went by, most of the great forests were destroyed. Those that remained were guarded by gigantic beasts who owed their allegiances to the Great…
My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
First published on We Are Cult on the 21st of August 2017 The BFI are re-releasing My Beautiful Laundrette, a comedy drama from 1985, written by Hanif Kureishi and directed by Stephen Frears. Omar Ali, played by Gordon Warnecke, is a British-Pakistani twenty-year-old living in Battersea. His father, a former journalist and now an alcoholic…
The Longest Day (1962)
“You remember it. Remember every bit of it, ’cause we are on the eve of a day that people are going to talk about long after we are dead and gone.” ‘The Longest Day’, directed by Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Bernhard Wicki, Gerd Oswald and Darryl F. Zanuck in 1962, is an American war movie…
City Lights (1931)
“Children who see them at a certain age don’t notice they’re “silent” but notice only that every frame speaks clearly to them, without all those mysterious words that clutter other films. Then children grow up, and forget this wisdom, but the films wait patiently and are willing to teach us again.” (Roger Ebert) ‘City Lights’,…
The Towering Inferno (1974)
“When there’s a fire, I outrank everybody here. Now, one thing we don’t want is a panic. Now, I could tell them, but you ought to do it. Just make a nice cool announcement to all your guests and tell them the party’s being moved down below the fire floor. Right now.” ‘The Towering Inferno’,…
The Apple (1998)
“Using a real-life family as both actor and subject, Makhmalbaf captures on film a fictional reality of two children first entering society at the age of twelve at the same time that the real-life children were first engaging with the world outside their home.” ‘The Apple’, directed by Samira Makhmalbaf in 1998, is an Iranian…
Okja (2017)
“Fuck off! We’re extremely proud of our achievements. We’re very hardworking business-people. We do deals, and these are the deals we do. This is the tenderloin for the sophisticated restaurants. The Mexicans love the feet. I know. Go figure! We all love the face and the anus, as American as apple pie! Hot dogs. It’s…
Film Ark 