Directed by Ken Russell • 1975 • United Kingdom
Starring Roger Daltrey, Sara Kestelman, Paul Nicholas

Ken Russell’s run of increasingly florid portraits of classical composers reached its delirious—and divisive—apex with this outrageously surreal take on the life of nineteenth-century virtuoso F...

Directed by Ringo Lam • 1997 • Hong Kong
Starring Sean Lau Ching-wan, Francis Ng, Amanda Lee

Director Ringo Lam’s return to the Hong Kong film industry following his short-lived Hollywood sojourn also marked a return to form, showcasing the gritty intensity and unflinching moral complexity that ...

Directed by Alberto Gout • 1950 • Mexico
Starring Ninón Sevilla, Tito Junco, Andrea Palma

A darkly glittering feminist revenge tale played at fever-pitch delirium, this oft-cited pinnacle of the popular Mexican cine de rumberas genre—dizzyingly plotted “fallen women” melodramas studded with show...

Directed by Eric Rohmer • 1983 • France
Starring Amanda Langlet, Arielle Dombasle, Pascal Greggory

The third installment in director Eric Rohmer’s cycle of Comedies and Proverbs unfolds with the languorous air of a summer holiday. Fifteen-year-old Pauline (Amanda Langlet) gets a firsthand look a...

Directed by P. J. Hogan • 1994 • Australia
Starring Toni Collette, Bill Hunter, Rachel Griffiths

The perfect marriage of feel-good comedy and heartfelt drama, MURIEL’S WEDDING is the beloved Australian hit that launched the careers of Toni Collette and Rachel Griffiths and put ABBA back on the c...

Directed by Lars von Trier • 2011 • Denmark, Sweden, France
Starring Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alexander Skarsgård

In this beautiful movie about the end of the world, Justine (Kirsten Dunst, winner of the Best Actress prize at Cannes) and Michael (Alexander Skarsgård) are celebrating ...

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn • 1999 • Denmark
Starring Mads Mikkelsen, Kim Bodnia, Liv Corfixen

On the gritty margins of Copenhagen, two friends drift apart as violence and obsession take hold. Disaffected alcoholic Leo (Kim Bodnia) struggles with a crumbling relationship and growing rage, w...

Directed by Cristi Puiu • 2005 • Romania
Starring Ion Fiscuteanu, Luminița Gheorghiu, Doru Ana

Hailed as one of the defining works of twenty-first-century cinema thus far, Cristi Puiu’s unflinching, darkly comic bureaucratic nightmare heralded the arrival of the Romanian New Wave as a major cine...

Directed by Héctor Babenco • 1977 • Brazil
Starring Reginaldo Faria, Ana Maria Magalhães, Paulo César Peréio

An enormous box-office success in Brazil, Héctor Babenco’s second feature electrified audiences with its gritty, gut-punching evocation of a corrupt world where the line between criminals...

Directed by Hasse Ekman • 1950 • Sweden
Starring Eva Henning, Ulf Palme, Anders Ek

One of the most acclaimed Swedish films of all time (heralded as a masterpiece by no less than Ingmar Bergman), this moody, masterfully crafted psychological mystery unfolds in a tantalizing series of CITIZEN KANE...

Directed by Kira Muratova • 1989 • Ukraine, Soviet Union
Starring Olga Antonova, Sergei Popov, Galina Zakhurdayeva

Widely considered Kira Muratova’s masterpiece, THE ASTHENIC SYNDROME is also Soviet cinema’s grand avant-comic opus, a deconstructive portrait of the nation in the final, frenzied s...

Directed by Tsui Hark • 1986 • Hong Kong
Starring Brigitte Lin, Sally Yeh, Cherie Chung

In the aftermath of China’s first democratic revolution, three high-spirited young women (Brigitte Lin, Cherie Chung, Sally Yeh) from very different backgrounds cross paths on a quest for liberation. Fate fin...

Directed by John Woo • 1990 • Hong Kong
Starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Jacky Cheung, Simon Yam

One of director John Woo’s most ambitious and emotionally charged films, this intense action epic follows the fates of three friends—gangsters Ben (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), Frank (Jacky Cheung), and Paul (...

Directed by John Woo • 1986 • Hong Kong
Starring Ti Lung, Chow Yun-fat, Leslie Cheung

The box-office sensation that established director John Woo as the king of 1980s Hong Kong action cinema and set the standard for the heroic bloodshed genre, this electrifying gangster saga combines the directo...

Directed by Walerian Borowczyk • 1976 • France
Starring Sylvia Kristel, Joe Dallesandro, André Falcon

One of director Walerian Borowczyk’s most haunting and psychologically complex films, LA MARGE (“The Margin”) stars Joe Dallesandro as Sigismond, a happily married businessman who embarks on an...

Directed by Andrzej Żuławski • 1981 • France, West Germany
Starring Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Heinz Bennent

Andrzej Żuławski’s stunningly choreographed nightmare of a marriage unraveling is an experience unlike any other. Professional spy Mark (Sam Neill) returns to his West Berlin home to fin...

Directed by Yuen Woo-ping • 1979 • Hong Kong
Starring Sammo Hung, Kwan Tak-hing, Yuen Biao

Hot on the heels of his blockbuster Jackie Chan hit DRUNKEN MASTER, the legendary martial-arts director Yuen Woo-ping helmed another rollicking star vehicle. This time, rising talent Sammo Hung plays Lam S...

Directed by Bigas Luna • 1993 • Spain, Italy, France
Starring Javier Bardem, Maribel Verdú, Benicio Del Toro

Bigas Luna’s follow-up to his international hit JAMÓN JAMÓN is a deliriously libidinous, scathingly satirical takedown of toxic machismo and capitalist excess. A superbly earthy Javier Ba...

Directed by Jacques Rozier • 1962 • France
Starring Jean-Claude Aimini, Daniel Descamps, Stefania Sabatini

In his bold yet playful feature debut—an overlooked gem of the French New Wave—Jacques Rozier satirizes several major cultural currents of early-sixties France: political myopia, romantic e...

Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien • 2001 • Taiwan
Starring Shu Qi, Jack Kao, Duan Chun-hao

Hou Hsiao-hsien’s neon-splashed reverie is a dreamlike drift through the night world of early-2000s Taipei. From the year 2011, the wayward Vicky (Shu Qi)—a bar hostess caught between a jealously possessive boyf...

Directed by Amir Naderi • 1984 • Iran
Starring Madjid Niroumand, Moussa Torkizadeh, Abbas Nazeri

Childhood takes on mythic dimensions in one of the defining works of postrevolutionary Iranian cinema. Inspired by director Amir Naderi’s own boyhood, THE RUNNER is lit from within by Madjid Nirouman...