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 Sammo Hung • 1989 • Hong Kong
Starring Sammo Hung, Max Mok Siu-chung, Lau Kar-leung

Rascally pedicab driver Lo Tung (Sammo Hung) yearns for the lovely Ping (Nina Li Chi)—but a dangerous gang boss also has eyes for her. When two of his friends are killed by the gangster’s men, Lo must...

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 Bernardo Bertolucci • 2003 • France, Italy, United Kingdom
Starring Eva Green, Michael Pitt, Louis Garrel

This late-career triumph from Bernardo Bertolucci is an intoxicating homage to love, sex, cinema, and the revolutionary spirit of the 1960s, suffused with the wide-eyed wonder of...

Directed by Soi Cheang • 2015 • Hong Kong, China, Thailand
Starring Tony Jaa, Wu Jing, Simon Yam

A sequel in name only to KILL ZONE, the giddily frenetic KILL ZONE 2 (a.k.a. SPL 2: A TIME FOR CONSEQUENCES) teams action virtuosos Tony Jaa, Wu Jing, and Zhang Jin with Hong Kong megastars Simon Yam...

Directed by Johnnie To • 2012 • China, Hong Kong
Starring Louis Koo, Sun Honglei, Huang Yi

Manufacturing just fifty grams of meth in China will earn you a death sentence. Timmy Choi (Louis Koo) just got caught making tons. Now he’s in the custody of Captain Zhang (Sun Honglei) and has one chance...

Directed by Johnnie To • 2004 • Hong Kong
Starring Nick Cheung Ka-fai, Richie Jen, Kelly Chen

Opening with a dazzling, seven-minute-long tracking shot and never letting up from there, this typically dynamic action thriller from director Johnnie To explores the gulf between the truth and what the...

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...

Directed by Diao Yinan • 2014 • China
Starring Liao Fan, Gwei Lun-mei, Wang Xuebing

Bone-deep disillusionment and startling moments of visual invention suffuse this noir immersion into the seedy underbelly of contemporary Chinese society, winner of the Golden Bear at the 2014 Berlin Film Festiva...

Directed by Đặng Nhật Minh • 1984 • Vietnam
Starring Lê Vân, Nguyen Hữu Mười, Nguyễn Minh Vương

Widely regarded as one of the greatest Vietnamese films ever made, this deeply moving exploration of grief and trauma centers on Duyên (Lê Vân), a young woman whose husband is killed in Vietnam’s post...

Directed by Lee Chang-dong • 2018 • South Korea, Japan
Starring Steven Yeun, Ah-in Yoo, Jong-seo Jun

Based on a short story by Haruki Murakami, this internationally acclaimed psychological drama from Lee Chang-dong is the searing examination of an alienated young man, Jongsu (Ah-in Yoo), a frust...

Directed by David Schickele • 1971 • United States
Starring Paul Eyam Nzie Okpokam, Elaine Featherstone, James Earl Garrison

When Paul Okpokam arrived in the U.S. in 1968, David Schickele decided to make a film about his Nigerian friend’s experience of coming to teach at San Francisco State Coll...

Directed by Med Hondo • 1979 • Algeria, Mauritania, France
Starring Robert Liensol, Roland Bertin, Hélène Vincent

Mauritanian French director Med Hondo’s staggering WEST INDIES: THE FUGITIVE SLAVES OF LIBERTY is a sui generis amalgam of historical epic, Broadway revue, Brechtian theater, and joy...

Directed by Jacques Audiard • 2005 • France
Starring Romain Duris, Niels Arestrup, Jonathan Zaccaï

A riveting character study in the guise of a gritty underworld thriller, Jacques Audiard’s international breakthrough features an explosive performance from Romain Duris as a real-estate broker tor...

Directed by Catherine Breillat • 2004 • France
Starring Amira Casar, Rocco Siffredi

After attempting suicide, a young woman (Amira Casar) makes a startling proposition to the man (Rocco Siffredi) who rescued her: she will pay him to watch her naked body over the course of four nights as long as ...

Directed by Catherine Breillat • 1976 • France
Starring Charlotte Alexandra, Hiram Keller, Rita Maiden

Filmed in 1976 but not released until 2000, A REAL YOUNG GIRL is Catherine Breillat’s taboo-busting directorial debut and one of the boldest explorations of female sexuality ever committed to c...

Directed by Vittorio De Sica • 1964 • Italy, France
Starring Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Aldo Puglisi

Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren cemented their status as one of the all-time great screen couples in Vittorio De Sica’s classic battle-of-the-sexes farce. He’s Domenico, a suave, b...

Directed by Emilio Fernández • 1951 • Mexico
Starring Ninón Sevilla, Tito Junco, Rodolfo Acosta

A treasure of Mexico’s cinematic golden age, this deliriously plotted blend of gritty crime film, heart-tugging maternal melodrama, and mambo musical is a dazzling showcase for iconic star Ninón Sevi...

Directed by Youssef Chahine • 1969 • Egypt
Starring Mahmoud el-Meliguy, Ezzat el-Alaili, Nagwa Ibrahim

Adapted from a classic novel by Abd al-Rahman Sharqawi, this howl of rage against social injustice is one of director Youssef Chahine’s most influential works, crowned by a career-best perform...