100 Essential Criterion Collection Films

Critics Consensus: Inventive, thought-provoking, and funny, 8 1/2 represents the arguable peak of Federico Fellini's many towering feats of cinema.

Synopsis: Troubled Italian filmmaker Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni) struggles with creative stasis as he attempts to get a new movie off the ground. Overwhelmed by his... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimée, Sandra Milo

Directed By: Federico Fellini

Critics Consensus: A seminal French New Wave film that offers an honest, sympathetic, and wholly heartbreaking observation of adolescence without trite nostalgia.

Synopsis: For young Parisian boy Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud), life is one difficult situation after another. Surrounded by inconsiderate adults, including his neglectful parents (Claire Maurier,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claire Maurier, Albert Remy, Guy Decomble

Directed By: François Truffaut

Critics Consensus: Regarded as one of the high-water marks in German New Wave cinema of the 1970s, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is at once an intense portrayal of a relationship and a tribute to one of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's film heroes, Douglas Sirk.

Synopsis: Emmi Kurowski (Brigitte Mira), a cleaning lady, is lonely in her old age. Her husband died years ago, and her grown children offer little companionship.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Brigitte Mira, El Hedi ben Salem, Barbara Valentin, Irm Hermann

Directed By: Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Critics Consensus: Capturing the here and now of modern India with the spontaneity of a candid photograph, All We Imagine as Light is a lustrous achievement that announces Payal Kapadia as an essential filmmaker.

Synopsis: The light, the lives, and the textures of contemporary, working-class Mumbai are explored and celebrated by writer/director Payal Kapadia, who won the Grand Prize at... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam, Hridhu Haroon

Directed By: Payal Kapadia

Critics Consensus: Ribald, sweet, and sentimental, Amarcord is a larger-than-life journey through a seaside village and its colorful citizens.

Synopsis: In an Italian seaside town, young Titta gets into trouble with his friends and watches various local eccentrics as they engage in often absurd behavior.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Magali Noël, Bruno Zanin, Pupella Maggio, Armando Brancia

Directed By: Federico Fellini

Critics Consensus: Andrei Rublev is a cerebral epic that filters challenging ideas through a grand scope -- forming a moving thesis on art, faith, and the sweep of history.

Synopsis: An expansive Russian drama, this film focuses on the life of revered religious icon painter Andrei Rublev. Drifting from place to place in a tumultuous... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Ivan Lapikov, Nikolay Grinko, Nikolaj Sergeev

Directed By: Andrei Tarkovsky

Critics Consensus: Originally made in 1969, this recently reissued classic is a masterful examination of the inner workings of the World War II resistance efforts.

Synopsis: This adaptation of the book by Joseph Kessel paints an understated, unglamorous portrait of the French Resistance during World War II. Betrayed by an informant,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Paul Crauchet

Directed By: Jean-Pierre Melville

Critics Consensus: Au Hasard Balthazar uses one animal's lifelong journey to trace a soberly compelling -- and ultimately heartbreaking -- outline of the human experience.

Synopsis: This thoughtful and unique French film reveals the surprisingly deep connection between Marie, a sensitive farm girl, and her cherished donkey, Balthazar. Though Marie and... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Anne Wiazemsky, François Lafarge, Philippe Asselin, Nathalie Joyaut

Directed By: Robert Bresson

Critics Consensus: Louis Malle's autobiographical tale of a childhood spent in a WWII boarding school is a beautifully realized portrait of friendship and youth.

Synopsis: In 1943, Julien (Gaspard Manesse) is a student at a French boarding school. When three new students arrive, including Jean Bonnett (Raphael Fejto), Julien believes... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejto, Francine Racette, Stanislas Carré de Malberg

Directed By: Louis Malle

Critics Consensus: A documentary-like depiction of a nation's real-life efforts to expel a colonizing force, The Battle of Algiers puts viewers on the front lines with gripping realism.

Synopsis: Paratrooper commander Colonel Mathieu (Jean Martin), a former French Resistance fighter during World War II, is sent to 1950s Algeria to reinforce efforts to squelch... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi, Brahim Haggiag, Tommaso Neri

Directed By: Gillo Pontecorvo

Critics Consensus: With its magical optical effects and enchanting performances, Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast remains the most surreal -- and soulful -- of the fairy tale's film adaptations.

Synopsis: The story of a gentlehearted beast in love with a simple and beautiful girl. She is drawn to the repellent but strangely fascinating Beast, who... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jean Marais, Josette Day, Mila Parély, Nane Germon

Directed By: Jean Cocteau

Critics Consensus: The radiantly filmed Belle de Jour entrances even as it resists easy interpretations.

Synopsis: Beautiful young housewife Séverine Serizy (Catherine Deneuve) cannot reconcile her masochistic fantasies with her everyday life alongside dutiful husband Pierre (Jean Sorel). When her lovestruck... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, Michel Piccoli, Macha Méril

Directed By: Luis Buñuel

Critics Consensus: An Italian neorealism exemplar, Bicycle Thieves thrives on its non-flashy performances and searing emotion.

Synopsis: Unemployed Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani) is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. His wife, Maria (Lianella Carell), sells the family's... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Lamberto Maggiorani, Lianella Carell, Enzo Staiola, Elena Altieri

Directed By: Vittorio De Sica

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A group of Anglican nuns, led by Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr), are sent to a mountain in the Himalayas. The climate in the region is... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Deborah Kerr, Sabu, David Farrar, Flora Robson

Directed By: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

Critics Consensus: Colorful, atmospheric, and infections, Black Orpheus takes an ancient tale and makes it fresh anew, thanks in part to its bewitching bossa nova soundtrack.

Synopsis: Young lovers Orfeu (Breno Mello) and Eurydice (Marpessa Dawn) run through the favelas of Rio during Carnaval, on the lam from a hitman dressed like... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Breno Mello, Marpessa Dawn, Lourdes de Oliveira, Léa Garcia

Directed By: Marcel Camus

Critics Consensus: Brutally violent and shockingly funny in equal measure, Blood Simple offers early evidence of the Coen brothers' twisted sensibilities and filmmaking ingenuity.

Synopsis: "Blood Simple" was the first feature film from Joel and Ethan Coen. This is the newly restored and re-edited director's cut of the film, introduced... View Full Synopsis

Starring: John Getz, Frances McDormand, M. Emmet Walsh, Dan Hedaya

Directed By: Joel Coen

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: After botching his latest assignment, a third-ranked Japanese hit man becomes the target of another assassin.

Starring: Jo Shishido, Mariko Ogawa, Mari Annu, Kôji Nanbara

Directed By: Seijun Suzuki

Critics Consensus: Breaking the Waves offers a remarkable testament to writer-director Lars von Trier's insight and filmmaking skill -- and announces Emily Watson as a startling talent.

Synopsis: In a small and religious coastal town, a simple, devoutly religious Scottish woman, Bess McNeill (Emily Watson), finds a partner in an oil rig worker... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Emily Watson, Stellan Skarsgård, Katrin Cartlidge, Jean-Marc Barr

Directed By: Lars von Trier

Critics Consensus: Breathless rewrote the rules of cinema -- and more than 50 years after its arrival, Jean-Luc Godard's paradigm-shifting classic remains every bit as vital.

Synopsis: Petty thug Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) considers himself a suave bad guy in the manner of Humphrey Bogart, but panics and impulsively kills a policeman while... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Daniel Boulanger, Jean-Pierre Melville

Directed By: Jean-Luc Godard

Critics Consensus: Brief Encounter adds a small but valuable gem to the Lean filmography, depicting a doomed couple's illicit connection with affecting sensitivity and a pair of powerful performance.

Synopsis: Returning home from a shopping trip to a nearby town, bored suburban housewife Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) is thrown by happenstance into an acquaintance with... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Cyril Raymond

Directed By: David Lean

Critics Consensus: A fantastic cinematic and artistic achievement, Edward Yang's A Brighter Summer Day depicts youth, ideals, violence and politics in a melancholic, tender light, culminating in a complex portrait of Taiwanese identity.

Synopsis: A boy experiences first love, friendships and injustices growing up in the 1960s Taiwan.

Starring: Kuo-Chu Chang, Elaine Jin, Chang Chen, Han Chang

Directed By: Edward Yang

Critics Consensus: Carnival of Souls offers delightfully chilling proof that when it comes to telling an effective horror story, less can often be much, much more.

Synopsis: Mary Henry ends up the sole survivor of a fatal car accident through mysterious circumstances. Trying to put the incident behind her, she moves to... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Candace Hilligoss, Frances Feist, Sidney Berger, Stan Levitt

Directed By: Herk Harvey

Critics Consensus: Even if all it had to offer were writer-director Wong Kar-wai's thrillingly distinctive visuals, Chungking Express would be well worth watching; happily, its thoughtfully drawn characters and naturalistic performances also pack a potent dramatic wallop.

Synopsis: Every day, Cop 223 (Takeshi Kaneshiro) buys a can of pineapple with an expiration date of May 1, symbolizing the day he'll get over his... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Brigitte Lin, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Faye Wong

Directed By: Kar-Wai Wong

Critics Consensus: One of the best underdog romance movies ever, with an ending that will light up any heart.

Synopsis: A hapless but resilient tramp (Charlie Chaplin) falls in love with a blind flower girl (Virginia Cherrill) on the tough city streets. Upon learning that... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Harry Myers, Hank Mann

Directed By: Charlie Chaplin

Critics Consensus: Cleo from 5 to 7 represents a beautifully filmed highlight of the French New Wave that encapsulates the appeal of the era while departing from its narrative conventions.

Synopsis: Selfish pop singer Cléo (Corinne Marchand) has two hours to wait until the results of her biopsy come back. After an ominous tarot card reading,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Corinne Marchand, Antoine Bourseiller, Dorothée Blanck, Michel Legrand

Directed By: Agnès Varda

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: In a small town still occupied by the Germans as World War II's tide is turning toward the Allies, apprentice train-watcher Milos is oblivious to... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Václav Neckár, Jitka Bendová, Vladimir Valenta, Josef Somr

Directed By: Jirí Menzel

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: This avant-garde film depicts the life of revered the 18th-century Armenian poet and musician Sayat-Nova (Vilen Galstyan). Portraying events in the life of the artist... View Full Synopsis

Starring: M. Aleksanian, Vilen Galstyan, Georgi Gegechkory, Onik Minasyan

Directed By: Sergey Paradzhanov

Critics Consensus: As effectively anti-war as movies can be, Come and See is a harrowing odyssey through the worst that humanity is capable of, directed with bravura intensity by Elem Klimov.

Synopsis: The invasion of a village in Byelorussia by German forces sends young Florya (Aleksey Kravchenko) into the forest to join the weary Resistance fighters, against... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius, Vladas Bagdonas

Directed By: Elem Klimov

Critics Consensus: Guillermo del Toro's unique feature debut is not only gory and stylish, but also charming and intelligent.

Synopsis: Antique dealer Jesus Gris (Federico Luppi) stumbles across Cronos, a 400-year-old scarab that, when it latches onto him, grants him youth and eternal life --... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Federico Luppi, Ron Perlman, Claudio Brook, Margarita Isabel

Directed By: Guillermo del Toro

Critics Consensus: Mesmerizing and psychologically intriguing.

Synopsis: "Cure" is part atmospheric crime film and part philosophical meditation. Detective Takabe (Koji Yakusho) is tracking a series of identical murders, committed under the same... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Kôji Yakusho, Tsuyoshi Ujiki, Anna Nakagawa, Masato Hagiwara

Directed By: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Critics Consensus: Cruel, dark, but undeniably effective, Diabolique is a suspense thriller as effective as Hitchcock's best work and with a brilliant twist ending.

Synopsis: In this classic of French suspense, the cruel and abusive headmaster of a boarding school, Michel Delassalle, becomes the target of a murder plot hatched... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot, Paul Meurisse, Charles Vanel

Directed By: Henri-Georges Clouzot

Critics Consensus: Funny, original, and thoroughly cinematic, Down by Law represents writer-director Jim Jarmusch at his most ingratiating and evocative.

Synopsis: A disc jockey (Tom Waits), a pimp (John Lurie) and an Italian tourist (Roberto Benigni) escape from jail in New Orleans.

Starring: Tom Waits, John Lurie, Roberto Benigni, Ellen Barkin

Directed By: Jim Jarmusch

Critics Consensus: Drive My Car's imposing runtime holds a rich, patiently engrossing drama that reckons with self-acceptance and regret.

Synopsis: Two years after his wife's unexpected death, Yusuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima), a renowned stage actor and director, receives an offer to direct a production of... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Hidetoshi Nishijima, Toko Miura, Reika Kirishima, Yoo-rim Park

Directed By: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

Critics Consensus: Louis Malle's hypnotic debut is a noir with genuine soul, infusing its tale of best laid plans gone awry with wistful performances, swooning cinematography, and a sultry soundtrack.

Synopsis: Restless femme fatale Florence Carala (Jeanne Moreau) recruits her lover, Julien Tavernier (Maurice Ronet), to murder her wealthy husband, Simon (Jean Wall), in his office... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet, Jean Wall, Georges Poujouly

Directed By: Louis Malle

Critics Consensus: David Lynch's surreal Eraserhead uses detailed visuals and a creepy score to create a bizarre and disturbing look into a man's fear of parenthood.

Synopsis: Henry (John Nance) resides alone in a bleak apartment surrounded by industrial gloom. When he discovers that an earlier fling with Mary X (Charlotte Stewart)... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Allen Joseph, Jeanne Bates

Directed By: David Lynch

Critics Consensus: A horrific tale of guilt and obsession, Eyes Without a Face is just as chilling and poetic today as it was when it was first released.

Synopsis: Dr. Génessier (Pierre Brasseur) is riddled with guilt after an accident that he caused disfigures the face of his daughter, the once beautiful Christiane (Edith... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Pierre Brasseur, Alida Valli, Edith Scob, Juliette Mayniel

Directed By: Georges Franju

Critics Consensus: F for Fake playfully poses intriguing questions while proving that even Orson Welles' minor works contain their share of masterful moments.

Synopsis: Orson Welles' final film documents the lives of infamous fakers Elmyr de Hory and Clifford Irving. De Hory, who later committed suicide to avoid more... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Orson Welles, Oja Kodar, Joseph Cotten, Francois Reichenbach

Directed By: Orson Welles

Critics Consensus: Ingmar Bergman conveys the sweep of childhood with a fastidious attention to detail and sumptuous insight into human frailty in Fanny & Alexander, a masterwork that crystalizes many of the directors' preoccupations into a familial epic.

Synopsis: As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny and Alexander enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. After their father... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Pernilla Allwin, Bertil Guve, Erland Josephson, Gunn Wållgren

Directed By: Ingmar Bergman

Critics Consensus: Fantastic Planet is an animated epic that is by turns surreal and lovely, fantastic and graceful.

Synopsis: This animated tale follows the relationship between the small human-like Oms and their much larger blue-skinned oppressors, the Draags, who rule the planet of Ygam.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Barry Bostwick, Mark Gruner, Marvin Miller, Hal Smith

Directed By: René Laloux

Critics Consensus: Floating Weeds boasts the visual beauty and deep tenderness of director Yasujiro Ozu's most memorable films -- and it's one of the few the master shot in color.

Synopsis: The leader (Ganjirô Nakamura) of a traveling acting troupe meets his former mistress (Haruko Sugimura) and their illegitimate son (Hiroshi Kawaguchi).

Starring: Ganjirô Nakamura, Haruko Sugimura, Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Machiko Kyō

Directed By: Yasujirô Ozu

Critics Consensus: Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent features a winning combination of international intrigue, comic relief, and some of the legendary director's most memorable set pieces.

Synopsis: Crime reporter John Jones (Joel McCrea) is turning in nothing but dull copy. His editor, unhappy with his work, hopes a change of scenery will... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall, George Sanders

Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock

Critics Consensus: More than straight monster-movie fare, Gojira offers potent, sobering postwar commentary.

Synopsis: A fire-breathing behemoth terrorizes Japan after an atomic bomb awakens it from its centuries-old sleep.

Starring: Takashi Shimura, Momoko Kochi, Akira Takarada, Akihiko Hirata

Directed By: Ishirô Honda

Critics Consensus: A Hard Day's Night, despite its age, is still a delight to watch and has proven itself to be a rock-and-roll movie classic.

Synopsis: The Beatles in their feature film debut, one of the greatest rock-and-roll comedy adventures ever. The film has a fully restored negative and digitally restored... View Full Synopsis

Starring: The Beatles, Wilfrid Brambell, Norman Rossington, John Junkin

Directed By: Richard Lester

Critics Consensus: House is a gleefully demented collage of grand guginol guffaws and bizarre sequences.

Synopsis: In an effort to avoid spending time with her father and his creepy new lover, young Gorgeous (Kimiko Ikegami) resolves to visit her aunt's remote... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Kimiko Ikegami, Ai Matsubara, Miki Jinbo, Eriko Tanaka

Directed By: Nobuhiko Ôbayashi

Critics Consensus: Visually absorbing and formally audacious, I Am Cuba (Soy Cuba) opens a long-buried time capsule that has lost none of its captivating power.

Synopsis: A study in contrasts set in and around Havana that explores Cuba's 1959 revolution. A young woman's fascination with the excess of an American-owned casino... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Luz María Collazo, Jean Bouise, Sergio Corrieri, José Gallardo

Directed By: Mikhail Kalatozov

Critics Consensus: Ikiru is a well-acted and deeply moving humanist tale about a man facing his own mortality, one of legendary director Akira Kurosawa's most intimate films.

Synopsis: Mr. Watanabe suddenly finds that he has terminal cancer. He vows to make his final days meaningful. His attempts to communicate his anguish to his... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Takashi Shimura, Miki Odagiri, Kyôko Seki

Directed By: Akira Kurosawa

Critics Consensus: Francois Truffaut's arguable masterpiece in a filmography full of masterpieces ready to be argued for, Jules and Jim is an eternal ode to boundless love.

Synopsis: In the carefree days before World War I, introverted Austrian author Jules (Oskar Werner) strikes up a friendship with the exuberant Frenchman Jim (Henri Serre).... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jeanne Moreau, Oskar Werner, Henri Serre, Marie Dubois

Directed By: François Truffaut

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: On their way to an afternoon on the lake, husband and wife Andrzej (Leon Niemczyk) and Krystyna (Jolanta Umecka) nearly run over a young hitchhiker... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Leon Niemczyk, Jolanta Umecka, Zygmunt Malanowicz

Directed By: Roman Polanski

Critics Consensus: Exquisitely designed and fastidiously ornate, Masaki Kobayashi's ambitious anthology operates less as a frightening example of horror and more as a meditative tribute to Japanese folklore.

Synopsis: Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai (Rentarô Mikuni) marries for money... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Rentarô Mikuni, Michiyo Aratama, Tetsurô Tanba, Katsuo Nakamura

Directed By: Masaki Kobayashi

Critics Consensus: L'Avventura marks a bewitchingly ambiguous milestone in Antonioni's career -- and European cinema in general.

Synopsis: In Michelangelo Antonioni's classic of Italian cinema, two lovely young women, Claudia (Monica Vitti) and Anna (Léa Massari), join the latter's lover, Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti),... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Monica Vitti, Gabriele Ferzetti, Lea Massari, Dominique Blanchar

Directed By: Michelangelo Antonioni

Critics Consensus: Hard-hitting and breathtakingly effective, La Haine takes an uncompromising look at long-festering social and economic divisions affecting 1990s Paris.

Synopsis: When a young Arab is arrested and beaten unconscious by police, a riot erupts in the notoriously violent suburbs outside of Paris. Three of the... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé, Said Taghmaoui, Abdel Ahmed Ghili

Directed By: Mathieu Kassovitz

Critics Consensus: Giulietta Masina and Anthony Quinn's pitiable pair of outsiders provide a poignant contrast between gentleness and might in Federico Fellini's unforgettable parable.

Synopsis: When Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina), a naïve young woman, is purchased from her impoverished mother by brutish circus strongman Zampanò (Anthony Quinn) to be his wife... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Anthony Quinn, Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart, Aldo Silvani

Directed By: Federico Fellini

Critics Consensus: One of Alfred Hitchcock's last British films, this glamorous thriller provides an early glimpse of the director at his most stylishly entertaining.

Synopsis: On a train headed for England a group of travelers is delayed by an avalanche. Holed up in a hotel in a fictional European country,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Dame May Whitty, Paul Lukas

Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Noriko (Setsuko Hara) is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi (Chishû Ryû), and has no plans to marry -- that is,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Setsuko Hara, Chishu Ryu, Haruko Sugimura, Jun Usami

Directed By: Yasujirô Ozu

Critics Consensus: Le Samouraï makes the most of its spare aesthetic, using stylish -- and influential -- direction, solid performances, and thick atmosphere to weave an absorbing story.

Synopsis: Hit man Jef Costello (Alain Delon) goes through an elaborate set of rituals before carrying out a hit on a nightclub owner. Always thorough and... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Alain Delon, Nathalie Delon, François Perier, Cathy Rosier

Directed By: Jean-Pierre Melville

Critics Consensus: Bob Hoskins commands a deviously sinister performance in The Long Good Friday -- a gangster flick with ferocious intelligence, tight plotting and razor-edged thrills.

Synopsis: In the late 1970s, Cockney crime boss Harold Shand (Bob Hoskins), a gangster trying to become a legitimate property mogul, has big plans to get... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, Eddie Constantine, Dave King

Directed By: John Mackenzie

Critics Consensus: A landmark psychological thriller with arresting images, deep thoughts on modern society, and Peter Lorre in his finest performance.

Synopsis: In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. Beckert's heinous... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut, Otto Wernicke

Directed By: Fritz Lang

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: The activities of rampaging, indiscriminate serial killer Ben (Benoît Poelvoorde) are recorded by a willingly complicit documentary team, who eventually become his accomplices and active... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Benoît Poelvoorde, Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Jean-Marc Chenut

Directed By: Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel

Critics Consensus: A Man Escaped is blockbuster Bresson, a well-acted POW drama that builds with subtle, seat-gripping tension.

Synopsis: In a film based on the writings of French Resistance fighter and POW André Devigny, Fontaine (François Leterrier) is being held by the Nazis at... View Full Synopsis

Starring: François Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche, Maurice Beerblock, Roland Monod

Directed By: Robert Bresson

Critics Consensus: Sarita Choudhury and Denzel Washington's romantic chemistry lights up the screen in Mississippi Masala, Mira Nair's observant and sexy tale of cultures clashing.

Synopsis: The vibrant cultures of India, Uganda, and the American South are blended and simmered into a rich and fragrant fusion feast in Mira Nair's luminous... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Denzel Washington, Sarita Choudhury, Roshan Seth, Sharmila Tagore

Directed By: Mira Nair

Critics Consensus: A slapstick skewering of industrialized America, Modern Times is as politically incisive as it is laugh-out-loud hilarious.

Synopsis: This comedic masterpiece finds the iconic Little Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) employed at a state-of-the-art factory where the inescapable machinery completely overwhelms him, and where various... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman, Tiny Sandford

Directed By: Charlie Chaplin

Critics Consensus: David Lynch's dreamlike and mysterious Mulholland Drive is a twisty neo-noir with an unconventional structure that features a mesmerizing performance from Naomi Watts as a woman on the dark fringes of Hollywood.

Synopsis: A dark-haired woman (Laura Elena Harring) is left amnesiac after a car crash. She wanders the streets of Los Angeles in a daze before taking... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Justin Theroux, Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Ann Miller

Directed By: David Lynch

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: The Cavalcade of Perversion, a traveling freak-show, is a front for a band of psychotic kidnappers and murderers.

Starring: Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole

Directed By: John Waters

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Old friends Wallace (Wallace Shawn) and Andre (Andre Gregory) haven't seen each another in five years and agree to meet for dinner. Andre, a once... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Wallace Shawn, Andre Gregory, Jean Lenauer

Directed By: Louis Malle

Critics Consensus: A coming-of-age story with uncommon depth and sensitivity, My Life as a Dog is sweet, sincere, and utterly charming.

Synopsis: A boy (Anton Glanzelius), obsessed with comparing himself with those less fortunate, experiences a different life at the home of his aunt and uncle (Tomas... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Anton Glanzelius, Tomas von Brömssen, Melinda Kinnaman, Anki Lidén

Directed By: Lasse Hallström

Critics Consensus: George A. Romero's debut set the template for the zombie film, and features tight editing, realistic gore, and a sly political undercurrent.

Synopsis: A ragtag group of Pennsylvanians barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls that are ravaging the United... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman, Keith Wayne

Directed By: George A. Romero

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: The sinking of the Titanic is presented in a highly realistic fashion in this tense British drama. The disaster is portrayed largely from the perspective... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Kenneth More, David McCallum, Honor Blackman, Jill Dixon

Directed By: Roy Ward Baker

Critics Consensus: The Others is a spooky thriller that reminds us that a movie doesn't need expensive special effects to be creepy.

Synopsis: Grace (Nicole Kidman), the devoutly religious mother of Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley), moves her family to the English coast during World War... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Christopher Eccleston, Alakina Mann, James Bentley

Directed By: Alejandro Amenábar

Critics Consensus: Marked by GW Pabst's innovative, atmospheric direction and a surprisingly modern storyline, Pandora's Box ultimately owes its power to Louise Brooks' monumental, iconic performance.

Synopsis: In this acclaimed German silent film, Lulu (Louise Brooks) is a young woman so beautiful and alluring that few can resist her siren charms. The... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Francis Lederer, Carl Goetz

Directed By: Georg Wilhelm Pabst

Critics Consensus: A quiet yet deeply moving kind of Western, Paris, Texas captures a place and people like never before (or after).

Synopsis: A disheveled man who wanders out of the desert, Travis Henderson (Harry Dean Stanton) seems to have no idea who he is. When a stranger... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, Dean Stockwell, Aurore Clément

Directed By: Wim Wenders

Critics Consensus: The Passion of Joan of Arc is must-see cinema for Renée Maria Falconetti's incredible performance alone -- and an all-time classic for innumerable other reasons.

Synopsis: Spiritual rapture and institutional hypocrisy come to stark, vivid life in one of the most transcendent masterpieces of the silent era. Chronicling the trial of... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Maria Falconetti, Eugene Silvain, André Berley, Maurice Schultz

Directed By: Carl Theodor Dreyer

Critics Consensus: A film that requires and rewards patience in equal measure, Pather Panchali finds director Satyajit Ray delivering a classic with his debut.

Synopsis: Impoverished priest Harihar Ray, dreaming of a better life for himself and his family, leaves his rural Bengal village in search of work. Alone, his... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Kanu Bannerjee, Karuna Bannerjee, Subir Bannerjee, Runki Banerjee

Directed By: Satyajit Ray

Critics Consensus: Visually mesmerizing, Picnic at Hanging Rock is moody, unsettling, and enigmatic -- a masterpiece of Australian cinema and a major early triumph for director Peter Weir.

Synopsis: In the early 1900s, Miranda (Anne Lambert) attends a girls boarding school in Australia. One Valentine's Day, the school's typically strict headmistress (Rachel Roberts) treats... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Rachel Roberts, Dominic Guard, Helen Morse, Jacki Weaver

Directed By: Peter Weir

Critics Consensus: Bitingly cynical without succumbing to bitterness, The Player is one of the all-time great Hollywood satires -- and an ensemble-driven highlight of the Altman oeuvre.

Synopsis: Certain that the anonymous threats he's been receiving are the work of David Kahane (Vincent D'Onofrio), producer Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) tries to fix things... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward, Whoopi Goldberg

Directed By: Robert Altman

Critics Consensus: A remarkable achievement, Playtime's packs every scene with sight gags and characters that both celebrates and satirizes the urbanization of modern life.

Synopsis: Clumsy Monsieur Hulot finds himself perplexed by the intimidating complexity of a gadget-filled Paris. He attempts to meet with a business contact but soon becomes... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jacques Tati, Barbara Dennek, Jacqueline Lecomte, Valérie Camille

Directed By: Jacques Tati

Critics Consensus: Blending brilliant physical comedy with thrillingly choreographed set pieces, Police Story makes a persuasive case for Jackie Chan as one of the all-time genre greats.

Synopsis: A kung-fu policeman (Jackie Chan) must protect a female witness (Brigitte Lin) from a Hong Kong drug lord for whom she used to work.

Starring: Jackie Chan, Brigitte Lin, Maggie Cheung, Bill Tung

Directed By: Jackie Chan, Chen Chi-Hwa

Critics Consensus: One of legendary director Akira Kurosawa's most acclaimed films, Rashomon features an innovative narrative structure, brilliant acting, and a thoughtful exploration of reality versus perception.

Synopsis: Brimming with action while incisively examining the nature of truth, "Rashomon" is perhaps the finest film ever to investigate the philosophy of justice. Through an... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Takashi Shimura, Masayuki Mori

Directed By: Akira Kurosawa

Critics Consensus: Melville is at the top of his game, giving us his next-to-last entry into the world of deception, crime, and extreme suspense that made him a maestro of the French heist genre.

Synopsis: When French criminal Corey (Alain Delon) gets released from prison, he resolves to never return. He is quickly pulled back into the underworld, however, after... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Yves Montand, Alain Delon, Bourvil, Gian Maria Volonté

Directed By: Jean-Pierre Melville

Critics Consensus: The Red Shoes is one of the best-looking movies ever, and blends multiple moods and styles with balletic grace.

Synopsis: In this classic drama, Vicky Page (Moira Shearer) is an aspiring ballerina torn between her dedication to dance and her desire to love. While her... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring, Robert Helpmann

Directed By: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

Critics Consensus: Open City fills in the familiar contours of its storyline with three-dimensional characters and a narrative depth that add up to a towering -- and still powerfully resonant -- cinematic achievement.

Synopsis: Rome, 1944. Giorgio Manfredi, one of the leaders of the Resistance is tracked down by the Nazis. He goes to his friend Francesco's, and asks... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani, Marcello Pagliero, Maria Michi

Directed By: Roberto Rossellini

Critics Consensus: The hard edges of E.M. Foster novel maybe sanded off, but what we get with A Room with a View is an eminently entertaining comedy with an intellectual approach to love.

Synopsis: In this British drama based on the novel by E.M. Forster, Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham-Carter), a young Englishwoman, is touring Italy with her older cousin... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Helena Bonham Carter, Maggie Smith, Julian Sands, Denholm Elliott

Directed By: James Ivory

Critics Consensus: Its genius escaped many viewers at the time, but in retrospect, The Rules of the Game stands as one of Jean Renoir's -- and cinema's -- finest works.

Synopsis: André is having an affair with Christine, whose husband Robert is himself hiding a mistress. Christine's married maid is romantically entangled with the local poacher.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Marcel Dalio, Nora Gregor, Mila Parély, Roland Toutain

Directed By: Jean Renoir

Critics Consensus: Scanners is a dark sci-fi story with special effects that'll make your head explode.

Synopsis: Scanners are men and women born with incredible telepathic and telekinetic powers. There are many who exercise the benefits of their special gifts in a... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Stephen Lack, Jennifer O'Neill, Patrick McGoohan, Lawrence Dane

Directed By: David Cronenberg

Critics Consensus: Secrets & Lies delves into social issues with delicate aplomb and across-the-board incredible acting, and stands as one of writer-director Mike Leigh's most powerful works.

Synopsis: After her adoptive mother dies, Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a successful black eye doctor, seeks out her birth mother. She's shocked when her research leads her... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Timothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn, Phyllis Logan, Marianne Jean-Baptiste

Directed By: Mike Leigh

Critics Consensus: Arguably Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece, The Seven Samurai is an epic adventure classic with an engrossing story, memorable characters, and stunning action sequences that make it one of the most influential films ever made.

Synopsis: A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Yoshio Inaba, Seiji Miyaguchi

Directed By: Akira Kurosawa

Critics Consensus: El Espíritu de la Colmena uses a classic horror story's legacy as the thread for a singularly absorbing childhood fable woven with uncommon grace.

Synopsis: In an allegory of life after Gen. Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War, life in a remote village in the 1940s is calm and... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Fernando Fernán Gómez, Teresa Gimpera, Ana Torrent, Isabel Tellería

Directed By: Víctor Erice

Critics Consensus: Typifying the best that the Western genre has to offer, Stagecoach is a rip-roaring adventure given dramatic heft by John Ford's dynamic direction and John Wayne's mesmerizing star turn.

Synopsis: John Ford's landmark Western revolves around an assorted group of colorful passengers aboard the Overland stagecoach bound for Lordsburg, New Mexico, in the 1880s. An... View Full Synopsis

Starring: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Andy Devine, John Carradine

Directed By: John Ford

Critics Consensus: Stalker is a complex, oblique parable that draws unforgettable images and philosophical musings from its sci-fi/thriller setting.

Synopsis: In an unnamed country at an unspecified time, there is a fiercely protected post-apocalyptic wasteland known as The Zone. An illegal guide (Aleksandr Kajdanovsky), whose... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Aleksandr Kajdanovsky, Nikolay Grinko, Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Alisa Freyndlikh

Directed By: Andrei Tarkovsky

Critics Consensus: Thanks to director Juzo Itami's offbeat humor and sharp satirical edge, Tampopo is a funny, sexy, affectionate celebration of food and its broad influence on Japanese culture.

Synopsis: Two Japanese milk-truck drivers (Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ken Watanabe) help a restaurant owner (Nobuko Miyamoto) learn how to cook great noodles.

Starring: Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto, Ken Watanabe, Kôji Yakusho

Directed By: Juzo Itami

Critics Consensus: An exquisitely shot showcase for Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung that marks a somber evolution of Wong Kar-wai's chic style, In the Mood for Love is a tantric tease that's liable to break your heart.

Synopsis: In 1962, journalist Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) and his wife move into a Hong Kong apartment, but Chow's spouse is often away on... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Kelly Lai Chen, Rebecca Pan

Directed By: Kar-Wai Wong

Critics Consensus: A complex, stirring, and beautifully realized portrait of interconnected lives, Red is the captivating conclusion to a remarkable trilogy.

Synopsis: Part-time model Valentine (Irène Jacob) meets a retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who lives in her neighborhood after she runs over his dog. At first the... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Irène Jacob, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jean-Pierre Lorit, Frédérique Feder

Directed By: Krzysztof Kieslowski

Critics Consensus: Time Bandits is a remarkable time-travel fantasy from Terry Gilliam, who utilizes fantastic set design and homemade special effects to create a vivid, original universe.

Synopsis: Young history buff Kevin (Craig Warnock) can scarcely believe it when six dwarfs emerge from his closet one night. Former employees of the Supreme Being... View Full Synopsis

Starring: John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, Katherine Helmond

Directed By: Terry Gilliam

Critics Consensus: Tokyo Story is a Yasujiro Ozu masterpiece whose rewarding complexity has lost none of its power more than half a century on.

Synopsis: The elderly Shukishi (Chishu Ryu) and his wife, Tomi (Chieko Higashiyama), take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Chishu Ryu, Chieko Higashiyama, Setsuko Hara, Haruko Sugimura

Directed By: Yasujirô Ozu

Critics Consensus: Anchored by Carlo Battisti's moving performance as Umberto D, Vittorio de Sica's deeply empathetic character study is a bracing glimpse into the lives of the downtrodden.

Synopsis: When elderly pensioner Umberto Domenico Ferrari (Carlo Battisti) returns to his boarding house from a protest calling for a hike in old-age pensions, his landlady... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Carlo Battisti, Maria-Pia Casilio, Lina Gennari, Alberto Albani Barbieri

Directed By: Vittorio De Sica

Critics Consensus: An existential suspense classic, The Wages of Fear blends nonstop suspense with biting satire; its influence is still being felt on today's thrillers.

Synopsis: In the South American jungle, supplies of nitroglycerine are needed at a remote oil field. The oil company pays four men to deliver the supplies... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Peter van Eyck, Véra Clouzot

Directed By: Henri-Georges Clouzot

Critics Consensus: With its harrowingly beautiful depiction of the Australian Outback and spare narrative of culture clash, Walkabout is a peculiar survival epic.

Synopsis: Under the pretense of having a picnic, a geologist (John Meillon) takes his teenage daughter (Jenny Agutter) and 6-year-old son (Lucien John) into the Australian... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jenny Agutter, Luc Roeg, David Gulpilil, John Meillon

Directed By: Nicolas Roeg

Critics Consensus: Wild Strawberries were never so bittersweet as Ingmar Bergman's beautifully written and filmed look at one man's nostalgic journey into the past.

Synopsis: Crotchety retired doctor Isak Borg (Victor Sjöström) travels from Stockholm to Lund, Sweden, with his pregnant and unhappy daughter-in-law, Marianne (Ingrid Thulin), in order to... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Victor Sjöström, Ingrid Thulin, Bibi Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand

Directed By: Ingmar Bergman

Critics Consensus: Electrified by searing performances from Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk, A Woman Under the Influence finds pioneering independent filmmaker John Cassavetes working at his artistic peak.

Synopsis: Mabel Longhetti (Gena Rowlands), desperate and lonely, is married to a Los Angeles municipal construction worker, Nick (Peter Falk). Increasingly unstable, especially in the company... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, Katherine Cassavetes, Lady Rowlands

Directed By: John Cassavetes

Critics Consensus: As effortlessly engaging as it is widely influential, Yojimbo represents Kurosawa at the peak of his powers -- and lays the groundwork for the modern American western.

Synopsis: A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master (Toshirô Mifune), enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Eijiro Tono, Takashi Shimura

Directed By: Akira Kurosawa

Critics Consensus: Powerfully effective, this anti-fascist political thriller stands out as both high-conscience melodrama and high-tempo action movie.

Synopsis: Repression is the rule of the day in this film that skewers Greek governance of the 1960s. Z (Yves Montand), a leftist rabble-rouser, is killed... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Yves Montand, Irene Papas, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jacques Perrin

Directed By: Costa-Gavras