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: 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: This late-career anthology by Akira Kurosawa often confirms that Dreams are more interesting to the dreamer than their audience, but the directorial master still delivers opulent visions with a generous dose of heart.

Synopsis: This imaginative Japanese production presents a series of short films by lauded director Akira Kurosawa. In one chapter, a young boy spies on foxes that... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Akira Terao, Mitsunori Isaki, Martin Scorsese, Mitsuko Baishô

Directed By: Akira Kurosawa, Ishirô Honda

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: With affected strokes, Basquiat paints an expressionist portrait of a misfit artist, masterfully rendered by a riveting Jeffrey Wright.

Synopsis: Despite living a life of extreme poverty in Brooklyn, graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (Jeffrey Wright) strives to rise up through the heady New York art... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jeffrey Wright, Michael Wincott, Benicio del Toro, Claire Forlani

Directed By: Julian Schnabel

Critics Consensus: Beau Travail finds director Claire Denis drawing on classic literature to construct a modern tragedy fueled by timeless desires.

Synopsis: Foreign Legion officer, Galoup, recalls his once glorious life, leading troops in the Gulf of Djibouti. His existence there was happy, strict and regimented, but... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Denis Lavant, Michel Subor, Grégoire Colin, Richard Courcet

Directed By: Claire Denis

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A would-be writer (Jean-Hugues Anglade) falls for an unpredictable woman (Béatrice Dalle), then he slowly realizes that she is going insane.

Starring: Béatrice Dalle, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Consuelo De Haviland, Clémentine Célarié

Directed By: Jean-Jacques Beineix

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: The 17-year-old dreamer Billie Jean (Peggy Pettit) is the youngest in a family of loving yet discouraging women. Billie Jean's mother, Mama Rosie (Louise Stubbs),... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Brock Peters, Leslie Uggams, Peggy Pettit, Claudia McNeil

Directed By: Ossie Davis

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: 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: A hopeful gesture of cultural outreach set to an irresistible soundtrack, Buena Vista Social Club is an enriching and zesty experience.

Synopsis: This documentary by lauded German filmmaker Wim Wenders follows renowned guitarist Ry Cooder and his son, Joachim, as they travel to Cuba and assemble a... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Luis Barzaga, Joachim Cooder, Ry Cooder, Julio Alberto Fernández

Directed By: Wim Wenders

Critics Consensus: Fresh and inventive yet immediately accessible, Cameraperson distills its subject's life and career into an experience that should prove immediately absorbing even for those unfamiliar with her work.

Synopsis: Cinematographer Kirsten Johnson exposes her many years behind the camera through a memoir made up of decades of footage shot all over the world.

Starring: Kirsten Johnson, Roger Phenix

Directed By: Kirsten Johnson

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: Filled with excellent performances, Ramin Bahrani's deft sophomore effort is a heartfelt, hopeful neorealist look at the people who live in the gritty underbelly of New York City.

Synopsis: A young man works as an auto-body repairman to provide for his younger sister.

Starring: Alejandro Polanco, Isamar Gonzales, Ahmad Razvi, Carlos Ayala

Directed By: Ramin Bahrani

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: Though challengingly cryptic at times, Code Unknown still manages to resonate.

Synopsis: In Paris, one incident is seen through the eyes of several people -- Anne (Juliette Binoche), a stressed actress thirsty for success; her boyfriend Georges... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Juliette Binoche, Thierry Neuvic, Luminita Gheorghiu, Ona Lu Yenke

Directed By: Michael Haneke

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: 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: While decidedly not for all tastes, Dead Man marks an alluring change of pace for writer-director Jim Jarmusch that demonstrates an assured command of challenging material.

Synopsis: Circumstances transform a mild-mannered accountant (Johnny Depp) into a notorious Old West gunslinger.

Starring: Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Lance Henriksen, Michael Wincott

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: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A lost treasure of 1990s DIY filmmaking, Cauleen Smith's Drylongso embeds an incisive look at racial injustice within a lovingly handmade buddy movie/murder mystery/ romance.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Toby Smith, April Barnett, Will Power, Channel Schafer

Directed By: Cauleen Smith

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: 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: Chen Kaing's epic is grand in scope and presentation, and, bolstered by solid performances, the result is a film both horrifying and enthralling.

Synopsis: Chen Kaige's much acclaimed, long out of print masterpiece chronicles the rise of two young stars of the Beijing Opera House, their turbulent relationship, and... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Leslie Cheung, Fengyi Zhang, Gong Li, Qi Lü

Directed By: Chen Kaige

Critics Consensus: The controversial Fat Girl is an unflinchingly harsh but powerful look at female adolescence.

Synopsis: Anaïs is twelve and bears the weight of the world on her shoulders. She watches her older sister, Elena, whom she both loves and hates.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Anais Reboux, Roxane Mesquida, Arsinée Khanjian, Romain Goupil

Directed By: Catherine Breillat

Critics Consensus: Violent images and blunt audience provocation make up this nihilistic experiment from one of cinema's more difficult filmmakers.

Synopsis: An idyllic lakeside vacation home is terrorized by Paul (Arno Frisch) and Peter (Frank Giering), a pair of deeply disturbed young men. When the fearful... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Susanne Lothar, Ulrich Mühe, Frank Giering, Arno Frisch

Directed By: Michael Haneke

Critics Consensus: Languid and melancholy, George Washington is a carefully observed rumination on adolescence and rural life.

Synopsis: Set in the landscape of a rural southern town, George Washington is a stunning portrait of how a group of young kids come to grips... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Candace Evanofski, Donald Holden, Curtis Cotton III, Eddie Rouse

Directed By: David Gordon Green

Critics Consensus: An innovative blend of samurai and gangster lifestyles.

Synopsis: Ghost Dog (Forest Whitaker) is a contract killer, a master of his trade who can whirl a gun at warp speed and moves through this... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Forest Whitaker, John Tormey, Cliff Gorman, Henry Silva

Directed By: Jim Jarmusch

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: Kenneth Branagh's sprawling, finely textured adaptation of Shakespeare's masterpiece lives up to its source material, using strong performances and a sharp cinematic focus to create a powerfully resonant film that wastes none of its 246 minutes.

Synopsis: In the only unabridged film version of the classic play, here updated to the 19th century, Prince Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh) is traumatized by the revelation... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Julie Christie, Billy Crystal, Gérard Depardieu

Directed By: Kenneth Branagh

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Aging samurai Hanshiro Tsugumo (Tatsuya Nakadai) arrives at the home of Kageyu Saito (Rentarô Mikuni) and asks to commit a ritual suicide on the property,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Shima Iwashita, Akira Ishihama, Yoshio Inaba

Directed By: Masaki Kobayashi

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: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Explore the history of witchcraft, demonology and satanism. Evil is represented in a variety of ancient and medieval artworks and superstitious practices present a narrative... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Benjamin Christensen, Maren Pedersen, Clara Pontoppidan, Elith Pio

Directed By: Benjamin Christensen

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: In Hong Kong, babies are being kidnapped by the Invisible Woman (Michelle Yeoh) for the Evil Master (Yee Kwan Yan), who plans to raise them... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Anita Mui, Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong

Directed By: Johnnie To

Critics Consensus: Distinguished by innovative technique and Emmanuelle Riva's arresting performance, Hiroshima Mon Amour is a poignant love story as well as a thoughtful meditation on international trauma.

Synopsis: The deep conversation between a Japanese architect (Eiji Okada) and a French actress (Emmanuelle Riva) forms the basis of this celebrated French film, considered one... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Emmanuelle Riva, Eiji Okada, Stella Dassas, Pierre Barbaud

Directed By: Alain Resnais

Critics Consensus: One of the most critically acclaimed documentaries of all time, Hoop Dreams is a rich, complex, heartbreaking, and ultimately deeply rewarding film that uses high school hoops as a jumping-off point to explore issues of race, class, and education in modern America.

Synopsis: Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each way from inner-city Chicago to St. Joseph High School in Westchester,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Steve James, William Gates, Arthur Agee, Sheila Agee

Directed By: Steve James

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: Smart and engrossing, this is one of Hong Kong's better cop thrillers.

Synopsis: Idealistic police cadet Chan Wing-Yan (Tony Leung) is recruited by Police Superintendent Wong (Anthony Wong) to go deep undercover as a member of the criminal... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Andy Lau, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, Eric Tsang

Directed By: Andrew Lau Wai-Keung, Alan Mak

Critics Consensus: Typical David Lynch fare: fans of the director will find Inland Empire seductive and deep. All others will consider the heady surrealism impenetrable and pointless.

Synopsis: Nikki (Laura Dern), an actress, takes on a role in a new film, and because her husband (Peter J. Lucas) is very jealous, her co-star... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Laura Dern, Jeremy Irons, Harry Dean Stanton, Justin Theroux

Directed By: David Lynch

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: While Bernardo Bertolucci's decadent epic never quite identifies the dramatic pulse of its protagonist, stupendous visuals and John Lone's ability to make passivity riveting give The Last Emperor a rarified grandeur.

Synopsis: This sweeping account of the life of Pu Yi (John Lone), the last emperor of China, follows the leader's tumultuous reign. After being captured by... View Full Synopsis

Starring: John Lone, Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole, Ying Ruocheng

Directed By: Bernardo Bertolucci

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: 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: Metropolitan gently skewers the young socialite class with a smartly written dramedy whose unique, specific setting yields rich universal truths.

Synopsis: A radical student is adopted by a group of young New Yorkers, serves as a catalyst to alter his and their lives. Gathering in a... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Carolyn Farina, Edward Clements, Chris Eigeman, Taylor Nichols

Directed By: Whit Stillman

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Using a nonlinear structure interlaced with dreams and flashbacks, director Andrei Tarkovsky creates a stream-of-consciousness meditation on war, memory and time that draws heavily on... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Margarita Terekhova, Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Nikolay Grinko, Ignat Daniltsev

Directed By: Andrei Tarkovsky

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: Jacques Tati's most accessible film is a paean to gentle values and observing the small details of life.

Synopsis: Genial, bumbling Monsieur Hulot (Jacques Tati) loves his top-floor apartment in a grimy corner of the city, and cannot fathom why his sister's family has... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jacques Tati, Jean-Pierre Zola, Alain Bécourt, Lucien Fregis

Directed By: Jacques Tati

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: 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: With calm confidence and a strikingly naturalistic approach, Nothing But a Man tells a quietly powerful story of Black American lives.

Synopsis: African-American rail worker Duff Anderson (Ivan Dixon) has left his 4-year old son with a nanny, and now drifts through life with little ambition. Duff's... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Ivan Dixon, Abbey Lincoln, Gloria Foster, Julius Harris

Directed By: Michael Roemer

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A man (Jet Li) must protect his martial-arts school while sorting out his feelings for a young woman (Biao Yuen) who is his aunt by... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jet Li, Rosamund Kwan, Biao Yuen, Steve Tartalia

Directed By: Hark Tsui

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: While her son, Kichi, is away at war, a woman (Nobuko Otowa) and her daughter-in-law (Jitsuko Yoshimura) survive by killing samurai who stray into their... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Kei Satô, Taiji Tonoyama

Directed By: Kaneto Shindô

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 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: 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: The Red Balloon invests the simplest of narratives with spectacular visual inventiveness, making for a singularly wondrous portrait of innocence.

Synopsis: A red balloon with a life of its own follows a boy around Paris.

Starring: Pascal Lamorisse, Vladimir Popov, Paul Perey, Renée Marion

Directed By: Albert Lamorisse

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: 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: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Amiro, an illiterate 11-year-old orphan living alone in an abandoned tanker in the Iranian port city of Abadan, survives by shining shoes, selling water, and... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Majid Niroumand, Abbas Nazeri, Musa Torkizadeh

Directed By: Amir Naderi

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: Narratively bold and visually striking, The Seventh Seal brought Ingmar Bergman to the world stage -- and remains every bit as compelling today.

Synopsis: When disillusioned Swedish knight Antonius Block returns home from the Crusades to find his country in the grips of the Black Death, he challenges Death... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Max von Sydow, Gunnar Björnstrand, Nils Poppe, Bibi Andersson

Directed By: Ingmar Bergman

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: At a party, Lelia (Lelia Goldoni), a young African-American girl with a light complexion, meets Tony (Anthony Ray), a somewhat callow white musician, and they... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Hugh Hurd, Lelia Goldoni, Ben Carruthers, Anthony Ray

Directed By: John Cassavetes

Critics Consensus: Boasting stellar performances by Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan, Shame is a powerful plunge into the mania of addiction affliction.

Synopsis: Successful and handsome New Yorker Brandon (Michael Fassbender) seems to live an ordinary life, but he hides a terrible secret behind his mask of normalcy:... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale, Nicole Beharie

Directed By: Steve McQueen

Critics Consensus: Elevated by Laura Dern's haunting performance, Smooth Talk is far more than your average coming-of-age drama.

Synopsis: Fifteen-year-old Connie (Laura Dern) spends the summer before her sophomore year fixating on getting male attention. While her mother, Katherine (Mary Kay Place), nags her... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Laura Dern, Treat Williams, Mary Kay Place, Margaret Welsh

Directed By: Joyce Chopra

Critics Consensus: Solaris is a haunting, meditative film that uses sci-fi to raise complex questions about humanity and existence.

Synopsis: A psychologist is sent to a space station orbiting a planet called Solaris to investigate the death of a doctor and the mental problems of... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis, Jüri Järvet, Vladislav Dvorzhetskiy

Directed By: Andrei Tarkovsky

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: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Sweet Sweetback (Melvin Van Peebles) is a black orphan who, having grown up in a brothel, now works there as part of a sex show.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Melvin Van Peebles, Simon Chuckster, Hubert Scales, John Dullaghan

Directed By: Melvin Van Peebles

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: When a journalist's (Romy Schneider) boyfriend (Alain Delon) allows her former lover (Maurice Ronet) to drown, the couple must answer questions from an inspector.

Starring: Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, Maurice Ronet, Jane Birkin

Directed By: Jacques Deray

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: The stylish Thirst packs plenty of bloody thrills to satisfy fans of both vampire films and director Chan Wook Park.

Synopsis: Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho), a respected priest, volunteers for an experimental procedure that may lead to a cure for a deadly virus. He gets infected and... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Song Kang-ho, Kim Ok-bin, Shin Ha-kyun, Kim Hae-sook

Directed By: Park Chan-wook

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: Orson Welles may take big liberties in his adaptation of The Trial, but the auteur constructs an absurd nightmare that is unmistakably Kafkaesque -- grounded by an excellent Anthony Perkins as the befuddled Josef K.

Synopsis: Josef K. (Anthony Perkins) is accused of an unspecified crime and shambles through a series of bizarre encounters in an attempt to clear his name... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Anthony Perkins, Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider, Orson Welles

Directed By: Orson Welles

Critics Consensus: For better or worse, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is every bit as strange and twisted as you'd expect from David Lynch.

Synopsis: In the folksy town of Deerfield, Wash., FBI Agent Desmond (Chris Isaak) inexplicably disappears while hunting for the man who murdered a teen girl. The... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Kyle MacLachlan, Sheryl Lee, Moira Kelly, David Bowie

Directed By: David Lynch

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: While trying to find a cure for his wife's blindness, Dr. Farber has created a device that allows the user to send images directly to... View Full Synopsis

Starring: William Hurt, Solveig Dommartin, Sam Neill, Max von Sydow

Directed By: Wim Wenders

Critics Consensus: A clinical, maddening descent into the mind of a serial killer and a slowly unraveling hero, culminating with one of the scariest endings of all time.

Synopsis: Rex (Gene Bervoets) and Saskia (Johanna Ter Steege) are enjoying a biking holiday in France when, stopping at a gas station, Saskia disappears. Confounded, Rex... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Gene Bervoets, Johanna ter Steege, Gwen Eckhaus

Directed By: George Sluizer

Critics Consensus: The Virgin Spring marks one of Ingmar Bergman's most controversial dramas, although its uncomfortable exploration of divine justice -- or lack thereof -- is undeniably thought-provoking.

Synopsis: Devout Christians Töre and Märeta (Max von Sydow, Birgitta Valberg) send their only daughter, the virginal Karin (Birgritta Pettersson), and their foster daughter, the unrepentant... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Max von Sydow, Birgitta Valberg, Gunnel Lindblom, Birgritta Pettersson

Directed By: Ingmar Bergman

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: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Soviet director Sergei Bondarchuk's retelling of Leo Tolstoy's epic novel of Napoleon's invasion of Russia is widely considered one of the longest and most expensive... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Lyudmila Saveleva, Sergei Bondarchuk, Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Oleg Tabakov

Directed By: Sergei Bondarchuk

Critics Consensus: An auspicious debut for writer-director Cheryl Dunye, The Watermelon Woman tells a fresh story in wittily irreverent style.

Synopsis: An aspiring black lesbian filmmaker researches an obscure 1940s black actress billed as the Watermelon Woman.

Starring: Cheryl Dunye, Guinevere Turner, Valarie Walker, Lisa Marie Bronson

Directed By: Cheryl Dunye

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: In its depiction of one family, Yi Yi accurately and expertly captures the themes and details, as well as the beauty, of everyday life.

Synopsis: Set in Taiwan, the film follows the lives of the Jian family from the alternating perspectives of the three main family members: father N.J. (Nien-Jen... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Nien-Jen Wu, Elaine Jin, Issei Ogata, Kelly Lee

Directed By: Edward Yang

Critics Consensus: The Young Girls of Rochefort pays colorful homage to classic Hollywood musicals while earning its own emotionally affecting place of honor in the genre.

Synopsis: Delphine (Catherine Deneuve) and Solange (Françoise Dorléac) are twin sisters who each want to find romance and leave their small seaside town of Rochefort, France.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Françoise Dorléac, Jacques Perrin, Danielle Darrieux

Directed By: Jacques Demy