Top Foreign Films

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1

A Room with a View - James Ivory Cover Art

A Room with a View

A Room with a View

Merchant Ivory Productions, led by director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant, became a household name with A Room with a View, the first of their extraordinary adaptations of E. M. Forster novels. A cherubic nineteen-year-old Helena Bonham Carter plays Lucy Honeychurch, a young, independent-minded, upper-class Edwardian woman who is trying to sort out her burgeoning romantic feelings, divided between an enigmatic free spirit (Julian Sands) she meets on vacation in Florence and the priggish bookworm (Daniel Day-Lewis) to whom she becomes engaged back in the more corseted Surrey. Funny, sexy, and sophisticated, this gargantuan art-house hit features a sublime supporting cast—including Simon Callow, Judi Dench, Denholm Elliott, Maggie Smith—and remains a touchstone of intelligent romantic cinema.

© 1985 Goldcrest Films International.

2

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Ang Lee Cover Art

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Named "Best Picture of the Year" by over 100 critics nationwide! Two master warriors (Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh) are faced with their greatest challenge when the treasured Green Destiny sword is stolen. A young aristocrat (Zhang Ziyi) prepares for an arranged marriage, but soon reveals her superior fighting talents and her deeply romantic past. As each warrior battles for justice, they come face to face with their worst enemy - and the inescapable, enduring power of love. Set against 19th-century China's breathtaking landscape, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is the action-packed, box office smash from acclaimed director Ang Lee (Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm) featuring stunning martial arts choreography by Yuen Wo Ping (The Matrix).

© 2000 Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

3

City of God (2002) - Fernando Meirelles & Katia Lund Cover Art

City of God (2002)

City of God (2002)

Celebrated with worldwide acclaim, this powerful true story of crime and redemption has won numerous prestigious awards around the globe! The streets of the world's most notorious slum, Rio de Janeiro's "City of God" are a place where combat photographers fear to tread, police rarely go and residents are lucky if they live to the age of 20. In the midst of the oppressive crime and violence, a frail and scared young boy will grow up to discover that he can view the harsh realities of his surroundings with a different eye, the eye of an artist. In the face of impossible odds, his brave ambition to become a professional photographer becomes a window into his world and ultimately his way out!

© 2002 O2 Filmes Curios Ltda. and Hank Levine Film GmbH all rights reserved.

4

13 Assassins - Takashi Miike Cover Art

13 Assassins

13 Assassins

Cult director Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, Audition) delivers a bravado period action film set at the end of Japan’s feudal era. 13 Assassins - a “masterful exercise in cinematic butchery” (New York Post) - is centered around a group of elite samurai who are secretly enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord to prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a war torn future.

5

The Three Musketeers Part II: Milady - Martin Bourboulon Cover Art

The Three Musketeers Part II: Milady

The Three Musketeers Part II: Milady

D'Artagnan is forced to join forces with Milady to save Constance, who was kidnapped before his eyes. But as war is declared and Athos, Porthos and Aramis have already joined the front, a secret from the past shatters old alliances.

© 2023 CHAPTER 2 PATHE FILMS M6 FILMS

6

Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna) - Patricia Riggen Cover Art

Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna)

Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna)

Even across thousands of miles, the special bond between a mother and son can never be broken. It gives hope to Carlitos, a scrappy nine-year-old boy whose mother, Rosario, has gone to America to build a better life for both of them. While Rosario struggles for a brighter future, fate forces Carlitos' hand and he embarks on an extraordinary journey to find her. Critics and audiences alike have praised this inspirational and heartwarming tale of a mother's devotion, a son's courage and a love that knows no borders.

© 2008 Twentieth Century Fox. All rights reserved.

7

The Teachers' Lounge - Ilker Çatak Cover Art

The Teachers' Lounge

The Teachers' Lounge

Carla Nowak (Leonie Benesch) is a dedicated, idealistic young teacher in her first job at a middle school. Her relaxed rapport with her seventh-grade students is put under stress when a series of thefts occur at the school, and a staff investigation leads to accusations and mistrust among outraged parents, opinionated colleagues, and an enigmatic student. Caught in the middle of these complex dynamics, the more Carla tries to do everything right, the more desperate her position becomes.

© 2022 if… Productions/ZDF/arte. All Rights Reserved.

8

The Vanishing - George Sluizer Cover Art

The Vanishing

The Vanishing

A young man embarks on an obsessive search for the girlfriend who mysteriously disappeared while the couple were taking a sunny vacation trip, and his three-year investigation draws the attention of her abductor, a mild-mannered professor with a diabolically clinical mind. An unorthodox love story and a truly unsettling thriller, Dutch filmmaker George Sluizer’s The Vanishing unfolds with meticulous intensity, leading to an unforgettable finale that has unnerved audiences around the world.

© 1988 Golden Egg Film C.V.

9

The Pillow Book - Peter Greenaway Cover Art

The Pillow Book

The Pillow Book

Beautiful to behold and impossible to forget, THE PILLOW BOOK is auteur Peter Greenaway's erotically-charged drama about love, death, revenge and the indelible nature of our earliest memories. Each year on her birthday, Nagiko (Vivian Wu) would became her father's canvas, as he painted the creation myth in elaborate, elegant calligraphy on her body. Years later, she continues the practice with a succession of lovers, including a bisexual translator (Ewan McGregor) who becomes a pawn in an escalating game of vengeance against her beloved father's exploitative publisher. Official Selection - Cannes Film Festival.

© 2015 Film Movement

10

Carandiru - Hector Babenco Cover Art

Carandiru

Carandiru

Through the eyes of a doctor who worked in São Paulo's infamous House of Detention for 12 years, Carandiru tells stories of crime, revenge, love and friendship, culminating in the fateful 1992 massacre that left 111 people dead. Hector Babenco, whose direction won him a nomination for the Palme d'Or at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, makes use of striking images to tell each story that makes up Carandiru Station, the book by Dr. Drauzio Varella that spent 168 weeks on the bestseller list in Brazil and is one of the most successful titles in Brazil's history. Gathering together the doctor's stories of Latin America's largest prison, Babenco composes a sweeping and varied tapestry, full of humor and pathos, but always driven by a humanistic sense and a belief in redemption.

© 2003, 2004 Sony Pictures Classics Inc. All Rights Reserved.

11

Life Is Beautiful (Subtitled) - Unknown Cover Art

Life Is Beautiful (Subtitled)

Life Is Beautiful (Subtitled)

An inspired motion-picture masterpiece,“Life Is Beautiful” (La vita è bella) was nominated in 1998 for 7 Academy Awards® – winning 3 Oscars®, including one for Best Actor Roberto Benigni. In this extraordinary tale, Guido (Benigni) – a charming but bumbling waiter who’s gifted with a colorful imagination and an irresistible sense of humor – has won the heart of the woman he loves and created a beautiful life for his young family. But then, that life is threatened by World War II, and Guido must rely on those very same strengths to save his beloved wife and son from an unthinkable fate! Honored with an overwhelming level of critical acclaim, this truly exceptional, utterly unique achievement will lift your spirits and capture your heart!

© 1997 Melampo Cinematografica s.r.l. - Roma

12

Sin Nombre - Unknown Cover Art

Sin Nombre

Sin Nombre

Seeking the promise of America, a beautiful young woman, Sayra (Paulina Gaitan), joins her father on an odyssey to cross the gauntlet of the Latin American countryside. Along the way, she crosses paths with a teenaged Mexican gang member, El Casper (Edgar M. Flores), who is maneuvering to outrun his violent past. Together they have to rely on faith, trust and street smarts if they are to survive their increasingly perilous journey towards the hope of new lives.

© 2008 Focus Features. All Rights Reserved.

13

The Others - Alejandro Amenábar Cover Art

The Others

The Others

A remote manor; hushed, candlelit atmosphere; and shivery, supernatural menace. With his first English-language feature, Chilean Spanish writer-director-composer Alejandro Amenábar resurrected the classic gothic chiller to create a ghost story of uncommon emotional resonance. Nicole Kidman stars as a World War II–era mother whose imperiousness masks a terrifying pain, as she keeps her light-sensitive children enshrouded in darkness on her country estate. The arrival of three new servants punctures her insular world—and seems to disturb the balance between the living and the dead. With each stunning twist and turn, Amenábar immerses us more deeply in a realm haunted not only by spirits but also by guilt, trauma, and repression.

© 2001 Sociedad General de Cine S.A. - Las Producciones del Escorpion S.L.

14

Monster - Hirokazu Kore-Eda Cover Art

Monster

Monster

From Academy Award-nominee Hirokazu Kore-eda—After learning a teacher is bullying her son, a mother demands answers, eventually resorting to legal action. But as the truth is gradually revealed, it proves more complex than anyone imagined.

© 2023 Monster Film Committee

15

Blue Is the Warmest Color - Abdellatif Kechiche Cover Art

Blue Is the Warmest Color

Blue Is the Warmest Color

The sensation of the Cannes Film Festival and the most controversial film of the year, Blue is the Warmest Color made cinema history as the first film ever awarded the Palme d'Or to both its director and its actresses. In a star-making role, Adèle Exarchopoulos is Adèle, a passionate young woman who has a yearning she doesn't quite understand until a chance encounter with the blue-haired Emma ignites a flame and brings her to life. Léa Seydoux (Midnight in Paris) gives a fearless performance as Emma, the older woman who excites Adèle's desire and becomes the love of her life. Abdellatif Kechiche's (The Secret of the Grain) intimate epic of tenderness and passion charts their relationship over the course of several years, from the ecstasy of a first kiss to the agony of heartbreak. Pulsing with gestures, embraces, furtive exchanges, and arias of joy and devastation, Blue is the Warmest Color is a profoundly moving hymn to both love and life.

© 2013 WILD BUNCH, QUAT’SOUS FILMS, FRANCE 2 CINEMA, SCOPE PICTURES, VERTIGO FILMS.

16

Train to Busan - Sang-ho Yeon Cover Art

Train to Busan

Train to Busan

TRAIN TO BUSAN is a harrowing zombie horror-thriller that follows a group of terrified passengers fighting their way through a countrywide viral outbreak, trapped on a suspicion-filled, blood-drenched bullet train ride to the Safe Zone…which may or may not still be there.

© 2016 NEXT ENTERTAINMENT WORLD & REDPETER FILM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

17

The Admiral: Roaring Currents - Kim Han-Min Cover Art

The Admiral: Roaring Currents

The Admiral: Roaring Currents

Year 1597, Joseon Dynasty has been under Japanese attack for six years. As the nation faces possibility of loss with the Japanese military charging fearlessly to the capital of the nation, Admiral YI (Choi Min-sik of Old Boy and Lucy) assembles a group of soldiers to defend the nation against Japanese attack. Japanese Chief Commander Kurushima, notorious for his cruel personality and clever strategies, respond by destroying Joseon's one last hope. With just 12 battleships and an army of doubtful soldiers, Admiral YI and his soldiers perilously face the insurmountable odds of 330 Japanese battleships in a ferocious retelling of The Battle of Myeong-Nyang.

© 2014 CJ E&M Corporation

18

The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil - Won-tae Lee Cover Art

The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil

The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil

After barely surviving a violent attack by an elusive serial killer, crime boss Jang Dong-su (Don Lee) finds himself forming an unlikely partnership with local detective Jung Tae-seok (Kim Moo Yul) to catch the sadistic killer simply known as "K".

© 2019 KIWI MEDIA GROUP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

19

I Saw the Devil - Jee-Woon Kim Cover Art

I Saw the Devil

I Saw the Devil

On a freezing, snowy night, a dangerous psychopath's latest victim is the beautiful Ju-yeon, daughter of a retired police chief and pregnant fiancée of elite special agent Soo-hyun (The Good, The Bad, The Weird’s LEE Byung-hyun). Obsessed with revenge, Soo-hyun decides to track down the murderer, even if doing so means becoming a monster himself. And when he finds Kyung-chul, turning him in to the authorities is the last thing on his mind.

20

Come and See - Elem Klimov Cover Art

Come and See

Come and See

This legendary film from Soviet director Elem Klimov is a senses-shattering plunge into the dehumanizing horrors of war. As Nazi forces encroach on his small village in what is now known as Belarus, teenage Flyora (Alexei Kravchenko, in a searing depiction of anguish) eagerly joins the Soviet resistance. Rather than the adventure and glory he envisioned, what he finds is a waking nightmare of unimaginable carnage and cruelty—rendered with a feverish, otherworldly intensity by Klimov’s subjective camera work and expressionistic sound design. Nearly blocked from being made by Soviet censors, who took seven years to approve its script, COME AND SEE is perhaps the most visceral, impossible-to-forget antiwar film ever made.

© 1985 Mosfilm Cinema Concern

21

The Skin I Live In - Pedro Almodóvar Cover Art

The Skin I Live In

The Skin I Live In

Dr. Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) is a driven plastic surgeon haunted by personal tragedies. After many years of trial and error, he finally prefects a new skin – a shield which could have prevented the death of his wife in an accident years earlier. His latest “guinea pig” is a mysterious captive whose true identity masks a shocking mystery. THE SKIN I LIVE IN is a masterful tale of secrets, obsession and revenge from Academy Award winning writer/director Pedro Almodovar.

© 2011 El Deseo D.A., S.L.U. All Rights Reserved.

22

Incendies - Denis Villeneuve Cover Art

Incendies

Incendies

In the highly-acclaimed suspense thriller Incendies, a mother's dying wish creates a painful puzzle her children are forced to solve. At the reading of their mother's will, twins Jeanne and Simon are given instructions to locate the father they believed was dead and the brother neither knew existed. They travel to the Middle East, to piece together the story of the woman who brought them into the world only to make a shocking discovery.

© 2010 2011 Incendies Inc. and TS Productions. All Rights Reserved.

23

The Roundup: No Way Out (Dubbed) - 이상용 Cover Art

The Roundup: No Way Out (Dubbed)

The Roundup: No Way Out (Dubbed)

Detective Ma Seok-do investigates a murder case uncovering a Yakuza drug operation in South Korea. Conflict arises with the DEA Captain Joo when Ma's squad clashes with his jurisdiction, hindering their investigation. When Yakuza boss Ichizo senses his business is in danger, he sends hitman Ricky and his gang to South Korea to bring about order...

© 2023 ABO Entertainment Co., Ltd. & BIGPUNCH PICTURES & HONG FILM & B.A. ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

24

Memories of Murder (Subtitled) - Bong Joon Ho Cover Art

Memories of Murder (Subtitled)

Memories of Murder (Subtitled)

Memories of Murder tells the harrowing true story of the hunt for a sadistic serial rapist and murderer terrorizing a small province in 1980s South Korea. Marking the first of many successful collaborations between four-time Oscar® winner Bong Joon Ho and leading man Song Kang Ho, the film follows the paths of three increasingly desperate detectives as they attempt to decipher the violent mind of a killer in an effort to solve the case. Now, seventeen years after its initial release, and a year after the real culprit was identified, this cult classic takes its place as a modern masterpiece.

© 2003 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

25

The Three Musketeers Part I: D'Artagnan - Martin Bourboulon Cover Art

The Three Musketeers Part I: D'Artagnan

The Three Musketeers Part I: D'Artagnan

D'Artagnan arrives in Paris trying to find his attackers after being left for dead, which leads him to a real war where the future of France is at stake. He aligns himself with Athos, Porthos and Aramis, three musketeers of the King.

© 2023 CHAPTER 2 PATHE FILMS M6 FILMS

26

Seven Samurai - Akira Kurosawa Cover Art

Seven Samurai

Seven Samurai

One of the most thrilling movie epics of all time, Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) tells the story of a sixteenth-century village whose desperate inhabitants hire the eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits. This three-hour ride from Akira Kurosawa—featuring legendary actors Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura—seamlessly weaves philosophy and entertainment, delicate human emotions and relentless action, into a rich, evocative, and unforgettable tale of courage and hope.

© 1954 Toho Co., Ltd. English subtitled version & 2006 Toho International Co., Ltd.

27

Shoplifters - Kore-eda Hirokazu Cover Art

Shoplifters

Shoplifters

On the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by fierce loyalty, a penchant for petty theft and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence and test their quietly radical belief that it is love—not blood—that defines a family.

© 2018 FUJI TELEVISION NETWORK/GAGA CORPORATION/AOI PRO. INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

28

Hell (El Infierno) (Subtitled) - Luis Estrada Cover Art

Hell (El Infierno) (Subtitled)

Hell (El Infierno) (Subtitled)

This dark comedy is about a man who gets involved in the wildly dangerous and bloody narco business after being deported from the United States.

29

In the Mood for Love - Wong Kar Wai Cover Art

In the Mood for Love

In the Mood for Love

Hong Kong, 1962: Chow Mo-Wan (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) and Su Li-Zhen (Maggie Cheung Man Yuk) move into neighboring apartments on the same day. Their encounters are formal and polite—until a discovery about their spouses creates an intimate bond between them. At once delicately mannered and visually extravagant, Wong Kar Wai’s IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE is a masterful evocation of romantic longing and fleeting moments. With its aching soundtrack and exquisitely abstract cinematography by Christopher Doyle and Mark Lee Ping Bing, this film has been a major stylistic influence on the past two decades of cinema, and is a milestone in Wong’s redoubtable career.

© 2000 BLOCK 2 PICTURES INC, 2019 JET TONE CONTENTS INC

30

Coco Before Chanel - Anne Fontaine Cover Art

Coco Before Chanel

Coco Before Chanel

This is the story of Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel, who begins her life as a headstrong orphan, and through an extraordinary journey becomes the legendary couturier who embodied the modern woman and became a timeless symbol of success, freedom and style.

© 2009 Haut et Court, Cine@, Warner Bros. Entertainment France and France 2 Cinema. All Rights Reserved.

31

Rabbit-Proof Fence - Phillip Noyce Cover Art

Rabbit-Proof Fence

Rabbit-Proof Fence

At a time when it was Australian government policy to train aboriginal children as domestic workers and integrate them into white society, young Molly Craig decides to lead her little sister and cousin in a daring escape from their internment camp. Molly and the girls must then elude the authorities on a dangerous 1,500-mile adventure along the rabbit-proof fence that bisects the continent and will lead them home. Rabbit-Proof Fence captures their universally touching plight and unparalleled courage in a beautiful testament to the undying strength of the human spirit.

© 2002 Australian Film Finance Corporation Limited, The Premium Movie Partnership, South Australian Film Corporation and Jabal Films Pty Ltd.

32

Ennio - Giuseppe Tornatore Cover Art

Ennio

Ennio

Giuseppe Tornatore, director of the beloved CINEMA PARADISO, turns his camera on his longtime collaborator Ennio Morricone (1928 - 2020) in a moving and comprehensive profile of the indefatigable composer. Tornatore’s documentary portrait explores the breadth of the maestro’s career, from his early Italian pop songs to the fistful of unforgettable film scores that he wrote, including THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY, THE THING, DAYS OF HEAVEN, and hundreds of others. This examination thoughtfully captures insightful commentary from Morricone’s closest collaborators and contemporaries, featuring testimonies from artists and directors such as Bernardo Bertolucci, Marco Bellocchio, Giuliano Montaldo, Dario Argento, Clint Eastwood, Joan Baez, Quentin Tarantino, and more. ENNIO affords the master one last chance to recount his career and deconstruct the artistic process that led him to win two Academy Awards and author over 500 unforgettable soundtracks.

© 2023 Southport Music Box Corporation d/b/a Music Box Films

33

Lust, Caution - Unknown Cover Art

Lust, Caution

Lust, Caution

Provocative, thrilling and sensual, Lust, Caution is the daring new film from acclaimed Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). Set against the backdrop of a transforming country, a young woman finds herself swept up in a radical plot to assassinate a ruthless and secretive intelligence agent. As she immerses herself in her role as a cosmopolitan seductress, she becomes entangled in a dangerous game of emotional intrigue, love and betrayal.

© 2007 Mr. Yee Productions LLC. All Rights Reserved.

34

Raw - Julia Ducournau Cover Art

Raw

Raw

At 16, Justine is a brilliant, promising student and a strict vegetarian. But when she starts veterinary school, she quickly encounters a decadent, merciless and dangerously seductive world. Desperate to fit in during the first week of hazing rituals, she strays from her principles and eats raw meat for the first time and faces the terrible and unexpected consequences of her actions as her true self emerges.

© 2016 Focus Features. All Rights Reserved.

35

Drive My Car - Ryûsuke Hamaguchi Cover Art

Drive My Car

Drive My Car

Now nominated for four Academy Awards®, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best International Feature. 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 "Uncle Vanya" at a theater festival in Hiroshima. There, he meets Misaki Watari (Toko Miura), a taciturn young woman assigned by the festival to chauffeur him in his beloved red Saab 900. As the production’s premiere approaches, tensions mount amongst the cast and crew, not least between Yusuke and Koshi Takatsuki, a handsome TV star who shares an unwelcome connection to Yusuke’s late wife. Forced to confront painful truths raised from his past, Yusuke begins - with the help of his driver – to face the haunting mysteries his wife left behind. Adapted from Haruki Murakami’s short story, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s DRIVE MY CAR is a haunting road movie traveling a path of love, loss, acceptance, and peace. Winner of three prizes at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, including Best Screenplay.

© 2021 CULTURE ENTERTAINMENT, BITTERS END

36

Journey to the West - Stephen Chow & 郭子健 Cover Art

Journey to the West

Journey to the West

In a world plagued by demons who cause great human suffering, young demon hunter Xuan Zang risks his all to conquer a water demon, a pig demon and the demon of all demons, Sun Wukong. Adhering to his firm belief in giving of one’s self for the greater cause, he embraces the demons as his disciples. However, in order to atone for their own sins and save the common people, the four of them must embark on a journey to the West that’s full of challenges.

© 2013 Bingo Movie Development Limited, Village Roadshow Pictures Asia Limited, Chinavision Media Group Limited, Edko Films Limited. All Rights Reserved.

37

Lie With Me - Olivier Peyon Cover Art

Lie With Me

Lie With Me

This powerful and emotional romance/drama centers on a middle-aged man who, when visiting his childhood town, is flooded with memories of his first gay love. Celebrated novelist Stéphane Belcourt (Guillaume de Tonquédec) travels to his hometown after over 30 years. There, he meets Lucas (Victor Belmondo, grandson of Jean-Paul Belmondo), the son of Thomas, his secret teenage love. Lucas, inquisitive for information on his now deceased father, sets off turbulent emotions in the writer as his mind is flooded with memories of Thomas and their summer of love. The film contrasts the wintry present with the sun-splashed summer past when the shy, bespectacled Stéphane (Julien De Saint Jean) meets and falls for the rough and tumble Thomas (Rémy Gillet.) LIE WITH ME is erotic, tender, romantic and heartbreaking.

© 2022 TS Productions

38

Hansan: Rising Dragon - Kim Han-Min Cover Art

Hansan: Rising Dragon

Hansan: Rising Dragon

In 1592, Korea is facing the threat of the powerful Japanese navy. As defending admiral Yin Sun-sin’s forces fall into crisis, they resort to a secret weapon—the dragon head ships known as geobukseon—to change the tide of the war.

© 2022 LOTTE ENTERTAINMENT & BIGSTONE PICTURES CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved.

39

Yi Yi - Edward Yang Cover Art

Yi Yi

Yi Yi

The extraordinary, internationally embraced YI YI (A ONE AND A TWO . . .), directed by the late Taiwanese master Edward Yang, follows a middle-class family in Taipei over the course of one year, beginning with a wedding and ending with a funeral. Whether chronicling middle-age father NJ’s tentative flirtations with an old flame or precocious young son Yang-Yang’s attempts at capturing reality with his beloved camera, the filmmaker deftly imbues every gorgeous frame with a compassionate clarity. Warm, sprawling, and dazzling, this intimate epic is one of the undisputed masterworks of the new century.

© 1999 1+2 Seisaku Iinkai

40

La haine - Mathieu Kassovitz Cover Art

La haine

La haine

Mathieu Kassovitz took the film world by storm with La haine, a gritty, unsettling, and visually explosive look at the racial and cultural volatility in modern-day France, specifically the low-income banlieue districts on Paris’s outskirts. Aimlessly passing their days in the concrete environs of their dead-end suburbia, Vinz (Vincent Cassel), Hubert (Hubert Koundé), and Saïd (Saïd Taghmaoui)—a Jew, an African, and an Arab—give human faces to France’s immigrant populations, their bristling resentment at their marginalization slowly simmering until it reaches a climactic boiling point. A work of tough beauty, La haine is a landmark of contemporary French cinema and a gripping reflection of its country’s ongoing identity crisis.

© 1994 Les Productions Lazennec/Le Studio Canal Plus/Les Sept Cinema/Kasso, Inc. Productions.

41

A Night to Remember - Roy Ward Baker Cover Art

A Night to Remember

A Night to Remember

On April 14, 1912, just before midnight, the “unsinkable” Titanic struck an iceberg. In less than three hours, it had plunged to the bottom of the sea, taking with it more than 1,500 of its 2,200 passengers. Featuring remarkably restrained performances, A Night to Remember is cinema’s subtlest and best dramatization of this monumental twentieth-century catastrophe.

© 1958 The Rank Organisation Film Productions Ltd.

42

Ip Man 4: The Finale - Unknown Cover Art

Ip Man 4: The Finale

Ip Man 4: The Finale

Donnie Yen reprises his role as the legendary Wing Chun master in the grand finale of the revolutionary martial arts series. Following the death of his wife, Ip Man travels to San Francisco to ease tensions between the local kung fu masters and his star student, Bruce Lee, while searching for a better future for his son. From the action visionary behind Kill Bill and The Matrix, witness the heroic sendoff to the saga that inspired a new wave of martial arts movie fans.

© 2019 2019 Mandarin Motion Pictures Limited All Rights Reserved

43

Hard to Be a God - Aleksei German Cover Art

Hard to Be a God

Hard to Be a God

A group of research scientists has been sent to the planet Arkanar, living under an oppressed regime in a period equivalent to Earth’s Middle Ages. The local population is suffering a ban issued on anyone who knows how to read and write. The scientists must refrain from influencing political and historical events on Arkanar. They must work incognito, and they must remain neutral. Don Rumata, recognized by the locals as a sort of futuristic god, tries to save the local intelligentsia from their punishment. He cannot avoid taking the stance: “What would you do in God’s place?” Adapted from the 1960s cult sci-fi novel “Hard to Be a God” by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.

© 2013 Kino Lorber

44

Anselm - Wim Wenders Cover Art

Anselm

Anselm

In ANSELM, Wim Wenders creates a portrait of Anselm Kiefer, one of the most innovative and important painters and sculptors of our time. Shot in 3D and 6K-resolution, the film presents a cinematic experience of the artist’s work which explores human existence and the cyclical nature of history, inspired by literature, poetry, philosophy, science, mythology and religion. For over two years, Wenders traced Kiefer’s path from his native Germany to his current home in France, connecting the stages of his life to the essential places of his career that spans more than five decades.

© 2023 Road Movies. All rights reserved.

45

Run Lola Run - Tom Tykwer Cover Art

Run Lola Run

Run Lola Run

This multiple award winner from Tom Tykwer (The Princess And The Warrior) stars Franka Potente as Lola, the orange-haired punk girlfriend of Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu), a small-time courier for a big-time gangster. Manni is working a standard pickup/drop-off, and everything is going fine until an unforeseen incident makes Lola late to pick him up. One stroke of bad luck leads to another, and by the time Manni calls Lola, he has a big problem: He is supposed to meet his unforgiving boss in 20 minutes with 100,000 marks that suddenly he does not have. Lola rushes out of her apartment, attempting to get to Manni and somehow pick up 100,000 marks along the way. As the seconds tick down, the tiniest choices become life-altering (or -ending) decisions, and the fine line between fate and fortune begins to blur.

Motion Picture: © 1998 X-Filme Creative Pool GmbH. All Rights Reserved. English Subtitles: © 1999 Sony Pictures Classics Inc. All Rights Reserved.

46

Sanjuro - Akira Kurosawa Cover Art

Sanjuro

Sanjuro

Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Akira Kurosawa’s tightly paced, beautifully composed Sanjuro. In this sly companion piece to Yojimbo, jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan’s evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a “proper” samurai on its ear. Less brazen in tone than its predecessor but equally entertaining, this classic character’s return is a masterpiece in its own right.

© 1962 Toho Co., Ltd.

47

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin - 劉家良 Cover Art

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

There have been many kung-fu movies set in the famed Shaolin Temple, but none have captured the monastery’s martial arts world quite like "The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin". Liu Chia-liang, a legendary director of the genre, made a star of his brother Gordon Liu Chia-hui in this look at anti-Ching Dynasty rebels and their revolt against the Manchus. Gordon Liu Chia-hui attains the ultimate knowledge of kung-fu by arduously mastering one chamber after another, eventually reaching the fabled 36th chamber. Armed with this knowledge, the monks engage in some of the most exciting battles ever staged in the history of martial arts movies. The film was Shaw Brothers’ number one hit of 1978, and won the Best Martial Arts Award at the 24th Asian Film Festival.

© 2000 Celestial Pictures Limited. All rights reserved.

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Loving Vincent - Unknown Cover Art

Loving Vincent

Loving Vincent

The life and controversial death of Vincent van Gogh told by his paintings and by the characters that inhabit them. The intrigue unfolds through interviews with the characters closest to Vincent and through dramatic reconstructions of the events leading up to his death. Loving Vincent features 120 of Vincent van Gogh's greatest paintings. The plot, drawn from the 800 letters written by the painter himself, leads us to the significant people and events in the time prior to his unexpected death. Every shot is painted just as Vincent himself painted.

© 2017 BreakThru Productions

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The East - Jim Taihuttu Cover Art

The East

The East

English dub available. During the post-WW2 Indonesian War, Johan, a young Dutch recruit, joins an elite unit led by a mysterious captain known only as "The Turk.” When the fighting intensifies between the Indonesian people and their colonial oppressors, the young soldier finds himself questioning, and ultimately challenging, his commander’s brutal strategy to stop the resistance.

© 2021 The East Indies B.V.

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The Lives of Others - Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck Cover Art

The Lives of Others

The Lives of Others

This critically-acclaimed, Oscar®-winning film (Best Foreign Language Film, 2006) is the erotic, emotionally-charged experience Lisa Schwarzbaum (Entertainment Weekly) calls "a nail-biter of a thriller!" Before the collapse of the Berlin Wall, East Germany's population was closely monitored by the State Secret Police (Stasi). Only a few citizens above suspicion, like renowned pro-Socialist playwright Georg Dreyman, were permitted to lead private lives. But when a corrupt government official falls for Georg's stunning actress-girlfriend, Christa, an ambitious Stasi policeman is ordered to bug the writer's apartment to gain incriminating evidence against the rival. Now, what the officer discovers is about to dramatically change their lives - as well as his - in this seductive political thriller Peter Travers (Rolling Stone) proclaims is "the best kind of movie: one you can't get out of your head."

© 2006 Wiedemann & Berg Film Produktion GmbH & Co. KG. All Rights Reserved.