Fritz Lang's first sound film is a masterpiece of dread and suspense. Hans appears almost like the children he victimizes, soft and weak, and his fear of exposure almost makes us pity him. You can't conceive of anyone ...

The first fabulous Hulot picture where sound and dialogue are mere accents to the observance of mundane, everyday activity. Tati's brilliance lies in showing us just how, with Hulot's special touch, these rituals and ...

This groundbreaking anti-war entry was director Altman’s breakthrough, and in our view still stands as his finest, purest work: an uproarious, razor-sharp satire that feels as fresh and irreverent today as when first ...

A potent examination of one woman's attempt to cope with loss and grief, Koreeda's tranquil, almost unnervingly serene drama brings to mind the finest work of Ozu, especially with its humanism, compassion, and focus on ...

Set in the days before leftist leader Salvador Allende's CIA-backed assassination, which brought brutal dictator Augusto Pinochet to power in 1973, Wood's semi-autobiographical story puts a political twist on the ...

There's enough sizzle in this wonderful doc to power hundreds of preteen dance lessons, especially as the kids Agrela features-Dominican and Italian, uptowners and outer-borough residents-come from many walks of life. ...

George Miller's first entry in the three part series helped boost Gibson to stardom, and showed Hollywood a thing or two about making an explosive action flick on a shoestring budget. The bleak, desolate near-future ...

Kurosawa's atypical swan song, unabashedly sentimental and set on a small, intimate stage, reflects the director himself at twilight, confronting his own impending mortality. (Kurosawa actually passed away five years ...

Mervyn LeRoy’s tender, dignified take on the Curies’ life was a hit with the public on release, partly since the film again paired previous Oscar winner Garson with Pidgeon (the stars had already established their ...

This exquisite love story subtly evokes the nuances and complexities of real-world romance. Lindon and Kiberlain (formerly husband and wife off-screen) completely embody the hesitant affections of two adults who share ...

Long before Don Corleone was a household name, Italian director Alberto Lattuada made this darkly hilarious little gem, one of the first films to deal with La Cosa Nostra. Casting his own father-in-law (Attanasio) in ...

Anderson’s magnum opus is an ensemble film like none we’ve seen since the heyday of Altman, clearly the young writer-director’s inspiration. Each member of the impressive cast, including Julianne Moore as a pill-popping ...

If it weren’t so artfully constructed and movingly acted, you might say that Leo McCarey’s unsung Hollywood classic “Make Way for Tomorrow” was just too downbeat for Depression-era audiences. Even the studio tried to ...

Built around a commanding performance by Denzel Washington, Spike Lee's "Malcolm X" is the writer-director's most ambitious, impassioned film to date, as it presents a turbulent and eventful life filled with self- ...

With considerable skill, verve, and let’s not forget heart, writer/co-director Ruiz and Riera blend three plotlines together into an engaging, entertaining whole that gives the entire ensemble—especially ...

In his first feature film, Pasolini uses a neorealist aesthetic to critique petit-bourgeois mores, training his sights on a poor outcast who strives and fails to become a respectable member of Italy's postwar society. ...

A mock documentary with razor-sharp teeth, "Man Bites Dog" takes an irreverent look at the media's macabre fascination with violence. Watching Remy and Andre (two of the film's directors) slowly get sucked into the ...

No movie better illustrates the tenuous, symbiotic relationship between brute nature and human endurance than Robert Flaherty's hauntingly gorgeous "Man of Aran." Flaherty, director of the classic "Nanook of the North" ...

The Polish Solidarity movement scored its major breakthrough in 1980. Wajda’s epic Iron was completed just one year later, and the passion and urgency of the moment suffuse every frame. In some ways a remake of his ...

One of Wajda's most politically daring films, "Marble" was censored upon release, yet it resonates with the same animus for corruption that ultimately drove the Soviets from power. Agnieszka's difficulties with a wary ...