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Spirit of the Beehive, The (El espirito de la colmena)
directed by Victor Erice
Poetry in Motion
One of the key inspirations for Pan's Labyrinth, The Spirit of the Beehive is effective with its visual storytelling, but falters with its adult characters. |
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Irreversible (Irréversible)
directed by Gaspar Noé
Time Destroys Everything: Irreversible
While certainly not for everyone (which seems to be a recurring theme with Noé's cinema), there's no denying that Irreversible is a powerful piece of filmmaking by a director just reaching the height of his creative powers. |
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Kamyu nante shiranai (Who's Camus Anyway?)
directed by Mitsuo Yanagimachi
Existentialism, Japanese Style
Entertaining and provocative Altmanesque film about a group of Japanese film students. |
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Temps qui reste, Le (Time to Leave)
directed by François Ozon
Time to Leave
François Ozon received more than usual widespread appeal in the U.S. with Swimming Pool. This film will play much smaller in the States, but it's a provocative and unsentimental study of a young man that discovers he has just a few months to live. |
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Jalsagbar (The Music Room)
directed by Satyajit Ray
The Music Room
Ranks near the top of Satyajit Ray's best work—a profound portrait of a deteriorating aristocrat, left over from colonial British India. |
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Boot ist voll, Das (The Boat is Full)
directed by Markus Imhoof
Swiss Holocaust Complicity
Worthy Holocaust film that explores Switzerland's darker side. |
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Viridiana
directed by Luis Buñuel
Still an Atheist ... Thank God!
A Buñuel masterpiece, this simple story builds on his themes of disillusionment in highly entertaining fashion. |
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Banshun (Late Spring)
directed by Yasujiro Ozu
Ozu's Late Spring
The most Japanese of directors, Yasujiro Ozu delivers another profound universal treatise on Life. |
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L'Enfant
directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
2005 Palm d'or Winner
Lower expectations will make this gritty take on the Belgium underclass and black market babies play better. |
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Thartharah fawq al-Nil (Adrift on the Nile)
directed by Hussein Kamal
La Dolce Vita in Cairo
Dutiful adaptation of Naguib Mahfouz's novel about middle-aged hedonists in 1967 Cairo. |
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