The Milky Way (1969)

Highly RecommendedFrance/ItalyFeature FilmOriginal Title: La voie lactéeDirector: Luis BuñuelWriters: Luis Buñuel, Jean-Claude CarrièreCinematographer: Christian MatrasComposer: Luis BuñuelCast: Paul Frankeur, Laurent Terzieff, Edith Scob, Bernard Verley, Denis Manuel, Daniel PilonTwo Frenchmen set off on foot on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, meeting various religiously significant figures from across time and space along the way,...

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Humpday (2009)

RecommendedUSAFeature FilmWriter/Director: Lynn SheltonCinematographer: Benjamin KasulkeComposer: Vinny SmithCast: Mark Duplass, Alycia Delmore, Joshua Leonard, Lynn Shelton, Trina WillardUnder the influence of drink and drugs, two recently reunited friends decide, despite both of them being heterosexual, to have sex with each other on camera for Humpfest – a distinctly arty, alternative porn festival; but once sober, and in the light of the reaction...

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District 9 (2009)

RecommendedUSA/New ZealandFeature FilmDirector: Neill BlomkampWriters: Neill Blomkamp, Terri TatchellCinematographer: Trent OpalochComposer: Clinton ShorterCast: Sharlto Copley, David James, Louis Minnaar, Vanessa Haywood, Eugene Khumbanyiwa, Kenneth Nkosi, Mandla Gaduka, Jason CopeAfter being exposed to an alien fuel source whilst issuing eviction notices to the residents of District 9 (a slum housing 1.8 million stranded extra-terrestrials), a...

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An Englishman Abroad (1983)

Essential ViewingUKTelevision FilmDirector: John SchlesingerWriter: Alan BennettCinematographer: Nat CrosbyComposer: George FentonCast: Alan Bates, Coral Browne, Denys Hawthorne, Trevor Baxter, Roger HammondCoral Browne (played by herself), in Moscow performing Hamlet in 1958, spends an afternoon in the decidedly grotty flat of the infamous traitor Guy Burgess (Bates, wonderful) – a member of The Cambridge Five spy ring, who had defected to the USSR...

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Winter Light (1962)

RecommendedSwedenFeature FilmOriginal Title: NattvardsgästernaWriter/Director: Ingmar BergmanCinematographer: Sven NykvistCast: Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand, Gunnel Lindblom, Max von Sydow, Allan Edwall, Kolbjörn Knudsen, Olof Thunberg, Elsa EbbesenIn light of God’s continuing silence and his and his dwindling parishioners’ fears, pains, crises, and losses, a middle-aged pastor begins to question his faith, in Bergman’s pessimistic, talky,...

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Five Daughters (2010)

RecommendedUKTelevision Mini-SeriesDirector: Philippa LowthorpeWriter: Stephen ButchardCinematographer: Chris SeagerComposer: Peter SalemCast: Sarah Lancashire, Ian Hart, Jaime Winstone, Juliet Aubrey, Al Weaver, Eva Birthistle, Aisling Loftus, Martin Compston, Natalie Press, Sean Harris, David Bradley, Joseph Mawle, Adam Kotz, Kierston Wareing, Ruth Negga, Christopher Fairbank, Vicky McClure, Lisa MillettThis sensitive, respectful, and very human...

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Last Resort (2000)

Highly RecommendedUKFeature FilmDirector: Pawel PawlikowskiWriters: Rowan Joffe, Pawel PawlikowskiCinematographer: Ryszard LenczewskiComposer: Max de WardenerCast: Dina Korzun, Artiom Strelnikov, Paddy Considine, Steve PerryPawlikowski’s delicately shot, sensitively written, and beautifully acted film takes a terribly moving look at the plight of a young Russian woman and her son, who have misguidedly, in the absence of her English fiancé, managed...

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Cashback (2004)

RecommendedUKShort FilmWriter/Director: Sean EllisCinematographer: Alex BarberComposer: Rick AstleyCast: Sean Biggerstaff, Emilia Fox, Stuart Goodwin, Michael Dixon, Michael LambourneAn art student with a particular penchant for the female form guides us through the art of passing the hours whilst working the nightshift at a supermarket, with emphasis given to his own peculiar technique, which involves the freezing of time so that he can strip attractive...

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Afterschool (2008)

Highly RecommendedUSAFeature FilmWriter/Director: Antonio CamposCinematographer: Jody Lee LipesComposer: Rakotondrabe GaëlCast: Ezra Miller, Jeremy White, Emory Cohen, Michael Stuhlbarg, Addison Timlin, Rosemarie Dewitt, LeeWilkof, Paul Sparks, Bill Raymond, Gary Wilmes, Christopher MccannA lonely teenaged boy, who has just started at a new co-ed boarding school, witnesses, whilst filming B-roll footage for the AV club, the drug related deaths of...

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The Virgin Spring (1960)

Essential ViewingSwedenFeature FilmOriginal Title: JungfrukällanDirector: Ingmar BergmanWriter: Ulla IsakssonCinematographer: Sven NykvistComposer: Erik NordgrenCast: Max von Sydow, Birgitta Valberg, Gunnel Lindblom, Birgitta Pettersson, Axel Düberg, Tor Isedal, Allan Edwall, Ove PorathBased on legend, and featuring perhaps von Sydow’s greatest performance, Bergman’s masterful, visceral, beautifully photographed middle-ages set gut punch of a film...

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Stuck (2007)

RecommendedUSA/Canada/GermanyFeature FilmDirector: Stuart GordonWriters: John Strysik, Stuart GordonCinematographer: Denis MaloneyComposer: Bobby JohnstonCast: Mena Suvari, Stephen Rea, Russell Hornsby, Rukiya BernardBased upon a actual event from 2001, Stuart Gordon’s guilt-inducingly entertaining black comedy sees a young woman, driving whilst under the influence, hitting a homeless man, who subsequently becomes (whilst still alive) lodged in her...

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A Long Weekend with The Son of God (2010)

RecommendedUKTelevision DocumentaryWriter/Director/Cinematographer: George CareyComposer: Arban, Steven SeverinGeorge Carey travels to Russia to meet with Soviet-era police officer turned artist turned messiah Jesus Vissarion (formerly Sergei Torop), who claims to be the son of God, and who has managed to accrue several thousand followers, many of whom live in a self-built and self-run community deep in the Siberian wilderness, in this fascinating...

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Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame (2007)

RecommendedIran/FranceFeature FilmOriginal Title: مر ضیه مشکینیDirector: Hana MakhmalbafWriter: Marzieh MakhmalbafCinematographer: Ostad AliComposer: Tolibhon ShakhidiCast: Nikbakht Noruz, Abbas Alijome, Abdolali Hoseinali19-year-old Hana Makhmalbaf’s second film – following the acclaimed Joy of Madness (2003), which she made when she was just 14 – is an unsubtle yet thoroughly compelling and viscerally affecting allegorical tale of Taliban and post-Taliban...

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Love Exposure (2008)

RecommendedJapanFeature FilmOriginal Title: 愛のむきだしWriter/Director: Sono ShionCinematographer: Tanigawa SouheiComposer: Harada TomohideCast: Nishijima Takahiro, Mitsushima Hikari, Ando Sakura, Watanabe Makiko, Watabe Atsuro, Genkaku Yūko, Itao Itsuji, Kuramoto Mitsuru, Miyadai Shinji, Nagao Nana, Nakamura Mami, Ohguchi Koji, Onoue Hiroyuki, Jai WestComing across like an adaptation of Doctor Zhivago (1957), only with perverts and cultists instead of...

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The Girlfriend Experience (2009)

Highly RecommendedUSAFeature FilmDirector: Steven SoderberghWriters: David Levien, Brian KoppelmanCinematographer: Steven Soderbergh (as Peter Andrews)Composer: Ross GodfreyCast: Sasha Grey, Chris Santos, David Levien, Mark Jacobson, Glenn Kenny, Christina Nadeau, Steve KlapperFilled with beautifully composed, long taken wide shots, and featuring some surprisingly convincing, naturalistic performances from its non-professional cast, Soderbergh’s...

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London Orbital (2002)

RecommendedUKFeature DocumentaryWriter/Director/Cinematographers: Chris Petit, Iain SinclairFeaturing: JG Ballard, Renchi Bicknell, Nicki Ferrari, Rachel Lichtenstein, Jock McFadyen, Bernard O’Mahoney, Effie Paleologou, John Sergeant, Anna Sinclair, Liat Uziel, John WhomesPetit and Sinclair’s hypnotically haunting and depressingly incisive cine-poem-cum-video essay takes as its starting point the M25, a 117-miles-long orbital motorway encircling...

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Canoe Man (2010)

Cautiously RecommendedUKShort Television FilmWriter/Director: Norman HullCinematographer: Don FreemanComposer: Neil BarclayCast: Bernard Hill, Saskia Reeves, Jeremy Swift, Philip Correia, Jeremy Legat, Kate Ambler, Pepe Balderrama, Philip McGoughHull’s competent if rather uninspired BBC production just about captures the incredulity of the real life incident that it dramatises – John Darwin, with the aid of his wife Anne, unbeknownst to their two...

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An Education (2009)

Cautiously RecommendedUK/USAFeature FilmDirector: Lone ScherfigWriters: Nick Hornby, Lynn BarberCinematographer: John de BormanComposer: Paul EnglishbyCast: Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Cara Seymour, Dominic Cooper, Rosamund Pike, Olivia Williams, Emma ThompsonOn the cusp of adulthood, Jenny, an Oxbridge candidate with a pushy father, meets a dashing older man, who proceeds to seduce her with his romantic, adventurous lifestyle,...

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Scum (1979)

Highly RecommendedUKFeature FilmDirector: Alan ClarkeWriter: Roy MintonCinematographer: Phil MeheuxCast: Ray Winstone, Mick Ford, Julian Firth, John Blundell, Phil Daniels, John Judd, Philip Jackson, Peter Howell, John Grillo, Ray Burdis, Alan Igbon, John Fowler, Bill DeanClarke’s remake of his own television film, which the BBC refused to show after getting cold feet over its strong violence, painting a bloody portrait of hellish borstal life, is...

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Scum (1977)

Highly RecommendedUKTelevision FilmSeries Title: Play for Today (1970-1984)Director: Alan ClarkeWriter: Roy MintonCinematographer: John WyattCast: Ray Winstone, David Threlfall, Martin Phillips, Davidson Knight, John Blundell, Phil Daniels, Ray Burdis, Richard Butler, John Judd, Bay White, Peter GordonOriginally commissioned by the BBC for their Play for Today series, but not shown until 1991 due to executive cold feet over its strong violence (and...

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Giliap (1975)

Cautiously RecommendedSwedenFeature FilmWriter/Director: Roy AnderssonCinematographer: John OlssonComposer: Björn IsfältCast: Thommy Berggren, Mona Seilitz, Willie Andréason, Lars-Levi Læstadius, Henry Olhans, Rainer Mieth, Pernilla WallgrenDour, humourless, and wilfully oblique, Giliap, Andersson’s follow-up to his 1970 magnum opus A Swedish Love Story, was a critical failure and a commercial disaster on its initial release and almost put paid to...

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Yes Minister: Series 1 (1980)

UKTelevision SeriesDirector: Sydney LotterbyWriters: Antony Jay, Jonathan LynnCinematographer: Peter WinnComposer: Ronnie HazlehurstCast: Paul Eddington, Nigel Hawthorne, Derek Fowlds, Neil Fitzwiliam, John Savident, Diana HoddinottWhen James Hacker is appointed as the Minister for Administrative Affairs by the new Prime Minister, he soon discovers that his aim to implement open, slim-lined government won’t be as easy as he had thought, as he finds...

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Miradas de cine: Votaciones los años 2000

Miradas de cineI, along with numerous (mostly) Spanish critics and bloggers, recently took part in the above poll, selecting our top 15 films of the decade. My personal ballot can be found here.Results: 25 votesIn the Mood for Love (2000)Mulholland Dr. (2001) 20 votesEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) 19 votesAI: Artificial Intelligence (2001) 17 votesKill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) 15 votesThere Will Be Blood (2007) 14...

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Faintheart (2008)

Not RecommendedUK/USAFeature FilmDirector: Vito RoccoWriters: David Lemon, Vito RoccoCinematographer: David KatznelsonComposer: Mike BattCast: Eddie Marsan, Ewen Bremner, Jessica Hynes, Bronagh Gallagher, Tim Healy, Paul Nicholls, Anne Reid, Joseph Hamilton, Chloe HesarRecently separated from his wife, Richard, a battle re-enactment enthusiast (complete with distinctly unfashionable hairstyle and moustache), determines to both win her back and regain...

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Takeshis' (2005)

RecommendedJapanFeature FilmOriginal Title: タケシズWriter/Director: Kitano TakeshiCinematographer: Yanagijima KatsumiComposer: NagiCast: Beat Takeshi, Kyōno Kotomi, Kishimoto Kayoko, Osugi Ren, Terajima Susumu, Watanabe TetsuBeat Takeshi, a successful actor, and Mr. Kitano, a struggling one, find their lives bleeding in and out of each other, as dreams, dreams within dreams, scenes of fiction, and passages of reality interconnect, intertwine, reproduce,...

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Your Father's Murderer: A Letter to Zachary (2008)

RecommendedUSAFeature DocumentaryOriginal Title: Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His FatherWriter/Director/Cinematographer/Composer/Narrator: Kurt KuenneFeaturing: David Bagby, Kate BagbyDespite its slightly (and needlessly) manipulative score, Kuenne’s very, very upsetting film, which documents the epic road trip that he made in order to pay tribute to his recently murdered best friend, is both a beautifully constructed, heartfelt memorial...

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Flickering Lights (2000)

Cautiously RecommendedDenmark/SwedenFeature FilmOriginal Title: Blinkende lygterWriter/Director: Anders Thomas JensenCinematographer: Eric KressComposers: Bent Fabricius-Bjerre, Jeppe KaasCast: Søren Pilmark, Ulrich Thomsen, Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Sofie Gråbøl, Iben Hjejle, Frits Helmuth, Ole Thestrup, Peter AnderssonFour childhood friends – small time gangsters – in debt to the local bigwig, go on the run, deciding to run a dilapidated...

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The Man Who Fell to Earth (1963)

USANovelAuthor: Walter TevisA tall, slender extraterrestrial lands on Earth and, exploiting his planet's vastly superior technology, forms World Enterprises Corporation, quickly building-up an immense fortune in order to build a space craft large enough to save the few remaining inhabitants of his war-scarred home world, but alcoholism and television-induced naivety ensure that his plan does not run smoothly, in Tevis’s gently satirical, pathos-laden...

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Adoration (2008)

RecommendedCanadaFeature FilmWriter/Director: Atom EgoyanCinematographer: Paul SarossyComposer: Mychael DannaCast: Devon Bostick, Scott Speedman, Arsinée Khanjian, Rachel Blanchard, Noam Jenkins, Kenneth WelshAt the urging of his Lebanese French teacher, a Torontan teenager confesses to his classmates that his Palestinian father attempted to make martyrs of him and his mother on a flight to Israel before his birth, bringing to the fore questions...

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Anchoress (1993)

RecommendedUK/BelgiumFeature FilmDirector: Chris NewbyWriters: Judith Stanley-Smith, Christine WatkinsCinematographer: Michel BaudourCast: Natalie Morse, Eugene Bervoets, Toyah Willcox, Pete Postlethwaite, Christopher Eccleston, Michael Pas, Brenda BertinSet in the 14th century and based on an actual incident, Chris Newby’s sensual, gorgeously photographed curio depicts the strange tale of Christine Carpenter – a puzzling, ethereal young woman –...

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Berlin, 2010

Golden BearHoney (2010) Jury Grand Prix - Silver BearIf I Want to Whistle, I Whistle (2010) Silver Bear for Best DirectorRoman Polanski, The Ghost (2010) Silver Bear for Best ActressTerajima Shinobu, Caterpillar (2010) Silver Bear for Best ActorGrigori Dobrygin & Sergei Puskepalis, How I Ended This Summer (2010) Silver Bear for an Outstanding Artistic Contribution (Camera)Pavel Kostomarov, How I Ended This Summer (2010) Silver Bear for Best ScriptWang Quan'an and Na Jin, Apart Together (2010) Alfred-Bauer PrizeIf I Want to Whistle, I...

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The Firm (1989)

RecommendedUKTelevision FilmSeries Title: Screen Two (1985-1994)Director: Alan ClarkeWriter: Al AshtonCinematographers: Ben Philpott, Richard Philpott, John WardCast: Gary Oldman, Lesley Manville, Philip Davis, Andrew Wilde, Charles Lawson, William Vanderpuye, Jay Simpson, Patrick Murray, Robbie Gee, Terry Sue Patt, Nick Dunning, Nicholas HewetsonBexy – a besuited estate agent from a working class background, who looks every bit the fascist with...

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Four Days in July (1985)

Highly RecommendedUKTelevision FilmWriter/Director:Mike LeighCinematographer: Remi AdefarasinComposer: Rachel PortmanCast: Brid Brennan, Des McAleer, Paula Hamilton, Charles Lawson, B.J. Hogg, Adrian Gordon, Shane Connaughton, Eileen Pollock, Stephen Rea, David Coyle, John Keegan, John Hewitt, Ann HassonClick for revi...

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Home Sweet Home (1982)

Highly RecommendedUKTelevision FilmSeries Title: Play for Today (1970-1984)Writer/Director: Mike LeighCinematographer: Remi AdefarasinComposer: Carl DavisCast: Timothy Spall, Eric Richard, Tim Barker, Kay Stonham, Su Elliot, Frances Barber, Sheila Kelley, Lorraine BrunningClick for revi...

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Angels in Fast Motion (2005)

RecommendedDenmarkFeature FilmOriginal Title: NordkraftDirector: Ole Christian MadsenWriters: Bo Hr. Hansen, Ole Christian Madsen, Jakob EjersboCinematographer: Jørgen JohanssonComposer: Frithjof ToksvigCast: Signe Egholm Olsen, Claus Riis Østergaard, Thure Lindhardt, Farshad Kholghi, Thomas L. Corneliussen, Pernille Vallentin, Signe Vaupel, Rudi KøhnkeAlthough its incongruently flashy visuals detract somewhat from its overall effect, Madsen’s weaving...

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Edge of Darkness (1985)

RecommendedUKTelevision Mini-SeriesDirector: Martin CampbellWriter: Troy Kennedy-MartinCinematographer: Andrew DunnComposers: Eric Clapton, Michael KamenCast: Bob Peck, Joe Don Baker, Charles Kay, Ian McNeice, Joanne Whalley, Hugh Fraser, John Woodvine, Jack Watson, Allan Cuthbertson, Kenneth Nelson, David Fleeshman, Zoë Wanamaker, Bill Stewart, T.R. Bowen, Imogen StaleyFollowing the murder of his 21-year-old political activist daughter, presumably...

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The Hangover (2009)

RecommendedUSAFeature FilmDirector: Todd PhillipsWriters: Jon Lucas, Scott MooreCinematographer: Lawrence SherComposer: Christophe BeckCast: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Heather Graham, Sasha Barrese, Jeffrey Tambor, Ken Jeong, Rachael Harris, Mike TysonThree friends wake-up in their swanky Las Vegas hotel room after a seemingly wild bachelor party (stag night) with very few memories of the night before and a missing...

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Wallander: Season 1 (2005-2006)

SwedenTelevision SeriesCreator: Henning MankellCast: Krister Henriksson, Johanna Sällström, Ola Rapace, Angela Kovacs, Douglas Johansson, Mats Bergman, Fredrik GunnarssonWritten to follow-on from Mankell’s series of popular novels, this first season, comprising of thirteen 90 minute instalments, awkwardly mixes a refined, sober aesthetic with generally outlandish, button-pushing plots, with the resultant episodes being a decidedly mixed bunch and...

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The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (1939)

Highly RecommendedJapanFeature FilmOriginal Title: 残菊物語Director: Mizoguchi KenjiWriters: Kawaguchi Matsutarō, Yoda Yoshikata, Muramatsu ShōfūCinematographers: Fuji Yozō, Miki ShigetoComposers: Fukai Shirō, Itō SenjiCast: Hanayagi Shōtarō, Takada Kōkichi, Kawarazaki Gonjurō, Mori Kakuko, Arashi Tokusaburo, Umemura YōkoAt the end of the 19th century, Kikunosuke, an entertainer of some popularity but only moderate talent, determines to leave Tokyo and...

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CFB's Top 20 Obscure Films of 1927 (2010)

The Town Rat and the Country Rat (1927) Hindle Wakes (1927) West Point (1927) Spiritual Constructions (1927) The Chess Player (1927) Twelve Miles Out (1927) Love (1927) The Gaucho (1927) Women of Ryazan (1927) Long Pants (1927) Spring Fever (1927) The Three-Sided Mirror (1927) Charleston Parade (1927) Stark Love (1927) The Battle of the Century (1927) Hotel Imperial (1927) Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927) Downhill (1927) The...

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