I'm very fond of films and you probably understand I like topics like these. Though it's hard for me to make a short list with films I like, because I really like a lot of films. Although my list has grown pretty large, I think it's a nice selection of the many many many films I actually like.
I use a system with stars... well it's obvious I think... Feel free to give comments.
✰✰✰ = good
✰✰✰✰ = very good
✰✰✰✰✰ = must see
8 femmes (2002) (language: French) ✰✰✰French murder musical comedy directed by:
François Ozon. Eight women are stuck in a country house in a French urban region because of heavy snow fall. There's one dead body, who's the killer?
A walk in the clouds (1995) (language: English) ✰✰✰A drama directed by:
Alfonso Arau. Paul Sutton (
Keanu Reeves), an American WWII veteran, returns home and find out his wife is cheating on him. He decides to go and search for his destiny. Then he meets Victoria who's pregnant and afraid for her over-authoritarian father who won't be happy to find out there's no father to claim the fatherhood of the unborn infant.
American beauty (1999) (language: English) ✰✰✰An American drama film directed by:
Sam Mendes. Lester Burnham (
Kevin Spacey) is fed up with his job and his life. His wife turned over the years in a pretentious controle freak and his daughter hates his guts. But then he decides to change his course and do those things he always wanted to do.
Amor de hombre (1997) (language: Spanish) ✰✰✰Spanish comedy drama directed by directors duo:
Yolanda García Serrano &
Juan Luis Iborra. Esperanza and Ramón are best friends for years and both looking for the man of their dreams. Ramón is a handsome homosexual man and Esperanza, his fag hag, wants to find the love of her life but all men she knows are gay. Esperanza manages to help Ramón finding the right man, but the relationship causes friction between Ramón and Esperanza. A gay film with a gay attitude and a wonderful soundtrack! One of the songs:
Amor de hombre, by
Mocedades.
Central do Brasil (1998) (language: Brazilian Portuguese) ✰✰✰✰✰Brazilian drama directed by:
Walter Salles. Dora (
Fernanda Montenegro) is a former school teacher, who is now a bitter old woman, works at Rio de Janeiro's Central Station, writing letters for illiterates. One day there is a car accident next to the train station; one of Dora's customers dies in the crash while her nine year old son Josué (
Vinícius de Oliveira) survives. No one is taking care of the boy, but Dora will take care of her. Together they'll search for Josué's father whom he has never known. Dora and Josué become friends for life. A film which will touch your soul.
Cinema aspirinas e urubus (2005) (language: Brazilian Portuguese) ✰✰✰✰✰A minimalistic Brazilian drama film directed by (
Marcelo Gomes). Johann (
Peter Ketnath) is a German citizen who fled for WWII to Brazil. He earns his living by selling aspirin - the new wonder medicine - in small villages, using advertisement films to promote the medicine. On his way through the desert he meets his friend Ranulpho (
João Miguel); both men dream of a happier life. Johann gets forced to decide about his destiny when Brazil declares war to Germany. Going back to Germany means he has to join the army and fight, staying in Brazil means he'll get imprisoned in a concentration camp. A wonderful film - almost every shot in the film, could be a postcard - which is a must see production for them who like minimalistic films!
Dances with wolves (1990) (language: English, Sioux, Pawnee) ✰✰✰A beautiful adventurous western film directed by:
Kevin Costner who also plays the leading role in this film. John J. Dunbar (
Kevin Costner) is a lieutenant in the American Civil War, gets transferred to a remote outpost in the west. Here he befriends a wolf and the Sioux one of the indigenous peoples of North-America. The Sioux welcome Dunbar in their tribe and name him: 'Dances with Wolves' because he has a special bond with a wolf.
Dead poets society (1989) (language: English) ✰✰✰✰An academy award winning film by:
Peter Weir. Poetry is more than just a collection of elegant words, that's one of the lesson John Keating (
Robin Williams) tries to teach his boarding school students. Keating wants his students to think for themselves and sucking all the marrow out of life. Though he's very much appreciated by his students, are Keating's teaching philosophies too modern for the conservative boarding school.
Eden (2006) (language: German) ✰✰✰✰A little jewel of a film, directed by:
Michael Hofmann. Gregor
Josef Ostendorf[/i]), a corpulent, eccentric chef owns a small restaurant in an unnamed city. His cooking is divine and the people are very well aware of that, there's even a waiting list for his restaurant. Eden (
Charlotte Roche) is married to Xaver (
Devid Striesow) their marriage is in a downward spiral. Though, when Eden gets in touch with Gregor and gets a taste of his divine cooking creations she recovers the passion in her marriage. Gregor's food makes Eden a better wife to Xaver and she develops a deep but platonic friendship with Gregor. Though Xaver fears this friendship and manages to dine in Gregor's restaurant, to find out whether he's really that good! But if Xaver realises he's cleaning his plate with his tongue, not wasting a bit of the divine cooking, he's afraid he might lose Eden to this divine chef, it's time to take measures.
El laberinto del fauno (2006) (language: Spanish) ✰✰✰✰A fairy tale for adults, directed by:
Guillermo del Toro. The imagination of a child is boundless. Though, there might be a world only some of us are able to see, since they're nobles from an other world. Like Ofelia (
Ivana Baquero) she's a princess from an other world, stuck on earth living in Spain during the fascist regime of Franco. Her mum married captain Vidal (
Sergi López) of the Spanish army. Captain Vidal is a ruthless man who will do anything to reach his goal. At night there's a fairy who brings Ofelia to an old faun in the labyrinth, the faun tells her she's a princess; but to prove her royalty she has to fulfil three gruesome tasks.
Innocence (2004) (language: French) ✰✰✰A mysterious film full with symbols, directed by:
Lucile Hadzihalilovic. Little girls live in a boarding school, all what they learn is biology and dance. The girls never leave the ground of the boarding school. The outside world is unknown for the girls, although they'll discover the outside world after five years. A very symbolic film which will raise many questions and certainly a must see film if you like to philosophise.
Jane Eyre (1996) (language: English) ✰✰✰A film made after the famous novel by
Charlotte Brontë, directed by:
Franco Zeffirelli. Jane Eyre is an orphan raised by her cruel aunt, Mrs. Reed. Jane gets send to a horrible girls orphanage where an insane head master is terrorising the girls. After many years Jane has become a governess and gets hired by the housekeeper of Thornfield Hall, Mrs. Fairfax. She has to take care of Adele, the adopted daughter of Mr. Rochester with whom she falls in love. Though Thornfield Hall houses a dark and awful secret.
La môme (2007) (language: French) ✰✰✰A biographical film made after the world famous chansonnière
Édith Piaf. The life story of Édith Piaf, from her very poor childhood among the prostitutes and the tramps in Paris till her death as a half godess. Directed by:
Olivier Dahan.
Marion Cotillard manages to bring Édith Piaf on screen with her great acting. Of course you'll hear Édith's biggest hits like: "
Non, je ne regrette rien", "
La vie en rose" and "
Milord".
La sconosciuta (2007) (language: Italian) ✰✰✰✰Irena (
Kseniya Rappoport) a Ukrainian immigrant and former sex slave in Trieste is in need for a job. She's applying for a job as cleaning lady in a block of flats where wealthy tenants live. When she gets hired she starts to develop a friendship with the nanny of the Adacher family; who are tenants in the block of flats. Suddenly the nanny falls down the stairs and ends up in rehabilitation. The Adachers need a new nanny and Irena seems to be the perfect replacement. Irena's motives are dark and ambiguous. Directed by:
Giuseppe Tornatore.
Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001) (language: French) ✰✰✰✰✰A great French feel good film directed by:
Jean-Pierre Jeunet with an outstanding soundtrack by:
Yann Tiersen. Amélie Poulain (
Audrey Tautou) is a young naive woman working as a waitress in
Montmartre, enyoing the trivial pleasures of life. She has been raised in isolation and therefore she created her own fantasy world during her youth. When she grows older she still doesn't have many social contacts, except for the people she works with. One day Amélie founds a little tin box in the cavity wall of her bathroom. The tin box is hidden there like a small treasure and indeed the tin box contains little treasures; a child must have hidden it there in the cavity. Amélie decides to find out who is the rightful owner of the tin box and its contents. When Amélie turns back the little tin box to the boy - who's become a man by now - she perceives that her little gentle gesture really touches the man and she decides to help the people in her surroundings becoming happier by just by doing little things in secrecy. Fortunately there's a friend of hers whose bones are as brittle as glass who reminds her of her own happiness and that she has to take measures in order to prevent her soul will become as brittle as his bones.
Le tango des Rashevski (2003) (language: French and Hebrew) ✰✰✰A wonderful French family drama, directed by:
Sam Garbarski. There are three generations of the Rashevsky family, each of which has experienced the major forces of its era. For the oldest generation, the defining event was the holocaust; for the middle generation, growing up in war torn Europe and being 2nd generation after the holocaust; finally, for the 3rd generation, dealing with assimilation and modern life in a Western culture. There are liberal and orthodox jews in the family and when there's a dispute Mrs. Rashevski will incite everyone to dance the tango in order they'll forget their conflict and realise they're still family. But what happens if Mrs. Rashevski dies?
Left luggage (1998) (language: English, Yiddish and Hebrew) ✰✰✰✰✰A touching drama directed by:
Jeroen Krabbé who's also playing a part in his own film. Against a background of holocaust memories, the liberal Jewish girl Chaya Silberschmidt (
Laura Fraser) becomes the nanny to the hasidic jewish boy Simcha Kalman (
Adam Monty), and grows fond of him. Chaya is in conflict with Simcha's father Mr. Kalman (
Jeroen Krabbé) but finds wisdom and maternal love in Mrs. Kalman (
Isabella Rossellini). Chaya's experience with the hasidic community and the Kalmans in particular more aware of her cultural and religious roots. A wonderful production with an international cast from: Netherlands, Belgium, UK and USA.
Perfume: the story of a murderer (2006) (language: English) ✰✰✰✰✰A magical film after the novel '
Das Parfum' by novelist
Patrick Süskind. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (
Ben Whishaw), born with a superior olfactory sense, creates the world's finest perfumes. His work, however, takes a dark turn as he searches for the ultimate scent.
Pride & Prejudice (1995) (language: English) ✰✰✰✰Undoubtfully the best film version of Jane Austen's classic novel
Pride & Prejudice, directed by:
Simon Langton. Elizabeth Bennett (
Jennifer Ehle) is a strong-willed yet sensible young woman in a well-off but middle class family with four sisters, a long-suffering but loving father and a mother anxious to marry them to wealthy young gentlemen. At a local ball, she encounters one such wealthy young man, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy (
Colin Firth) - and as Mr. Darcy is arrogant, cold and rude, it is hatred at first sight. As her older sister Jane (
Susannah Harker) falls in love with Mr. Darcy's best friend Mr. Bingley (
Crispin Bonham-Carter), and her youngest sister Lydia flirts with anyone in a military uniform, Lizzie finds herself fighting off the attentions of the unctuous Mr. Collins (
David Bamber) and quite taken by the charming Mr. Wickham (
Adrian Lukis) - who also happens to be an enemy of Mr. Darcy. However, as the characters succumb in many ways to pride and prejudice, Lizzie learns that not all is quite as it seems...and that Mr. Darcy might not be so disagreeable after all.
Quills (2000) (language: English) ✰✰✰A biographical film about the famous
Marquis de Sade, directed by:
Philip Kaufman. In the 18
th century when Marquis de Sade (
Geoffrey Rush) lived, mankind wasn't ready yet for his bizarre sexual fantasies; certainly not the stories he wrote about sexual sadism, torture and masochism. De Sade got declared mentally deranged and locked up for life in an insane asylum. He was a convinced atheist and adherent of libertinism. Hedonism was his mainspring. We can see this in the film very well and the collision it must have caused with the morals of his time. Dr. Royer-Collard (
Michael Caine), a tyrannically prudish doctor, will try to 'heal' his patients with degrading coral punishments and apparently he seems to enjoy it quite a lot. Perhaps he isn't that different from De Sade's ideas and convictions.
Shakespeare in love (1998) (language: English) ✰✰✰✰A Shakesperean comedy and drama about Shakespeare himself, directed by:
John Madden. A young Shakespeare (
Joseph Fiennes), out of ideas and short of cash, meets his muse and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays. Though love between the poor writer and lady Viola De Lesseps (
Gwyneth Paltrow) doesn't seem to be possible. This film is funny and sometimes heart touching, a typical feel good film.
盛夏光年 [shèng xià guāng nián] (2006) (language: Mandarin) ✰✰✰✰A beautiful Taiwanese gay film about the difficulty homosexuals encounter in a conservative environment, directed by:
陳正道 [chén zhèng dào]. 正行 [shǒu héng] (
張孝全 [zhāng xiào quán]) and 守恆 [zhèng xíng] (
張睿家 [zhāng ruì jiā]) are best friends, they’ve been placed together by a teacher who thought that Shǒu Héng needs a friend. Now years later, they really are best friends. Though Zhèng Xíng feelings for Shǒu Héng go further than just platonic friendship. In a society where homosexuality is not or poorly accepted it’s hard for Zhèng Xíng to be open about his feelings. This situation only gets worse by 慧嘉 [huì jiā] (
楊淇 [yáng qí]), she used to be Zèng Xíng's girlfriend but is dating Shǒu Héng now. Feelings of friendship and love make this jumble of emotions complete.
The English patient (1996) (language: English, German and Arabic) ✰✰✰✰✰One of my most favourite films, a beautiful drama after
Michael Ondaatje's novel "
The English patient", directed by:
Anthony Minghella. László de Almásy (
Ralph Fiennes) a Hungarian count and cartographist employed by the Royal Geographical Society to chart the vast expanses of the Sahara Desert along with several other prominent explorers, survived a plane crash but is severely burned. Laying on his death bed fostered by a Canadian nurse named Hana (
Juliette Binoche) in an old Italian villa close to the end of WWII. Through flashbacks, we see fragments of Almásy's life and the deep passionate love he felt for a woman. Together Hana and the young Sikh sapper Kip (
Naveen Andrews) keep Lószló de Almásy company changing their lifes.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) (language: English) ✰✰✰✰✰Considered as the best film ever by many, gets high rates on several film sites. Shawshank Redemption has competed for the #1. position on
www.imdb.com with the Godfather for a long time but are both passed by the
The dark knight with late
Heath Ledger in one of the leading roles. Anyway, Shawshank Redemption will stay one of the best films ever made! Directed by:
Frank Darabont. Andy Dufresne (
Tim Robbins) finds out his wife is cheating on him and gets accused for the murder on her and her lover. Though, he claims to be innocent, he gets two life sentences in the dour prison Shawshank. He befriends Red (
Morgan Freeman) another convict who's able to smuggle in stuff. Though there are only two things which keeps him going: hope and a poster of
Rita Hayworth.
Threesome (1994) (language: English) ✰✰✰✰A great film about a
ménage à trois between two young men and a woman. Directed by:
Andrew Fleming. Eddy (
Josh Charles) and Stuart (
Stephen Baldwin) share two-thirds of a dormitory suite. Due to bureaucratic error, a woman named Alex (
Lara Flynn Boyle) is added to their room. At first, relations among the three are tense. Soon, however, Alex falls for Eddy, and Stuart falls for Alex. Eddy comes to realise not only that he's gay, but that he's attracted to Stuart. The three pledge not to act on any romantic feelings with each other, and become close friends, while bottling up a lot of sexual tension.
Y tu mamá también (2001) (language: Spanish) ✰✰✰A very nice Mexican roadmovie, directed by:
Alfonso Cuarón. Temporarily left by their girlfriends, teenagers Tenoch (
Diego Luna) and Julio (
Gael García Bernal) meet the pretty Luisa (
Maribel Verdú) on a wedding. In order to impress her they tell they're about to leave for a roadtrip to the beautiful and secret beach of Boca del Cielo. Interested in this trip Luisa asks the two whether she can join them in this trip. The trio leaves soon for their fictitious destination. Along the way, fights and the contrast between the rich trio and the poor environment leads to complications.
英雄 [yīngxióng] (2002) (language: Mandarin) ✰✰✰✰✰A visual master piece directed by:
张艺谋 [zhāng yìmóu]. A Group of assassins has sworn to kill the tyrannical emperialistic king of
秦 [qín], 秦王 [qín wáng] (
陳道明 [chén dàomíng]). A hero named: 無名 [wú míng] (
李連杰 [lǐ liánjié]) goes to the capital to pocket the reward for eliminating these assassins. The film tells the story of the conversation between Wú Míng and Qín Wáng together with flashbacks which illustrates the journey that Wú Míng had to take in order to receive the honour to have an audience with the king. This film is specially known for it's superiour visual aspects, specially considering the
武俠 [wǔxiá] aspect of the film. Truly a must see film for those who are fond of the Asian cinema!
Believe me... this is only a small selection of the films I really appreciate and I want to recommend to you.