The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema
The list by Empire online site. Movies from all over the world.
All the descriptions below are taken from the original article.
All the descriptions below are taken from the original article.
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- DirectorTimur BekmambetovStarsKonstantin KhabenskiyVladimir MenshovMariya PoroshinaA fantasy-horror set in present-day Moscow where the respective forces that control daytime and nighttime do battle.It's Buffy meets The Matrix meets Blade! In Moscow!
- DirectorWoo-Ping YuenStarsRongguang YuDonnie YenJean WangA martial artist/doctor steals from the corrupt authorities as a masked thief to give to the poor while another martial artist/doctor is forced to hunt him down. But a major threat unites them as a powerful and traitorous shaolin monk takes over the authorities....so chock-a-block full of breathtaking fighting sequences that you barely have time to place the popcorn in your mouth
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTatsuya NakadaiAkira TeraoJinpachi NezuIn Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other...and him.Moving, and packed with images that sear themselves onto the brain, it's an astonishing work from an old master.
- DirectorKaige ChenStarsLeslie CheungFengyi ZhangGong LiTwo boys meet at an opera training school in Peking in 1924. Their resulting friendship will span nearly 70 years and endure some of the most troublesome times in China's history.Operatic but never melodramatic, this shows a more sensitive side to Chinese cinema than we're used to
- DirectorMarc CaroJean-Pierre JeunetStarsMarie-Laure DougnacDominique PinonPascal BenezechPost-apocalyptic surrealist black comedy about the landlord of an apartment building who occasionally prepares a delicacy for his odd tenants.Witty, strange and quite brilliant, this is a unique view on what remains when the world ends.
- DirectorBruce LeeStarsBruce LeeChuck NorrisNora MiaoA man visits his relatives at their restaurant in Italy and has to help them defend against brutal gangsters harassing them....the skill, charm and work ethic of Bruce Lee that steamrollered this martial arts movie into the classic it has become.
- DirectorSouleymane CisséStarsIssiaka KaneAoua SangareNiamanto SanogoA young man with magical powers journeys to his uncle to request help in fighting his sorcerer father.Its symbolism might not translate, but it is hypnotically ravishing
- DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsJeroen KrabbéRenée SoutendijkThom HoffmanA man who has been having visions of an impending danger begins an affair with a woman who may lead him to his doom.Cue rampant symbolism, castration images, kinky sex and dead seagulls - welcome to Verhoevenland.
- DirectorMizuho NishikuboMamoru OshiiStarsAtsuko TanakaIemasa KayumiAkio ÔtsukaA cyborg policewoman and her partner hunt a mysterious and powerful hacker called the Puppet Master.The fact that both the Wachowski brothers and James Cameron are huge fans of the film should come as no surprise
- DirectorWolfgang BeckerStarsDaniel BrühlKatrin SassChulpan KhamatovaIn 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.Subtle and delicately delivered humour is where Goodbye Lenin is at
- DirectorJules DassinStarsJean ServaisCarl MöhnerRobert ManuelFour men plan a technically perfect crime, but the human element intervenes...It's the father of the modern heist movie
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsHana BrejchováVladimír PucholtVladimír MensíkA factory manager in rural Czechoslovakia bargains with the army to send men to the area, to boost the morale of his young female workers, deprived of male company since the local boys have been conscripted. The army sends reservists, mostly married middle-aged men - and the local beauty Andula, spurns those bold enough to try to win her, for the jazz pianist, newly come from Prague to perform. He seduces her and impresses her, telling her "most women are round, like guitars but you are a guitar by Picasso". Staying the night with him causes a lecture on a young woman's honour at her hostel so she throws over her other suitors and makes her way to Prague to find the young man. His protective Mamma and weary Pappa are not pleased when she arrives on the doorstep with her suitcase.Forman etches a tender gentle but never twee portrait of young love.
- DirectorAki KaurismäkiStarsMatti PellonpääKari VäänänenSakke JärvenpääSiberian rock band Leningrad Cowboys go to the USA in pursuit of fame.The Leningrad Cowboys (real band, real weirdos), having failed to make it in Russia, are told to try America "because they'll listen to any old *beep*
- DirectorAndrei TarkovskyStarsAnatoliy SolonitsynIvan LapikovNikolay GrinkoThe life, times and afflictions of the fifteenth-century Russian iconographer St. Andrei Rublev.Alongside the heavy duty themes, there are stunning visual set-pieces
- DirectorTom TykwerStarsFranka PotenteMoritz BleibtreuHerbert KnaupAfter a botched money delivery, Lola has 20 minutes to come up with 100,000 Deutschmarks....fast-paced as you'd expect, full of likable characters, and perfectly balances arthouse sensibilities with multiplex action to create one of the most enjoyable movies
- DirectorBernardo BertolucciStarsJean-Louis TrintignantStefania SandrelliGastone MoschinA weak-willed Italian man becomes a fascist flunky who goes abroad to arrange the assassination of his old teacher, now a political dissident....Il Conformista is a period piece that looks as good today as 40 years ago
- DirectorJean CocteauStarsJean MaraisFrançois PérierMaría CasaresA poet in love with Death follows his unhappy wife into the underworld.Made by a man who laid claim to being a painter and sculptor as well as a filmmaker, this is a true work of art in every sense
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsThierno LeyeMyriam NiangSeune SambA corrupt politician is cursed with impotence on the night of his third wedding after embezzling 100 tons of rice....satire at its most subtle yet savage.
- DirectorKinji FukasakuStarsTatsuya FujiwaraAki MaedaTarô YamamotoIn the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill one another under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.A high-concept masterpiece, this controversial effort from Fukasaku continues to provoke discussion with its devastating premise
- DirectorBong Joon HoStarsSong Kang-hoByun Hee-BongPark Hae-ilA monster emerges from Seoul's Han River and begins attacking people. One victim's loving family does what it can to rescue her from its clutches.The Host is remarkable for whipping it out before you've even said hello - and what a creation it is
- DirectorMehboob KhanStarsNargisSunil DuttRajendra Kumar TuliIn this melodrama, a poverty-stricken woman raises her sons through many trials and tribulations. But no matter the struggles, she always sticks to her own moral code.It's the Indian Gone With The Wind
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsAnna KarinaClaude BrasseurDanièle GirardTwo crooks with a fondness for old Hollywood B-movies convince a languages student to help them commit a robbery.Tarantino's production company is called A Band Apart, See what he did there
- DirectorPedro AlmodóvarStarsCarmen MauraAntonio BanderasJulieta SerranoA television actress encounters a variety of eccentric characters after embarking on a journey to discover why her lover abruptly left her....served with a bucket of drugged gazpacho, this is probably the best example of Almodovar's early, funny stuff.
- DirectorYimou ZhangStarsZiyi ZhangTakeshi KaneshiroAndy LauA romantic police captain breaks a beautiful member of a rebel group out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem.The basic technique is this: cast gorgeous people. Have them fight each other in scenic places
- DirectorLars von TrierStarsBodil JørgensenJens AlbinusAnne Louise HassingThe group of people gather at the house in Copenhagen suburb to break all the limitations and to bring out the "inner idiot" in themselves.Ballsy cinema with a capital B.