Criterion Collection (Firm).
22) Koyaanisqatsi
Description
This first work of The Qatsi Trilogy wordlessly surveys the rapidly changing environments of the Northern hemisphere, in an astonishing collage created by the director, cinematographer Ron Fricke, and composer Philip Glass. It shuttles viewers from one jaw-dropping vision to the next, moving from images of untouched nature to others depicting human beings, increasing dependence on technology.
24) No bears
Appears on list
Description
One of the world's great cinema artists, Jafar Panahi has been carefully crafting self-reflexive works about artistic, personal, and political freedom for the past three decades, despite being banned from filmmaking by the Iranian government since 2010. In No Bears completed shortly before his imprisonment in 2022, Panahi plays a fictionalized version of himself, a dissident filmmaker who relocates to a rural border town to direct a film remotely...
25) Rififi
Appears on list
Description
A story of a successful jewel robbery in which the four thieves betray each other.
26) La cienaga
Appears on list
Description
With a radical take on narrative, disturbing yet beautiful cinematography, and a highly sophisticated use of on- and offscreen sound, Martel turns her tale of a decaying bourgeois family, whiling away the hours of one sweaty, sticky summer, into a cinematic marvel. This visceral take on class, nature, sexuality, and the ways political turmoil and social stagnation can manifest in human relationships is a drama of amazing tactility and one of the great...
27) The in-laws
Description
A mild-mannered dentist becomes involved with his daughter's father-in-law's bizarre life with the CIA, which may or may not even be true.
28) Nanny
Description
A spellbinding blend of social observation and artful shocks, the debut feature from Nikyatu Jusu plunges into the increasingly fractured consciousness of Aisha, a Senegalese immigrant who takes a job as a nanny for a wealthy white family in New York City. Separated from her son and casually exploited by her employers, Aisha finds herself consumed by unsettling visions and a growing rage one that could either destroy or empower her. This visually...
29) The cameraman
Description
The final work over which he maintained creative control, this clever farce is the culmination of an extraordinary, decade-long run that produced some of the most innovative and enduring comedies of all time. Keaton plays a hapless newsreel cameraman desperate to impress both his new employer and his winsome office crush as he zigzags up and down Manhattan hustling for a scoop.
32) Don't look back
Description
The legendary documentarian finds Dylan in London during his 1965 tour, which would be his last as an acoustic artist and marked a turning point in his career. In this wildly entertaining vision of one of the twentieth century's greatest artists thrust into the spotlight, Dylan is surrounded by teen fans; gets into heated philosophical jousts with journalists; and kicks back with fellow musicians Joan Baez, Donovan, and Alan Price.
33) Le beau serge
Appears on list
Description
Follows a successful yet sickly young man who returns home to the small village where he grew up. There, he finds himself at odds with his former close friend - now unhappily married and a wretched alcoholic - and the provincial life he represents. Includes bonus features.
34) Love affair
Description
Golden-age Hollywood's humanist master Leo McCarey brings his graceful touch and relaxed naturalism to this sublime romance, one of cinema's most intoxicating tear-wringers. Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer are chic strangers who meet and fall in love aboard an ocean liner bound for New York. Though they are both involved with other people, they make a pact to reconnect six months later at the top of the Empire State Building, until the hand of fate...
35) For all mankind
Description
A look at America's first manned flights to the moon told by the 24 men who traveled to the moon and using the images from their experiences.
36) EO
Appears on list
Description
Legendary director Jerzy Skolimowski created one of his freest and most visually inventive films yet with this story of a gray donkey named EO. After being removed from an itinerant circus, EO begins a trek across the countryside, experiencing cruelty and kindness from a cast of characters including an Italian countess and a Polish soccer team. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature, and featuring stunning cinematography by...
37) Godland
Description
The struggle between the strictures of religion and humankind₂s brute animal nature plays out amid the beautifully forbidding landscapes of remote Iceland in this stunning psychological epic from director Hlynur Pl̀mason. In the late nineteenth century, Danish priest Lucas made the perilous trek to Iceland₂s southeastern coast to establish a church. There, the arrogant man of God finds his resolve tested as he confronts the harsh terrain, temptations...
Description
Wayne Wang's follow-up to his watershed indie Chan Is Missing is a family portrait that gracefully combines the director's signature gentle humanism and eye for poignant detail. Offering another fresh perspective on San Francisco's Chinese American community, Wang takes a bittersweet look at the generational pas de deux between an aging immigrant widow and her devoted daughter, torn between filial duty and her desires.
39) Easy rider
Description
A generation-defining movie about friends who engage in a motorcycle journey across the country to discover the true America. Bonus features include: CD Songtrack, making of documentary, commentary, and British Film Institute Modern Classic Book.