When it comes to rooting for the bad guy, it takes narrative, creativity and most importantly, character to get the audience on their side. However, we’re not just talking about antiheroes or flawed characters, but people that are actually bad – morally, ethically, and lawfully. Therefore, here are 10 films that we root for the villain regardless of who and what else is in the film.

1. Heat (1995, Michael Mann)

A film that juxtaposes between the law and the criminal. And how can one not root for Robert De Niro’s master thief? Sure, we love watching Al Pacino’s determined cop stop at nothing for justice, but we always want the bad guys, including Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, and Jon Voight, to get away with it.

Following the elaborate planning and takedown heist of a Downtown Los Angeles bank, De Niro’s code and character are established and ultimately put to the test. He lives by certain rules in his criminal and personal life, which makes him an organized, and for a lack of a better word, trustworthy individual. He hooks us in and it’s hard not to side with him.

Whether it’s the legendary diner conversation or wrapping up loose ends at the airport, we all want De Niro and his team to win, of course, with Pacino getting away scratch-free as well. However, isn’t that the mindset of these villains? Rob a bank with no casualties – but they have their codes.

2. Cruella (2021, Craig Gillespie)

Going into this Disney live-action reboot, we already know about the Dalmatian-hunting fashionista and what she will do to dogs. Therefore, how can we possibly root for her? Taking some modern influences and Disney sidelining their picture-perfect characters, Emma Stone makes us root for her all the more.

Taking place mostly in the 1970s during the punk rock movement, we witness how this orphan character, whose mother had an unfavorable exit by the hands of a cruel woman and her Dalmatians, kicks off her initial hatred of these animals. However, as Stone’s Estella Miller grows in the fashion and criminal world, her methods and morality grow more grey. Even her confidants of Horace and Jasper question her ethics.

However, as the film continues with a killer soundtrack, it’s hard not to root for Estella and eventually Cruella despite not only what she becomes but what we see she is becoming. A talented, smart, and clever boss making her own way in this cruel world.

3. Falling Down (1993, Joel Schumacher)

Pushing one man too far has been a subgenre of violent and criminal films in the past, but here, it takes it to the extreme. Michael Douglas stars as William Foster, who treks across Los Angeles to visit his ex-wife and estranged daughter for her birthday, and along the way encounters situations and observations that cause him to explode.

Whether it be a construction sight, a hold up, or even observing how the corrupt capitalist system abuses the poor, Douglas reacts violently, wrecking havoc across the city. Hot on his tail is Robert Duvall’s LAPD detective’s last day on the job. So how is it that Schumacher’s film makes us root for this potentially psychopathic vigilante? It’s because Douglas’s humane persona is acting out all the observations he sees everyday – he just does so with violence and extreme measures.

Douglas gives most roles where the characters act out against society a run for their money here. He simply goes all the way and with the narrative choices, say the fast food scene, it goes over the edge. But who hasn’t felt his frustration of irrelevance, abuse, and nothingness? He’s just the villain who goes for it.

4. There Will Be Blood (2007, Paul Thomas Anderson)

A nonverbal 15-minute opening where Daniel Day-Lewis’ Daniel Plainview crawls, digs, and drills his way to his success shows us he is an ambitious oilman who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals. Anderson allows time, space, and choice to show how corrupt and evil Plainview is, but we secretly never want to stop him from becoming more so as he does it.

Whether lying to the twin siblings played by Paul Dano, declaring his faith to a god he doesn’t believe in, or abandoning his child, our range of emotions and care for Plainview changes over the course of the film, much like the man himself. A man who starts as a caring father focused on building an oil empire slowly becomes a deranged, murderous man we can no longer identify with. However, the leading character is too charismatic and interesting for us to abandon our support.

Ranking as one of the greatest performances by one of the greatest actors of all time, it’s not difficult to see why we are drawn to Lewis’ Plainview, but we can see how he’s not a man we would like to personally know.

5. The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed)

The lead-up to what Orson Welles’ himself called a star-making performance of a character everyone in post-World War II Vienna keeps talking about – Harry Lime – makes us enthralled by him the moment he appears in the shadowy door frame, accompanied by the zither score. It’s only as the reputation builds and the eventual scene on the Ferris wheel, do we see the true villain of Harry Lime, much to the bravado of Welles himself.

Already a legend and a burnout in the making of this film, Welles was enduring a difficult filmmaking career, but here, with Reed’s brilliant direction, Welles might give his best performance, despite not appearing in the first half of the film. We hear of this possible traitor, selfish capitalist, or false apparition in the world until he finally hears Lime’s thoughts on humanity, the war, and its people during the cuckoo clock and “humans are like ants” speech. Here, we see a nihilist who expends human life for nothing, but does it diminish our smug admiration for him? Not very much.

Until a finale that will have film noir buffs rejoicing all over, Lime is certainly a grey character, but we all want him to get away, even if he’s just giving us entertainment in the highest form for the past 100 minutes.

When it comes to crafting your film, the term ‘color palette’ encompasses many elements. From the cinematography to production design to costume design, the actual visual look of the film relies heavily on the color. Of course, this can be shunned away or not taken full advantage of. On the other end of the spectrum, it can evoke and strengthen the emotional impact of your film. Therefore, here are 10 films that use color to express a particular feeling.

1. Songs from the Second Floor (2000) – Detachment

Roy Andersson paints with the same colors in his static, larger encompassing mise-en-scene films and it all started here. From the drab grey, muted primaries and bleak desaturation, the film’s colors express a detached outlook on life that suits all the characters feelings and motivations.

Throughout the vignette-style film with an Altman-like cast, these people come and go around Sweden trying to communicate and make a real connection. The scenes add up into a narrative but the characters can never really speak the truth to one another. Therefore, Andersson’s use of drab and bleak colors evokes how the characters are feeling and we are right in the middle of it. Utilizing three cinematographers and a precise eye on the people, Andersson arrived back on the film scene and has been using these colors ever since.

2. In the Mood for Love (2000) – Passion

Shot over a lengthy 18-month period with Christopher Doyle and Mark Lee Ping Bin, Wong Kar-wai made sure every color filled with smoke, neon lushness, and rain made him feel the need for love. Of course, one can be referring to the apartment yellows and green plants, but it’s the red of the drapes, jackets, rugs, bed sheets and so much more that makes this film bleed with passion.

Hence the title and its brilliant coupling, or lack thereof, with Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung. With the entirety of the loneliness in the midst of a crowded Hong Kong apartment, the isolation in the city, or the polite gestures on a stairway, the audience sees these reds that make us in the mood for love, much like its two lead characters. Every frame is so precisely balanced, nuanced, and designed with the appropriate amount of colors that its central theme comes across in each image. The film truly shows how a color can express the central question and theme of a film.

3. Suspiria (1977) – Fear

How can one use color to express fear? Well, when it comes to Italian giallo maestro Dario Argento, he uses every color to its fullest extent to express fear in the mind and eyes of the audience. From red shadowy drapes, freakish soaked blues, and neon-lite fake turkeys, his overabundance of colors shot by Luciano Tovoli expresses a particular kind of fear.

From the opening operatic murder scene drenched in red walls and lighting, any pair of eyes can tell this film won’t play by the rules. It’s through the colors and the particular shades of red that we see Jessica Harper’s Suzy descend into the harsh reality that her ballet school is really a front for witches. Filled with numerous set pieces all utilizing some form of red expressing a fear of death, murder, satanic cult, and paranoia, no stone is unturned when expressing fear.

It’s a film that makes its own rules and a color palette that one can never unsee. And through the brilliant direction of Argento, these colors morph the audience in a fear of the unknown for repeated viewings.

4. The Fall (2006) – Wonder

A film shot in over 20 countries will surely be diverse, exotic, and strange enough to see it. In Tarsem Singh’s mystical adventure fantasy of an injured stuntman telling a story to a broken-armed young girl in 1915 Los Angeles, it’s her vivid imagination that makes the story what it is and certainly with the colors of the world.

To pick a specific frame or color would be too much, but lensed by Colin Watkinson, the film’s design and color sparks pure wonder from the ancient to folklore to fantasy to medieval and everything in between. All of the landscapes of the world are shown in the film in a sometimes darkened, textured tone or cloud covered desert – nothing is off the table.

It’s certainly a film of almost documentary-like proportions; not in execution, but in each visual setting and film that encompasses the colors to enhance and spark our own imagination. Not just because of the story, but as the story is told to us as well, we create our own interpretation of these strange lands, increasing our own wonder of the world.

5. Tokyo Drifter (1967) – Frenzy

What is essentially a yakuza film with all the gangster tropes, Seijun Suzuki’s acidic, color-shifting, minimalist excessive art makes it truly standout. Whether our main character Phoenix Tetsu is battling it out in black and white, a white blizzard, or a color-shifting jazz club drenched in an original white, its unpredictable, uncontrolled excitement for color style makes us feel the wild behavior in this film.

Suzuki was always experimenting in style and through Shigeyoshi Mine’s photography, we never know what to expect. For example, the white club room ranges from yellow to red to purple all expresses what is happening in the minds of these anti-heroes and criminals. And sometimes simply because it looks cool. Regardless, it makes the film have this kinetic energy and exciting playfulness to it. When the film is rapidly over in its 83 minutes of runtime, you have literally witnessed almost every color in a deliberate way that you are not completely sure how to comprehend, leading to a moment of frenzied reflection.

Sometimes a film – in this case, a drama – can contain so much tension and suspense that we are white knuckling it throughout its runtime. These films don’t cross over into another genre but strictly focus on the people at hand – that’s the main interest, not set pieces or crazy plot twists. Here are 10 films that are essentially dramas that unfold like thrillers.

1. Loveless (2017, Andrey Zvyagintsev)

Coming off the brilliant “Leviathan,” Zvyagintsev focuses on Russian society and its incompetent police force after the disappearance of a young boy, but only after we’ve explored the crumbling marriage of his parents for nearly half of the film beforehand.

From the opening, the film is bleak, unapologetically somber, and showcases a grim future for all those involved. As the scenes unfold and we see the mother already in a serious relationship with another man, and the father already expecting a baby with his lover, are clearly neglectful of the child. A bristling tension keeps boiling throughout until the boy is completely out of the picture, unfolding a missing person’s case, but the film truly focuses on the relationship of disintegration, neglect, and lack of optimism.

Zvyagintsev certainly takes his digs at the Russian system but he really creates a crumbling marriage where you never know what to expect, from yelling matches in the car, hurtful insults, and ignoring one another. It’s a film that leaves you unsettled and bleak, long after these people continue to live their new lives apart.

2. The Official Story (1985, Luis Puenzo)

What starts as a family celebrating a girl’s birthday party, teaching history to students, and regular day-to-day life slowly starts to unveil something more sinister behind it all. Steeped in a cloud of political oppression and the last year of Argentina’s military dictatorship, all of the citizens are always on high alert. But when Norma Aleandro’s Alicia begins to ask questions toward her ignoring husband and around her friends, she digs deeper into unwanted territory.

Puenzo tells the story of Alicia slowly discovering that her daughter may or may not be one of the forced disappearances of children from their murdered parents. This self-awakening, filled with terror and bristled with tension on whether to ask or not ask those questions, keeps the audience’s curiosity and morality throughout leading to a shockingly truthful, violent, and unanswered climax.

3. A Separation (2011, Asghar Farhadi)

Beginning with an uninterrupted take of Leila Hatami’s Simin and Peyman Moaadi’s Nader discussing their divorce, their child, their father with Alzheimer’s, and leaving Iran drops us right in the middle of an intense argument that never seems to let up. Farhadi allows us into the anxious and stress-filled life of these people where it feels like it might explode at any given moment – and it certainly does.

Ranging from social and religious norms, morality on theft and lying, to even a possible murder, the film contains enough twists and turns that unfold naturally given its circumstance, that it keeps our tension high during the film and long after the credits.

Considered one of the best films of the decade and even the century, it’s not a surprise because it keeps the audience involved, provoked, thinking, and discussing all the themes and elements of the film anytime its title is mentioned.

4. In Love We Trust (2008, Wang Xiaoshuai)

A film filled with cultural and domestic turmoil revolving around a divorced couple in modern-day China discovering that their child dying of leukemia can be saved from the stem cells of an umbilical cord of a sibling. This creates unease and problems as the mother and father have already remarried.

The film shows the strains of revisiting the past to solve a problem in the present for a better future. Wang’s script is layered, deep, and filled with contemplation that continually allows the audience to think, “What will they do?” To a more involved, “What would I do?”

By being detailed and specific in time and place, it allows for a greater humanity and wider questions to be discussed. Leisurely paced and slowly evolving, it’s slowly opening the door to deeper wounds and questions, making this drama a quiet, tense thriller between people thinking about what to do next.

5. Graduation (2016, Cristian Mungiu)

Telling a down, realistic, and truthful tale in Romania about the lengths and odds a father will go to help his daughter go to school in England after being sexually assaulted unfolds like a decision into hell for Adrian Titeni’s Romeo.

Whether Mungiu is shedding light on how Romania’s society works to corrupt officials, cops, and teachers, or about a father living through his daughter, the questions of morality, legality, and sacrifice are always at hand. As the story unfolds revealing affairs, lies, and corruption, it’s never black and white but extremely grey and it makes us ask ourselves, “Would we do the same thing?”

It’s a deeply layered, intelligent narrative that never sways away from those difficult questions and answers; Mungiu constantly challenges us to see from the character’s points of view and not to judge but make our own decisions. And out of this, a great drama is born that unfolds like any Hitchcockian thriller you can think of.

Existentialism and cinema have always gone hand in hand. How do we create soul-searching cinematic films and aspire to true art while our lives can be viewed the same way? As humans, we simply have to find a purpose for meaning and to live our lives regardless of the absurdity, free will, and explanation behind the daily encounters in life or in our heads.

Sure, philosophies from Marcel to Schopenhauer to Heidegger to Kierkegaard can be explored, but the main question is from Sarte – of what it means to be a human being existing in the world. What are the reasons behind it?

In terms of existentialism, he stated, “Man must create his own essence: it is in throwing himself into the world, suffering there, struggling there, that he gradually defines himself. And the definition always remains open ended.” In tears of film, Stanley Kubrick expressed it best in terms of technical or soul searching when he said, “However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light,” possibly linking to Sarte.

The cinematic art form has explored this question and most recently in this past decade, particular films focus on this theme in their works. Therefore, here are 10 great existentialist films of the 2010s.

10. Somewhere (2010) – The vastness of celebrity

Sofia Coppola is no stranger in exploring how people find a sense of purpose, and their search for meaning against the backdrop of a world. Here, she explores the relationship between a successful movie star played by Stephen Dorff who has to care for his 11-year-old daughter, Cleo, played by Elle Fanning, in Hollywood.

As the film’s controlled visual aesthetic allows audiences to search what’s in and out of the frame, Dorff’s Marco does the same in his life. As he is holed up in the Chateau Marmont, he tries to find meaning in his life amidst the celebrities, models, strippers, Ferraris, and all the high life Los Angeles has to offer, but nothing seems to click for him.

It’s not until the final images do we see whether or not Dorff is successful, but how the camera follows him and his daughter with minimum activity. We, as the audience, must figure out what he is truly thinking. Why doesn’t he make a change? Why isn’t he asking bigger questions? Why doesn’t he leave Hollywood? Many of these detailed questions can be applied to Coppola’s filmography in different patterns and specifics, but maybe just from the title, we can derive what Marco is thinking about while he is in a limbo state.

9. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence – What are we actually doing?

Closing out his “Living” trilogy with a bang, Roy Andersson continues his drab, grey, darkly comedic tableaux about what it means to be a human being. Sure, these episodes ranging from love-makers on a beach overshadowed by a massive dog, a heartache in a cafeteria discussing who gets the food, and a monkey being experimented on don’t attach us to a protagonist, but a collective of stories that makes us think about who we are, what we want, and what will become of us.

As the film unfolds, numerous questions as previously stated arise from the circumstances and that we are the pigeons in this case, reflecting on the characters. We are curious what they will do and, essentially given the dramatic or mundane scenes, they take action. And in this film, their actions essentially give them meaning and reveal, like in the best sense of filmmaking, who they truly are.

A film by Andersson is immediately identifiable due to framing, color, and design, but without the humanity, it is essentially blank, void, and empty. Maybe that is why this conclusion to his film trilogy works so well – the characters must take action and find a purpose in this drab, grey world. It’s only then that they can find purpose and move on to the next story.

8. Under the Skin (2014) – What it means to be a human being?

Quickly into Jonathan Glazer’s hypnotic and genre bending film do we realize that we must establish, analyze, and follow all that happens to these creatures, predominantly played Scarlett Johansson as an alien in search of a human body.

As the film unfolds in a haunting Kubrickian science fiction documentary in cinematic style, and fever dream, Johansson’s unnamed character learns about the human condition from the human beings she seduces and ultimately collects for her establishment.

From the entrapment of the fly, letting a deformed man free, and ultimately betraying her mission, she learns what humans do and how they function emotionally. Therefore, we have an alien finding a purpose by mirroring and learning from her fellow humans. Of course, things aren’t that easy when you’re essentially being hunted, witness a tragedy at the beach, and encounter animalistic men due to beauty along the way.

But in the end, Glazer invites and really hypnotizes us to show what human beings can do. And in flux, Johansson’s character must find a purpose in her quest and search for meaning or she will face eventual demise. It’s only until the film’s final scenes that we learn the hard truth about our nature.

7. Burning (2018) – The confusion of it all

Possibly the most staggering, brutal and beautiful film that explores the ennui and confusion of being a young adult in the modern world. Lee Chang-dong’s return to cinema is nothing short of his previous brilliance of characters figuring out what to do in the midst of a troubling situation.

In the film, when Shin returns aboard from Nairobi with a Gatsby-like Ben, her friend, and kind of boyfriend Lee, doesn’t know what to make of the scene. As the film progresses and delves into a character-focused mystery amongst the urban and rural Korean landscape, we start to think about what is truly behind these characters. They are thrust into a situation, particularly Lee, and he obsessives over the outcome and what actually occurred when he wasn’t around. It becomes his main priority.

Sure, it can be labeled a psychological thriller, but his main focus in life is when Shin pops back into his void-filled life and when Ben is introduced into his. He didn’t have a purpose beforehand and he follows his obsessions, curiosity, and doubts no matter how dark or dangerous they may be.

In the end, his confusion and malaise of his youth take over because he has no purpose. Someone and something enters his life and he is sucked up into it with devastating results, proving he threw himself into the world without knowing the consequences or obtaining real answers, but discovering himself along the way.

6. Anomalisa (2015) – Purpose of individuality

It might seem strange at first how a stop-motion animated film can capture how one man struggles with the day-to-day existence, but coming from the mind of Charlie Kaufman and co-director Duke Johnson, it makes complete sense. Adapting his audio play, written under Francis Fregoli, he explores many existentialist themes from the point of our main character, voiced by David Thewlis.

Taking course over a business weekend at the Fregoli Hotel in Cincinnati, Thewlis’s Michael Stone enters a Kafkaesque world where everybody looks and sounds the same (a la the Fregoli delusion). Immediately we sense Stone is searching for bigger answers in his mundane, run-of-the-mill work line while consisting of being a father and husband, but he is simply off.

Almost every encounter sounds and feels the same, adding to no real or new experiences; it’s all a blur to him until he meets a woman, voiced by Jennifer Jason Leigh, who sounds and looks different. Does he sense a new awakening? Thewlis’ Stone represents many middle-aged men and women performing routine tasks with no real purpose or intuition. Through Kaufman’s brilliant labyrinth and anomalies, he may have found a sense of purpose in this world through another human being.

Out of this experience, Stone can reawaken to his true life that he believes he has found, or learn from it and return home to his mundane existence. He simply must find his purpose as he awakens from his daydream.

Spy films can be a genre all on its own and be a subgenre under action, mystery, thriller, drama, and so forth. Therefore, time has depleted some great films. They either lacked recognition, got lost amongst similar films, or just never landed an audience. Here are 10 great spy films you might not have seen.

1. Lust, Caution (2007, Ang Lee)

In an ever-changing career, Ang Lee always hops around genres and here, he tackles the spy genre, delving into a complex web of lies, deception, and eroticism in China during the late 1930s and early 1940s. It tells of Wang Jiazhi, played by newcomer Tang Wei, who is tasked to seduce a high official, Mr. Yee, played by the incomparable Tony Leung, into an assassination attempt.

What starts out during the Sino-Japanese War, occupation, and the cusp of World War II quickly becomes a devastating background for the lost souls in this world. Lee creates a seductive mood and atmosphere in the film that lures you in just as Jiazhi does to Yee, even against one’s wishes. It’s certainly a drama that’s full of sexual prowess without ignoring the thrill of a spy film. Lee brings his expertise of complex human relationships and the use of historical Asian context in a film that deserves way more recognition today.

2. The Impossible Spy (1987, Jim Goddard)

A hero of Israel, Elie Cohen infiltrated the Syrian government that proved crucial in Israel winning the 1967 Six Day War. This is the story of Cohen’s bravery, sacrifice, and the testament to his nation. Originally airing for television starring John Shea and Eli Wallach, it was re-discovered in 2005.

The film has a low-budget aesthetic but makes it more effective due to the delicacy of Cohen’s mission, balancing a family life in Israel, and literally ranking high in the Syrian government, making it sound almost like a science fiction film in today’s terms. However, unlike most 1980s shoot ‘em ups or cliched works, it’s down to the heartbeat of the characters and his heroic venture on knowing gun placement that helped secure Israel’s victory.

The film has a great supportive role for Wallach, always adding depth, meaning, and grit to his roles, and here, certainly for Cohen’s sanity and well being. Goddard and the lead Shea do a great job on taking a huge story and bringing to a humanistic scale.

3. Flame and Citron (2008, Ole Christian Madsen)

A resistance film, spy film, historical film, war film, buddy relationship film, you name it. Madsen delivers in this Danish story of two legendary resistance fighters during World War II. Starring Mads Mikkelsen and Thure Lindhart, they encounter every type of twist and turn in this densely compacted story.

Drawing comparisons to Jean Pierre Melville’s “Army of Shadows” but in high compliment, we see the shady yet truthful side of the resistance, unafraid to put anyone in danger, and one that can die at any moment. Despite all of the thrills and plenty of drive-by shootings, it never detracts away from humanity, focusing on the why they are fighting and not just the actual action, adding true emotion to the film instead of a historical joyride.

Ranging from morality to sacrifice to consequence, it’s easily one of the best resistance films, and is stunning to look at and relate to in a modern way. It is not discussed as much as it should be, despite being one of the highest Danish productions of all time. Perhaps audiences just favor a London or Berlin story – but don’t short change this one.

4. Contraband (1940, Michael Powell)

Directed by Michael Powell and written by Emeric Pressburger, or better known as the Archers, in this second feature. Also known as “Blackout” and certainly a fitting title due to the precursor of film noir, it tells of a Danish sea captain stuck at an English port, coming in close contact with a Nazi spy ring.

From the dazzling cinematography in claustrophobic rooms, cross dissolves that feel like a fever dream, and thrills of the big scale despite being a narrowly focused feature, the Archers deliver one of the best films and the least recognizable. This was probably due to the classic masterpieces that followed soon after, but the legendary German actor Conrad Veidt does a superb job in grabbing the audiences’ attention and never letting it go.

The film never lets up for its short runtime of 80 minutes, but who can complain – the Archers give a great spy film amongst the maritime World War II British ports that knows what it is and can certainly be called one of the earliest great spy films.

5. The President’s Analyst (1967, Theodore J. Flicker)

What can the president’s analyst possibly do to harm the country? Well, despite offering a convincing argument, it’s more of how other agencies such as the CIA and FBI can control James Coburn, who can control the president and then ultimately the country. Yes, if it sounds far-fetched and ridiculous, that’s because it is. Flicker’s political satire and spy comedy of the late 1960s give you exactly the spin the genre needed at the time.

At the height of popularity of James Bond and the OSS series and so forth, people had to question the ‘what if?’ factor of all these agencies vying for power. Therefore, Coburn as the president’s analyst gets sucked up into a complete farce with fantastic production design and score into this trippy spy tale. He falls into the category of ‘it’s not me’ but has to chase anyway.

In the end, domestic and foreign agencies, robots, paranoia, brainwashing, and yes, psychoanalysis are in play to who can control the free world, but when it’s this wacky, and if you go with the story, you have a film that leaves a lingering impression, question, and visuals in the mind, much like a psychedelic therapy session.

Whether it be about the outback, car chases, or cult horror, Australia certainly makes films grounded in their way of life. Out of this locale and concentration, the country has produced unique film movements and waves over the years, unfortunately never reaching further out into the world. Therefore, here are 10 great Australian films we don’t talk about enough.

1. The Devil’s Playground (1976) – Fred Schepisi

Adapting from aspects of his own life, Fred Schepisi turns the camera on a bunch of 13-year-old boys attending a Catholic seminary school in the 1950s. What may seem like a coming-of-age film that explores sexuality, religious crises, and self identity, all of which are addressed, it’s the parallels to the brothers and priests that make the film truly memorable.

As the film progresses and the boys struggle to come to terms with what’s happening inside and outside of them, the brothers also face the same temptations. Therefore, with flashes of nude women in silent dreamy montages, or the flesh and skin of boys, or the simple flirtation with women at a bar, the brothers and boys are going through the same situation, just at different scales and aspects of their life choices.

Without shying away from serious issues, the film never loses focus on the humanity being portrayed, and it plays out like a summer day in August, when much of the film occurs. With a great technical and creative outlook, it’s a coming-of-age story that should be seen by all, especially those of Catholic faith.

2. The Mule (2014) – Tony Mahony and Angus Sampson

Taking an absurdist concept to the fullest and going from dark comedy to full on crime film, Tony Mahony and Angus Sampson’s film is one to truly be seen to be believed. A man refuses to defecate so the assumed drugs he’s smuggling from Thailand aren’t found by the corrupt cops that are currently holding him in captivity. Wait, what? Thus begins a film full of misadventures.

What may seem to be an abrupt comedy actually comments on the corruption of law enforcement in the 1980s, but watching Hugo Weaving make fart noises and try to get the supposed ‘mule’ to finally go to the bathroom is just too good to be true. Whether dealing with criminals wanting the drugs, the media reporting other events, or a boat race, nothing is off the table in this comedy.

Taking a simple premise with razor-sharp detail and commentary is just one of the few creative endeavors this film does, but if you’re in the mood for some laughs and darkness, this is the film for you.

3. Newsfront (1978) – Phillip Noyce

A love letter to the news men of the 1940s and 1950s who constantly struggled to capture and screen their work to the public for cultural and important issues. Noyce’s film plays out like a newsreel and shows two men over the ages in the ups and downs of the industry.

Starting out in beautiful black-and-white cinematography, with an ode and even verbal reference to Orson Welles, the film establishes a confident tone. Even when shifting to color time periods juxtaposed with news footage, it never draws a distraction but rather an intimate feel of what was being captured and more importantly by whom. The men struggle to get their footage, take pride in it and want the world to see it, certainly during a crucial time from World War II to the birth of television.

The relationships are certainly the main draw and allow the viewer to empathize with the audience, which makes the news even more relatable, captured by real human beings in a difficult profession and different time periods.

4. Don’s Party (1976) – Bruce Beresford

A hidden gem from Bruce Beresford as he takes a micro scale version of Ashby’s “Shampoo” and translates it to the social and political climate of mid-1970s Australia. The film takes place over the course of one night as a dinner party diverges into a comedy of manners, insults, and sex games, with much in between.

Adapting his own play, David Williamson’s confident script that comments on relationships, occupation, and the status between men, women, and couples never has a dull moment. Whether mixing farce, commentary, or just straight comedy, it’s certainly a night out that many won’t forget.

It shows that the domestication and civility can be brought into the living rooms of ordinary people without things getting taken too literally in a time of change. Regardless, with a fantastic cast and simple premise, the characters via actors certainly go for it with a no-holds-barred approach.

5. The Cars That Ate Paris (1974) – Peter Weir

A year before the international breakthrough of “Picnic at Hanging Rock,” Peter Weir directs a wacky comedy that’s so self assured in confidence that the viewer must simply go for the ride or be left in the dust.

The film tells the story of a fictional town, Paris, that gathers wealth and fortune from ‘unfortunate’ car accidents. Given the wacky premise, characters that somewhat make sense or appear to be a bit offbeat come and go; whether characters are accused of manslaughter from driving over old people or knocking down elderly statues, it’s no doubt an original film.

Weir certainly makes use of widescreen staging and framing, tools that would benefit him greatly for his future career. Regardless, if one wants an irreverent comedy that bleeds from Australia due to the love of automobiles, the desert, and entertaining characters, look no further.

Horror films can be a cult favorite, fan favorite, or a film of the moment, but regardless, there are plenty of them that get lost in the mix. Once the 1980s rolled in, piggybacking off of exploitation films of the 1970s or the Italian films of the 1960s, the VHS and MTV world carried into horror. Here are 10 horror films from the 1980s that might be a cult favorite, genre specialty, overlooked gem, or just a great horror film from the era.

1. Murder Obsession (1981) – Riccardo Freda

The mentor of Mario Bava, Riccardo Freda combines those Bava elements of giallo, erotica, and screams in an old fortified castle, all while commenting on the film industry as well. “Murder Obsession” certainly uses all the elements of the genre. For example, when our lead, the blonde beauty Silvia Dioniso has a nightmare, Cristiano Pogany’s lucid cinematography comes to life juxtaposing with Franco Mannino’s score.

Freda knew how to make a horror film and he didn’t make them in a cliché way, but rather delivers on what the audience wants and expects out of a horror film. He simply knew his craft and left no technical and creative decisions on the floor. So if you want a film to watch as night descends, one that sets the stage for a prominent decade of horror filmmaking, look no further than this film. And how can you go wrong with the man who mentored Mario Bava?!

2. The Ninth Configuration (1980) – William Peter Blatty

The man who wrote the novel and script for “The Exorcist” brings back actor Jason Miller in a film that is almost split into two parts. The film revolves around a group of soldiers with PTSD who are locked in a European castle toward the end of the Vietnam War. What begins as a comedy of slapstick portions and over-the-top mayhem slowly dives into a deeply unsettled look at the psychology of haunted individuals.

Since it starts on a light note with Stacy Keach’s Army doctor arriving to inspect the patients, we see the characters first hand, from Scott Wilson to Robert Loggia. However, halfway through it shifts tonally and emotionally in a character-driven manner. Perhaps the realism and non-horror introduction makes the second part all the more chilling and frightening, and when Blatty is adapting his own novel once again, you know it’s layered, deep, and meaningful, much like this film.

3. Opera (1987) – Dario Argento

A horror list from the 1980s without Dario Argento wouldn’t be much of a list at all, but instead of “Inferno,” “Tenebre” or “Phenomena,” it’s “Opera,” his last film of the decade, that sticks out for several reasons ranging from the motif of torture, the literal operatic setting, and the kill scenes.

Argento creates a world heightened in supernatural elements while never falsifying the design, construction, and music of his films. So here is a film grounded in realism due the “opera within a film,” and the behind-the-scenes look where a killer is on the loose.

Containing scenes that literally makes you want to shut your eyes (but you can’t, much like the character at play), it’s the film’s visuals that linger in your head. But Argento doesn’t stop there and repeats this notion with different setups and ultimately kills. It certainly is a bloodbath, but using the opera that inspired Argento’s filmmaking, it’s more than a giallo or homage – it’s like two worlds combining under one of its masters.

4. Parasite (1982) – Charles Band

For every serious horror or subgenre of a horror film, we need that ridiculous feel-good horror film that delivers the goods, but certainly can be taken with a grain of salt. That’s what director Charles Brand does here.

Coming to audiences in 3D, a parasite is created that links to people’s stomachs while a group of hicks and government officials are after the goods, with a novice Demi Moore in the way. Therefore, the film has plenty of bugs on the screen and bodies being thrown for the technical effect, but it’s a film that if you buy into it, it’s exactly what you signed up for. So, while ripping off the plot for “Alien” or using 3D to literally exploit your audience, that’s what you get with this exploration flick on the low-budget scene.

5. Nightmare Beach (1989) – Umberto Lenzi

Capping off the decade with the most outlandish 1980s set pieces, costumes, and most importantly style, this film features fun parties, mysterious bikers, and great death scenes.

What begins as a spring break type of film, while introducing police officers with corny dialogue and threats, quickly turns into a slasher, electric, literal and figurative film that creates its own cult following. Maybe since Umberto Lenzi was bringing his Italian roots to the shores of America, he was able to mix the eccentric MTV world of the 1980s America with giallo roots of murder and execution.

For any fan of those cheesy 1980 flicks that delves into the ‘blood and tits’ genre, look no further as Lenzi delivers plenty of both, and honestly, a fun night out at the movies.

Films can sometimes be described as witty or  having great wit, but what exactly does that mean? Utilizing comedy, witty humor is smart, fast, comedic verbosity that delves into the character’s psyche and personality to enhance the scene. In other words, not just dazzling dialogue or quick exchanges but showing the intellect, clever, funny and of course, well-timed humor of that character. Therefore, here are 10 films that showcase great witty humor.

1. Green for Danger (1946) – Sidney Gilliat

Sure, we’ve seen murder mysteries and classic comedies from the British system via Ealing Studios, but Sidney Gilliat’s post-World War II gem showcases doctors and surgeons in the rap, something we hadn’t seen before.

After a postman dies on an operating table during a Nazi air raid, we must find the killer, but when you have a cast of Trevor Howard, Leo Genn, and Alastair Sim, you aren’t getting idiots. They are smart, clever and can’t be fooled, proving the brilliant screenplay.

Aside from the wit of the story and intellectual scholarly characters, Gilliat’s use of camera movement and lighting, something that British Hitchcock thriller fans would surely appreciate this precursor, it’s a hard film not to hold to the highest caliber for the films that followed.

Leading to suspenseful climax that keeps everyone guessing, it never insults anyone’s intelligence. If you are searching for a missing link for whodunit British films, look no further.

2. Modern Romance (1981) – Albert Brooks

Albert Brooks doing what he knows best – playing a neurotic obsessed man, searching for love, with the backdrop of the LA Hollywood scene in his second directorial effort. Brooks takes his time, allows for his scenes and characters to breathe without ever letting tension or comedic relief to falter.

By beginning the film by dumping his girlfriend, Kathryn Harrold, Brook’s Robert Cole begins his obsession, neglect, agony, and hope in search of love, of course through the woman he just dumped. The dialogue that constantly contradicts, entertains, and flusters the audience’s expectations is all through Brooks’ persona – you never know how he will act!

Despite being released nearly 40 years ago, the film is still relevant in the modern world, seeing what one will do to recapture his love. Stanley Kubrick was a fan of the film, asking Brooks about how he made a film about jealousy – and who can blame him, especially when you have a fantastic supporting role for James L. Brooks.

3. In the Loop (2009) – Armando Iannucci

Building off his television series “The Thick of It,” Armando Iannucci created this satirical black comedy about the invasion of Iraq, all from the offices of London and Washington D.C. With insanely quotable dialogue, farce, and criticism of the political systems at hand, this film is not for the sensitive and weak of mind.

By having Peter Capaldi’s Malcolm Tucker scream at Tom Hollander’s Simon Foster with hilarious insults but never without due process and support for his aggression, you see the intelligence of the characters, world, and tone of the film.

Dialogue is constantly being shouted, screamed, and scolded at people, from the lowly assistants to high ranking officials, all showing the quick and inventive verbal humor, no matter how deadpan, comical or offbeat it might be.

Iannucci certainly knows political comedy but never insults us with lame politicians or stand-in officials. His characters know what’s up in and out the room, and you certainly will be in the loop for this one due to the witty humor at play.

4. To Be or Not to Be (1942) – Ernst Lubitsch

A film list of witty humor is simply not complete without Ernst Lubitsch. A list of the most witty Lubitsch films can be done independently, but something about his Carole Lombard and Jack Benny vehicle speaks volumes. Is it because it insults the Nazis and was made during World War II? Or because it’s a irreverent black comedy that takes war and flips it on its head? Or because the characters are so self-centered and narcissistic, yet romantic and optimistic in dark times, one cannot help but laugh? Well, all of the above.

It tells the story of a group of actors trying to escape war-torn Warsaw and becoming involved with spies and the Gestapo. Jokes that are too soon, gags that are narratively brilliant, and characters so full of themselves make this one of Lubitsch’s finest films.

Unfortunately, the film would be the last from Lombard right before her accidental death, but this dark comedy involving the death of a certain few can transcend her spirit in her witty performance by the master of the witty himself, Ernst Lubitsch.

5. Metropolitan (1990) – Whit Stillman

Insensitive, brash, posh, or prickly a lot of these characters might be in Whit Stillman’s debut featuring elite, upper-class socialites who are certainly witty, but they are never dull or lame. Observing the problems of these young people in Manhattan, we see their love lives and friendships at hand, but also wonderful dialogue to criticize and comment on along the way.

From the opening, you see that they are educated, know privilege and wealth, and aren’t afraid of putting that status in the forefront; it shows that they will speak their minds and believe they are one hundred percent correct. However, Stillman’s direction makes it hysterical, sometimes laughable; other times subtle; and other times, completely under the carpet. In the end, he forms his own style by building off the giants of witty literature and film.

Any fan of Jane Austen or comedy of manners or Woody Allen fans will certainly love this film by embracing all these elements. In this indie film, witty is yet again right in your face in the most extravagant, insulting way.

Great films come on the horizon and then get lost in time. Thankfully with all the platforms, retrospectives, and digital media, we are able to see these films. Some were acclaimed upon release, and others barely played in cinemas. Regardless, here are 10 independent films from the 1980s you might not know.

1. Parting Glances (1986, Bill Sherwood)

A rare accurate film about gay life dealing with the AIDS crisis in New York in the 1980s and surprisingly upbeat. Sherwood, who who die of AIDS complications several years later, focuses on the relationship between two men and their eccentric, normal, artsy, and everything in-between homosexual friends.

The real standout is the man dying of AIDS, Steve Buscemi, who doesn’t play a false note or display one emotion that would be expected of a man in his situation. Sherwood shines a light on his community and definitely brings a real grace and human nature to it instead of the downbeat Hollywood films that followed.

Lastly, the film is unpredictable in style and never loses its aesthetic of 1980s New York, though at the time, it was just an accurate representation. Now, it’s a time capsule for a bygone era, even if the grim subject matter is never fully exposed due to the wonderful characters.

2. Choose Me (1984, Alan Rudolph)

Continuing the Rudolph and Keith Carradine collaboration, this romantic comedy, with a flair of fantasy but grounded in the realism that Rudolph would explore his whole career, is at a high point here.

From the opening of neon spotted lights along a dark street and a killer soundtrack beginning with Teddy Pendergrass, it’s a hard film to resist. Rudolph employs the minimalist location and people ‘talking in rooms’ about love, relationship, careers, and everyday routine; we relate to it and are elevated from the realism due to the cinematic realism.

Rudolph would continue making independent films, some larger than others, for his entire career, but this little indie captures the true spirit of his filmography and definitely his films in the 1980s.

3. Desert Hearts (1985, Donna Deitch)

A landmark film of independent and particularly lesbian filmmaking, Deitch’s film explores the forming romance between a recently divorced professor searching for a new life played by Helen Shaver, and the free spirited, bonafide confident young woman played by Patricia Charbonneau in Reno in 1959.

Featuring beautiful cinematography by Roger Elswit, costumes, and soundtrack, the film holds merit as a technically well-crafted film, but it’s a pure, accurate, raw, and atypical queer film of its generation. It has honest characters and a story without exploiting what Hollywood has always done. The performances are note perfect and the story is nothing short of beauty and honesty.

Considered now a hallmark for lesbian film and independent cinema in America due to the channels of financing Deitch pursued to get the film made, it’s a film not to be missed for its cultural prominence and its raw, honest story.

4. One Day Pina Asked (1983, Chantal Akerman)

Always working and creating around the clock, this film or documentary that comes in a little under an hour is pure love for film, theater, and of course, dance. The film documents Pina Bausch and her dance company throughout some of her creations.

The film rigorously goes from interviews and dancing pieces to behind-the-scenes action. Despite the collapse of so much going on, it never loses a sense of freedom or structure. For example, take the male dance motif of conducting sign language to George Gershwin “The Man I Loved” from interview to performance; so much is said and done with so little, much like Akerman’s filmography.

Of course, Pina is in the beginning and end and sprinkled throughout, but it’s her dancing and her dances that are first and foremost, which tells us a lot more of her from another great female artist.

5. Border Radio (1987, Allison Anders, Dean Lent & Kurt Voss)

Probably the most indie film on this list that screams the do-it-yourself mentality and against the system out of UCLA film school, Anders, Lent, and Voss created this film of the lost 1980s.

Utilizing real locations and actors they knew, it didn’t hold them back from making a highly unique and visualized film of the post-rock scene of 1980s Los Angeles. As the black-and-white film unfolds amidst sound problems and scratchy footage, we get a glimpse of life on the road. From the glamorous free spirit and killer soundtrack to mundane givings to poetic beauty such as lighting fire to materials on the beach.

Despite its no-budget approach, it launched Anders and Voss’s careers that would dive even deeper into the movie brat VHS world of the 1990s American independent cinema landscape.

Last year, Rian Johnson delivered a wonderful who-dun-it in vein of Agatha Christie with grains of Hitchcock along the way. It sparked more interest in these kinds of murder mysteries. Well, here are 10 films you might have missed involving murder, ranging from Giallo to comedies to satires, and a few in between.

1. The Last of Sheila (1974) – Herbert Ross

With a strong cast led by James Coburn and featuring James Mason, Racquel Welch and Ian McShane, Herbert Ross’s fun, puzzling, and genrified piece offers intrigue while never shying away from the fact that it’s a murder mystery.

Coburn plays the husband of the deceased Sheila as he invites those connected to them for a scavenger hunt that, you guessed it, turns all too real. The approach never loses sight of the ‘murder mystery’ so Ross and screenwriters Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim truly go to town on all the cliches, niches, and devices used in these films.

It never lets up for a moment, constantly boiling up new evidence and thrills in the backdrop of the beautiful Mediterranean Sea upon a yacht. For those seeking a fun murder mystery that truly delivers the goods of suspense and wit, look no further than this gem.

2. The Castle of Sand (1974) – Yoshitaro Nomura

A police procedural that comments on the social and humane aspects of 1970s Japan, Yoshitaro Nomura’s film examines police trying to uncover a murder where only a dead body and fragments of a conversation are the inciting evidence.

Despite the brutal subject matter and taking the time to truly understand the detectives at work, the film is stunning shot, crafted, scored, and composed of officials and townsfolk figuring out their own emotions regarding a seemingly pointless murder. As the film unfolds where dozens of characters come into the lives of the two detectives, we understand it’s not just a straight mystery film.

Nomura had a vision of darkness when it came to crafting this procedural, and he allowed for a sun-drenched, neo noir to unfold as a critique of the inner demons and confusion of human beings.

3. Three Cases of Murder (1955) – David Eady, George More O’Ferrall, Wendy Toye, and Orson Welles

Uniquely crafted as three films into one, each exploring different motivations and aspects of murder, all in various tones, truly make this stand out. While Eamonn Andrews introduces and concludes each story, it allows for a timely transition of mood and tone.

The segments revolve around a man who literally escapes his painting from a museum causing havoc; two best friends getting into a bitter rivalry; and a man using dreams as a revenge tool against a lawyer. Sure, each vary and engage in some sort of feverish magical realism with deadly consequences, but somehow they are linked psychologically, almost sharing traits, despite the theme of murder.

With engaging direction and gorgeous black-and-white composition and framing, the film stands as a whole. It certainly should be watched in one sitting as each story bleeds into the other, particularly Alan Badel appearing in all three stories, but the title probably states it best – three cases of murder is what you get and a whole lot more.

4. Evil Under the Sun (1982) – Guy Hamilton

Four years after “Death on the Nile,” Peter Ustinov returns as Hercule Poirot for another mystery in an Agatha Christie adaptation. Guy Hamilton here tells the investigation of how a fake diamond ended up in the wrong hands on an island, and once murder is committed, everyone is a suspect.

A wonderfully staged and acknowledged murder mystery as all the guests and ourselves as the audience recognize the familiar premise but thoroughly enjoy the ride. How can one not? An eccentric detective investigating James Mason, Roddy McDowell, Maggie Smith, Jane Birkin, Colin Blakely and more, off the coast of Spain – what’s not to like?

As the narrative unfolds in typical one-on-one interviews before the final renderings, you simply enjoy this Christie adaptation. Maybe it was released when too many other or similar works have surpassed this form, but give this film a look, it’s definitely worth the time as Poirot did, too.

5. Eyes of Laura Mars (1981) – Irvin Kershner

Right before he went to a galaxy far far away, Irvin Kershner brought the murder mystery Giallo film to New York with a one-of-a-kind thriller starring Faye Dunaway and Tommy Lee Jones. As Dunaway photographs the New York fashion scene with gory details of her photos, it is revealed that she sees the eyes of a killer, sparking a psychological piece of work.

Take any murder scene that occurs in the film, switching between Dunaway’s anxiety and the eyes of the killer, and you’ll realize the style and content go perfectly together. It’s somehow the narrative and gentrified film work to support an already engaging original story. And with the New York scenery of the late 1970s, you can’t look away, despite the content or even the fact that Dunaway’s Mars wants to.

Constantly getting rediscovered or talked about amongst cinephiles, its a film that deserves more attention, for striking a balance of narrative and style for a film. And with a ‘70s post-”Rolling Thunder” Tommy Lee Jones, how can one go wrong?