Let’s face it – slow cinema can be a tough genre to introduce ourselves to, and even harder if you don’t know where to start. Diving in the deep end can be rather painful – definitely don’t start with the likes of Melancholia (Diaz, 2008) or Satantango (Tarr, 1994) unless you’ve prepared yourself for a slow, albeit riveting, day.

In the name of playing a part in continuing to popularise the genre that seemed to really explode throughout the 2010s with the newfound worldwide recognition for the likes of Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Lav Diaz, as well as those who had been working on slow cinema for decades already (look to James Benning or the absolutely beautiful short films of Peter B. Hutton), here is a list of ten films that aren’t too demanding to ease you in to the genre a little more gracefully. It has been placed into an order based on how easy of a watch it is, but of course that also largely comes down to personal preference. No further ado – here goes:

1. Night Moves (Kelly Reichardt, 2013)

Kelly Reichardt has spent almost her entire career working within the parameters of slow cinema, so any one of her films could have logically gone here. Old Joy isn’t difficult to get into as it is only 75 minutes in length, Wendy and Lucy is hypnotic thanks to the excellent central performance from Michelle Williams, etc. but Night Moves is a little different as it is a slow cinema thriller, something found quite rarely as the style tends to be at odds with the genre. Not in this case, though, as Reichardt manages to bring everything to life in a frightening way, dwelling on the set up before making the main event of the film really quite short.

Reichardt takes advantage of her slow cinema knowledge in Night Moves to make it truly uncomfortable in its realism, those long takes becoming eerie as the audience becomes antsy waiting for the next thrill to give them a sure kick. Jesse Eisenberg gives one of his best performances, and is supported by a brilliant cast in general, but the shining star in this case is Reichardt’s handling of the screenplay and the cinematography (the cinematographer for the film was Christopher Blauvelt, known for work with Reichardt, Van Sant, Sofia Coppola, etc.) that manages to be both voyeuristic/observational and intensely discomforting. The editing is excellently sharp, too, leaving each shot to hang for just long enough to the point that you wonder if something may happen, only for it to cut almost every single time.

2. Gerry (Gus Van Sant, 2002)

The most generally recognised of the slow cinema style albums that Van Sant did was certainly his version of Elephant that became controversial in 2003 due to its portrayal of the climactic event that won’t be spoiled as well as its unique style, however, Gerry may be the better film to watch for those daring to dip their toes into the engulfing sea that is slow cinema as a style or genre. Starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck both as the titular Gerrys, who find themselves lost in a desert after straying from the pathway they were supposed to follow in the name of adventure.

Van Sant’s distant and quietly observational camera watches helplessly as the two try desperately to figure out how to get back to their car or the pathway, climbing mountains for vantage points only to find that all of their energy is being wasted. The level of helplessness very quickly becomes overwhelming, and Van Sant’s approach to this thrilling issue being as laid back as it is in terms of form makes for a contrast that makes the film so much more interesting than if any other style had been used. The consistent use of huge, never-ending static shots of empty deserts is simultaneously stunningly beautiful and absolutely petrifying, and the two charismatic leading performances help to ease the audience in to the slow and unique style.

3. Beau Travail (Claire Denis, 1999)

Claire Denis only recently became far more popular thanks to the release of her first English language film through A24’s High Life in 2018, however her career has been full of incredible work since she started in the 1980s. Beau Travail stands out slightly above the rest, though, and focuses on Denis Lavant (maybe most known for starring in Carax’s Holy Motors – also a phenomenal film!) as Galoup, recalling his time as a military officer until the arrival of a new recruit called Sentain starts to disturb his otherwise very scheduled and maintained life.

With a focus on bodies and movement that is as gorgeous as either have ever been, Beau Travail is one of the most visually striking and memorable films ever made, one that using its beautiful landscapes and characters to juxtapose the harsher emotional realities that Galoup is becoming adjusted to in the present. With one of the greatest final scenes ever put to film, the film ties itself together in a way that few others can, and is surely one of the best films ever made. An absolute must watch.

4. L’Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960)

Antonioni may not be the most known for slow cinema, but he definitely toyed with the pacing of his films enough to warrant some looking into on the topic. L’Avventura is one of his most interesting films, too, marking a certain shift within his focuses from neo-realism over to the more poetic style that he would follow up until Blow-Up some years later. Although Red Desert is arguably a better film, there’s no denying the distinct power that L’Avventura has – an eerie mystery that leaves the viewer hanging in purgatory for what feels like forever.

It’s a phenomenal film, one with a fantastic score and even better cinematography (maybe some of the best of all time!) helped even further by Antonioni’s assured direction and the performances (especially that of Monica Vitti!), and one that deserves a lot of credit for inspiring many of the traits that slow cinema would come to embody further down the timeline of cinema.

5. La Cienaga (Lucrecia Martel, 2001)

Much like Claire Denis, Lucrecia Martel recently became more well known for her film Zama, released in 2017, but her earlier work is stunning in its own right. La Cienaga may still be her finest film, a slow moving dark comedy that follows a group of people on holiday and tears apart class relations within Argentina (something Martel would focus on again in her next film, The Headless Woman, which is also fantastic) whilst making it all look ridiculously easy.

It feels much like a perfectly balanced and measured out film for practically the entire runtime, a film that glides along as opposed to being pulled, one that is so rhythmic with its cutting that it feels… alive, almost. Martel is a masterful filmmaker, and it seems that she invested in slow cinema as a movement just before it took off, giving the directors who would soon enter a piece of work to draw from for their own inspiration. It’s near perfect!

These are more actors than you think that are universally recognised as all time greats. There have always been those sitting comfortably at the top, known by anybody with even a mildly passing interest in cinema, such as Robert De Niro, Al Pacino or Tom Cruise, however for those more interested by film there are a shocking amount of instantly recognisable faces belonging to stars.

However, just because they’re well known and big deals in Hollywood doesn’t mean that they aren’t sometimes in projects that don’t receive the deserved attention, and it certainly doesn’t mean that their performances receive praise, so… let’s take a look at ten performances from some of the most recognisable and famous actors in cinema that deserve more credit than they’ve had up to this point, shall we?

1. Johnny Depp in Public Enemies (Michael Mann, 2009)

Now, as someone who can’t typically stand Johnny Depp in much other than Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Gilliam), this one came as quite a surprise. As a mega-fan of Michael Mann’s films, especially his 21st century films, the temptation was enough to tolerate Depp, however it turned out that he gave a complete showstopper of a performance as John Dillinger.

Stripping back his usual over-the-top and comic antics as charismatic pranksters in most of his other films (an unfortunate case of typecasting!), Depp plays Dillinger completely straight and manages to slip perfectly into the role of the harsh gangster whom Mann paints as more delicate than one would think – certainly more human. Depp is so well suited to what Mann wanted for his portrayal of Dillinger that it’s honestly quite arresting, as Depp works with Mann to shatter the tired tropes of the crime biopic by humanising the criminal at the centre as opposed to sensationalising them. It’s an incredible film helped a great deal by Depp’s shocker of a performance.

2. Robert Pattinson in Cosmopolis (David Cronenberg, 2012)

Of course, Pattinson is generally very acclaimed now thanks to films like The Lost City of Z (Gray), Good Time (Josh and Benny Safdie), High Life (Denis) and a few others that he has carefully chosen in the later half of the 2010s, however, many will also remember the absolute critical blasting that should have shot down his career before he ever got to show his talent over his turn as Edward in the Twilight adaptations.

Cosmopolis came out before Robert Pattinson had become a newfound star, born again as a great character actor in indie films, and yet it must be the film that started this total 180 shift in his career. Based upon a book by the great Don DeLillo of the same name, Cronenberg and Pattinson focus intently on trying to capture the very unique, distanced style that DeLillo communicates so well on page with the camera. Pattinson is so brilliant at detaching himself and delivering the (intentionally) obtuse and clunky dialogue with his co-stars, marking the moment of re-birth for a young star who now has proven himself as an assuredly strong performer.

3. Isabelle Huppert in Amateur (Hal Hartley, 1994)

Similarly to the style of David Cronenberg and Don DeLillo as mentioned above, Hal Hartley’s character always deliver their dialogue in an intentionally clunky and awkward fashion. Hartley overwrites a little, blocks his sets a little awkwardly and lets the characters all bask in the slight discomfort that comes from his excellent scriptwriting, and in Amateur, it is Isabelle Huppert who makes a surprising turn in the spy thriller comedy that Hartley would go on to really perfect a decade later when he directed the astoundingly good Fay Grim in 2006.

However, Huppert’s performance in Amateur is a huge part of what makes the film so charming. Helped along by a host of Hartley regulars, Huppert acts as a fish out of water stuck in Hal’s brilliant world of cautiously timed cause and effect that always sees things play out exactly as a playwright would dream they could.

Perfect timing, hilarious coincidences and the hand of fate controlling a huge group of characters, pulling them all together and orchestrating a distinctly merciless brutality upon them when they do finally meet mean that Amateur becomes a wonderfully funny film of worst (and best) case scenarios, and Huppert acts as the slightly more solid centre to the chaos that ensues. She stands out in all the right ways and gives one of her most surprising performances to date in a film that generally deserves much more recognition.

4. Tim Roth in Meantime (Mike Leigh, 1983)

After getting his career started with the brilliant Alan Clarke film Made In Britain just a year before (with an absolute beast of a performance as a second wave skinhead in 80s Britain), Tim Roth starred in a film for the other truly great British filmmaker of the time, Mike Leigh, in what would be one of his greatest and most underrated projects – Meantime. It seems that the curtain is slowly being lifted on this one, seeing as it recently received a Criterion upgrade and has been discussed much more since, becoming known as one of the prime examples of a film documenting life in Thatcher’s Britain, however the credit is still most definitely due, and shining a little more light on a personal favourite is always fun.

Meantime focuses itself upon a family struggling with unemployment in London in the early 80s, a problem that effected a huge amount of people in the UK generally at the time. Taking a slow burn approach to try to detail the boredom of wiling away the days in any way possible – of wasting the time that otherwise could be used so crucially – Leigh does a fantastic job of authentically capturing the life of the lower class unemployed whilst also ensuring that the film stays plenty entertaining via his usual improvised character work and his subtle yet hilarious dialogue.

It’s certainly one of his best works, and by using Tim Roth as the centre-point of the drama (giving him an entirely different role to the one that kick-started his career a year earlier), the film becomes all the more touching and meaningful.

5. Robert De Niro in The Fan (Tony Scott, 1996)

Let’s face it – De Niro needs absolutely no introduction. He’s been in practically all of the greatest crime films of the last fifty years or so, from his work in the early 70s with Brian De Palma and Scorsese all the way to his more varied work today (seeing him try comedy has been wonderful, even if it hasn’t always gone so smoothly), and he shows no real signs of stopping after giving one of the best performances of his career in the recently released The Irishman (Scorsese). In Tony Scott’s The Fan, he tries something a little different but similar enough to some of his other works that he still feels plenty confident enough to pull it off, and it shows.

Channelling more of his energy from The King Of Comedy/Cape Fear (Both Scorsese works too!), in the film De Niro plays Gil Renard, an obsessive fan of his favourite baseball player Bobby Rayburn (played by Wesley Snipes, who also gives a really good performance here!) whose obsessive behaviour turns expectedly more sinister.

Whilst the film doesn’t exactly try anything new, Scott’s stylised direction (as usual!) and De Niro’s high energy performance bring out the best of this type of film and really improve what would otherwise be more mediocre than great. De Niro toes the line between a seemingly nice gentlemanly type and the much darker, much more unpredictable version of himself that comes out when he or his obsession are in any trouble. This is a great watch for any fans of Joker, for sure.

Horror is often the most fun genre for many film fans, and with such a vast number of different sub-genres and films releasing every year, it’s often easy for great horror films to be lost or forgotten over time. This list will hopefully bring some of those films back for a moment, leaving it up to you to seek these films out and give them a platform should you enjoy them. The audience is key to keeping cinema alive, so let’s work together here! Without any further ado, here are ten great horror films you may have missed.

1. Creepy (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2016)

Starting off, let’s talk about a film from the man who may just be the greatest horror director alive right now. Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a master beyond comparison, really, showing such talent from behind the camera and working as such a strong emotionally guiding hand that it’s pretty hard to believe. Kurosawa’s use of blocking and camera movement are beautiful examples of the power of the more simplistic parts of cinema (similarly to how a director like Luchino Visconti uses zooms to express moments of a huge emotional scale through very little time and movement), and Creepy makes use of these in excess.

Creepy follows a family who move house and find their new neighbour… a little odd, let’s say. With Teruyuki Kagawa giving the absolute performance of a lifetime as the aforementioned unsettling neighbour, Kiyoshi Kurosawa takes a shift from his usually more paranormal and fantastical plots (especially as of late with Kiyoshi even switching up his usual genre choices, delving into romance and comedy) to something more real and just as chilling.

2. Maniac (William Lustig, 1980)

Whilst the remake seems to have garnered quite a strong modern cult following thanks to Elijah Wood’s performance and the wonderful choice to shoot the film in a first person POV, William Lustig’s original appears to have been forgotten and left behind in the dust alongside a plethora of other 70s and 80s sleaze-fests. It’s a real shame considering just how strong of a film the original Maniac is, one that utilises its protagonist (if you can call him that, anyway) to take a majestic deep dive into the darkness of the human mind amidst the problems within America plaguing the working class especially in the 1980s.

It’s disorienting and disturbing, and the low budget look (made most clear by the screen being smothered in grain and ruptured film reels) only make it all the more convincing, and therefore, all the more disturbing. Maniac aligns with the likes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre a lot more than people let on, and it definitely deserves a lot more acclaim than it gets now.

3. Lake Mungo (Joel Anderson, 2008)

The only film that Joel Anderson has directed to date, Lake Mungo is one of the most chilling horror films of recent memory. Whilst found footage is often given flack for being lazy (an ability it gains from being shot on cheap digital cameras, often using ‘technical issues’ to skip showing things, etc.), Lake Mungo is one of the few found footage horrors that have managed to gather some acclaim next to the Blair Witch Project (1999), REC (2007) and maybe Cloverfield (2008). Lake Mungo uses a mixture of found footage and faux-documentary interviews to tell the story of Alice Palmer, a sixteen year old girl who drowns and whose family begins to experience some… unsettling events afterwards.

One has to admire Anderson’s confidence in tackling his subject, especially considering he is a first time director here. To make such a haunting film but also to make it seem so bold and confident in its execution is genuinely exhilarating, and this self assured swagger makes the film doubly impressive. It’s a shame that Anderson would never make another film, hopefully one is out there somewhere brewing, but it would be especially great for him to return to horror to give another bone chilling slow burner. Lake Mungo is a taut, mature horror film that is just patient enough to be truly memorable and discomforting.

4. Bug (William Friedkin, 2006)

Friedkin made it clear he was out for cinematic blood throughout the 1970s with his absolutely stellar output within said decade. From The French Connection to The Exorcist to Sorcerer, Friedkin marked the landing of a huge new name in mainstream Hollywood for thrills and scares, before going on to a steady career full of pretty overlooked films, such as Killer Joe and The Hunted (two terrific thrillers – Killer Joe especially plays out like a deliriously hellish play, it’s wonderful… and bloodthirsty!).

Bug is another fibre in the string of those late career gems from Friedkin, one that slipped under the radar but managed to gather a cult following together as the word of mouth spread regarding how extreme and weird Bug is. Starring the always excellent Michael Shannon and Ashley Judd, the film starts off sad and by the end is genuinely disturbing. Not so much a fun and quirky horror as one that actually gets deeply under your skin and is more than happy to remain there for some time. A wonderful psychological freakout of a film, Bug is one of the standouts of recent gross-out horror, and my God does it give the sub genre a good name again. It’s a shame that it never quite landed an audience, but maybe that time can still come!

5. Dark Water (Hideo Nakata, 2002)

Taking things away from America and heading back to Asian horror, Hideo Nakata’s Dark Water is a great example of the mixing of melodrama and horror. Using divorce and struggles with both class and mental health (making this movie slightly ahead of its time in a few ways), Dark Water marks a shift in the horror genre as a whole just before that change actually occurred, a shift that saw horror shift from franchise building slashing serial killers (via Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, etc.) to darker, more psychological and more melodramatic horror that instead saw the fear emanate from things that we can all relate to.

Making the choice to manifest these abstract fears within ghosts also proved perfect, lifting the idea from Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Pulse which came out two years prior and editing it to fit with the more direct ideas surrounding class. Nakata’s film is a wonderfully simplistic breath of fresh air for modern horror, and definitely a film that has quite the lasting impact on the horror genre (compare this to the hugely popular franchises started by James Wan and all becomes clear).

There is something very distinct to the adrenaline gained from a film. Whether it drags you closer to the edge of your seat, sees sweat beads begin to emerge on your forehead or just bring your heart rate to a consistent thump as opposed to a gentle tapping, there is something so wonderful about a film that is able to get under our skin and make us care to a point of feeling so involved that we feel the very same tension as the characters. So, let’s get to celebrating ten of these films…

1. Femme Fatale (Brian De Palma, 2002)

To start off with some style, let’s first discuss the wonderful mystery/thriller that is Brian De Palma’s Femme Fatale. Considering that the film opens with a grand and mocking set piece centred around a screening at the Cannes film festival and that it only gets better from there, it may be needless to say that this is a damn fine film, and it helps that it also contains much of De Palma’s most meticulous direction for one of his most interesting stories to date.

Femme Fatale is a bizarre film, one that sees De Palma take his admiration for Hitchcock to a new place as he meddles with a delirious story that becomes increasingly odd as it hurtles towards its absolute jawdropper of a finale. It might be his most exciting film, and it boasts many all-time best De Palma moments, so it is a must watch for that alone!

2. Blood Simple (Joel Coen, 1984)

The debut feature of the now widely recognised Coen Brothers (Joel is the only director credited, but many have said that Ethan co-directed as usual for Blood Simple), Blood Simple is one of the greatest examples of a low budget thriller done right. Using its small scale to add to the wonderful sleaze that comes with the seedy setting and characters, Blood Simple would prove to be one of the strongest debuts (one that, if you ask me, the Coen Brothers never managed to match!) the film quickly proves itself to be a vision of an America in Hell – a world where no one gets away scot-free and nobody is as innocent as they may seem – ushering in (or at the very least, making a huge contribution to) the beginning of the neo-noir genre.

It’s a cold-blooded thrill ride, making use of shadows and location in such a stunning way that it’s really hard to believe that this is a debut feature after all. The performances across the board are brilliant, and the use of ‘It’s The Same Old Song’ by the Four Tops is one of the best needle drops in 80s cinema. A total stunner – do see it!

3. Red Road (Andrea Arnold, 2006)

Andrea Arnold’s name became much more recognisable after her two follow-ups to Red Road, Fish Tank and American Honey, however it seems that she may have made her finest and most affecting film first. Fish Tank is another excellent example of gritty British realism (taken from the Kitchen Sink era and reinvented to fit with contemporary issues – though they’re sadly very similar, little has changed), but Red Road is a truly chilling film in ways that Arnold hasn’t yet managed to reach again. The film is about Jackie, a CCTV operator who spots an old, familiar face from a past she’s trying to forget.

Taking the blueprint from Hitchcock’s Rear Window (again, updating it to make it contemporary) and running into some of the darkest scenes of recent memory, Arnold’s feature length debut takes a real step up from the short films that preceded it and boldly announced the arrival of a great new director. It’s a shame she’s never reached such dizzying heights again, but she has been successful in every film to date, with the majority of her audience enjoying each project.

4. Ricochet (Russell Mulcahy, 1991)

Maybe the most overlooked on this list in spite of its considerable box office success at the time of release, Ricochet is a brilliant small scale thrill ride that sees Denzel Washington give one of his most frantic performances opposite a deranged John Lithgow who will stop at nothing to ruin (and end) his life after Denzel was responsible for arresting Lithgow.

Mulcahy’s pacing here is absolutely breakneck in a way that few other thrillers can compare (Out of Time, another overlooked Denzel-starring thrill ride also comes to mind, though), and the film thrives on being small scale rather than being ashamed of it, which is where many smaller scale films fall to pieces. It’s simple and it knows it, wearing this simplicity much like a boy scout badge whilst brewing up some seriously exciting moments throughout thanks to the witty script and the brilliant situations written into it. It’s honestly pretty breathtaking, and less demanding than most films – it makes for a wonderful time.

5. Ronin (John Frankenheimer, 1998)

Featuring one of the greatest car chasing sequences of all time and starring the likes of Robert De Niro, Jean Reno and Sean Bean, it’s really a wonder that a film like Ronin could slide under the radar as it has. From John Frankenheimer, director of great thrillers from the mid 50s all the way to the year of his death, 2002, Ronin is an exhilarating ride that is about a group trying desperately to recover a mysterious briefcase that has landed in the hands of terrorists.

It’s a film that knows exactly what it is and is proud to be that way in the same way as Ricochet does, another excellent smaller-scale thriller that knows what it wants to do and only focuses on fulfilling its one purpose, focusing on the stunts and the twists and the goosebump-inducing, heart stopping jolts of energy. Ronin is just another great film to add to Frankenheimer’s colourful career, and one that deserves to be seen much more than it has been up to this point.

It seems that now, more than ever before, it can be so easy to become pre-occupied and forget about those films we’ve really been wanting to see. It’s becoming tricker to keep up with what is and isn’t out, what’s available and what isn’t… but it’s alright as there are still more than enough quality films having lasting impacts and being readily available. To function as something of a guide, this article will reveal ten more recently released films (the oldest being from 2013 and the latest from 2018) that may have slipped under your radar undeservedly.

1. Welcome to New York (Abel Ferrara, 2014)

Let’s start with a bang – from the cult legend Abel Ferrara comes his most overtly political film, focusing on Gerard Depardieu as Devereaux, a politician who finds himself some real trouble after committing a crime. Coming out just a couple of years before the #metoo situation would finally come to light and be talked about generally, Ferrara’s Welcome to New York seems to pre-date all of what was to come with Harvey Weinstein, and as if this early focus on such a pervasive and provocative theme wasn’t impressive or bold enough, Ferrara’s switch in style also marks a drastic change in his approach to cinema that started with 4:44 Last Day on Earth (2011) and continues now with his latest films, too.

There is something so darkly electrifying in the story being told, and Depardieu gives such a terrific performance as this man who is intoxicated by his own power to the point that he thinks he is above both the law and mortality. Welcome to New York is one of the most striking films of the 2010s as a whole, and it’s a film that really should be seen by all who can manage to get access to it.

2. Creepy (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2016)

Stepping back a bit for what is just a damn great moody thriller, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Creepy is one of the most overlooked thrillers of recent memory. Becoming something of a sleeper hit, maybe due to the focus on a more straight forward murder mystery narrative as opposed to Kiyoshi’s typically more supernatural interests, Creepy is one of the most overlooked films from one of Japan’s most brilliant directors currently working.

To put it simply, no one makes horror films quite like Kiyoshi Kurosawa. There is something within his films that remains unspoken by anyone, this horrific feeling of pure dread and tension that matches up perfectly with just the right amount of giddiness from the audience being in on what’s happening, especially in Creepy where the mystery is only really given to the characters whilst the audience has a rough idea of what’s happening the entire time. Kurosawa’s blocking is just wonderful, the way that his camera moves is impossibly elegant and the performances he manages to drag out of the depths of his actors, especially from Teruyuki Kagawa who is totally unforgettable. Creepy is a living and breathing revitalisation of the seemingly dormant serial killer genre, and God is it good!

3. The Childhood of a Leader (Brady Corbet, 2015)

Brady Corbet is definitely not someone you’d have expected to secretly be an excellent director, but between Childhood of a Leader and his more recent (and more well known) Vox Lux both releasing in the second half of the 2010s he’s made a real name for himself that marks the arrival of a seriously exciting new vision. Making use of a very detached style that shows the influence from some of the directors Corbet worked with, particularly that of the prolific Michel Haneke, Corbet manages to merge so many different styles together that it’s difficult not to be impressed by his confidence, especially in Childhood of a Leader considering that it is a debut feature.

Childhood of a Leader looks at the son of a man working for the government to create the Treaty of Versailles in 1918, with his experiences in the world moulding him into an increasingly despicable person. Helped along by an incredible score from the one of a kind Scott Walker, Brady Corbet’s debut feature (and the film he made to follow it!) really deserves to be seen by a larger crowd.

4. Pendular (Julia Murat, 2017)

Possibly the least known film on this list, Julia Murat’s incredibly tender Pendular is one of the most beautiful films of the last few years. Reminiscent of the style of Claire Denis (this one is especially similar in style to Beau Travail, what with its focus on movement and the body in contrast to setting) among others, the film follows the relationship between two artists and examines the connection between love (and the lack thereof) in accordance with creation.

With some of the most breathtaking dance sequences put to film, there is so much power given to movement and to the body in Pendular, and it makes for some of the most unforgettably expressive sequences in modern cinema. It’s so refreshing to see a film with such a simple narrative dig so deep in terms of content, going so much further than is really required. An incredible film, really, and one that still deserves so much more credit than it receives.

5. Season of the Devil (Lav Diaz, 2018)

Lav Diaz seems to have slowly been becoming more well known around the world as his towering works continue to come to life. Season of the Devil is one of his most recent outings, and it is also one of his most experimental. Being a pioneer of the slow cinema movement, the last thing that Diaz’s audience would have been expecting from him would be a musical, and yet, Season of the Devil is exactly that.

Of course, Diaz didn’t make any tradition musical, though, and instead he channels his usual themes surrounding oppression in Filipino history and the people who bravely fought back against and continue to fight against that oppression. Clocking in at Diaz’s characteristically long runtime of four hours (short compared to his others!), Season of the Devil is, surprisingly, one of his more accessible efforts next to Norte, The End of History (2013), and it is one of the best films of the last few years, too.

It’s always a good time to sit down to a seriously great film, right? And we all have dry spells where we seem to find anything but, too. So, why not make things a little easier, simplify them a bit, and narrow things down to ten incredible movies that you should check out in any way possible? Enough delaying, let’s just get started…

1. Tokyo Sonata (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2008)

To put things simply from the very start of this list, Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a cinematic master like very few others. The control that he has over his form, and in turn over the emotions of his audience, is almost unprecedented. Maybe there’s some kind of mythical cinematic power given to the name Kurosawa, who knows? But putting cosmic coincidences to one side, lt’s look at Tokyo Sonata.

This film was a quite drastic switch up for Kiyoshi, seeing him flip his style and alter his approach from a notorious director of horror and (really) dark thrillers, such as Pulse (2001) and Cure (1997) (both of which are seriously excellent!) to taking on a more domestic approach to fit the context of the financial struggles strangling and suffocating Japan at the time of production.

Still channelling plenty of darkness and discomfort in the process, Tokyo Sonata is one of the greatest and most overlooked films of the 21st century, and maybe even of all time, with the perfect mix of fantasy and realism, the delicate juggling of horror and drama and the incredible ensemble cast who manage to portray everything so clearly despite the difficulties in expressing the shame and fear that they’re experiencing.

Starting off as unbearably real and gradually becoming increasingly surreal as it continues, Tokyo Sonata is a rarely emotional film focused on the effects of unemployment and financial insecurity. Kiyoshi directs it like a master of his craft, because he is one, and takes his formal game up a level by testing the waters of the family genre (it makes a lot of sense that he now makes a lot of films focused on relationships at the centre of a conflict).

2. The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Carl Koch and Lotte Reineger, 1926)

The very first fully animated feature length film just happened to be one of the greatest ever made. Utilising some of the most beautiful mixes of colours ever put to screen, as well as working with a gorgeous style that is gifted to the film by Lotte Reiniger’s wonderfully impressionistic use of shadows and silhouettes cut from cardboard, The Adventures of Prince Achmed is a breathtaking film that shows how early on animated films had intense visual power, something that can still be seen (in the right films, at least) even today, almost a hundred years later. There’s not too much to be said for this one, as its power is almost entirely to be seen in the beauty of the animated visuals, but do see it anyway!

3. Pauline at the Beach (Eric Rohmer, 1983)

Okay, admittedly, most of us probably know Rohmer and his films quite well, but still, Pauline at the Beach is so wonderful that it won’t hurt to talk about it a little. One of Rohmer’s funniest and lightest films, Pauline at the Beach is a brilliant cause and effect comedy that follows the dysfunctional relationships between a group of people holidaying together.

The story has such a flow to it that it’s almost impossible not to enjoy the freewheeling attitude it has towards everything that happens, and even when it does become more serious it maintains enough of the silliness to never veer completely off road and become something else entirely. The locations add an extra layer of beauty to the film, as does the cast, with the overall movie certainly having the energy of being a true comfort film.

Few feel quite like it, with the overwhelming feeling of comfort despite some of the more serious consequences of the events as they continue to get worse through the continued misunderstandings of the characters. It’s a uniquely pleasant movie, one that doesn’t feel consequential enough to be truly dramatic or distressing – it’s one of those shockingly scarce films that feels just right.

4. The Roaring Twenties (Raoul Walsh, 1939)

Raoul Walsh is a total veteran. Having made so many terrific films, with the most well known of them all likely being White Heat. The Roaring Twenties works as something of a spiritual predecessor to White Heat, also utilising James Cagney in the lead and both films following the perspective of a criminal, however, The Roaring Twenties may be the better character study. Looking deeply into the troubling context of the 1920s for Americans, the post-war poverty that crippled so many, and how this led to increases in crime and, in turn, increases in lust for power.

Surely a huge inspiration for Martin Scorsese in terms of style, with the stylistic newspaper archive edits being used to lay out the exposition and context and Cagney’s anti-hero being framed in so many contradictory ways to the point that the audience has to question his character, but also themselves and their reception of such a character. To put it simply, The Roaring Twenties is a phenomenal film that really manages to capture the troubles faced in 1920s America, whilst also serving as another excellent gangster classic for those who like those, too.

5. Punishment Park (Peter Watkins, 1971)

Peter Watkins generally has produced a good number of the most overlooked films ever made, from his absolutely astonishing La Commune, 1871 to his more mainstream films like Privilege that still somehow missed the mark (or, if they did hit the mark when they came out, have certainly been forgotten almost entirely), and Punishment Park is no exception even if it is one of his more popular works.

Taking the faux documentary style that Watkins played a huge part in popularising (along with directors like Robert Flaherty) and applying it to the heavy political contexts that were everywhere in the early 1970s (such as the civil rights movement and protests against the Vietnam war, for example), Watkins makes a really astonishing film by focusing so intently on realism whilst merging it slightly with a feeling of totalitarian dystopia, just enough so that it still feels real. It’s a real shocker of a film, something that works within its own genre that will probably never be seen again.

If there is one lesson that film fans should become aware of as quickly as possible, it is the simple lesson that the reputation of a film doesn’t matter nearly as much as you think it might. There are innumerable great films out there, and given just how subjective film is, there are bound to be some truly shunted and disliked films out there that you, and others, can side with much more than you’d ever anticipated… and it has to be said, discovering them does make you feel like some great cinematic crusader stumbling across their first buried treasure. Anyway, before this tangent becomes an article by itself, today we’re going to go over ten films with reputations harsher than they really deserve!

1. The Toxic Avenger (Lloyd Kaufman, 1984)

Let’s get the absolute silliness out of the way first and talk about Troma’s infamous The Toxic Avenger. A notoriously silly low budget affair, Lloyd Kaufman’s 1984 cult classic has gradually gathered something of a reputation as a good example of the so-bad-it’s-good trend that seems to have been the reason Troma was ever successful in the first place… however, this also suggests that none of the brilliant moments in The Toxic Avenger are intentional, and it has to be said that the accusation is painful considering just how loopy and aggressively over the top this film is. It is funny to the point of stomach pain, but also shockingly violent with… maybe not good, but impressive special effects to say the least. They’re totally cartoonish, but they sure make you squirm.

It just seems a shame that a movie that goes as all-out as this one does should be shoved into the restrictive box of so-bad-it’s-good, when it’s clear from the offset that there has been a hell of a lot of effort put into making this film as lovably silly and hypnotically goofy as the final product is. It’s an odd kind of wonderful, and the only films quite like it are some of Troma’s other output, like Class of Nuke ‘Em High (1986), so to diminish the quality of such a unique and genuinely fun film feels quite mean – it’s time we got to spreading the love of this one a little more!

2. Jersey Boys (Clint Eastwood, 2014)

With a filmography as sprawling as Eastwood’s, there are bound to be at least a few films that fall into the never-ending abyss of films that no one really knows about. Thankfully, in Clint’s case, most of those films are his minor works that are mostly just entertaining and… sometimes fun. In the case of Jersey Boys however (along with a couple of other more buried greats), it feels like a truly brilliant film has been forgotten about and left in the dust of more expansive films by Eastwood.

Overshadowed by the other film Eastwood directed in 2014, American Sniper, Jersey Boys is actually an incredibly slick biopic mainly following the private lives of the Four Seasons. Whilst Eastwood’s film does admittedly follow many of the tried and tested tropes of the musical biopic genre, it does enough new and exciting things formally to still make this an incredibly impressive film and one that deserves to be recognised as more than just another Eastwood film.

3. Allied (Robert Zemeckis, 2016)

It has to be said, we’d never have expected to be praising this film in particular, but Zemeckis’ Allied is an absolute showstopper and it simply cannot be ignored here. Even I have to agree – Allied looks really quite bland – but on the fateful day that it found itself in the DVD player, it clicked entirely. It is impossibly slick, with both Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard giving excellent performances in this merging of family melodrama and espionage thriller that looks at the theme of trust within the smaller-scale settings of a family and how this can have effects on much larger, more generally important exterior issues, too.

With Kiyoshi Kurosawa calling it his favourite film of the 2010s, clearly something great is going on here, and the form makes it clear, being so brilliantly controlled that it’s often a little hard to believe, with the use of Sirk-style mirror shots and the excellent shot blocking mixed with the use of hyper-actively modern CGI and digital cameras in a classical Hollywood film setting… it’s just incredible, and seriously some of the most exciting filmmaking of recent memory.

There is something to be said for any film that grabs ahold of a classical plot and drags it forward, but to do it in the way that Zemeckis does here with an entirely modern and futurist approach really makes Allied stand out beautifully among a slew of mediocre spy films. This is one of those wonderful exceptions, another Skyfall or Man From UNCLE that just gets it right in the most satisfying of ways. Hell, I’d even say that it is better than both of Skyfall and the Man From UNCLE!

4. Last Days (Gus Van Sant, 2005)

Gus Van Sant has had one of the more mixed careers in mainstream Hollywood, making some huge hits both critically and commercially and some films that are almost completely dead in the water. Similar to Eastwood, this may be because of just how large Van Sant’s cinematic output is, but it’s still a shame to see a film like Last Days slide under the radar. The film is vaguely based upon the last days of the life of Kurt Cobain, looking at the poignant loneliness of a musician who spends most of his time really quite isolated and in his own head with people who don’t seem to care much about him at all.

The film uses the slow pacing to really draw out the emotions, with the lack of expression becoming surprisingly haunting rather than uninteresting and Van Sant relying more on the subtleties of the performances and the smaller moments within the script to sell the melancholic feel. The use of long takes and almost solely diegetic sound also add a great deal to this feeling of simply living in the moment, creating a film that is both overwhelming beautiful and starkly lonely in the process. It’s a stunner, a sad stunner but a stunner nonetheless, and it remains one of Gus Van Sant’s most overlooked films to date.

5. Domino (Tony Scott, 2005)

Tony Scott’s work seems to have largely been dismissed simply the premise that they were bigger budget blockbusters, and in the case of Domino in particular some shunning was bound to come from the fact that this film is absolutely balls to the wall levels of hyperactive and experimental in its extremely aggressive editing, but even then much of the criticism received by the film is exaggerated and really quite harsh.

Many read into the film as a misogynistic fantasy, which also feels a little unfair considering that Scott’s camera in Domino is so aggressive that it leers over just about everything, far more intent on capturing the violence of the lives of the protagonists than anybody’s body, but I digress. It’s just a surprise to see a big budget mainstream film go to such extremes visually, creating something absolutely distinct and unlike anything else out there entirely. Tony Scott’s work of the 2000s as a whole is baffling, but this one might just take the prize of being the greatest – it is on another plain.

American cinema gives more than enough films to fill a lifetime, and it is almost certain that most anyone has missed a few incredible films from America alone, however when opening the stage to films from all around the world, all of a sudden being a film fan becomes a battle against existential intimidation… Anyway, to try to aid this fear of not being able to see all of the best films out there, here is a small but handy guide to ten films from around the world that you may have missed but still should definitely seek out and watch.

1. Montparnasse 19 (Max Ophuls and Jacques Becker, 1958)

To start off with a bang, let’s talk about Max Ophuls final film (a project that was taken over by his longtime friend and collaborator Jacques Becker, a director more than deserving of his own recognition for the films he directed, including the quite well known Touchez Pas Au Grisbi!) which is based on the true story of Italian painter and sculptor Amadeo Modigliani and the final year or so of his life as he succumbs to cancer.

With Ophuls’ typically gorgeous and free-flowing cinematography taking centre stage along with the actors, who give great performances across the board but none quite as good as Gerard Philipe in the leading role who gives one of the best performances as a conflicted and self destructive artist, Montparnasse 19 (also known as The Lovers of Montparnasse) is one hell of a swan song if ever there was.

An absolutely beautiful film about art and the sacrifices made for it, and how sometimes art doesn’t earn its place in history until after its time has passed. The film is as visually stunning as it is upsetting, but the balance between the two creates this haunting bittersweet feeling that makes this one of the most memorably emotional films of the 1950s, as well as one of the most frequently forgotten.

2. The Moment of Truth (Francesco Rosi, 1965)

Maybe the single most overlooked film on this list, Francesco Rosi’s 1965 masterpiece The Moment of Truth looks at the life of Miguel (often called Miguelin in the film, something of a stage name) as he leaves his life of poverty and heads to the city to become a bullfighter in a desperate attempt to escape poverty and likely starvation.

A favourite of the Safdie Brothers, who show the influence of the incredibly innovative mixing of CinemaScope and neo-realism in all of their work to date, The Moment of Truth is a perfect example of the ending of the neo-realist movement and how it started to fuse with more modern approaches to cinema after the start of the French New Wave.

It is a total gut punch of a film, not a subtle film but a damn striking one as it focuses on realism so intently that it is often hard to tell if some scenes are real or not, especially the bullfighting scenes which are shot in wide shots and play out in real time for the most part, with minimal editing used to make them so much more intense and immersive, with the bright Hollywood red blood marking the end of each frightening battle.

3. Salvatore Giuliano (Francesco Rosi, 1962)

One of Martin Scorsese’s top ten films of all time, Francesco Rosi’s second appearance on this list is an excellent neo-realist murder mystery surrounding the death of the titular Sicilian, looking at how both local and international media approach the case and try to find the truth in Giuliano’s story. The film is shot on exact locations, with Rosi channelling through the truths and the myths surrounding Giuliano’s death and trying to find the truth whilst also focusing on the corrupt authorities that may have played a part in Salvatore’s fate.

Working largely as a set-up to the style that Rosi would explore further when he made The Moment of Truth three years later, using the same neo-realist and cinema verite styles in cinematography and performance to ground the film and create a hyper-reality (by mixing the real with the unreal so seamlessly) as well as a similar focus on how the everyman can be targeted by powers above him without even realising it. It really is an excellent film, and one that is so brushed under the dust despite having a great reputation among those who have unearthed it.

4. Fortini/Cani (Jean-Marie Straub and Daniele Huillet, 1976)

The incredible work of Jean-Marie Straub and Daniele Huillet seems to know no bounds and yet almost all of it seems to slide under the radar, however, Fortini/Cani, the pair’s 1976 masterpiece, seems to fall through the cracks more than most.

Maybe this shouldn’t be so surprising, given the very literary and extremely precise approach that this pair have towards filmmaking, and their consistent approach of highly intellectual topics that can be frankly hard to keep up with most of the time also alienates a lot of viewers (or makes them hesitant to delve in to their work, too!), but it has to be said it’s still quite depressing to know that a film this good can exist and struggle to find an active audience beyond a small cult following who adore most of the work of Straub and Huillet. It’s a hard film to find, but one that is really essential viewing for those who can get their hands on it. Highly recommended!

5. Picnic On The Grass (Jean Renoir, 1959)

Renoir tried his hands at many different genres and styles, however, it always seemed that comedy was maybe his forte above all else, and so it makes sense that at least one of his comedies would fall between the cracks and be left behind, lost in the shadow of The Rules of the Game forever, waiting to be unearthed and rediscovered. Picnic in the Grass is that film, an incredibly funny Chaplin-esque comedy about the young Nenette, who wants to have a baby but is generally unimpressed by her male company to the point that she can’t find a father.

With one of the greatest comic sequences of all time in the scene where a windstorm occurs, Renoir seemed to really master a more laid-back approach to comedy that he found earlier on in his career but never really put to use in the way that he does here. This is one of Renoir’s finest films, which is really saying something considering the sheer amount of masterpieces the man made. One of the best films from one of the all time great directors… and still, unfortunately, this film has failed to catch on anywhere near as much as it deserves to.

Sometimes, all you really need from a film is some cathartic beauty. Sure, exciting narratives and impressive form will never get old, but sometimes there is a cinematic void that can only be filled by stunning colours, or great wide shots, or even just a story so laid back and focused on heart-warming that it’s hard to focus on anything else. And sometimes a film can do all three – stun you with its beauty, excite you with its narrative and blow your mind with its form… this small list sums up all ten of the films we’re going to talk about in this list, ten beautiful films that you may have missed on your journey through cinema.

1. One from the Heart (Francis Ford Coppola, 1981)

Starting off with the most fantastical of all of the films listed, let’s take a look at Francis Ford Coppola’s bizarre, dreamy 1980s smooth musical classic One From The Heart! Following up his strenuous Apocalypse Now production with something much more laid back, utilising painted sets and an incredibly slick Tom Waits soundtrack, Francis Ford Coppola tried something with One From The Heart that he had avoided with his more prestigious films from the 1970s and focused intently on trying to express these deeply passionate feelings of love and heartbreak through music, dance and colour in this very simple story of a break-up and heartbroken night on the town. To say the film is gorgeous is an understatement.

It is maybe the ultimate 80s musical, taking the charm of its artificiality and wearing it proudly on its sleeve rather than trying to ashamedly cover it up, in turn becoming similar to the most memorable musicals of the 1950s with their beautiful and nostalgic painted backdrops and incredible set pieces. What the film may lack in narrative complexity, it makes up for tenfold in its unmatched formal bravado. Coppola never really made anything like it again, and it’s a damn shame, too.

2. Ludwig (Luchino Visconti, 1973)

Coming from Italian maestro Luchino Visconti, more than likely most notorious for his masterful adaptation of Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice, the four hour period drama epic following the life of Ludwig II is almost too beautiful for words… especially whenever snow gets involved.

Visconti is known for his zooms and his stunning wide cinematography, but it seems that in Ludwig both took a new step forward in terms of beauty, to the point that the shots just become overwhelming. Adding this to the general formal mastery and Visconti’s incredible control that seems so effortless over both camera and story, and Ludwig becomes one of the most impressive and difficult to contain/explain films of all time, and certainly one of the most beautiful.

3. Le Plaisir (Max Ophuls, 1952)

Of course, a list trying to collect together some beautiful films simply has to include at least one work of the incredible Max Ophuls – this time, we’ve chosen to talk about his anthology film Le Plaisir. Detailing three short stories and collecting them together in one film, Le Plaisir looks at adapting three short stories by Guy de Maupassant whilst tackling themes of art vs love and the power of secrets. For the most part, the focus is on the gorgeous cinematography, which flexes some of the finest wide shots ever committed to celluloid throughout, especially during the second story La Maison Tellier. Hell, the film even makes use of a POV shot towards the end.

Ophuls is generally a directors-director, having been praised endlessly by the likes of Martin Scorsese and Paul Thomas Anderson (Ophuls’ The Earrings of Madame De… is supposedly a huge influence on Phantom Thread, for example), and it’s no surprise to see that his influence is lasting to this day considering the power and beauty of not just Le Plaisir but of his filmography collectively.

4. Sunset Song (Terence Davies, 2015)

What is there to be said about Terence Davies that hasn’t already been said? The British veteran could just be cinema’s greatest ever visual poet, to say the least, and Sunset Song is living proof (as well as one other film we’ll discuss later on!) Taking a more relaxed tone in this film compared to many of his others, Sunset Song is just a breathtaking period drama detailing the life of a young Scottish woman (Chris, played by Agyness Deyn) coming of age and becoming a woman, gaining experience around the time of the first World War.

Based on the book of the same name penned by Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Davies directs the story of Chris in a blindingly beautiful way, creating such a tender film in spite of the harsher topics and characters (as usual, Peter Mullan is incredible… and quite petrifying when he needs to be) and makes one of the finest films of the 2010s in the process (again – Davies always seems to hit it out of the park and his two other films released in the 2010s were just as great, with The Deep Blue Sea and A Quiet Passion). As said before, Davies could just be cinema’s best poet to ever do it, and each and every one of his films deserves a watch – he is one of the greats.

5. La Cienaga (Lucrecia Martel, 2001)

Few films are as tranquil as Lucrecia Martel’s 2001 film La Cienaga. With one of the most beautiful settings close to the titular La Cienaga, the film is mostly incredibly peaceful despite this slight feeling of tension and angst bubbling away beneath the surface. The film is mostly made beautiful thanks to the frankly overwhelming colours (mainly deep greens and surprisingly stunning camouflage colours in general) and the unique use of diegetic sound with the almost constant sound of chirping birds and crickets.

It’s hard to really describe it effectively, but there is such a feeling of comfort and natural beauty generated by this simple ambience that it’s hard to believe that this isn’t something used in most films. It brings to mind the work of other directors such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul who rely on the natural (and often making it slightly unnatural, too), but takes it in a new direction that’s exciting enough to make for one of the best films of the 21st century so far, and definitely one of the most beautiful.

Aren’t thrillers just the best? Who doesn’t enjoy kicking back with something that raises the adrenaline just enough – to the point that you feel the distinct rushing buzz but never actually have to face any real danger other than the potential of watching something terrible? That’s right, no-one. So, let’s cut out the danger of seeing something we’d rather not by listing some terrific examples of great thrillers that time unfortunately forgot (somewhat)…

1. Miracle Mile (Steve De Jarnatt, 1988)

So, let’s start strong with Steve De Jarnatt’s wonderful cult classic Miracle Mile, a film that shows the everyman perspective during a hectic race-against-time in the midst of potential nuclear warfare. With a brilliant performance from Anthony Edwards as a man just trying to go on a date with the love of his life only to find out that the third World War has begun and that nuclear missiles are supposedly due in only 70 minutes, the film somehow manages to pull off the audacious wizardry of acting as a (very good) romance comedy at the same time as also functioning beautifully as a borderline horror film about the impending threat of nuclear warfare in America.

Managing to hold onto its impressive breakneck pacing through the majority of its runtime, Miracle Mile is one of the greatest examples of a thriller that manages to genuinely continue to raise its stakes by introducing wonderful new characters throughout and throwing in intricate obstacles for the characters to overcome.

2. Devil in a Blue Dress (Carl Franklin, 1995)

Starring Denzel Washington alongside Don Cheadle (in one of his most brilliantly funny roles to date – he may not be in it too much, but he steals every scene that he offers his presence!) in a throwback film noir that brings the genre well and truly up to date with its focus on racial oppression in noir-era America and gender roles that caused trouble at the same time, Carl Franklin’s unfairly overlooked Devil In A Blue Dress proves itself to be one of the classic crime thrillers that never really got the recognition that it deserved (or deserves…).

With Denzel bringing the typical down-on-his-luck, unemployed and slightly unclean but still undeniably suave everyman who prowls around smoke-filled jazz clubs in search of a woman and a drink to life in a way that few others seem able, and a slick mystery plot that seems to twist itself out of the grip of the audience with majorly impressive ease, it’s hard not to find something to admire in Devil in a Blue Dress, and the political themes on the side paired with the final gut-busting twist are just cherries on the already impeccable cake. At least Kanye West is a fan…

3. Spies (Fritz Lang, 1928)

Going back even further in time from the drunken haze post-war 1940s to the 1920s for a moment, Fritz Lang’s Spies has to be mentioned! Whilst it is definitely hard to make the case for this film as the best Lang film (Die Nibelungen, for one, is just too good), it’s definitely not difficult to look at Spies and admire it as one of the single most thrilling of all silent films.

With such dynamic cinematography, such a riveting and epic plot and a surprisingly very fast pace to boot, Spies is a fantastic silent film to use as an introduction to silent cinema, and also serves as one of the real classics of the dawn of the spy-thriller genre. Whilst it has admittedly lost some of its effect in retrospect, as can be expected from most any film that is almost a hundred years old, Spies is still incredibly taut and serves as quite the masterclass in shot composition and framing (as most of the silent greats do, honestly), and a film that definitely should be seen by any film fan looking to get into more silent cinema!

4. The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel, 2008)

Lucrecia Martel, perhaps best known for Zama, her most recent cinematic outing, never seems to get enough recognition or respect considering her consistently brilliant catalogue of films, from the gorgeous and bleakly funny La Cienaga (2001) to this very film, The Headless Woman. The Headless Woman focuses in on a woman who gets in a car accident, but soon finds herself unsure if she may have hit someone in said accident, and thus endures all of the paranoia and guilt that would come with killing someone whilst never really knowing if she has done the deed or not.

Largely thanks to one hell of a performance from Maria Onetto, who really carries much of the film on her back along with cinematographer Barbara Alvarez, The Headless Woman is a deeply unsettling film focused on how our consciousness can play with us like puppets, whilst also functioning as an equally stirring and rather subtle look at contemporary Argentinian politics.

5. Red Road (Andrea Arnold, 2006)

Andrea Arnold is undoubtedly more well known for her later works such as Fish Tank (a personal favourite) and American Honey, however, this definitely doesn’t mean that her earlier work deserves to be ignored, as her debut feature Red Road may just be the best film she’s directed to date. The plot of the film focuses on Jackie, a woman who works a video surveillance job, controlling CCTV cameras. All seems to be going okay until one day, she happens to spot someone who she was hoping never to see again, and finds herself compelled to confront this man about their connected past.

The film remains as enigmatic as its plot synopsis sounds for the majority of its runtime, so those of you thinking that it sounds a little wearing may want to skip this one, however, for those of you still intrigued enough to think about seeing the film, make sure you do! There is something severely chilling about this creeping, slow-burning observational thriller that only ever allows you to known just enough to keep up with the plot as it continues to unravel.

Arnold’s restriction over the audience and over the story is almost unmatched, bringing to mind the likes of films such as Hitchcock’s Vertigo or Rear Window in its subtle ways of framing perspective and making it play as Free Cinema instead. It’s a seriously great film, one with a jaw-dropper of a finale that makes the slow-burn all the more worthwhile in retrospect, and one of the best British thrillers the 21st century so far.