It’s easy to overlook some classic cinema considering how many movies get blasted out of Hollywood’s all dominating production schedule. World cinema and distant classics can become lost in time whilst big production films dominate the headlines.
Here for your viewing pleasure are fifteen films which might have slipped you by over the years. These are movie masterpieces in their own right and worthy of anyone’s DVD collection.
1.Mary and Max
In this darkly amusing claymation film, young Australian Mary is alienated from society by her erratic parents. She inadvertently discovers friendship in the form of American pen pal Max (voiced by the brilliant Philip Seymour Hoffman), an obese man with Asperger’s Syndrome. A poignant tale of friendship promptly unfolds in this cult classic.
2. Stranded: I’ve come from a plane that crashed on the mountains
As emotional as films can get, this subtitled Parisian documentary follows the plight of those involved in the Andes Plane Crash. In October of 1972 an amateur rugby team’s plane crashed into the middle of the Andes. Stranded in the freezing conditions for two months, the group made extraordinary decisions in their fight for survival. The story is told by the survivors in moving simplicity.
3. Ravenous
Guy Pearce and Robert Carlyle are on top form in this tense thriller involving social misfits in the Sierra Nevada. It’s a very quirky, highly creative film, with its incredible Damon Albarn soundtrack and unusual narrative. Unfortunately it bombed in cinemas, in part due to production problems, but not helped by the media (who were deeply confused by it in 1999). Ravenous has since found a cult following and deserves reassessment as the brilliant film it is.
4. Grizzly Man
Werner Herzog’s documentary examines Timothy Treadwell’s life amongst grizzly bears in an Alaskan peninsula. Treadwell lived amongst the wild bears for thirteen summers before eventually being killed in 2003. It’s a poignant tale made particularly watchable by Treadwell’s stunning footage of the bears in their natural habitat, and his personal journey towards understanding himself which, tragically, didn’t come to fruition.
5. Punch-Drunk Love
A quirky love story between Adam Sandler’s Barry Egan and Emily Watson’s Lena. It’s a unique romantic film (not least as Sandler’s very good in it) as the psychologically damaged Egan attempts to understand his emotions. In amongst this he visits Hawaii, gets assaulted by con men, stores a vast amount of chocolate pudding, and attempts to manage his seven sisters. Through it all the mysterious Lena floats in the background.
6. Princess Mononoke
Studio Ghibli deliver their masterpiece with this story of ancient forest spirits and animal gods, who come up against the burgeoning human world and clash in frightful style. Young warrior Ashitaka is caught up in the middle of it all and attempts to restore peace. Sweeping and majestic, it makes for one very dramatic experience.
7. The Madness of King George
When the King’s behaviour becomes increasingly erratic government must react accordingly, but barely controlled chaos descends as the lazy Prince attempts to claim Regency. Based on the true story of King George III’s flirtation with madness, it is endlessly quotable. The superb cast includes Nigel Hawthorn, Helen Mirren,and Ian Holms.
8. Withnail and I
Arguably the very definition of “cult classic”, Withnail and I has reached legendary status. The plot follows two unemployed actors who, depressed with their urban setting in London, head out for a weekend in the countryside. Chaos ensues. It’s proven hugely popular amongst students, who adore the drunken elements, but the real quality of the of the film is its brilliant performances and endlessly inspired dialogue.
9. Brazil
Terry Gilliam’s sci-fi classic is crammed full of strange, Orwellian allusions of a dystopian future. Jonathan Pryce plays Sam Lowry, a very normal man living a very confused life amongst a future world which is falling apart under its technological strain. Add in Michael Palin’s psychotic family man Jack, and Robert De Niro as a renegade electrician, and you have one wonderfully surreal piece of cinema.
10. Amadeus
As Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s effortless genius ridicules his contemporaries, Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham in Oscar winning form) contemplates murder. Amadeus is an excellent film which bagged 8 Oscars in 1984, but anyone under the age of 25 might not have considered watching it. Unsurprisingly the film has a stunning soundtrack, and it’s compelling entertainment. A must see.
11. Dog Day Afternoon
Based on a true story of a bizarre bank robbery that went a bit wrong, Al Pacino plays Sonny who has decided to resort to crime in order to pay for his lover’s sex change operation. Accompanied by emotionally unstable Sal (John Cazale), the robbery becomes a media circus even the pizza man is welcome to.
12. The Kings of the Summer
One of 2013’s best films went largely unnoticed due to the buzz surrounding Hollywood’s blockbusters. The Kings of the Summer is a quietly charming account of three teenagers who, having grown bored of their annoying families, build a house in the woods. It’s funny, different, and full of life-affirming moments.
13. District 9
Dwarfed in 2009 by sci-fi epic Avatar, District 9 still proved a sleeper hit due to its far more intelligent and unique script. Based in South Africa, aliens landed in 1982 and have since become refugees in a shanty town. Sharlto Kopley (acting for the first time) plays MNU agent Wikus van de Merwe whose task is to move the aliens to a new home. Inspired and a cult classic.
14. Badlands
Kit (Martin Sheen) and Holly (Sissy Spacek) become fugitives as Kit spirals into increasingly psychotic behaviour. Holly, however, ignores this as she waxes lyrical about him through romantic voiceovers. Although Terrence Malick is a directing legend, and Badlands hugely respected, many film fans may still have missed this classic.
15. Empire of the Sun
Young Jim (a 13 year old Christian Bale) becomes a POW in a Japanese internment camp during World War II, which leads him into the path of the world wise Basey (John Malkovich). It’s a war epic, and although Steven Spielberg has delivered plenty of these, Empire of the Sun is something of a forgotten classic.
