280. Takva, a man's fear of God (2006)

 

Country: Turkey

Directed by Ozer Kizitlan

A very well made movie with a main character who looks totally real, with a human vulnerability that, even if we probably have totally different living conditions, we can identify ourselves with him, Takva explores the difficulty, almost impossibility, for the individual to live a virtuous life the way that the traditional religions define it, in our modern world that is full of temptations and almost obliges you to value money and power in order to fit and function in it properly. Although the film, no matter how slightly, criticizes the Islamic sects and generally all the religions that have similar demands from the believers, still keeps a very solid distance from having a black/white, bad/good approach. Is not the organized faith that is blamed for everything nor the world is evolving in a wrong direction: just the two can't go really together and the honest person who gonna try to combine them most likely it has to face a mental breakdown and a crisis of consciousness

 

279. Insects in the backyard (2010)

 

Country: Thailand

Directed by Tanwarin Sukkhapisit

A very unique, brave and revolutionary film in the history of Thai cinema "Insects in the backyard" depicts nudity, raw homosexual sex, prostitution, a patricide, themes that made the conservative Thai ministry of Culture to panic and to ban it immediately, claiming that it features negative portrayals of Thai society and it goes against Thai morals. Since then Insects in the backyard has a cult legendary status and it's in high regard by the Thai art film lovers, however it's not only its bold and daring content that made it such a significant film: with its fresh and modern style it belongs to just a handful of films that broke away from the fakeness of the old studio made commercial Thai cinema so emphatically and it opened the doors for many more art cinema films to follow

278. Mother India (1957)

 

Country: India

Directed by Mehboob Khan

Watching the film almost 65 years since its release it seems that hardly has a significant artistic value, being a commercial musical/ comical/melodramatic/epic salad that is hard to appreciate much (as a critic once put it " it's an outrageous masala of indigenous versions of Soviet-style tractor-opera, Italian neo-realism, Hollywood kiddie-cuteness, a dozen Technicolor musical numbers, and, most significantly, a metaphoric overlay of pop Hinduism"). However, if we put it back at the era of its production, Mother India managed to communicate perfectly at many levels with the common people who watched it in packed movie theaters as it combined impressive visuals, catchy songs, action, emotions and a simple political commentary with a way that they loved it. Probably the most influential and celebrated Indian movie of all time, even as a "bad" film certainly has a place in this list 

277. Mundane history (2009)

 

Country: Thailand

Directed by Anocha Suwichakornpong

One of the most significant movies of the Thai new wave cinema, 'Mundane history' is a film that has a rather simple storyline but a complexity in its content, as it has readings at so many levels that it's hard to be fully understood. Thai politics, history, comments about the social enequality, allegories,  Buddhism, even cosmology or existentialism, are only some of the elements of a film that, even if left us with the feeling that it underperformed its fully potential, manages to bring everything together beautifully at the end

276. Aparajito (1956)

Country: India

Directed by Satyajit Ray

A flawless film at any level, "Aparajito" is still amazingly fresh and powerful, with a timeless universality, as it relates to viewers from all cultural backgrounds, and a deep humanism that bathes everything in light: reflecting people's lives and emotions with tenderness it can be felt even by the most "modern" audiences. Poetical, delicate, touching, with stunning visuals but still realistic, it's one of the finest works of Satyajit Ray: just magnificent

275. A devilish murder (1965)

 

Country: South Korea

Directed by Lee Yong-min

Obviously a horror film that is so often comical when it intents to be scary is not a good horror film. However, 'A devilish murder", as a ghost vengeance b-movie, is so entertaining, with a no stop action and a fair amount of weirdness, that it can't be left out of the list. Watch it without expectations of high quality: it's just fun with a lot of cult moments

https://youtu.be/rVVtAPh2M9Q

274. P like Pelican (1972)

 

Country: Iran

Directed by Parviz Kimiavi

I always liked the short films of Parviz Kimiavi. The way that the realism is blended there with dreamy, surreal elements, their slightly avant garde style but also their symbolic, allegorical nature that is not always easy to decode. Is P like Pelican a film about our fruitless search for comfort, relief, purification, serenity? It's a movie about God? Or about the cruel and deceptive essence of existence that we never can escape from ? No exact answers are given but this is the way it should be: life doesn't give exact answers too

273. Mother (2009)

 

Country: S. Korea

Directed by Bong Joon-Ho

A captivating, intense, challenging movie that keeps us interested from the first to the last second, 'Mother' is far above of the typical predictable Western crime films with positive main characters vs villains, simplistic psychological backgrounds and plot twists that make you yawn. In this movie, and in the real life too, human minds and emotions are uncontrollable forces that can't fit in the boxes of stereotypical narrations neither can evolve in a way that always makes sense. Under the spell of the great Bong Joon-Ho's cinematography we end up watching the film mesmerized: it show us a strange but somehow very familiar world

272. An elephant sitting still (2018)

 

Country: China

Directed by Hu Bo

The first and last full length film of Hu Bo, who took his life shortly after he completed it at the age of 29, is the most bleak, gloomy and depressing film you can imagine, not offering even a single smile, a single ray of joy in the four hours that it lasts. However, it's not as much hopeless and pessimistic as you think: even if it's not a way out of misery the four leading characters of the movie never stop to fight, never stop their agonizing struggle to live, no matter how damaged and poisoned are themselves by the ultra hostile social environment. With a strong documentary feeling, a superb cinematography with a camera that comes so close to the characters that we feel that they breath a few steps away from us and a   brilliant acting from everyone "An elephant sitting still" is a masterpiece of the modern Chinese cinema, more real than the reality itself, makes you wondering how the absence of any emotion can be so emotional, how the absence of any hope can be so hopeful

 

You can watch the full movie here:

https://youtu.be/xWCkZS5r7Tg

271. A fugitive from the past (1965)

 

Country: Japan

Directed by Tomu Uchida

In my opinion one of the most underrated movies in the history of cinema "A fugitive of the past" is easily among my five most favorite Japanese films ever made. Although you would fully understand this statement only if you watch it, I would try to identify what makes this movie so great apart of it's fascinating plot, the amazing black and white photography or the captivating music score : it's this raw realism, depicting the misery of post war defeated Japan with unparalleled accuracy, that occasionally and unexpectedly cracks with a way we rarelly see, revealing a terrifying opening to the fragility of the human condition itself, where the subconscious, the guilts and obsessions, the fear of supernatural but mostly the limitations that mortality sets, define our existence and fate. 

270. Throne of blood (1957)

 

Country: Japan

Directed by Akira Kurosawa

So many years passed since I watched this famous Akira Kurosawa's film and sometimes I m not sure how I will feel if I watch it again. I m wondering if it aged well or if today would look a bit tired, a bit pretentious or simplistic. But then I remember how much I liked this film, how intense the film was: mad, raw, poetical, captivating, haunting. How I was thinking about it weeks after I watched it and how some moments of it still are vivid in my memory after all this time. Finally, I let my doubts aside. Films of this caliber would never get old. No matter your age, your country, your state of mind, they gonna absorb you from the first second to the last

269. Hope frozen (2019)

 

Country: Thailand

Directed by Pailin Wedel

Although I m not impressed by the way that the theme of the film is presented and unfolded nor from it's visual power, I still think that Hope Frozen is really interesting to watch, as it steps in a territory that all of us we are curious to explore, as it poses questions that all of us want to answer, as it connects all of us in a deeper philosophical, existential level, as it evokes our emotion no matter who we are. A documentary about life and death, about dealing with pain, about our refusal to accept our fate, but also about love and about dreaming big

268. After the curfew (1954)

 

Country: Indonesia

Directed by Usmar Ismail

One of the most famous and celebrated movies in the history of Indonesian cinema "After the curfew" is without doubt the masterpiece of Usmar Ismail, a pioneer artist who, as a film historian quoted, was the first Indonesian director that used film as means of expression and not simply as a way to make money. "After the curfew" is a movie with very few weaknesses, surprisingly fresh almost 70 years after its production, depicting with simplicity and bitterness the reality of the post war independent Indonesia, where the dream of a new, bright society and the ideals of the revolution buried under the corruption and the privileges of the few: a reality so universal that we feel related with, no matter from which part of the planet we are watching the film

267. Prisoners of conscience (1978)

 

Country: India

Directed by Anand Patwardhan

One of the rare documentaries about the brutality of Indian state against the leftist protesters and political prisoners during the 70's. Having a high historical value, the film depicts with simplicity the violence imposed by the establishment against everyone who dared to demand better conditions of lives for the poor, real democracy and justice. Anand Patwardhan does here what he continued to do his whole career: real and raw political cinema taking always the side of the vulnerable

You can watch the full movie here:  https://youtu.be/RHFaEybyvNA

 

266. Bona (1980)

 

Country: Philippines

Directed by Lino Brocka

Bona is probably the last really great film of Lino Brocka and it combines everything that made me to love his cinema that much: the not exaggerative melodrama, the powerful silent scenes, the well balanced raw realism, the camera that goes down to the slums, the political way that his storytelling is connected with the realities of Filippino society, the redemption of the end when the victim takes at last a revenge. 

You can watch the full movie here: https://youtu.be/8UakbxtNhO4

265. Country hotel (1957)

 

Country: Thailand

Directed by Ratana Pestonji

No doubt that a film historian would regard this movie, together with some other films of Ratana Pestonji who almost invented the modern Thai cinema, as a landmark for the  cinema of the Southeast Asia. However, Country hotel is not just a film good for its era that it has to be watched in some film museum as part of the history. Sixty-five years latter it's still quite fresh, with a nice dark comical style and a plot that keeps you captivated, with the 140 minutes of its duration to pass surprisingly fast as it's a lot of fun to watch!

You can watch the full movie here: https://youtu.be/DhmDwTffuQY

264. A day off (1968)

Country: South Korea

Directed by Lee Man-hee

One more jewel of the unknown South Korean cinema of 60's, 'A day off' depicts the bleak reality of the era (of every era?) when young people struggled to live, love and bloom under heavy financial hardships, to end up defeated and broken, without dreams and hopes, present or future. Lee Man-hee chooses to narrate a heartbreaking love story as a social commentary, not as a personal drama. The unhappiness here is not existential: poverty is clearly blamed. Moreover the misery is not attractive, shinny and almost glorified as we see often in other films. The despair here is naked and the feeling of hopelessness devastating

You can watch the full movie here: https://youtu.be/2f6eLMTooaM

263. Pale flower (1964)

 

Country: Japan

Directed by Masahiro Shinoda

 

As I watched the Pale flower for second time after some years, I admired it even more as one of the finest products of the Japanese new wave cinema of 60's, a film with zero weaknesses that aging perfectly as the time pass. An exemplary noir/yakuza film, call it as you want, dark and nihilistic to the core, with beautiful black and white photography and an amazing dreamy avant garde music score by the genius of Toru Takemitsu, it captures perfectly the pessimistic post war spirit of a westernized traumatized Japan that was trying to keep up with the radical changes and to find a new identity.

 

262. Rebels of the neon god (1992)

 

Country: Taiwan

Directed by Tsai Ming-liang

Slow with very few dialogues, almost without a story to narrate, 'Rebels of the neon god' somehow manages to be one of the most attractive films of Ming-Liang, and probably the one that we can identify ourselves at its characters with the most ease, especially if we had troubled teenage years in past. The frustration of the youth, the alienation with the elders, the existential loneliness, the sex that is rather a burden than a joy, the lack of realistic dreams, the need to get free from the rules, the awe in front of the meaningless: this was the life for many of us living in the hostile environment of the modern big cities, in a dystopic soulless world made of metal and glass.

261. Don't burn (2009)

 

Country: Vietnam

Directed by Dang Nhat Minh

'Don't burn' is one of these movies that you love, even if you think it's simplistic and you can't find any element of it impressive if you look at them separately. Directing, acting, storytelling seem mediocre at best, however the message of the film, the way that it relates to every one of us, is so powerful and direct given that you end up deeply touched by it, full of intense bittersweet emotions.  The real story of an American soldier who gets haunted by the diary of a killed Vietkong young woman who finds in the battlefield, a writing full of compassion, hope, dedication and longing for her home and her loved ones, it's a vehicle for a classic anti war film that highlights in a very universal way the terror of war, the beauty of life and all these things that connect us as human beings.  

You can watch the full movie here with subs:
 https://youtu.be/K2adJUbQAj8

      

260. A better tomorrow (1986)

Country: Hong Kong

Directed by John Woo

The movie that made Chow Yun-fat a star and opened a wide path to action films with stylized violence both in Hong Kong and Hollywood, 'A better tomorrow" may it's not the most impressive work of John Woo, as he was still trying to figure out his style and also he has a quite low budget to use, but still it's highly enjoyable to watch and it contains all the elements that made his cinema fascinating

259. Panic in the high school (1978)

 

Country: Japan

Directed by Sogo Ishii and Yukihiro Sawada

The first movie of the cult director Sogo Ishii, who made a name in the underground art scene of Japan as a pioneer of the cyberpunk film movement, Panic in the high school is not just an action movie with a lot of fake blood and screaming teenagers who are gunned down. Nor it's a work of pretentious  condemnation of a system that oppress the youth : in contrary, with a quiet, allusive way, it really succeeds to capture the vulnerability of teenagers who are trapped in a world designed by adults, full of norms and expectations, where the good reputation and to climb high in the social rankings are presented as the highest values. With a lot of freshness, simplicity and originality it evokes feelings and memories of this exact vulnerability even to people who didn't grow up in the strict environment of the Japanese society

You can watch the full movie here:

https://youtu.be/wW6bmJiOPUM

258. Batch 81 (1982)

 

Country: Philippines

Directed by Mike De Leon

One of my favorite Filippino movies of 80's, Batch 81 uses a story related with the violence of university fraternities, an issue that was a hot topic of conversation in that era, to explore and expose the deeper nature of fascism, to show the mechanics behind the construction of a fascist via a well calculated process that transforms individuals to members of a herd: giving away their dignity, having blind trust to the leaders, rather oppressed, insignificant, common folks are easy targets to become tools for the tyrrans, as they fulfill their dream to be part of a dominant group that offers to them (at least this is what they think), power, privilages and impunity. A powerful alegory for the years of martial law under Ferdinando Marcos, 'Butch 81' is one of the best studies of fascism ever made for the big screen in terms of analysis but also is, in any sense of the expression, an impressive film. Although its budget is very low, every scene has high standards, attention to details, a great inner rythm and everyone gives his best self from the actors who deliver great performances to the composer who wrote the music score.

257. The postman (1972)

Country: Iran 

Directed by Dariush Mehrjui 

Watching the movie we could say a lot about the ideological intentions of its director. The film seems to be about the decadence of the old priviledge classes, their difficulty to adapt to the new reality, the way they oppress the working class above them, a working class that is struggling to survive and to keep its dignity. Also about the traditional male roles that are weakening, and about the science that is failing to give the solutions that promised. No matter of how many levels the film hits on, is its strong cinematic power that makes it so good, it escalates at the second part, it becomes intense and almost heartbreaking, as we follow the desperation of the common man, a drama that it ends with a femicide, as the slaves once more harm themselves instead of hit back to their rulers. One more great moment of the pro-revolution Iranian cinema