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