People on Sunday (1930)

Germany
Feature Film
Original Title: Menschen am Sonntag
Directors: Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer
Writers: Billy Wilder, Curt Siodmak
Cinematographer: Eugen Schüfftan
Composer: Elena Kats-Chernin (2000)
Cast: Erwin Splettstößer, Brigitte Borchert, Wolfgang von Waltershausen, Christl Ehlers, Annie Schreyer

Under the direction of Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer, with a screenplay by Billy Wilder from an idea by Curt Siodmak, with assistance from Fred Zinnemann, this barely scripted little feature with documentary inserts has rather dazzling credentials, and whilst they may bring to mind cooks and broth, nothing could be further from the truth, with the final result being a delightfully light, sexy, and beautiful depiction of the joys of Sundays, summer, and youthful inconsequence. Iain.Stott

The Films That Defined the Noughties (Daily Telegraph, 2009)

Original article

  1. Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
  2. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
  3. The Incredibles (2004)
  4. There Will Be Blood (2007)
  5. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
  6. Memento (2000)
  7. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)
  8. Amores Perros (2000)
  9. The Passion of the Christ (2004)
  10. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
  11. The Lives of Others (2006)
  12. Amelie (2001)
  13. West of the Tracks (2003)
  14. Saw (2004)
  15. Before Sunset (2004)
  16. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
  17. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)
  18. Mamma Mia! (2008)
  19. Capote (2005)
  20. Lost in Translation (2003)
  21. The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
  22. City of God (2002)
  23. Shaun of the Dead (2004)
  24. The Gleaners and I (2000)
  25. Up (2009)
  26. Être et Avoir (2002)
  27. Star Trek (2009)
  28. The Queen (2006)
  29. In the Mood for Love (2000)
  30. Downfall (2004)
  31. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
  32. Oldboy (2003)
  33. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
  34. Moolaadé (2004)
  35. Knocked Up (2007)
  36. An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
  37. Billy Elliot (2000)
  38. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
  39. Casino Royale (2006)
  40. Moulin Rouge (2001)
  41. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
  42. Ratatouille (2007)
  43. The Dark Knight (2008)
  44. Hidden (2005)
  45. District 9 (2009)
  46. Y Tu Mamá También (2001)
  47. Gosford Park (2001)
  48. Gladiator (2000)
  49. Far from Heaven (2002)
  50. Russian Ark (2002)
  51. Lagaan (2001)
  52. Hunger (2008)
  53. No Country for Old Men (2007)
  54. Talk to Her (2002)
  55. Bowling for Columbine (2002)
  56. Atonement (2007)
  57. Sideways (2004)
  58. Donnie Darko (2001)
  59. WALL·E (2008)
  60. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
    Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
  61. In This World (2002)
  62. The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
  63. The Piano Teacher (2001)
  64. Spirited Away (2001)
  65. The Departed (2006)
  66. United 93 (2006)
  67. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
  68. Waltz with Bashir (2008)
  69. The Class (2008)
  70. Mulholland Dr. (2001)
  71. A History of Violence (2005)
  72. Uzak (2002)
  73. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
  74. Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)
  75. The School of Rock (2003)
  76. Antichrist (2009)
  77. Children of Men (2006)
  78. The Hurt Locker (2008)
  79. Spider-Man (2002)
  80. The Return (2003)
  81. Milk (2008)
  82. Monsoon Wedding (2001)
  83. Goodbye Lenin! (2003)
  84. Sin City (2005)
  85. Erin Brockovich (2000)
  86. Let the Right One In (2008)
  87. The Child (2005)
  88. The Pianist (2002)
  89. Munich (2005)
  90. Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
  91. Atanarjuat - The Fast Runner (2001)
  92. The Wrestler (2008)
  93. Grizzly Man (2005)
  94. The Brown Bunny (2003)
  95. Michael Clayton (2007)
  96. Shrek (2001)
  97. Tropical Malady (2004)
  98. Crash (2004)
  99. Together (2000)
  100. Avatar (2009)

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950)

USA
Feature Film
Director: Gordon Douglas
Writers: Harry Brown, Horace McCoy
Cinematographer: Peverell Marley
Composer: Carmen Dragon
Cast: James Cagney, Barbara Payton, Helena Carter, Ward Bond, Luther Adler, Barton MacLane, Steve Brodie, Rhys Williams, Herbert Heyes

Adapted form Horace McCoy’s novel, this Cagney Production - in which a vicious sociopath escapes from a prison work detail, and imposes himself on the dodgy, crooked, and vulnerable inhabitants of a small town, as he violently goes about acquiring all that he wants - proves to be a viscerally intense affair, but certain details (particularly romantic ones) never feel particularly authentic, taking the gloss off an otherwise excellent production. Iain.Stott

Uncivil Warriors (1935)

USA
Short Film
Director: Del Lord
Writer: Felix Adler
Cinematographer: John Stumar
Cast: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Ted Lorch, Phyllis Crane, Bud Jamison

Operators 12, 14, and 15, “the very brains of the entire secret service,” go undercover in the confederate army as Lieutenant Duck, Captain Dodge, and Major Hyde, in order to uncover the enemy’s plans, in this rather lacklustre and generally tedious Three Stooges short. Iain.Stott

Paris Qui Dort (1925)

France
Short Film
Writer/Director: René Clair
Cinematographers: Maurice Desfassiaux, Paul Guichard
Cast: Henri Rollan, Charles Martinelli, Louis Pré Fils, Albert Préjean, Madeleine Rodrigue, Myla Seller, Antoine Stacquet, Marcel Vallée

The caretaker of The Eiffel Tower wakes one morning to discover that the entire population of Paris has fallen asleep (some mid-action,) and sets off in search of answers, bumping into a group of similarly perplexed people who have just alighted from a plane; together, they attempt to find ways to mine the situation (and maybe remedy it, if they find the time,) in this entertaining and influential piece of science fiction, that doesn’t quite make the most of its satirical potential. Iain.Stott

Goodbye Lenin! (2003)

Germany
Feature Film
Original Title: Good Bye Lenin!
Director: Wolfgang Becker
Writers: Bernd Lichtenberg, Wolfgang Becker
Cinematographer: Martin Kukula
Composer: Yann Tiersen
Cast: Daniel Brühl, Kathrin Sass, Chulpan Khamatova, Maria Simon, Florian Lukas, Alexander Beyer, Burghart Klaußner

With beautiful (if familiar) music from Tiersen, and very touching performances from Brühl and Sass, Becker’s bitter-sweet tale - following a son’s attempts to keep the fall of communism from his fragile mother, who has just woken from an eight month coma, in order to shield her from the shock - transcends its sit-com-like farce plot, proving to be gently funny, quietly thoughtful, and really quite moving. Iain.Stott

The 100 Best Films of the Decade (The Times, 2009)

Original article

  1. Hidden (2005)
  2. The Bourne Supremacy (2004) / The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
  3. No Country for Old Men (2007)
  4. Grizzly Man (2005)
  5. Team America: World Police (2004)
  6. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
  7. The Last King of Scotland (2006)
  8. Casino Royale (2006)
  9. The Queen (2006)
  10. Hunger (2008)
  11. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)
  12. The Lives of Others (2006)
  13. This Is England (2007)
  14. 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days (2007)
  15. Downfall (2004)
  16. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
  17. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
  18. Let the Right One In (2008)
  19. United 93 (2006)
  20. Donnie Darko (2001)
  21. Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)
  22. Far from Heaven (2002)
  23. Man On Wire (2008)
  24. 28 Days Later... (2002)
  25. Dancer in the Dark (2000)
  26. Minority Report (2002)
  27. Sideways (2004)
  28. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
  29. Being John Malkovich (2000)
  30. Irréversible (2002)
  31. Iraq in Fragments (2006)
  32. Gladiator (2000)
  33. Monsoon Wedding (2002)
  34. Finding Nemo (2003)
  35. Y Tu Mamá También (2002)
  36. Capturing the Friedmans (2004)
  37. In the Mood for Love (2000)
  38. Mulholland Drive (2001)
  39. Lost in Translation (2003)
  40. Syriana (2005)
  41. Children of Men (2006)
  42. The Incredibles (2004)
  43. The Dark Knight (2008)
  44. Under the Sand (2000)
  45. Touching the Void (2003)
  46. Traffic (2000)
  47. My Summer of Love (2004)
  48. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
  49. Knocked Up (2007)
  50. The Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
  51. The Son’s Room (2001)
  52. The Constant Gardener (2005)
  53. Milk (2008)
  54. Bad Santa (2003)
  55. Chopper (2000)
  56. Volver (2006)
  57. The Consequences of Love (2004)
  58. Shaun of the Dead (2004)
  59. Être et Avoir (2002)
  60. The Squid and the Whale (2005)
  61. Spirited Away (2001)
  62. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
  63. There Will Be Blood (2007)
  64. The Child (2005)
  65. Waltz with Bashir (2008)
  66. City of God (2002)
  67. Gomorrah (2008)
  68. Memento (2000)
  69. Persepolis (2007)
  70. The Class (2008)
  71. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
  72. The Hurt Locker (2008)
  73. The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005)
  74. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
  75. Talk to Her (2002)
  76. Control (2007)
  77. Bowling for Columbine (2002)
  78. About Schmidt (2002)
  79. Le Grand Voyage (2004)
  80. Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005)
  81. In The Loop (2009)
  82. A One and a Two… (2000)
  83. The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)
  84. Hotel Rwanda (2004)
  85. The Piano Teacher (2001)
  86. The Orphanage (2007)
  87. Time and Winds (2006)
  88. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
  89. School of Rock (2003)
  90. Wedding Crashers (2005)
  91. Lantana (2001)
  92. Dirty Pretty Things (2002)
  93. House of Flying Daggers (2004)
  94. An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
  95. Amores Perros (2000)
  96. Morvern Callar (2002)
  97. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005)
  98. Crash (2004)
  99. Battle Royale (2000)
  100. The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Blade on the Feather (1980)

UK
Television Film
Director: Richard Loncraine
Writer: Dennis Potter
Cinematographer: Peter Hannan
Cast: Donald Pleasence, Tom Conti, Denholm Elliott, Kika Markham, Phoebe Nicholls

An aristocratic family are enjoying an idyllic summer’s day in their palatial grounds - the father is sitting quietly, reading and dozing fitfully; the trophy wife and comely daughter playing a leisurely game of tennis; the knowing butler attending to their needs - when an unexpected and unwanted guest arrives, forcing his way into the their evening plans, bringing up questions of history, class, and politics, in this beautifully drawn, expertly acted, and deliciously surprising television play. Iain.Stott

Elephant (1989)

UK
Short Television Film
Director: Alan Clarke
Writer: Bernard MacLaverty
Cinematographers: Philip Dawson, John Ward

Alan Clarke presents us with a series of sectarian killings in Northern Ireland - stripped of politics, rhetoric, history, context, and team colours - leaving us with their very essence - casually brutal murder, in this devastating, plotless masterpiece, in which death is only accompanied by the sound of life whirring gently on in the form of cars passing, dogs barking, lifts traversing, and footsteps echoing. Iain.Stott

The 'Maggie' (1954)

UK
Feature Film
Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Writers: William Rose, Alexander Mackendrick
Cinematographer: Gordon Dines
Composer: John Addison
Cast: Paul Douglas, Alex Mackenzie, James Copeland, Abe Barker, Tommy Kearins, Hubert Gregg

Despite some incongruously noir-like high-contrast black-and-white photography and the odd strange character development, Mackendrick’s ambling comedy - in which an ageing puffer boat captain blags his way in to a lucrative contract, transporting a rich American’s furniture to his new island home, much to the chagrin of all involved - is, never the less, a thoroughly entertaining and unpredictable if minor work. Iain.Stott

Fighters (1991)

UK
Television Documentary
Writer/Director: Ron Peck
Cinematographer: Carl Ross
Composer: Adrian James Carbutt
Featuring: Terry Dixon, Jimmy Flint, Dean Hollington, Mark Kaylor, Jimmy Peters, Jason Rowland, Roy Rowland, Bradley Stone, Jimmy Tibbs, Mark Tibbs

Combining talking-heads and fly-on-the-wall footage with highly stylised scripted scenes, Peck’s engaging documentary/essay - following a group of boxers in the build-up to a big fight, teasing out their hopes, ambitions, and background details; featuring fighters at various stages of their careers, including a young Bradley Stone, who would die a few years later following a tragic bout - proves to be a fascinating and illuminating depiction of a brutally difficult way of life. Iain.Stott

Street of Joy (1974)

Japan
Feature Film
Original Title: 赤線玉の井 ぬけられます
Director: Kumashiro Tatsumi
Writers: Kumashiro Tatsumi, Shimizu Ikko
Cinematographer: Himeda Shinsaku
Cast: Miyashita Junko, Seri Meika, Oka Naomi, Nakajima Aoi, Kani'e Keizô, Furukawa Yoshinori

Very loosely based on Mizoguchi’s Street of Shame (1956), Kumashiro’s visually arresting Roman Porno - set in a Tokyo brothel in 1955, just before the closure of all such establishments, following the day-to-day lives of four disparate prostitutes, illuminating the realities of their situations - proves to be an episodic, painfully convincing, oft funny, and surprisingly moving film. Iain.Stott

Election (2005)

Hong Kong
Feature Film
Original Title: 黑社會
Director: Johnnie To
Writers: Yau Nai Hoi, Yip Tin Shing
Cinematographer: Cheng Siu Keung
Composer: Lo Tayu
Cast: Simon Yam, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Louis Koo, Nick Cheung, Lam Ka Tung, Cheung Siu Fai, Lam Suet, Wong Tin Lam, Tam Ping Man, Maggie Shiu

The biennial election for the post of chairman of the Wo Shing Society, a Triad gang in Hong Kong, doesn’t run as smoothly as in previous years, when the defeated candidate takes objection to the result and determines to rectify matters, in this measured gangster film, in which the violence, generally kept to a minimum, is properly and rightly disquieting. Iain.Stott

Arsenal (1928)

Soviet Union
Feature Film
Original Title: Арсенал
Writer/Director: Aleksandr Dovzhenko
Cinematographer: Daniil Demutsky
Composers: The Alloy Orchestra
Cast: Semyon Svashenko, Amvrosi Buchma, Georgi Khorkov, Dmitri Erdman, Sergei Petrov, M. Mikhajlovsky, A. Yevdakov, Nikolai Kuchinsky, O. Merlatti, Nikolai Nademsky

Despite the Ukrainian ruling class being depicted as sub-human imbeciles, and the film’s promotion of the idea that glory is synonymous with the ability to kill or be killed for “righteous” reasons, this account of the 1917 revolution from a Ukrainian perspective is, never the less, a wonderful piece of filmmaking, filled with strikingly memorable images, not the least of which being the symbolically rich final shot of an undefeatable Ukrainian worker. Iain.Stott

The Spy in Black (1939)

UK
Feature Film
Director: Michael Powell
Writers: Emeric Pressburger, J. Storer Clouston, Roland Pertwee
Cinematographer: Bernard Browne
Composer: Miklós Rózsa
Cast: Conrad Veidt, Valerie Hobson, Sebastian Shaw

This first Powell-Pressburger collaboration - a First World War set tale of intelligence and counter intelligence, in which a pair of German spies infiltrate a small Scottish island community, planning to organise an attack against a British naval fleet - proves to be a rather modest if reasonably entertaining affair; well-made, written, and acted, but generally unremarkable. Iain.Stott
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