Defamation (2009)

Recommended
Israel/Austria/Denmark/Norway/USA
Feature Documentary
Original Title: השמצה
Director: Yoav Shamir
Cinematographers: Yoav Shamir, Yehonatan Ofek
Featuring: Abe Foxman, Norman Finkelstein, John Mearsheimer, Stephen Walt

Film-maker Shamir, a Jewish Israeli who, quite understandably, has never experienced anti-Semitism, though his country’s media is so often filled with mentions of it, sets off for New York and Auschwitz in order to find out what anti-Semitism means today, interviewing Jewish people from the far right and left of the political spectrum, and presenting us with some rather eye-opening results, with the views of a bunch of Israeli teenagers being particularly revelatory and decidedly depressing. Iain.Stott

Jump Tomorrow (2001)

Recommended
UK/USA
Feature Film
Director: Joel Hopkins
Writers: Joel Hopkins, Iain Tibbles, Nicola Usborne
Cinematographer: Patrick Cady
Composer: John Kimbrough
Cast: Tunde Adebimpe, Hippolyte Girardot, Natalia Verbeke, James Wilby, Patricia Mauceri, Gene Ruffini

A confused, good-hearted man of Nigerian descent, who in a couple of days time is due to marry a family friend in a (sort of) arranged marriage, fortuitously or perhaps unfortuitously makes the acquaintance of a larger-than-life, heartbroken Frenchman and a sweet, drop-dead-gorgeous Argentinian woman (and her smug English boyfriend), and precedes to embark on a road trip with them, ostensibly towards his impending wedding but also perhaps towards some sort of self discovery, in Hopkins’s immensely likeable if occasionally overly quirky romantic comedy, which boasts a wonderfully subtle, deadpan performance from Adebimpe. Iain.Stott

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007)

Cautiously Recommended
USA
Television Film
Director: Yves Simoneau
Writers: Daniel Giat, Dee Alexander Brown
Cinematographer: David Franco
Composer: George S. Clinton
Cast: Adam Beach, Aidan Quinn, August Schellenberg, Gordon Tootoosis, Anna Paquin, Eric Schweig, Wes Studi, J.K. Simmons, Colm Feore, Fred Thompson, Nathan Chasing His Horse, Chevez Ezaneh

Spanning the period from The Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876 to the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890, this engrossing, multi award winning television drama, based on Dee Brown’s book, tells of the American government’s numerous attempts to “civilise” the Sioux Indians in the reservations of the Dakotas, but it is let down somewhat by some occasionally rather speachy dialogue and an often intrusive and manipulative score. Iain.Stott

Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003)

Taiwan
Feature Film
Original Title: 不散
Director: Tsai Ming-liang
Writer: Tsai Ming-liang
Cinematographer: Liao Ben-Bong
Cast: Lee Kang-sheng, Chen Shiang-chyi, Mitamura Kiyonobu, Miao Tien, Shih Chun, Chen Chao-jung, Yang Kuei-Mei, Lee Yi-Cheng

On what could well be its final night, a woman with a clubfoot keeps an eye on a grand old but decidedly dilapidated cinema and its patrons, most of whom are there merely to cottage rather than to watch the film – Hu’s Dragon Inn (1967) – in Tsai’s minimalist masterpiece, a plotless, beautifully photographed, and pathos laden lamentation for the long, slow death of cinema. Iain.Stott

Braindead (1992)

Recommended
New Zealand
Feature Film
Director: Peter Jackson
Writers: Peter Jackson, Stephen Sinclair, Frances Walsh
Cinematographer: Murray Milne
Composer: Peter Dasent
Cast: Timothy Balme, Diana Peñalver, Elizabeth Moody, Ian Watkin, Brenda Kendall, Stuart Devenie, Jed Brophy

When his domineering mother is bitten by a rat monkey, which turns her into a flesh eating zombie, a shy, put-upon young man does his best to keep her and her ever increasing number of victims sedated and under control, all of which makes his budding romance with a young Spanish woman rather difficult to maintain, in Peter Jackson’s blood-splattered and campily hilarious rom-zom-com. Iain.Stott

Elephant (2003)

Recommended
USA
Feature Film
Writer/Director: Gus Van Sant
Cinematographer: Harris Savides
Cast: Alex Frost, Eric Deulen, John Robinson, Elias McConnell, Jordan Taylor, Carrie Finklea, Nicole George, Brittany Mountain, Alicia Miles, Kristen Hicks, Bennie Dixon, Nathan Tyson

Van Sant’s mesmerising if slightly disappointing take on the Columbine shootings borrows much of its formal elements from the far superior Sátántangó (1994) and Elephant (1989); so it sinks or swims by its content, which unfortunately often feels clichéd, inaccurate, manipulative, or merely exploitative, but, that said, there are enough moments of truth and beauty to make it recommended viewing. Iain.Stott

25th Hour (2002)

Recommended
USA
Feature Film
Director: Spike Lee
Writers: David Benioff
Cinematographer: Rodrigo Prieto
Composer: Terence Blanchard
Cast: Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper, Rosario Dawson, Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Tony Siragusa, Levan Uchaneishvili, Isiah Whitlock Jr.

A convicted drug dealer, about to start a seven year sentence at a tough prison, spends his final 24 hours of freedom with family and friends, doing his best not to think about the likely ordeal to come, in Spike Lee’s gripping and very human film which, despite Blanchard’s occasionally intrusive score, works well as both personal drama and post 9/11 allegory. Iain.Stott

Notre Musique (2004)

Recommended
France/Switzerland
Feature Film
Original Title: Notre musique
Writer/Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Cinematographer: Julien Hirsch
Cast: Sarah Adler, Nade Dieu, Rony Kramer, Simon Eine, Jean-Christophe Bouvet, George Aguilar, Ferlyn Brass, Leticia Gutiérrez, Aline Schulmann, Jean-Luc Godard

Godard’s (thankfully) more sombre and reverent than usual film presents, in three parts, a provocative and surprisingly moving portrait of man’s inhumanity to man: Hell shows, in the form of archive clips, scenes of war and carnage; Purgatory follows several parties around a literary conference in Sarajevo, where people discuss war, occupation, martyrdom, and the like; and Heaven presents a vision of an afterlife guarded by US military forces. Iain.Stott

Summer (2008)

Highly Recommended
UK/Germany
Feature Film
Director: Kenneth Glenaan
Writer: Hugh Ellis
Cinematographer: Tony Slater-Ling
Composer: Stephen McKeon
Cast: Robert Carlyle, Steve Evets, Rachael Blake, Michael Socha, Sean Kelly, Joe Doherty, Joanna Tulej, Matthew Workman, Christopher Russell, Bethan Davies

A weather-beaten bloke in a small Derbyshire town, who acts as carer for his wheelchair bound friend who is dying of cirrhosis of the liver, experiences strong memories of his childhood and adolescence, remembering the good and the bad times and the girl that got away, in Glenaan’s overwhelmingly beautiful and achingly sad examination of friendship, educational failings, and alcoholism. Iain.Stott

Adam & Paul (2004)

Highly Recommended
Ireland
Feature Film
Director: Leonard Abrahamson
Writer: Mark O'Halloran
Cinematographer: James Mather
Composer: Hugh Drumm, Stephen Rennicks
Cast: Mark O'Halloran, Tom Murphy, Louise Lewis, Gary Egan, Deirdre Molloy, Mary Murray, Paul Roe, Anita Reeves

Two down-on-their-luck heroin addicts – homeless, friendless, drugless, and penniless – trawl the streets of Dublin, on the day of their friend’s funeral, in search of drugs, money, or something to steal in order to get a fix, but unfortunately fate appears to be against them, in Abrahamson’s blackly comic, pathos laden film, which often feels like – as much as anything else – a (grimly brilliant) homage to laurel & Hardy. Iain.Stott

Unrelated (2007)

Recommended
UK
Feature Film
Writer/Director: Joanna Hogg
Cinematographer: Oliver Curtis
Cast: Kathryn Worth, Tom Hiddleston, Mary Roscoe, David Rintoul, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Harry Kershaw, Michael Hadley, Emma Hiddleston

A middle-aged woman joins an old school friend and her large family on a boozy holiday to an idyllic Tuscany country retreat, but instead of spending time with her old friend and the rest of the adults, as would be expected, she gravitates more towards the very loud and energetic teenagers, causing confusion and creating rifts, in television director Joanna Hogg’s feature debut, a subtle, keenly observed examination of class, culture, and generational clashes, as well as a moving lamentation for lost youth and missed opportunities. Iain.Stott

The River (1997)

Recommended
Taiwan
Feature Film
Original Title: 河流
Director: Tsai Ming-liang
Writers: Tsai Ming-liang, Tsai Yi-chun, Yang Pi-ying
Cinematographer: Liao Pen-jung
Cast: Lee Kang-sheng, Miao Tien, Lu Hsiao-Ling, Ann Hui, Chen Shiang-chyi

An unhappy Taipei family strive to alleviate their problems; the father, who frequents gay bathhouses, struggles manfully to manage a gushing leak from his bedroom ceiling; the mother struggles to find an appropriate outlet for her sexual desires; and the son, who recently played the part of a floating corpse in a polluted river in an Ann Hui film, suffers with a debilitating neck problem, in Tsai’s enigmatic minimalist drama, which lacks the poignancy and humour of his best work. Iain.Stott

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008)

Recommended
USA
Feature Film
Director: Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg
Writers: Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg
Cinematographer: Daryn Okada
Composer: George S. Clinton
Cast: John Cho, Kal Penn, Danneel Harris, Rob Corddry, Paula Garcés, Eric Winter, Neil Patrick Harris

Two Asian American stoners get mistaken for terrorists and sent to Guantanamo Bay, when the smokeless bong that one of them is carrying on a flight to Amsterdam is mistaken for a bomb; fortuitously, they manage to escape and head for Texas in search of love and freedom, in Hurwitz and Schlossberg’s tasteless and silly but ridiculously funny and sadly perceptive satirical comedy, a sequel to Harold & Kumar Get the Munchies. Iain.Stott

Gerry (2002)

Highly Recommended
USA/Switzerland
Feature Film
Director: Gus Van Sant
Writers: Casey Affleck, Matt Damon, Gus Van Sant
Cinematographer: Harris Savides
Composer: Arvo Pärt
Cast: Casey Affleck, Matt Damon

Two young men named Gerry set out on a desert hike, but when they stray from the path they soon realise that they are lost; and without food or water they begin to search for a way out, in Van Sant’s gently droll and beautifully shot minimalist drama – an allegorical, existential masterwork, which owes a debt to Tarr, Tarkovsky, and Becket. Iain.Stott

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

Recommended
Spain/Mexico/USA
Feature Film
Original Title: El laberinto del fauno
Writer/Director: Guillermo del Toro
Cinematographer: Guillermo Navarro
Composer: Javier Navarrete
Cast: Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, Doug Jones, Ariadna Gil, Álex Angulo, Manolo Solo, César Vea, Roger Casamajor, Pablo Adán

During the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, as Franco’s soldiers roam the hills looking for any remaining pockets of resistance, Ofelia, a young girl whose father died during the war and whose mother remarried a fascist captain, disappears into a fantasy world of faun’s and fairies, where she is a long lost princess, in del Toro’s wonderfully imaginative, painfully violent, and surprisingly moving film. Iain.Stott

Ten (2002)

Iran/France
Feature Film
Original Title: 10
Writer/Director/Cinematographer: Abbas Kiarostami
Cast: Mania Akbari, Amin Maher, Kamran Adl, Roya Arabshahi, Amene Moradi, Mandana Sharbaf, Katayoun Taleizadeh

Kiarostami’s beautifully simple yet never simplistic film follows a wealthy, attractive, and amiable but put-upon Tehranian artist as she gives ten rides to family, friends, and strangers (including her bratty, misogynistic son and her decidedly fragile sister), each captured with a static dashboard mounted camera, gradually building-up a portrait that sheds light upon the plight of the modern, urban Iranian woman. Iain.Stott

Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

USA
Feature Film
Writer/Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Cinematographer: Robert Elswit
Composer: Jon Brion
Cast: Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Luis Guzmán, Karen Kilgariff, Mary Lynn Rajskub

Barry Egan – the only brother amongst eight siblings, who suffers from one or more anxiety disorders and runs a trading business of some sort – finds his life drastically altered, for better and worse, when he meets a sweet English girl, gets into trouble with a blackmailing phone-sex worker, and discovers a way to exploit an airmiles promotion, in Anderson’s hilarious, disquieting, and swooningly romantic film, a distinctively shot and scored one-of-a-kind masterpiece. Iain.Stott

The Guardian's Top 50 Television Dramas of All Time (2010)


  1. The Sopranos (1999-2007)
  2. Brideshead Revisited (1981)
  3. Our Friends in the North (1996)
  4. Mad Men (2007-)
  5. A Very Peculiar Practice (1986-1988)
  6. Talking Heads (1987)
  7. The Singing Detective (1986)
  8. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1989)
  9. State of Play (2003)
  10. Boys from the Blackstuff (1982)
  11. The West Wing (1999-2006)
  12. Twin Peaks (1990-1991)
  13. Queer as Folk (1999-2000)
  14. The Wire (2002-2008)
  15. Six Feet Under (2001-2005)
  16. How Do You Want Me? (1998-1999)
  17. Smiley's People (1982)
  18. House of Cards (1990)
  19. Prime Suspect (1991-2006)
  20. Bodies (2004-2006)
  21. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979)
  22. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
  23. Cracker (1993-1996)
  24. Pennies from Heaven (1978)
  25. Battlestar Galactica (2003-2009)
  26. Coronation Street (1960-)
  27. The Jewel in the Crown (1984)
  28. The Monocled Mutineer (1986)
  29. Clocking Off (2000-2003)
  30. Inspector Morse (1987-2000)
  31. This Life (1996-1997)
  32. Band of Brothers (2001)
  33. Hill Street Blues (1981-1987)
  34. The Prisoner (1967-1968)
  35. St Elsewhere (1982-1988)
  36. The L Word (2004-2009)
  37. The Shield (2002-2008)
  38. Brookside (1982-2003)
  39. 24 (2001-)
  40. The Twilight Zone (1959-1964)
  41. Pride and Prejudice (1995)
  42. Red Riding (2009)
  43. Oz (1997-2003)
  44. The Street (2006-2009)
  45. The X-Files (1993-2002)
  46. Bleak House (2005)
  47. The Sweeney (1975-1978)
  48. EastEnders (1983-)
  49. Shameless (2004-)
  50. Grange Hill (1978-2008)

Cahiers du Cinéma's Films of the Decade (2000s)


  1. Mulholland Dr. (2001)
  2. Elephant (2003)
  3. Tropical Malady (2004)
  4. The Host (2006)
  5. A History of Violence (2005)
  6. Couscous (2007)
  7. Tie Xi Qu: West of Tracks (2003)
  8. War of the Worlds (2005)
  9. The New World (2005)
  10. Ten (2002)

CFB's Greatest Movies by Country, Chapter 22: Brazil


  1. City of God (2002)
  2. Black God, White Devil (1964)
  3. Pixote (1981)
  4. Central Station (1998)
  5. Black Orpheus (1959)
  6. Barren Lives (1963)
  7. Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
  8. Behind the Sun (2001)
  9. Entranced Earth (1967)
  10. Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (1976)
  11. Antonio das Mortes (1969)
  12. Limite (1931)
  13. Bye Bye Brasil (1980)
  14. Elite Squad (2007)
  15. Madame Satã (2002)
  16. The Age of the Earth (1980)
  17. The Year My Parents Went on Holiday (2006)
  18. Assault on the Pay Train (1962)
  19. Foreign Land (1996)
  20. Carandiru (2003)

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)

Essential Viewing
France/Italy/Spain
Feature Film
Original Title: Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie
Director: Luis Buñuel
Writers: Luis Buñuel, Jean-Claude Carrière
Cinematographer: Edmond Richard
Cast: Fernando Rey, Paul Frankeur, Delphine Seyrig, Bulle Ogier, Stéphane Audran, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Julien Bertheau, Milena Vukotic

A group of wealthy friends attempt to enjoy a dinner party but are constantly interrupted, in Buñuel’s bitingly funny, enigmatically satirical, and delightfully cynical portrait of the idle rich, attackingly depicting corruption, prejudice, double standards, and illogical social conventions. Iain.Stott

The Man Who Can't Stop Hiccupping (2010)

Recommended
UK
Short Television Documentary
Director/Cinematographer: Luke Menges
Narrator: Amanda St John
Featuring: Christopher Sands

This brief but effective documentary follows Christopher Sands, a 25-year-old aspiring musician who has suffered from hiccups for nearly three years, as he attempts to find a cure or explanation for his debilitating condition, which makes it impossible for him to work and nigh impossible for him to eat, sleep, or socialise. Iain.Stott

Robinson in Space (1997)

Recommended
UK
Feature Documentary
Writer/Director/Cinematographer: Patrick Keiller
Narrator: Paul Scofield

Following on from the oft delightful London (1994), Keiller’s docu-essay again sees an unseen narrator and his companion, Robinson, setting out on a journey to paint a picture of the state of the nation, this time leaving behind the capital to explore the provinces, seeking out sights of historical interest whilst lamenting modern trends, and whilst it’s just as insightful and informative as its predecessor it is decidedly less witty. Iain.Stott

London (1994)

Recommended
UK
Feature Documentary
Writer/Director/Cinematographer: Patrick Keiller
Narrator: Paul Scofield

Our narrator, accompanied by his former lover, Robinson, take us on several journeys around London throughout 1992, imparting pithy observations and pessimistic insights about the state of the nation, observing John Major’s re-election, the IRA’s sustained bombing campaign, and numerous other rather depressing events, in Keiller’s delightfully irreverent but decidedly unnerving docu-essay. Iain.Stott

Love in the Afternoon (1972)

Highly Recommended
France
Feature Film
Original Title: L'amour l'après-midi
Writer/Director: Eric Rohmer
Cinematographer: Néstor Almendros
Composer: Arié Dzierlatka
Cast: Bernard Verley, Zouzou, Françoise Verley

When the sexy former girlfriend of an old pal re-enters his life after a gap of six years, a Parisian businessman, happily married with a young family and a comfortable bourgeois existence, finds himself reassessing his life and questioning his ingrained notion of sexual ethics, in Rohmer’s subtle, authentic, and thoroughly compelling film, the sixth and final instalment of his Moral Tales series. Iain.Stott

Rock & Chips (2010)

UK
Television Film
Director: Dewi Humphreys
Writer: John Sullivan
Cinematographer: John Sorapure
Cast: Nicholas Lyndhurst, Kellie Bright, Phil Daniels, Shaun Dingwall, James Buckley, Stephen Lloyd, Lewis Osborne, Ashley Gerlach, Lee Long, Jonathan Readwin, Paul Putner, Emma Cooke, Robert Daws, Roger Griffiths, Jodie Mooney, Katie Griffiths

Rock & Chips (2010)
John Sullivan’s gently humorous, surprisingly touching, and reassuringly familiar prequel to his long running sitcom Only Fools and Horses presents – with a wonderful performance from Bright and a gorgeous soundtrack – a bitter-sweet portrait of the Trotter clan in early ‘60s Peckham, concentrating on Joan Trotter’s illicit but beautiful and all too fleeting romance with Fredrick ‘Freddie the Frog’ Robdal.

Five Gold Rings (2010)
With his schooldays behind him, Del, imported American records and fake diamond rings in hand, sets out on a life of dodgy-dealing and bird-pulling, whilst his beloved mother, Joan, as put-upon as ever, struggles to resist the advances of a recently bailed Freddie the Frog, in this entertaining though less affecting second outing for Sullivan’s ‘60s-set Only Fools and Horses prequel. Iain.Stott

The Dublin Film Critics Circle's Top Ten Irish Films of the Decade (2009)


  1. Hunger (2008)
    Adam & Paul (2004)
  2. Garage (2007)
  3. Once (2006)
  4. Bloody Sunday (2002)
  5. Intermission (2003)
  6. In America (2002)
  7. How Harry Became a Tree (2001)
  8. Omagh (2004)
  9. Kisses (2008)
  10. Isolation (2005)

Garage (2007)

Highly Recommended
Ireland/UK
Feature Film
Director: Leonard Abrahamson
Writer: Mark O'Halloran
Cinematographer: Peter Robertson
Composer: Stephen Rennicks
Cast: Pat Shortt, Conor Ryan, Anne-Marie Duff, Tommy Fitzgerald, John Keogh, Andrew Bennett, Tom Hickey, Denis Conway, George Costigan

A sweet and agreeable if rather slow and terribly lonely middle-aged man, who has spent his entire life in the same small western Irish town, and most of it working at the same small, independent petrol station, forms an unlikely friendship with a confused 15-year-old boy, who has recently started working at the garage on weekends, in Abrahamson’s subtly written, expressively shot, and affectingly acted character study. Iain.Stott

Field (2001)

Recommended
UK
Short Film
Writer/Director: Duane Hopkins
Cinematographer: Lol Crawley
Cast: Kevin Firkins, Tim Dyer, James Peacey, Jim Gladwin, Paul Billing, The Staff and Pupils of Stour Valley Community School

Three boys – with a bottle of Coke, a bottle of booze, an aerosol, a lighter, and a BMX – spend a delinquential afternoon/evening in a farmer’s field, causing untold havoc, in Duane Hopkins’s enigmatic, understated, and poetically beautiful debut short. Iain.Stott

Love Me or Leave Me Alone (2003)

Recommended
UK
Short Film
Writer/Director: Duane Hopkins
Cinematographer: Lol Crawley
Cast: Jay Firkins, Zoe Rietti

In Duane Hopkins’s poetic, beautifully photographed, and enigmatically moving short film, a young teenage couple argue strongly; she walks off determinedly; he sits and sulks for a while before realising his mistake; he searches for her, finds her, and pesters her until she relents; they have sex; he says I love you; she replies, “I’ll see you at school on Monday” – and we are left wanting for more. Iain.Stott

Better Things (2008)

UK/Germany
Feature Film
Writer/Director: Duane Hopkins
Cinematographer: Lol Crawley
Composer: Dan Berridge
Cast: Liam McIlfatrick, Che Corr, Tara Ballard, Freddie Cunliffe, Rachel McIntyre, Patricia Loveland, Betty Bench, Frank Bench, Megan Palmer, Kurt Taylor, Mike Randle, Michael Socha, Katie Samuels, Kerry Rowe

Although some of the performances are a tad wooden, and the dialogue occasionally feels a little awkward, Duane Hopkins’s feature debut – following on from a pair of excellent shorts – is an often ethereally beautiful concoction (one sequence in particular, in which a grieving heroin addict fantasises about embracing his dead girlfriend whilst his drug of choice makes its way through his veins, is amongst the most achingly beautiful sequences I’ve ever seen), but at other times, this portrait of disaffected, lovelorn, drug-addled youth is merely wrist-slittingly depressing. Iain.Stott

The Merchant of Four Seasons (1971)

Highly Recommended
West Germany
Feature Film
Original Title: Händler der vier Jahreszeiten
Writer/Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Cinematographer: Dietrich Lohmann
Cast: Hans Hirschmüller, Irm Hermann, Hanna Schygulla, Andrea Schober, Gusti Kreissl, Klaus Löwitsch, Karl Scheydt, Ingrid Caven

A violent, hard-drinking Munich man returns from serving in the French Foreign Legion and, after an unhappy spell in the police force, becomes a street vendor, selling fruit to bored hausfraus; he marries, has a child, suffers a heart attack, gives up drinking, and slowly loses the will to live, in Fassbinder’s powerful, bleak, and thoroughly compelling melodrama, which paints a damning and decidedly unpleasant portrait of early ‘70s bourgeois life. Iain.Stott

In the Loop (2009)

Recommended
UK/Cayman Islands
Feature Film
Director: Armando Iannucci
Writers: Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche, Ian Martin
Cinematographer: Jamie Cairney
Composer: Adem Ilhan
Cast: Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Gina McKee, James Gandolfini, Chris Addison, Anna Chlumsky, Enzo Cilenti, Paul Higgins, Mimi Kennedy, Steve Coogan

Armando Iannucci’s trouser-soilingly funny and worryingly credible feeling spin off from his BBC sitcom, The Thick of It, presents the political machinations of a bunch of British and American politicians, spin-doctors, and aids in the build up to a morally dubious middle-eastern conflict, a war that painfully and hilariously mirrors the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Iain.Stott

Nil by Mouth (1997)

UK/France
Feature Film
Writer/Director: Gary Oldman
Cinematographer: Ron Fortunato
Composer: Eric Clapton
Cast: Ray Winstone, Kathy Burke, Charlie Creed-Miles, Laila Morse, Edna Doré, Chrissie Cotterill, Jon Morrison, Jamie Foreman, Steve Sweeney

Ray Winstone is extraordinary as a bullying yet charismatic small time criminal, who spends much of his time drinking heavily and taking out his frustrations on his long-suffering wife’s face, in Gary Oldman’s painfully visceral, emotionally devastating, and absolutely convincing portrait of booze soaked, blood stained lives. Iain.Stott

Hana-Bi (1997)

Essential Viewing
Japan
Feature Film
Original Title: はなび
Writer/Director: Kitano Takeshi
Cinematographer: Yamamoto Hideo
Composer: Hisaishi Jō
Cast: Beat Takeshi, Kishimoto Kayoko, Osugi Ren, Terajima Susumu, Watanabe Tetsu, Hakuryu

A laconic former police detective, whose wife is slowly dying of cancer in a hospice, and who is seriously indebted to a Yakuza boss, resorts to drastic measures in order to solve his problems; whilst a friend and former colleague of his, who has become wheelchair bound after being struck by a hitman’s bullet, approaches his problems in a decidedly different manner, in Kitano’s painfully violent, poetically beautiful, and terribly moving film. Iain.Stott

Starship Troopers (1997)

Recommended
USA
Feature Film
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Writers: Ed Neumeier, Robert A. Heinlein
Cinematographer: Jost Vacano
Composer: Basil Poledouris
Cast: Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Clancy Brown, Seth Gilliam, Patrick Muldoon, Michael Ironside

Verhoeven’s viscerally compelling, blackly comic, and cynically perceptive sci-fi film presents a satirical portrait of a group of Buenos Airean high school graduates, who sign up for the armed forces, in a culturally homogenised, Americanised military dictatorship, following them as they become involved in their War on Bugs (which proves to be eerily foreboding of the American lead War on Terror). Iain.Stott

Xiao Wu (1997)

Highly Recommended
China/Hong Kong
Feature Film
Original Title: 小武
Writer/Director: Jia Zhangke
Cinematographer: Nelson Yu Lik-wai
Cast: Wang Hongwei, Hao Hongjian, Zuo Baitao Ma Jinrei, Liu Junying, Liang, Yonghao, An Qunyan, Jiang Dongdong

Xiao Wu, a twenty-something pickpocket who has yet to graduate to the more socially acceptable forms of pilfering proffered by rampant capitalism that his former friends have, begins to question his lot in life when his best friend fails to invite him to his forthcoming wedding, leaving him to seek comfort in the arms of a bar girl, in Jia’s witty, touching, and thoroughly compelling portrait of provincial (low)life. Iain.Stott

Lost Highway (1997)

Recommended
USA/France
Feature Film
Director: David Lynch
Writers: Barry Gifford, David Lynch
Cinematographer: Peter Deming
Composer: Angelo Badalamenti
Cast: Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, Balthazar Getty, Robert Loggia, Robert Blake, Gary Busey, Lucy Butler, Natasha Gregson Wagner

Lynch’s enigmatic, disquieting, and thoroughly bonkers thriller presents a pair of intertwining lives brought nightmarishly together with dream logic, combining tales of gangsters, jazz musicians, mechanics, and porn stars in a sexy, blood-stained Los Angeles. Iain.Stott

100 Most Acclaimed Films of the Decade: 1920s (and earlier)


  1. Sunrise (1927)
  2. Battleship Potemkin (1925)
  3. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
  4. The General (1927)
  5. The Gold Rush (1925)
  6. Intolerance (1916)
  7. Metropolis (1927)
  8. Greed (1924)
  9. Nosferatu (1922)
  10. Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
  11. Sherlock Jr. (1924)
  12. Napoléon (1927)
  13. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
  14. The Last Laugh (1924)
  15. Un Chien Andalou (1929)
  16. Broken Blossoms (1919)
  17. Pandora's Box (1929)
  18. The Crowd (1928)
  19. The Birth of a Nation (1915)
  20. Faust (1926)
  21. The Cameraman (1928)
  22. The Wind (1928)
  23. Nanook of the North (1922)
  24. Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)
  25. Strike (1925)
  26. October (1928)
  27. Seven Chances (1925)
  28. A Trip to the Moon (1902)
  29. Our Hospitality (1923)
  30. The Navigator (1924)
  31. Les Vampires (1915)
  32. The Wedding March (1928)
  33. The Circus (1928)
  34. The Kid (1921)
  35. Die Nibelungen (1924)
  36. The Big Parade (1925)
  37. The Unknown (1927)
  38. Safety Last! (1923)
  39. The Phantom Carriage (1921)
  40. Foolish Wives (1922)
  41. Destiny (1921)
  42. Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)
  43. The Docks of New York (1928)
  44. 7th Heaven (1927)
  45. Mother (1926)
  46. The Pilgrim (1923)
  47. Berlin, Symphony of a City (1927)
  48. Häxan (1922)
  49. Storm Over Asia (1928)
  50. Fantômas (1913/14)
  51. Ménilmontant (1926)
  52. The Kid Brother (1927)
  53. The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
  54. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
  55. Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922)
  56. Girl Shy (1924)
  57. Hallelujah! (1929)
  58. One Week (1920)
  59. A Woman of Paris (1923)
  60. Big Business (1929)
  61. Cops (1922)
  62. The Skeleton Dance (1929)
  63. The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)
  64. The Freshman (1925)
  65. The Man Who Laughs (1928)
  66. The Play House (1921)
  67. The Scarecrow (1920)
  68. Wings (1927)
  69. A Dog's Life (1918)
  70. He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
  71. Shoulder Arms (1918)
  72. The Immigrant (1917)
  73. The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
  74. Easy Street (1917)
  75. Go West (1925)
  76. Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life (1925)
  77. Neighbors (1920)
  78. Queen Kelly (1929)
  79. Speedy (1928)
  80. The Cameraman's Revenge (1912)
  81. An Italian Straw Hat (1928)
  82. Moana (1926)
  83. The End of St. Petersburg (1927)
  84. The Last Command (1928)
  85. True Heart Susie (1919)
  86. L'Argent (1928)
  87. The Frogs Who Wanted a King (1923)
  88. Spione (1928)
  89. The Fall of the House of Usher (1928, Epstein)
  90. The Saga of Gosta Berling (1924)
  91. Varieté (1925)
  92. Way Down East (1920)
  93. Applause (1929)
  94. Arsenal (1928)
  95. Entr'acte (1924)
  96. Le Locataire Diabolique (1909)
  97. Lonesome (1928)
  98. Never Weaken (1921)
  99. The Insects' Christmas (1913)
  100. Two Tars (1928)

100 Most Acclaimed Films of the Decade: 1930s


  1. La Règle du Jeu (1939)
  2. L'Atalante (1934)
  3. City Lights (1931)
  4. La Grande Illusion (1937)
  5. M (1931)
  6. Modern Times (1936)
  7. Gone with the Wind (1939)
  8. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
  9. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
  10. Duck Soup (1933)
  11. Stagecoach (1939)
  12. King Kong (1933)
  13. L'Âge d'Or (1930)
  14. Earth (1930)
  15. Trouble in Paradise (1932)
  16. Partie de Campagne (1936)
  17. Freaks (1932)
  18. Vampyr (1932)
  19. Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
  20. It Happened One Night (1934)
  21. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
  22. Tabu (1931)
  23. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
  24. Alexander Nevsky (1938)
  25. Ninotchka (1939)
  26. Zéro de Conduite (1933)
  27. A Night at the Opera (1935)
  28. Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
  29. The 39 Steps (1935)
  30. Top Hat (1935)
  31. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (1939)
  32. The Blue Angel (1930)
  33. The Crime of Monsieur Lange (1936)
  34. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
  35. The Scarlet Empress (1934)
  36. The Awful Truth (1937)
  37. Le Million (1931)
  38. Frankenstein (1931)
  39. Man of Aran (1934)
  40. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
  41. The Lady Vanishes (1938)
  42. Triumph of the Will (1935)
  43. It's a Gift (1934)
  44. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
  45. Love Me Tonight (1932)
  46. Holiday (1938)
  47. I Was Born, But... (1932)
  48. Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932)
  49. The Cheat (1936)
  50. The Blood of a Poet (1930)
  51. 42nd Street (1933)
  52. Liebelei (1933)
  53. Scarface (1932)
  54. Angel (1937)
  55. À Nous la Liberté (1931)
  56. Morocco (1930)
  57. Olympia (1938)
  58. The Devil Is a Woman (1935)
  59. Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
  60. Le Jour se Lève (1939)
  61. Outskirts (1933)
  62. Pépé le Moko (1937)
  63. Que Viva Mexico! (1932)
  64. Land Without Bread (1933)
  65. La Chienne (1931)
  66. La Kermesse Héroïque (1935)
  67. Design for Living (1933)
  68. Midnight (1939)
  69. The Threepenny Opera (1931)
  70. Fury (1936)
  71. Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
  72. Under the Roofs of Paris (1930)
  73. Limite (1931)
  74. City Girl (1930)
  75. La Femme du Boulanger (1938)
  76. Peter Ibbetson (1935)
  77. The Informer (1935)
  78. You Only Live Once (1937)
  79. Kameradschaft (1931)
  80. La Bête Humaine (1938)
  81. Le Quai des Brumes (1938)
  82. Shanghai Express (1932)
  83. The Black Cat (1934)
  84. Dracula (1931)
  85. Happiness (1934)
  86. Mädchen in Uniform (1931)
  87. Our Daily Bread (1934)
  88. The Childhood of Maxim Gorky (1938)
  89. Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937)
  90. By the Bluest of Seas (1936)
  91. My Man Godfrey (1936)
  92. Rose Hobart (1936)
  93. Baby Face (1933)
  94. Footlight Parade (1933)
  95. My Apprenticeship (1939)
  96. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)
  97. Stage Door (1937)
  98. The Old Dark House (1932)
  99. The Roaring Twenties (1939)
  100. Toni (1935)
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