100 Great Small Movies Take 3
by clevecheng | created - 18 Jul 2013 | updated - 26 Dec 2020 | PublicAn update to my 100 Great Small Movies list (composed of the best movies I've seen with a small scope and a budget of less than 10 million 2011 US dollars).
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. People on Sunday (1930)
Not Rated | 73 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Two men and two women enjoy a pleasant Sunday at the beach amid the unending toil of the working week.
Directors: Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, Rochus Gliese, Curt Siodmak, Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Erwin Splettstößer, Brigitte Borchert, Wolfgang von Waltershausen, Christl Ehlers
Votes: 3,547
A fascinating collaboration of some of the Weimar Republic's (and later Hollywood's) greatest filmmakers, its value lies in both its uniqueness within the pantheon of German film and in its time capsule of a bucolic Berlin before the storm clouds gathered.
2. Trouble in Paradise (1932)
Passed | 83 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance
A gentleman thief and a lady pickpocket join forces to con a beautiful perfume company owner. Romantic entanglements and jealousies confuse the scheme.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis, Herbert Marshall, Charles Ruggles
Votes: 16,154 | Gross: $1.04M
The greatest musical without music.
3. It Happened One Night (1934)
Passed | 105 min | Comedy, Romance
A rogue reporter trailing a runaway heiress for a big story joins her on a bus heading from Florida to New York and they end up stuck with each other when the bus leaves them behind at one of the stops along the way.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns
Votes: 112,240 | Gross: $4.36M
It just occurred to me that Roman Holiday owes a great deal to this film.
4. César (1936)
Not Rated | 168 min | Drama
Honoré Panisse is dying, cheerfully, with friends, wife, and son at his side. He confesses to the priest in front of his friends; he insists that the doctor be truthful. But, he cannot ... See full summary »
Director: Marcel Pagnol | Stars: Raimu, Pierre Fresnay, Orane Demazis, Fernand Charpin
Votes: 1,649
I like all three movies in the series for different reasons, but Cesar is the easiest to watch, if only because of the maturation of French moviemaking in the meantime - Cesar opens up the world a bit and does not have the early sound technical annoyances of the first two.
5. Dodsworth (1936)
Passed | 101 min | Drama, Romance
A retired auto manufacturer and his wife take a long-planned European vacation only to find that they want very different things from life.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas, Mary Astor
Votes: 10,197
An "A" picture from the independent who started it all, Samuel Goldwyn, Dodsworth feels less dated (more realistic) than its contemporaries.
6. The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Not Rated | 99 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand each other, without realizing that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan, Joseph Schildkraut
Votes: 38,451 | Gross: $0.20M
It has the usual Lubitschian touches found in films like To Be Or Not To Be, but what makes this the greatest Rom Com of all time - besides the greatest Rom Com script of all time - is Margaret Sullavan's face peering through an empty post office box 237.
7. Cat People (1942)
Not Rated | 73 min | Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
An American man marries a Serbian immigrant who fears that she will turn into the cat person of her homeland's fables if they are intimate together.
Director: Jacques Tourneur | Stars: Simone Simon, Tom Conway, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph
Votes: 25,988 | Gross: $4.00M
Made for a fraction of the budget of an 'A' movie, with an odd story yet also the glamour of Golden-Age Hollywood, Cat People is not merely an early example of the psychological horror flick and possibly the greatest 'B' film ever made, it's entertaining on its own merits.
8. The More the Merrier (1943)
Passed | 104 min | Comedy
During the World War II housing shortage in Washington, two men and a woman share a single apartment and the older man plays Cupid to the other two.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, Charles Coburn, Richard Gaines
Votes: 7,471
A well-made Rom Com, it wasn't designed to win awards or make history, but simply entertain a country gearing up for Total War. And, with the help of a career-topping performance by Charles Coburn, it does entertain to a degree few other films can match.
9. I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
Not Rated | 92 min | Drama, Romance
A young Englishwoman goes to the Hebrides to marry her older, wealthier fiancé. When the weather keeps them separated on different islands, she begins to have second thoughts.
Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger | Stars: Wendy Hiller, Roger Livesey, Pamela Brown, Finlay Currie
Votes: 9,779
The To Catch a Thief of Powell-Pressburger films, with romance and class front and center, while theatricality and plot take a back seat. If Dame Wendy had answered the call to Hollywood more often, I bet she would've given Katharine Hepburn a run for her money.
10. Late Spring (1949)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama
Several people try to talk 27-year-old Noriko into marrying, but all she wants is to keep on caring for her widowed father.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Chishû Ryû, Setsuko Hara, Yumeji Tsukioka, Haruko Sugimura
Votes: 19,321
The Noriko Trilogy is a set of three unrelated movies - unrelated except for: 1) the main character, played by Setsuko Hara, is named Noriko; 2) they were all made by Yasujiro Ozu within a short span of time in which his highly idiosyncratic style congealed; 3) they deal with similar themes, in similar settings, with similar treatments.
11. Early Summer (1951)
Not Rated | 125 min | Drama, Romance
A family chooses a match for their daughter Noriko, but she, surprisingly, has her own plans.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Setsuko Hara, Chishû Ryû, Chikage Awashima, Kuniko Miyake
Votes: 9,669
Each, however, is a complete story and meditation unto itself, and all are among the best films ever committed to celluloid, helped in no small part by the actress who towers above every other Japanese actor (almost literally in some scenes), Setsuko Hara.
12. Tokyo Story (1953)
Not Rated | 136 min | Drama
An old couple visit their children and grandchildren in the city, but receive little attention.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Chishû Ryû, Chieko Higashiyama, Sô Yamamura, Setsuko Hara
Votes: 68,562
But the (debatable) masterpiece among this trilogy of masterpieces is Tokyo Story. In many ways it is a maturation and synthesis of the themes and story of Late Spring and Early Summer. I find it instructive to compare it to the Leo McCarey 1937 film Make Way For Tomorrow on which it seems to be largely based. Only sixteen years separated these two films, yet they could hardly be more different.
13. The Road (1954)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama
A care-free girl is sold to a traveling entertainer, consequently enduring physical and emotional pain along the way.
Director: Federico Fellini | Stars: Anthony Quinn, Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart, Aldo Silvani
Votes: 66,571
I don't get Fellini. For me, he's in a category with David Lynch and Luis Buñuel of people I think I might get if I tried hard enough, but who haven't given me sufficient reason to want to try hard. The only exception in Fellini's case is La Strada, a tale so simple it feels like a silent film.
On the other hand, I don't get why it's fashionable to make fun of mimes. Mimes are great.
14. Pather Panchali (1955)
Not Rated | 125 min | Drama
Impoverished priest Harihar Ray, dreaming of a better life for himself and his family, leaves his rural Bengal village in search of work.
Director: Satyajit Ray | Stars: Kanu Bannerjee, Karuna Bannerjee, Subir Banerjee, Chunibala Devi
Votes: 38,526 | Gross: $0.54M
About as close to poetry as cinema gets. Unless you include actual poetry, as Duras did in Hiroshima Mon Amour.
15. Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
Not Rated | 109 min | Comedy, Romance
In Sweden at the turn of the century, members of the upper class and their servants find themselves in a romantic tangle that they try to work out amidst jealousy and heartbreak.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Ulla Jacobsson, Eva Dahlbeck, Harriet Andersson, Margit Carlqvist
Votes: 14,673
His first international hit and still one of the most accessible of his films, it is nevertheless unmistakably Bergman - the naughty stepsister of The Seventh Seal.
16. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A self-proclaimed preacher marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real dad hid the $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.
Director: Charles Laughton | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish, James Gleason
Votes: 97,329 | Gross: $0.65M
More beautiful than many a lavish studio production, yet stranger than Fellini and more mythical than Bergman, The Night of the Hunter belongs in a category of its own. Quite possibly the most brilliant American film of the 50s.
17. Aparajito (1956)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama
Following his father's death, a boy leaves home to study in Calcutta, while his mother must face a life alone.
Director: Satyajit Ray | Stars: Pinaki Sengupta, Smaran Ghosal, Kamala Adhikari, Rani Bala
Votes: 15,984 | Gross: $0.17M
18. Tokyo Twilight (1957)
Not Rated | 140 min | Drama
Two sisters find out the existence of their long-lost mother, but the younger cannot take the truth of being abandoned as a child.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Setsuko Hara, Ineko Arima, Chishû Ryû, Isuzu Yamada
Votes: 4,934
Even for an Ozu film this one takes a long time to get up a head of steam, but it builds relentlessly to a powerful finish. Rarely listed among the top Ozu films, this is one of my three favorite of one of my three favorite directors.
19. The World of Apu (1959)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama
This final installment in Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogy follows Apu's life as an orphaned adult aspiring to be a writer.
Director: Satyajit Ray | Stars: Soumitra Chatterjee, Sharmila Tagore, Alok Chakravarty, Swapan Mukherjee
Votes: 16,747 | Gross: $0.02M
20. Room at the Top (1958)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama, Romance
An ambitious young accountant plots to wed a wealthy factory owner's daughter despite falling in love with a married older woman.
Director: Jack Clayton | Stars: Laurence Harvey, Simone Signoret, Heather Sears, Donald Wolfit
Votes: 7,316
Not many actors can maintain their highest level of performance in a foreign language, but Simone Signoret does some of her best work here.
21. Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Romance
A French actress filming an anti-war film in Hiroshima has an affair with a married Japanese architect as they share their differing perspectives on war.
Director: Alain Resnais | Stars: Emmanuelle Riva, Eiji Okada, Stella Dassas, Pierre Barbaud
Votes: 35,878 | Gross: $0.09M
The all-around greatest Fine Art film ever made. Penned by a not-yet-world-famous Marguerite Duras, its poetry is what distinguishes it from all other Art Films. Topical yet resonant, formal yet authentic, a movie that makes you both think and feel - and both organically. It's also one of the most beautiful films of all time, in both its cinematography and narrative.
22. Good Morning (1959)
Not Rated | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Two boys begin a silence strike to press their parents into buying them a television set.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Keiji Sada, Yoshiko Kuga, Chishû Ryû, Kuniko Miyake
Votes: 11,035
Ah, the simple, universal joys of life - like television.
23. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)
Not Rated | 111 min | Drama
A middle-aged bar hostess, constantly in debt, is faced with numerous social constraints and challenges posed to her by her family, customers and friends.
Director: Mikio Naruse | Stars: Hideko Takamine, Tatsuya Nakadai, Masayuki Mori, Reiko Dan
Votes: 4,827
It reminds me of The Sweet Smell of Success, despite having very little to do with it on the surface.
24. Psycho (1960)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin
Votes: 718,117 | Gross: $32.00M
Most of this film is typical Hitchcock hokum. What stands out is Anthony Perkins' mesmerizing performance.
25. Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
In a strange and isolated chateau, a man becomes acquainted with a woman and insists that they have met before.
Director: Alain Resnais | Stars: Delphine Seyrig, Giorgio Albertazzi, Sacha Pitoëff, Françoise Bertin
Votes: 24,882 | Gross: $0.06M
It may look like a million dollars, but it only cost half that much to make.
26. Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama
Recently released from a mental hospital, Karin rejoins her emotionally disconnected family in their island home, only to slip from reality as she begins to believe she is being visited by God.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Harriet Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Max von Sydow, Lars Passgård
Votes: 27,377
Harriet Andersson is currently my favorite of Bergman's actress-lovers, due to her raw sensuality that adds a spark of life to the desolation of so many of that director's movies.
27. Jules and Jim (1962)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama, Romance
Decades of a love triangle concerning two friends and an impulsive woman.
Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Jeanne Moreau, Oskar Werner, Henri Serre, Vanna Urbino
Votes: 44,401
The central French New Wave film. Gentle yet bold, touching yet strange, sentimental yet unvarnished. Truffaut was to the French New Wave what Von Trier was to Dogme - the one who most understood how to subordinate avant-garde attitudes and techniques to the telling of a story.
28. L'Eclisse (1962)
Not Rated | 126 min | Drama, Romance
A young woman meets a vital young man, but their love affair is doomed because of the man's materialistic nature.
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni | Stars: Monica Vitti, Alain Delon, Francisco Rabal, Lilla Brignone
Votes: 22,064
I can't find the production budget for this film, but, unlike L'Eclisse, Blow-Up had MGM backing and that cost approximately an inflation-adjusted $10 million, so I figure L'Eclisse was made for way less than that. After all, there's nothing apparently expensive on screen.
29. Charulata (1964)
Not Rated | 117 min | Drama, Romance
The lonely wife of a newspaper editor falls in love with her visiting cousin-in-law, who shares her love for literature.
Director: Satyajit Ray | Stars: Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhavi Mukherjee, Shailen Mukherjee, Shyamal Ghoshal
Votes: 7,199 | Gross: $0.08M
30. A Patch of Blue (1965)
Unrated | 105 min | Drama, Romance
A blind, uneducated white girl is befriended by a black man who becomes determined to help her escape her impoverished and abusive home life by introducing her to the outside world.
Director: Guy Green | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Shelley Winters, Elizabeth Hartman, Wallace Ford
Votes: 9,534
What could easily have been melodramatic or preachy manages to stay just realistic enough to let the powerful story and performances shine through.
31. Repulsion (1965)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A sex-repulsed woman who disapproves of her sister's boyfriend sinks into depression and has horrific visions of rape and violence.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Ian Hendry, John Fraser, Yvonne Furneaux
Votes: 57,268
Neither Polanski nor Deneuve had ever done anything for me before watching this movie, but this one was arresting.
32. Georgy Girl (1966)
Approved | 99 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A traditional girl (Lynn Redgrave) resists the advances of a swinger (James Mason) who wants her as his mistress in 1960s London.
Director: Silvio Narizzano | Stars: James Mason, Alan Bates, Lynn Redgrave, Charlotte Rampling
Votes: 4,244 | Gross: $16.87M
A masterful performance by Redgrave.
33. Alfie (1966)
Unrated | 114 min | Comedy, Drama
An unrepentant ladies' man gradually begins to understand the consequences of his lifestyle.
Director: Lewis Gilbert | Stars: Michael Caine, Shelley Winters, Millicent Martin, Julia Foster
Votes: 15,826 | Gross: $18.87M
The flip side of Georgy Girl, and no less resonant with melancholy.
34. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
M | 129 min | Drama
The lives of a disparate group of contestants intertwine in an inhumanely grueling dance marathon.
Director: Sydney Pollack | Stars: Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Susannah York, Gig Young
Votes: 20,845 | Gross: $12.60M
Never has Jane Fonda been so perfectly cast.
35. American Graffiti (1973)
PG | 110 min | Comedy, Drama
A group of teenagers in California's central valley spend one final night after their 1962 high school graduation cruising the strip with their buddies before they pursue their varying goals.
Director: George Lucas | Stars: Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith
Votes: 98,129 | Gross: $115.00M
Mackenzie Phillips makes this movie for me.
36. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
PG | 112 min | Drama, Romance
A recently widowed woman is on the road with her precocious young son, determined to make a new life for herself as a singer.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Kris Kristofferson, Mia Bendixsen, Alfred Lutter III
Votes: 27,468 | Gross: $18.60M
Martin Doesn't Make Movies Like This Anymore. In the early years there were two Scorseses: Alice Scorsese and Mean Streetsese. I think we all know which path he took, and, judging from Hugo, it was the right path. Nevertheless, in the beginning there was the promise of something fresh - of a new synthesis. Turned out it was only an homage.
37. A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
R | 155 min | Drama, Romance
Although wife and mother Mabel is loved by her husband Nick, her mental illness places a strain on the marriage.
Director: John Cassavetes | Stars: Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, Fred Draper, Lady Rowlands
Votes: 28,699 | Gross: $13.34M
I don't like Cassavetes movies; not even ones he just acted in, like Rosemary's Baby. But I can't stop thinking about them; they linger. And it's not just the ones with Gena Rowlands either - although what an intriguing actor. Is it because his movies are closer than any others to pure experience - and therefore pure cinema?
38. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
PG | 91 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table embark on a surreal, low-budget search for the Holy Grail, encountering many, very silly obstacles.
Directors: Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones | Stars: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam
Votes: 570,148 | Gross: $1.23M
I hesitate to even call this a movie, its narrative structure is so... absent - not much more than a collection of skits riffing on the same theme. The humor is so brilliantly fresh, though, it's quotable from start to finish.
39. Paris, Texas (1984)
R | 145 min | Drama
Travis Henderson, an aimless drifter who has been missing for four years, wanders out of the desert and must reconnect with society, himself, his life, and his family.
Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, Dean Stockwell, Sam Berry
Votes: 118,859 | Gross: $2.18M
I'm not the first to say it, but America is so much more fascinating seen through the rose-colored glasses of a foreigner.
40. My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
G | 86 min | Animation, Comedy, Family
When two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wondrous forest spirits who live nearby.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Hitoshi Takagi, Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, Shigesato Itoi
Votes: 380,100 | Gross: $1.11M
The movie that transformed Studio Ghibli from a struggling animation house to a Disney-mold merchandising juggernaut.
41. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Not Rated | 89 min | Animation, Drama, War
A young boy and his little sister struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.
Director: Isao Takahata | Stars: Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Akemi Yamaguchi, Yoshiko Shinohara
Votes: 310,293
The reigning champion of tearjerkers. Because it was released at the same time as Totoro, some theaters played them as a double bill - which sounds cruel/sloppy at first glance, but begins to make sense the more I think about them.
42. The Match Factory Girl (1990)
Not Rated | 69 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A woman's terribly dull life is upended by a one-night stand pregnancy, causing her to seek retribution.
Director: Aki Kaurismäki | Stars: Kati Outinen, Elina Salo, Esko Nikkari, Vesa Vierikko
Votes: 11,644
The epitome of Schadenfreude, a thoroughly depressing film I laughed all the way through.
43. Boyz n the Hood (1991)
R | 112 min | Crime, Drama
Follows the lives of three young males living in the Crenshaw ghetto of Los Angeles, dissecting questions of race, relationships, violence, and future prospects.
Director: John Singleton | Stars: Cuba Gooding Jr., Laurence Fishburne, Hudhail Al-Amir, Lloyd Avery II
Votes: 154,579 | Gross: $57.50M
Probably the most timely film I've ever watched, sandwiched between the Rodney King arrest and the riots it eventually triggered, this movie came out while I was an intern at the L.A. Times and looking forward to my senior year in a Los Angeles public high school. It captured something real that none of John Singleton's subsequent efforts have - clearly one of those debut works of the heart that left him without anything else interesting to say.
44. Delicatessen (1991)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Crime
Post-apocalyptic surrealist black comedy about the landlord of an apartment building who occasionally prepares a delicacy for his odd tenants.
Directors: Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Stars: Marie-Laure Dougnac, Dominique Pinon, Pascal Benezech, Jean-Claude Dreyfus
Votes: 90,030 | Gross: $1.79M
Have you always wondered what it would look like if Terry Gilliam and Peter Greenaway had a baby?
Three scenes that instantly entered the Mime Hall of Fame:
1) Bed Scene #1: a whole building in harmony
2) Bed Scene #2: finding the squeak (note the Amelie reference)
3) Blind Tea: I can watch this looping for hours.
45. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
R | 99 min | Crime, Thriller
When a simple jewelry heist goes horribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant.
Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn
Votes: 1,087,936 | Gross: $2.83M
Often imitated... actually, often bettered. But there's still a freshness to it all that is engaging.
46. Strictly Ballroom (1992)
PG | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A maverick dancer risks his career by performing an unusual routine and sets out to succeed with a new partner.
Director: Baz Luhrmann | Stars: Paul Mercurio, Tara Morice, Bill Hunter, Pat Thomson
Votes: 29,400 | Gross: $11.74M
All heart and flair - and yet one of the most assured of feature film debuts.
47. Chungking Express (1994)
PG-13 | 102 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Two melancholic Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious female underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal waitress at a late-night restaurant he frequents.
Director: Kar-Wai Wong | Stars: Brigitte Lin, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Faye Wong
Votes: 95,717 | Gross: $0.60M
Given their tonal language, it's appropriate that two of the greatest cinematic tone poems (this and Good Bye, Dragon Inn) come from Chinese directors.
48. Clerks (1994)
R | 92 min | Comedy
A day in the lives of two convenience clerks named Dante and Randal as they annoy customers, discuss movies, and play hockey on the store roof.
Director: Kevin Smith | Stars: Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn Ghigliotti, Lisa Spoonauer
Votes: 232,317 | Gross: $3.15M
Okay, you had to be there. By "there" I mean part of the regular Hollywood-movie-going audience in the early 90s. There had always been shoestring-budget filmmakers in America, but their efforts were usually decidedly non-mainstream, amateurish, or just like Hollywood movies. Clerks was amateurish in feel, but not in quality. Both funny and real, it gave "low-budget" a cachet it had never before had.
49. Muriel's Wedding (1994)
R | 106 min | Comedy, Drama
A young social outcast in Australia steals money from her parents to finance a vacation where she hopes to find happiness, and perhaps love.
Director: P.J. Hogan | Stars: Toni Collette, Rachel Griffiths, Bill Hunter, Sophie Lee
Votes: 41,722 | Gross: $15.19M
The most mesmerizing, versatile, Australian actor who has never played an Elf Queen.
50. Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)
R | 88 min | Comedy, Drama
An awkward seventh-grader struggles to cope with inattentive parents, snobbish class-mates, a smart older brother, an attractive younger sister and her own insecurities in suburban New Jersey.
Director: Todd Solondz | Stars: Heather Matarazzo, Christina Brucato, Victoria Davis, Christina Vidal
Votes: 37,164 | Gross: $4.77M
Try as I might, I could not turn away.
51. La haine (1995)
Not Rated | 98 min | Crime, Drama
24 hours in the lives of three young men in the French suburbs the day after a violent riot.
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz | Stars: Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé, Saïd Taghmaoui, Abdel Ahmed Ghili
Votes: 196,361 | Gross: $0.31M
I admit I only watched this because "that guy from Amélie" directed it. Turns out it's a beautiful movie - as powerful as Boyz n the Hood, but less white-washed and strident.
52. Emma (1996)
PG | 120 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
While matchmaking for friends and neighbours, a young 19th Century Englishwoman nearly misses her own chance at love.
Director: Douglas McGrath | Stars: Gwyneth Paltrow, James Cosmo, Greta Scacchi, Alan Cumming
Votes: 41,609 | Gross: $22.20M
Of the four adaptations I've seen, this is the only one that captures the balance of playfulness and insight that distinguishes Emma as the most assured of Austen's novels. Paltrow's casting is inspired - a closer fit to the character's blend of statuesque beauty, magnetism, youth, and vulnerability has yet to be found.
53. Secrets & Lies (1996)
R | 136 min | Comedy, Drama
Following the death of her adoptive parents, a successful young black optometrist establishes contact with her biological mother -- a lonely white factory worker living in poverty in East London.
Director: Mike Leigh | Stars: Timothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn, Phyllis Logan, Claire Rushbrook
Votes: 47,175 | Gross: $13.42M
The plot is the stuff of soap opera, but the way it's handled is just, so... is it possible to compare to Austen a director as politically opposite as Mike Leigh?
54. Breaking the Waves (1996)
R | 159 min | Drama
Oilman Jan is paralyzed in an accident. His wife, who prayed for his return, feels guilty; even more, when Jan urges her to have sex with another.
Director: Lars von Trier | Stars: Emily Watson, Stellan Skarsgård, Katrin Cartlidge, Jean-Marc Barr
Votes: 71,548 | Gross: $4.04M
This movie left me shattered. I know that's a cliché, but it's only ever happened to me a couple times with movies. Lars Von Trier is a genius, and Emily Watson... well, she's been wasted on everything since.
55. Swingers (1996)
R | 96 min | Comedy, Drama
A wannabe actor has a hard time moving on from a break-up, but he is lucky to have supportive friends.
Director: Doug Liman | Stars: Vince Vaughn, Heather Graham, Jon Favreau, Ron Livingston
Votes: 88,120 | Gross: $4.51M
A truer movie about L.A. single life has never been made.
56. In the Company of Men (1997)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama
Two business executives--one an avowed misogynist, the other recently emotionally wounded by his love interest--set out to exact revenge on the female gender by seeking out the most innocent, uncorrupted girl they can find and ruining her life.
Director: Neil LaBute | Stars: Aaron Eckhart, Matt Malloy, Stacy Edwards, Michael Martin
Votes: 14,283 | Gross: $2.86M
If you list torture as one of your hobbies, you're going to love this film.
57. The House of Yes (1997)
R | 85 min | Comedy, Drama
A mentally unbalanced young woman - who is convinced she is Jackie Kennedy - flies into a murderous rage when her brother returns home to reveal he is engaged.
Director: Mark Waters | Stars: Parker Posey, Josh Hamilton, Tori Spelling, Freddie Prinze Jr.
Votes: 8,830 | Gross: $0.62M
Parker Posey. Never before or since, but here - wow. Might make a good double feature with In the Company of Men.
58. Run Lola Run (1998)
R | 80 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
After a botched money delivery, Lola has 20 minutes to come up with 100,000 Deutschmarks.
Director: Tom Tykwer | Stars: Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu, Herbert Knaup, Nina Petri
Votes: 206,955 | Gross: $7.27M
This was the first film festival film I ever saw, chosen for no other reason than it was set in Berlin, and some also-recently-repatriated-from-Berlin friends of mine wanted to hang out. It hooked me on festivals, while dooming me to years of disappointment as no subsequent festival film has lived up to it.
59. Kikujiro (1999)
PG-13 | 122 min | Drama, Comedy
A young, naive boy sets out alone on the road to find his wayward mother. Soon he finds an unlikely protector in a crotchety man and the two have a series of unexpected adventures along the way.
Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Takeshi Kitano, Yusuke Sekiguchi, Kayoko Kishimoto, The Great Gidayû
Votes: 22,162 | Gross: $0.20M
My introduction to Beat Takeshi, and still my favorite.
60. All About My Mother (1999)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A comedy-drama about a bereaved mother, and overwrought actress, her jealous lover, and a pregnant nun.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Candela Peña, Antonia San Juan
Votes: 102,853 | Gross: $8.26M
Almodovar's most humanistic work, and therefore, in my book, his best.
61. The Virgin Suicides (1999)
R | 97 min | Drama, Romance
A group of male friends become obsessed with five mysterious sisters who are sheltered by their strict, religious parents in suburban Detroit in the mid 1970s.
Director: Sofia Coppola | Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartnett, James Woods, Kathleen Turner
Votes: 169,149 | Gross: $4.86M
Coppola the Younger comes of age with this surprisingly mature effort for a first-time director - although I doubt anybody short of Liza Minnelli can make as great a claim for being "born in a trunk".
62. You Can Count on Me (2000)
R | 111 min | Drama
A single mother's life is thrown into turmoil after her struggling, rarely seen younger brother returns to town.
Director: Kenneth Lonergan | Stars: Laura Linney, Matthew Broderick, Amy Ryan, Michael Countryman
Votes: 31,413 | Gross: $9.18M
Simple, ordinary, and perfect.
63. Aberdeen (2000)
106 min | Drama
A mom dying in Aberdeen, Scotland, asks her coke snorting, nympho, London lawyer daughter to get her estranged, alcoholic dad in Oslo, Norway, to Aberdeen. He's drunk at the airport, so they travel together by car and ferry.
Director: Hans Petter Moland | Stars: Stellan Skarsgård, Lena Headey, Jean Johansson, Charlotte Rampling
Votes: 3,465 | Gross: $0.06M
Possibly the greatest depiction of a father-daughter relationship committed to film.
64. Italiensk for begyndere (2000)
R | 112 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Several lonely hearts in a semi-provincial suburb of a town in Denmark use a beginner's course in Italian as the platform to meet the romance of their lives.
Director: Lone Scherfig | Stars: Anders W. Berthelsen, Ann Eleonora Jørgensen, Anette Støvelbæk, Peter Gantzler
Votes: 13,843 | Gross: $4.45M
It wouldn't be a proper list of low-budget movies without at least one Dogme work, so I choose Dogme #12, which appears to stand out from the rest for having a genuinely appealing story - which is exactly what the title implies: a bunch of gloomy Danes learn true Italian - i.e., how to enjoy life.
65. Yi Yi (2000)
Not Rated | 173 min | Drama, Romance
Each member of a middle-class Taipei family seeks to reconcile past and present relationships within their daily lives.
Director: Edward Yang | Stars: Nien-Jen Wu, Elaine Jin, Issei Ogata, Kelly Lee
Votes: 28,391 | Gross: $1.14M
Wonderfully encapsulates, in both tone and subject matter, Taiwan's melting (hot?) pot of Chinese, Japanese, and American cultures.
66. Memento (2000)
R | 113 min | Mystery, Thriller
A man with short-term memory loss attempts to track down his wife's murderer.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, Mark Boone Junior
Votes: 1,322,590 | Gross: $25.54M
A screenwriting class unto itself.
67. Ghost World (2001)
R | 111 min | Comedy, Drama
Two eccentric best friends graduate high school and respond to a man's romance-seeking newspaper ad as a gag, only to find their lives becoming increasingly complicated.
Director: Terry Zwigoff | Stars: Steve Buscemi, Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Brad Renfro
Votes: 126,819 | Gross: $6.22M
What if the girls from Heavenly Creatures grew up in 90's Los Angeles?
68. Me Without You (2001)
R | 107 min | Drama
Two best friends grow up on the Isle of Wight and in Brighton in the 1970s and 1980s.
Director: Sandra Goldbacher | Stars: Anna Friel, Michelle Williams, Ella Jones, Anna Popplewell
Votes: 4,832 | Gross: $0.30M
Continuing the theme of toxic BFFs, and not to be confused with You Can Count On Me, Me Without You marks the emergence of Michelle Williams as a real actor (sporting an impressive accent, no less). The seeds of Valentine and Manchester were already planted here, when she was barely out of her teens.
69. And Your Mother Too (2001)
R | 106 min | Drama
In Mexico, two teenage boys and an older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life and each other.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón | Stars: Maribel Verdú, Gael García Bernal, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Ana López Mercado
Votes: 128,870 | Gross: $13.62M
Several things about this film define my idealized notion of what Mexican film should be. It should be:
1) American. There are few more American genres than the Coming-of-Age Roadtrip, a deliberate borrowing here from Hollywood.
2) Show off some of the many faces of Mexico: in this case, smoggy, class-tense Mexico City and the sunny, cerveza-smeared beaches.
3) Strike a balance between a tourism-fed image of hedonism and the serious economic and political issues facing Mexico today.
Mainly, though, it's just a good story no matter what country it's set in.
70. In America (2002)
PG-13 | 105 min | Drama
A family of Irish immigrants adjust to life on the mean streets of Hell's Kitchen while also grieving the death of a child.
Director: Jim Sheridan | Stars: Paddy Considine, Samantha Morton, Djimon Hounsou, Sarah Bolger
Votes: 44,275 | Gross: $15.54M
A (-n almost) modern-day immigrant story; pretty much Jim Sheridan's autobiography. Both the kids and Samantha Morton are real finds. Bittersweet, touching, but not sappy.
71. Talk to Her (2002)
R | 112 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
Two men share an odd friendship while they care for two women who are both in deep comas.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Rosario Flores, Javier Cámara, Darío Grandinetti, Leonor Watling
Votes: 117,475 | Gross: $9.36M
One of the most thought-provoking movies I've ever seen.
72. The Barbarian Invasions (2003)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
During his final days, a dying man is reunited with old friends, former lovers, his ex-wife, and his estranged son.
Director: Denys Arcand | Stars: Rémy Girard, Dorothée Berryman, Stéphane Rousseau, Marie-Josée Croze
Votes: 30,033 | Gross: $3.43M
This is how I think of Quebec: a not-always-seamless but fascinating blend of Indie America and French decadent poses.
73. I Capture the Castle (2003)
R | 113 min | Drama, Romance
A love story set in 1930s England that follows 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain and the fortunes of her eccentric family struggling to survive in a decaying English castle.
Director: Tim Fywell | Stars: Romola Garai, Rose Byrne, Bill Nighy, Sophie Stuckey
Votes: 7,981 | Gross: $1.17M
The beginning of my love affair with Rose Byrne. Which says something about even younger Romola Garai, who outshines Miss Byrne by some considerable wattage. Oh and Bill Nighy (pre-fanged).
74. Before Sunset (2004)
R | 80 min | Drama, Romance
Nine years after Jesse and Celine first met, they encounter each other again on the French leg of Jesse's book tour.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Vernon Dobtcheff, Louise Lemoine Torrès
Votes: 287,743 | Gross: $5.82M
Before Sunrise suffers from the overabundance of poser monologue endemic to this director's work, while Before Midnight suffers from a dearth of romance (although I believe makes up for it in real insight into relationships), leaving Before Sunset most people's favorite in my experience. I'm not so sure it's mine, but for the performances alone - especially the scene in the taxi - this movie is unforgettable.
75. A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004)
R | 119 min | Drama
A headstrong young woman returns to New Orleans after the death of her estranged mother.
Director: Shainee Gabel | Stars: Scarlett Johansson, John Travolta, Gabriel Macht, Deborah Kara Unger
Votes: 27,202 | Gross: $0.16M
Evokes the lazy heat and decay of New Orleans better than any other movie I can think of.
76. Dear Frankie (2004)
PG-13 | 105 min | Drama, Romance
After having responded to her son's numerous letters in the guise of his father, a woman hires a stranger to pose as his dad when meeting him.
Director: Shona Auerbach | Stars: Emily Mortimer, Jack McElhone, Gerard Butler, Mary Riggans
Votes: 22,474 | Gross: $1.34M
Almost a fairy tale, but Auerbach and Gibb keep the story from veering over the maudlin crag. Between Mortimer, McElhone, and Butler, you're going to fall for at least two people in this picture.
77. Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006)
R | 88 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A film set in a strange afterlife way station that has been reserved for people who have committed suicide.
Director: Goran Dukic | Stars: Patrick Fugit, Shea Whigham, Tom Waits, Will Arnett
Votes: 57,697 | Gross: $0.32M
Hell ain't so bad.
78. The Lives of Others (2006)
R | 137 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck | Stars: Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur
Votes: 410,400 | Gross: $11.29M
Germans are slowly working their way out of a Grand Canyon of guilt. It's a testament to some of their filmmakers that they can not only make us empathize, but entertain us at the same time.
79. After the Wedding (2006)
R | 120 min | Drama
A manager of an orphanage in India is sent to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he discovers a life-altering family secret.
Director: Susanne Bier | Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Rolf Lassgård, Neeral Mulchandani
Votes: 37,071 | Gross: $0.41M
Bier currently has my vote as the most accomplished female director of all time, and this is her best so far.
80. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Drama
A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus.
Directors: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris | Stars: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin
Votes: 517,951 | Gross: $59.89M
Alan Arkin and Abigail Breslin. I think there's some other people listed in the credits too.
81. Let the Right One In (2008)
R | 114 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Oskar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl.
Director: Tomas Alfredson | Stars: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl
Votes: 226,733 | Gross: $2.12M
Sucks to be a kid.
82. Timer (2009)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
If a clock could count down to the moment you meet your soul mate, would you want to know?
Director: Jac Schaeffer | Stars: Emma Caulfield Ford, Scott Holroyd, Kali Rocha, Katie Von Till
Votes: 13,478
I'm a sucker for both Science Fiction and Rom Coms, so when a thought-provoking concept meets a heartwarming story, I'm sold.
83. Mary and Max (2009)
Not Rated | 92 min | Animation, Comedy, Drama
In 1976 Melbourne, a lonely 8-year-old girl strikes up a correspondence with an unlikely pen pal: a severely obese 44-year-old New Yorker with Asperger's syndrome.
Director: Adam Elliot | Stars: Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Eric Bana, Barry Humphries
Votes: 186,770
A great example of how claymation's freedom from everyday appearances enables a deeper treatment of a story that wouldn't work as well with actual ugly people on screen. Collette #4.
84. Moon (2009)
R | 97 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.
Director: Duncan Jones | Stars: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, Dominique McElligott, Rosie Shaw
Votes: 376,658 | Gross: $5.01M
The pinnacle of Science Fiction is the what-if scenario, developed through the thoughts and actions of a single human being. Michael Bay, are you listening?
85. Winter's Bone (2010)
R | 100 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her drug-dealing father while trying to keep her family intact.
Director: Debra Granik | Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Garret Dillahunt, Isaiah Stone
Votes: 150,539 | Gross: $6.53M
Not many teenagers can carry an entire movie, but Lawrence not only did, she raises every movie she's in (no matter how cookie cutter) a couple notches. Here both the actor and the character carry the picture - they are the picture - making it my choice for the best movie of 2010.
86. Blue Valentine (2010)
R | 112 min | Drama, Romance
The relationship of a contemporary married couple, charting their evolution over a span of years by cross-cutting between time periods.
Director: Derek Cianfrance | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, John Doman, Faith Wladyka
Votes: 211,314 | Gross: $9.74M
Ryan Gosling is the greatest romantic male lead since Clark Gable. Except Gosling can act.
87. A Separation (2011)
PG-13 | 123 min | Drama
A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.
Director: Asghar Farhadi | Stars: Payman Maadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat, Shahab Hosseini
Votes: 258,484 | Gross: $7.10M
It dances on a knife edge of melodrama, and yet gives us characters that seem more convincingly balanced than any others I have seen in a movie.
88. Another Earth (2011)
PG-13 | 92 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
On the night of the discovery of a duplicate Earth in the Solar system, an ambitious young student and an accomplished composer cross paths in a tragic accident.
Director: Mike Cahill | Stars: Brit Marling, William Mapother, Matthew-Lee Erlbach, DJ Flava
Votes: 100,002 | Gross: $1.32M
It invites comparison with Melancholia, although the two have very different treatments. Melancholia certainly wins the eye candy competition, as well as the shock factor sprint. As art, Melancholia has the pedigree and the originality to back it up.
Another Earth is by far my favorite, though, because of its superior story and character. Also, Kirsten Dunst is the Great Actress of her generation, but Brit Marling holds her own here.
89. Spring Breakers (2012)
R | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Four college girls hold up a restaurant in order to fund their spring break vacation. While partying, drinking, and taking drugs, they are arrested, only to be bailed out by a drug and arms dealer.
Director: Harmony Korine | Stars: Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine
Votes: 148,764 | Gross: $14.12M
Hooks you with, well, everything appealing about Spring Break, hypnotizes you with a pitch-perfect Franco, and then spirals out of control. One of those rare movies that simultaneously engages your animal instincts, fulfills your lust for pop culture, and makes you think.
90. Celeste & Jesse Forever (2012)
R | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A divorcing couple tries to maintain their friendship while they both pursue other people.
Director: Lee Toland Krieger | Stars: Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg, Elijah Wood, Emma Roberts
Votes: 33,808 | Gross: $3.09M
Finds that delicate balance between trope and quirk, classic and hipster, that eluded the makers of Frances Ha and The Vow. Mostly, though, C&J is more smartly written, more sharply acted, and more resonantly melancholic than the vast majority of Rom Coms.
91. Short Term 12 (2013)
R | 96 min | Drama
A 20-something supervising staff member of a residential treatment facility navigates the troubled waters of that world alongside her co-worker and longtime boyfriend.
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton | Stars: Brie Larson, Frantz Turner, John Gallagher Jr., Kaitlyn Dever
Votes: 91,798 | Gross: $1.01M
The beginning of the Era of Brie.
92. Before Midnight (2013)
R | 109 min | Drama, Romance
We meet Jesse and Celine nine years on in Greece. Almost two decades have passed since their first meeting on that train bound for Vienna.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, Ariane Labed
Votes: 172,100 | Gross: $8.11M
I'm the same age as the couple in the "Before" movies and have grown with them. So it should come as no surprise that upon recently rewatching all three, Before Midnight strikes me as the most profound. But that is not to say the other two weren't right for the audience and characters portrayed at the time of their release.
93. Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013)
NC-17 | 180 min | Drama, Romance
Adèle's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire and to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adèle grows, seeks herself, loses herself, and ultimately finds herself through love and loss.
Director: Abdellatif Kechiche | Stars: Léa Seydoux, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Salim Kechiouche, Aurélien Recoing
Votes: 163,041 | Gross: $2.20M
It could use tighter editing in the first two hours - first time I've ever checked the time during a steamy sex scene - but it's all worth it in the end.
94. Two Days, One Night (2014)
PG-13 | 95 min | Drama
Liège, Belgium. Sandra is a factory worker who discovers that her workmates have opted for a EUR1,000 bonus in exchange for her dismissal. She has only a weekend to convince her colleagues to give up their bonuses in order to keep her job.
Directors: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne | Stars: Marion Cotillard, Fabrizio Rongione, Catherine Salée, Baptiste Sornin
Votes: 50,532 | Gross: $1.44M
Finally put to rest all doubts that Cotillard is the real deal.
95. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)
Not Rated | 101 min | Drama, Horror, Romance
In the Iranian ghost-town Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, the townspeople are unaware they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire.
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour | Stars: Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Marshall Manesh, Mozhan Navabi
Votes: 38,615
There's something irresistible about an indie skater vampire.
96. Phoenix (II) (2014)
PG-13 | 98 min | Drama, History, Music
After surviving Auschwitz, a former cabaret singer has her disfigured face reconstructed and returns to her war-ravaged hometown to seek out her gentile husband, who may or may not have betrayed her to the Nazis.
Director: Christian Petzold | Stars: Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Nina Kunzendorf, Trystan Pütter
Votes: 20,663
Melodrama comes back from the dead.
I don't know its production budget, but it looks like a made-for-TV movie, was produced by television studios, and given its reported box office of less than $6 million, for the producers' sakes I hope it cost less than $11 million to make.
97. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015)
PG-13 | 105 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
High schooler Greg, who spends most of his time making parodies of classic movies with his co-worker Earl, finds his outlook forever altered after befriending a classmate who has just been diagnosed with cancer.
Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon | Stars: Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler, Olivia Cooke, Nick Offerman
Votes: 138,263 | Gross: $6.74M
What makes this better than The Fault in Our Stars? The humor for one, but also the balance of potentially-clashing tones. It grows with every viewing; a coming-of-age tale for the ages.
98. The VVitch: A New-England Folktale (2015)
R | 92 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession.
Director: Robert Eggers | Stars: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Julian Richings
Votes: 300,618 | Gross: $25.14M
The Better Angels meet Sleepy Hollow. I haven't seen a treatment of witches this fascinating since The Seventh Seal. This reveals all other horror - including The Shining - as the child's play it is.
99. Manchester by the Sea (2016)
R | 137 min | Drama
A depressed uncle is asked to take care of his teenage nephew after the boy's father dies.
Director: Kenneth Lonergan | Stars: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, Lucas Hedges
Votes: 313,632 | Gross: $47.70M
I thought You Can Count On Me was a perfect film, and so I rated it 10/10. I have since lowered that rating as more and more movies come out that are just as perfect but even more resonant. Perfect example: Manchester by the Sea, where Lonergan revisits some of You Can Count On Me's themes, but doubles down on everything: on New England, on family, and on seriously-damaged human beings.
Tell Your Friends