DIRECTORS' ESSENTIAL FILMS
by shanironen | created - 22 Nov 2020 | updated - 22 Nov 2020 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. The Seventh Seal (1957)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama, Fantasy
A knight returning to Sweden after the Crusades seeks answers about life, death, and the existence of God as he plays chess against the Grim Reaper during the Black Plague.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Max von Sydow, Gunnar Björnstrand, Bengt Ekerot, Nils Poppe
Votes: 198,383
2. Wild Strawberries (1957)
Not Rated | 91 min | Drama, Romance
After living a life marked by coldness, an aging professor is forced to confront the emptiness of his existence.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Victor Sjöström, Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand
Votes: 114,936
3. The Virgin Spring (1960)
Not Rated | 89 min | Drama
In 14th-century Sweden, an innocent yet pampered teenage girl and her family's pregnant and jealous servant set out from their farm to deliver candles to church, but only one returns from events that transpire in the woods along the way.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Max von Sydow, Birgitta Valberg, Gunnel Lindblom, Birgitta Pettersson
Votes: 31,638 | Gross: $1.53M
4. 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: 27,375
5. Winter Light (1963)
Not Rated | 81 min | Drama
A small-town priest struggles with his faith.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand, Gunnel Lindblom, Max von Sydow
Votes: 27,083
6. The Silence (1963)
R | 96 min | Drama
Two estranged sisters, Ester and Anna, and Anna's 10-year-old son travel to the Central European country on the verge of war. Ester becomes seriously ill and the three of them move into a hotel in a small town called Timoka.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindblom, Birger Malmsten, Håkan Jahnberg
Votes: 21,335
7. Persona (1966)
Not Rated | 83 min | Drama, Thriller
A nurse is put in charge of a mute actress and finds that their personae are melding together.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Margaretha Krook, Gunnar Björnstrand
Votes: 130,865
8. Hour of the Wolf (1968)
Not Rated | 88 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
While vacationing on a remote German island with his younger pregnant wife, an artist has an emotional breakdown while confronting his repressed desires.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Gertrud Fridh, Georg Rydeberg
Votes: 22,568
9. Cries & Whispers (1972)
R | 91 min | Drama
When a woman dying of cancer in early twentieth-century Sweden is visited by her two sisters, long-repressed feelings between the siblings rise to the surface.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Harriet Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Kari Sylwan, Ingrid Thulin
Votes: 36,973 | Gross: $1.74M
10. Scenes from a Marriage (1974)
PG | 169 min | Drama
Scenes from a Marriage chronicles the many years of love and turmoil that bind Marianne (Liv Ullmann) and Johan (Erland Josephson) through matrimony, infidelity, divorce, and subsequent partners.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Bibi Andersson, Gunnel Lindblom
Votes: 8,667 | Gross: $0.68M
11. Fanny and Alexander (1983)
312 min | Drama
Through the eyes of ten-year-old Alexander, we witness the delights and conflicts of the Ekdahl family, a sprawling bourgeois clan in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Sweden.
Stars: Börje Ahlstedt, Ewa Fröling, Jarl Kulle, Bertil Guve
Votes: 4,665
12. L'Argent (1983)
Not Rated | 85 min | Crime, Drama
A counterfeit bill that starts off as a schoolboy prank leads to incarceration and violence.
Director: Robert Bresson | Stars: Christian Patey, Sylvie Van den Elsen, Michel Briguet, Vincent Risterucci
Votes: 11,828
13. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
PG | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A surreal, virtually plotless series of dreams centered around six middle-class people and their consistently interrupted attempts to have a meal together.
Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Fernando Rey, Delphine Seyrig, Paul Frankeur, Bulle Ogier
Votes: 46,816 | Gross: $0.20M
14. The Phantom of Liberty (1974)
R | 104 min | Comedy
A series of surreal sequences that critique morality and society in a stream of consciousness style.
Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Jean-Claude Brialy, Adolfo Celi, Michel Piccoli, Monica Vitti
Votes: 17,188 | Gross: $0.01M
15. Vivre sa vie (1962)
Not Rated | 85 min | Drama
Twelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman and her slow descent into prostitution.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Anna Karina, Sady Rebbot, André S. Labarthe, Guylaine Schlumberger
Votes: 34,986
16. Contempt (1963)
Not Rated | 102 min | Drama, Romance
A French writer's marriage deteriorates while working on Fritz Lang's version of "The Odyssey", as his wife accuses him of using her to court favor with the film's brash American producer.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Brigitte Bardot, Jack Palance, Michel Piccoli, Giorgia Moll
Votes: 36,025 | Gross: $0.04M
17. Band of Outsiders (1964)
Not Rated | 95 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Two crooks with a fondness for old Hollywood B-movies convince a languages student to help them commit a robbery.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Anna Karina, Claude Brasseur, Danièle Girard, Louisa Colpeyn
Votes: 27,055 | Gross: $0.04M
18. Pierrot the Fool (1965)
Not Rated | 110 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Pierrot escapes his boring society and travels from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea with Marianne, a girl chased by hit-men from Algeria. They lead an unorthodox life, always on the run.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anna Karina, Graziella Galvani, Aicha Abadir
Votes: 36,931
19. 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967)
Not Rated | 87 min | Comedy, Drama
A day in the life of a Parisian housewife/prostitute, interspersed with musings on the Vietnam War and other contemporary issues.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Jean-Luc Godard, Yves Beneyton, Juliet Berto, Helena Bielicic
Votes: 8,520 | Gross: $0.10M
20. Weekend (1967)
Not Rated | 105 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A surreal tale of a married couple going on a road trip to visit the wife's parents with the intention of killing them for the inheritance.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Mireille Darc, Jean Yanne, Jean-Pierre Kalfon, Yves Afonso
Votes: 15,786
21. Histoire(s) du cinéma (1989–1999)
267 min | Documentary
An 8-part documentary chronicling the history of cinema, examining the history of the concept of cinema and how both relates to the 20th century.
Stars: Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Cuny, Julie Delpy, Sabine Azéma
Votes: 799
22. The 39 Steps (1935)
Approved | 86 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A man in London tries to help a counter-espionage agent, but when the agent is killed and the man stands accused, he must go on the run to save himself and stop a spy ring that is trying to steal top-secret information.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll, Lucie Mannheim, Godfrey Tearle
Votes: 61,523
23. The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Not Rated | 96 min | Mystery, Thriller
While travelling in continental Europe, a rich young playgirl realizes that an elderly lady seems to have disappeared from the train.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas, May Whitty
Votes: 57,140
24. Rebecca (1940)
Approved | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A self-conscious woman juggles adjusting to her new role as an aristocrat's wife and avoiding being intimidated by his first wife's spectral presence.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson
Votes: 146,673 | Gross: $4.36M
25. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Passed | 108 min | Film-Noir, Thriller
A teenage girl, overjoyed when her favorite uncle comes to visit the family in their quiet California town, slowly begins to suspect that he is in fact the "Merry Widow" killer sought by the authorities.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, Macdonald Carey, Henry Travers
Votes: 70,480
26. Notorious (1946)
Not Rated | 102 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
The daughter of a convicted German spy is asked by American agents to gather information on a ring of German scientists in South America. How far will she have to go to ingratiate herself with them?
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Louis Calhern
Votes: 107,243 | Gross: $10.46M
27. Strangers on a Train (1951)
PG | 101 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A psychopathic man tries to forcibly persuade a tennis star to agree to his theory that two strangers can get away with murder by submitting to his plan to kill the other's most-hated person.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Farley Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman, Leo G. Carroll
Votes: 140,974 | Gross: $7.63M
28. The Birds (1963)
PG-13 | 119 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette
Votes: 204,439 | Gross: $11.40M
29. Stray Dog (1949)
Not Rated | 122 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
During a sweltering summer, a rookie homicide detective tries to track down his stolen Colt pistol.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Awaji, Eiko Miyoshi
Votes: 18,926
30. Rashomon (1950)
Not Rated | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura
Votes: 180,365 | Gross: $0.10M
31. Ikiru (1952)
Not Rated | 143 min | Drama
A bureaucrat tries to find meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Takashi Shimura, Nobuo Kaneko, Shin'ichi Himori, Haruo Tanaka
Votes: 87,513 | Gross: $0.06M
32. Seven Samurai (1954)
Not Rated | 207 min | Action, Drama
Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Yukiko Shimazaki
Votes: 366,692 | Gross: $0.27M
33. Throne of Blood (1957)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama
A war-hardened general, egged on by his ambitious wife, works to fulfill a prophecy that he would become lord of Spider's Web Castle.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Minoru Chiaki, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura
Votes: 55,922
34. The Hidden Fortress (1958)
Not Rated | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Lured by gold, two greedy peasants unknowingly escort a princess and her general across enemy lines.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Misa Uehara, Minoru Chiaki, Kamatari Fujiwara
Votes: 42,221
35. Yojimbo (1961)
Not Rated | 110 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Eijirô Tôno, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yôko Tsukasa
Votes: 131,308
36. High and Low (1963)
Not Rated | 143 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An executive of a Yokohama shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Yutaka Sada, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyôko Kagawa
Votes: 53,159
37. Red Beard (1965)
Not Rated | 185 min | Drama
In 19th-century Japan, a rough-tempered yet charitable town doctor trains a young intern.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Yûzô Kayama, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Reiko Dan
Votes: 21,090
38. Dersu Uzala (1975)
G | 142 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
The Russian army sends an explorer on an expedition to the snowy Siberian wilderness where he makes friends with a seasoned local hunter.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Maksim Munzuk, Yuriy Solomin, Mikhail Bychkov, Vladimir Khrulyov
Votes: 33,495
39. Ran (1985)
R | 160 min | Action, Drama, War
In Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other...and him.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryû
Votes: 136,138 | Gross: $4.14M
40. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
PG | 117 min | Animation, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Warrior and pacifist Princess Nausicaä desperately struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and their dying planet.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Sumi Shimamoto, Mahito Tsujimura, Hisako Kyôda, Gorô Naya
Votes: 182,457 | Gross: $0.50M
41. Castle in the Sky (1986)
PG | 125 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Mayumi Tanaka, Keiko Yokozawa, Kotoe Hatsui, Minori Terada
Votes: 182,276
42. 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: 380,033 | Gross: $1.11M
43. Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
G | 103 min | Animation, Family, Fantasy
A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma, Kappei Yamaguchi
Votes: 165,406
44. Princess Mononoke (1997)
PG-13 | 134 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
On a journey to find the cure for a Tatarigami's curse, Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest gods and Tatara, a mining colony. In this quest he also meets San, the Mononoke Hime.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Yôji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yûko Tanaka, Billy Crudup
Votes: 433,525 | Gross: $2.38M
45. Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
PG | 119 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
When an unconfident young woman is cursed with an old body by a spiteful witch, her only chance of breaking the spell lies with a self-indulgent yet insecure young wizard and his companions in his legged, walking castle.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Chieko Baishô, Takuya Kimura, Tatsuya Gashûin, Akihiro Miwa
Votes: 449,037 | Gross: $4.71M
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