Paul's Favourites
The 7th Arts's highest level of achievement can be judged alongside great literature, great music, and great painting, with many filmmakers creating enduring masterpieces.
The list of film titles below may not all be enduring masterpieces, but I have however, fond lingering memories of all of them. They all fit the criteria of what I feel films can or should do, to not only be well crafted, but also to entertain, inform, enlighten and more often than not, take the viewer down roads less travelled...
Can only hope you also will discover or rediscover some viewing pleasures among my all-time favourites' listed below.
Deep Water (2006)
7.8/10
Director: Louise Osmond, Jerry Rothwell
Starring: Narrated by, Tilda Swinton
The stunning true story of the first solo, non-stop, round-the-world boat race. In deep financial straits and possessed of an unquenchable thirst for... Read more
Departures (2008)
8.1/10
Director: Yojiro Takita
Starring: Masahiro Motoki, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kimiko Yo, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Ryoko Hirosue, T...
When his orchestra disbands, Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) decides to start over and moves back to his small hometown. Desperate for work, he secr... Read more
Dersu Uzala (1975)
8.3/10
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Yuri Solomon, Maxim Munzuk
Kurosawa's remarkable, personal tale of the friendship between a wise old man and a young Soviet explorer, filmed in the beautiful expanse of Siberia,... Read more
Dersu Uzala (Blu-ray) (1975)
8.2/10
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Yuri Solomon, Maxim Munzuk
Kurosawa's remarkable, personal tale of the friendship between a wise old man and a young Soviet explorer, filmed in the beautiful expanse of Siberia,... Read more
Diva (1981)
7.3/10
Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix
Starring: Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez, Frederic Andrei
A breathtaking series of visual images in this stylish romantic thriller; at the heart of the film is an opera-intoxicated 18-year old mail carrier wh... Read more
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
7.9/10
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Winona Ryder, Vincent Price, Johnny Depp, Dianne Wiest, Alan Arkin
He's got a sad, white face, a wild haircut, and shears at the ends of his arms. He's Edward Scissorhands (Johnny Depp), creation of a mad scientist, w... Read more
El Norte (1983)
7.7/10
Director: Gregory Nava
Starring: David Villalpando, Zaide Silvia Gutierrez
'The North'. An independent American film that became a hit, the powerful story of a brother and sister who must leave their oppressed country of Guat... Read more
El Topo (1971)
7.5/10
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky
Starring: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Brontis Jodorowsky
Aka "The Mole." "I ask of film what most North Americans' ask of psychedelic drugs" said Writer, Director and star Alexandro Jodorowsky of this stunni... Read more
Eraserhead (1977)
7.4/10
Director: David Lynch
Starring: Allen Joseph, Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Laurel Near
Inspired by his time spent living in Philadelphia, David Lynch's nightmarish cult odyssey follows a high-haired young man living in a run-down apartme... Read more
Europa ( aka Zentropa ) (1992)
7.7/10
Director: Lars von Trier
Starring: Jean-Marc Barr, Barbara Sukowa, Udo Kier, Ernst Hugo
This penetrating and mesmeric trip into the dark soul of Europe follows a young American pacifist of German descent who sojourns to post-WWII Deutschl... Read more