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.
Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)
7.1/10
Director: Christophe Gans
Starring: Samuel Le Bihan, Mark Dacascos, Vincent Cassel, Emilie Dequenne, Monica Bellucci...
This international box office hit from France is a real genre-buster, mixing up elements of period piece costume drama, horror films, melodrama, swash... Read more
The Kite Runner (2007)
7.6/10
Director: Marc Forster
Starring: Khalid Abdalla, Homayoun Ershadi, Shaun Toub, Atossa Leoni, Said Taghmaoui
Director Marc Forster's adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's bestseller about one man's search for redemption following a childhood betrayal in his native... Read more
Intacto (2001)
6.9/10
Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Starring: Leonardo Sbaraglia, Eusebio Poncela, Monica Lopez, Antonio Dechent, Max von Sydo...
Offbeat psychological thriller centers on an enigmatic Holocaust survivor (Max Von Sydow) who uses his ability to control the luck of those around him... Read more
Winter's Bone (2010)
7.2/10
Director: Debra Granik
Starring: John Hawkes, Jennifer Lawrence
With the threat of her family being evicted from their home in the Ozarks if her bail-jumping father isn't caught within the week, 17-year-old Ree Dol... Read more
Bad Boy Bubby (1993)
7.4/10
Director: Rolf de Heer
Starring: Claire Benito, Nicholas Hope, Ralph Cotterill, Carmel Johnson
Locked in his room for 35 years (no TV or Radio here) as not much more than a sex slave, Bubby's perception of the universe is not extensive. Through... Read more
Kandahar (2001)
6.8/10
Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Starring: Nelofer Pazira, Hassan Tantai, Sadou Teymouri, Hoyatala Hakimi
Nafas, a young Afghan journalist now living in Canada recieves a desperate letter from her sister in Afghanistan who intends to kill herself at the ne... 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
House of Sand and Fog (2003)
7.6/10
Director: Vadim Perelman
Starring: Jennifer Connelly, Ben Kingsley, Ron Eldard, Frances Fisher, Kim Dickens
Devastating adaptation of the Andre Dubus III novel focuses on the property battle between Iranian emigrant Ben Kingsley and recovering addict Jennife... Read more
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
6.7/10
Director: Nicolas Roeg
Starring: David Bowie, Rip Torn, Candy Clark, Buck Henry
Nicolas Roeg's stylish classic stars David Bowie as a cosmic visitor to the planet, overwhelmed by capitalist society, human technology and earthly lo... Read more
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Director: James Whale
Starring: Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson, Elsa Lanchester
Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive) makes a bride for his creature (Boris Karloff), and all hell breaks loose. Arguably better than the orginal - both emot... Read more