Avant-garde / Experimental
Avant-garde is a word from the French, meaning 'ahead of the crowd'. In contemporary English, we'd say it's on the 'cutting edge'. Avant-garde filmmakers want to experiment with new ideas, forms, techniques, and expressions - and are often said to be 'ahead of their time'. Avant-garde films are characterized by a high degree of experimentation - whether it be in manipulation of narrative materials, highly stylized visual representation, or radical departures from the norms and conventions current at the time, avant-garde film is always a vehicle for the filmmaker's expression. Surrealism, abstract studies of light and form, Dadaism, and impressionistic studies of people and things figure heavily in early works of the genre.
Below is a Alice's extensive collection in this genre.
Right: The famous eyeball scene from Luis Bunuel & Salvador Dali's 'Un Chien Andalou'.
Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
8.3/10
Director: Godfrey Reggio
The title is a Hopi Indian word meaning "life out of balance", an apt summation of this mesmerizing collection of wonders both natural and man-made. S... Read more
Fritz The Cat (1972)
6.3/10
Director: Ralph Bakshi
Starring: Skip Hinnant, Rosetta Le Noire, Judy Engles
This x-rated cartoon by Ralph Bakshi hit a responsive chord with the counterculture audience of the seventies. This now classic cult rendition of Robe... Read more
Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982)
8/10
Director: Alan Parker
Starring: Christine Hargreaves, Bob Hoskins, Bob Geldof
Bob Geldof stars as Pink, the burned-out rock star slowly going out of control. Conceived and written by Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, with animation by... Read more
Village of Dreams (1999)
7.1/10
Director: Yoichi Higashi
Starring: Keigo Matsuyama, Kyozo Nagatsuka, Mieko Harada, Shogo Matsuyama
An enchanting, blissful look at the magic and terror of childhood. Identical twin brothers, now successful artists, recall the summer of 1948 when the... Read more
Angels and Insects (1995)
7/10
Director: Philip Haas
Starring: Mark Rylance, Kristin Scott Thomas, Patsy Kensit
A haunting, erotically charged drama set in Victorian England, where a poor anthropologist decides to take residence with a wealthy family after a dis... Read more
The Handmaid's Tale (1990)
6/10
Director: Volker Schlondorff
Starring: Natasha Richardson, Aidan Quinn, Faye Dunaway, Robert Duvall
A stylish adaptation of Margaret Atwood's novel of the not-so-distant future where certain young women are used to bear 'pure' children for the milita... Read more
Under the Skin ( Blu-ray ) (2013)
6.3/10
Director: Jonathan Glazer
Starring: Scarlett Johansson
An unnamed woman, played by Scarlett Johansson with unshakably alluring menace, cruises the streets of Scotland in a cargo van looking for men. She's... Read more
The Square (2017)
7.3/10
Director: Ruben Östlund
Starring: Dominic West, Elisabeth Moss, Terry Notary, Claes Bang, Annica Liljeblad, Christ...
Christian is the respected curator of a contemporary art museum, a divorced but devoted father of two who drives an electric car and supports good cau... Read more
Under the Skin (2013)
6.3/10
Director: Jonathan Glazer
Starring: Scarlett Johansson
An unnamed woman, played by Scarlett Johansson with unshakably alluring menace, cruises the streets of Scotland in a cargo van looking for men. She's... Read more
The Indian Runner (1991)
7.1/10
Director: Sean Penn
Starring: David Morse, Viggo Mortensen, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Charles Bronson,...
A stunningly realised character study centering on the stormy relationship between a highway patrolman (David Morse) and his 'loose cannon' brother (V... Read more