Martin's Favourites
I have held some films very close to my heart. Here is a selection.
A Woman Under the Influence (1975)
8.2/10
Director: John Cassavetes
Starring: Peter Falk, Gena Rowlands, Katherine Cassavetes
Unquestionably one of the greatest films of the 1970s, John Cassavetes' masterpiece centres on a dysfunctional Los Angeles family, and the perverse, h... Read more
After Life (1998)
7.7/10
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Starring: Naito Taketoshi, Oda Erika, Terajima Susumu, Naito Takashi, Tani Kei
Many films have offered insight into the unexplainable realm of the after life. In Kore-eda Hirokazu's ("Maborosi") thought-provoking vision, the newl... Read more
Diary of a Country Priest (1950)
8/10
Director: Robert Bresson
Starring: Claude Laydu, Antoine Balpetre, Gaston Severin
A priest (Claude Laydu) arrives in the French country village of Ambricourt to attend to his first parish. The apathetic and hostile rural congregatio... Read more
Faust (2011)
6.7/10
Director: Alexander Sokurov
Starring: Hanna Schygulla, Georg Friedrich, Johannes Zeiler, Isolda Dychauk, Anton Adasins...
Aleksandr Sokurov directs this German-language adaptation of the classic tale about a man who sells his soul to the Devil. The story, woven into the f... Read more
Faust (Blu-ray) (2011)
6.6/10
Director: Alexander Sokurov
Starring: Hanna Schygulla, Georg Friedrich, Johannes Zeiler, Isolda Dychauk, Anton Adasins...
Aleksandr Sokurov directs this German-language adaptation of the classic tale about a man who sells his soul to the Devil. The story, woven into the f... Read more
Francesco Giullare Di Dio (1950)
Director: Roberto Rossellini
Starring: Aldo Fabrizi, Arabella Lemaitre
A.k.a. "Francis, God's Jester". Roberto Rossellini and co-writer Federico Fellini lovingly render the very spirit of Franciscan teaching in this extr... Read more
High-Rise (2015)
5.6/10
Director: Ben Wheatley
Starring: Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Elisabeth Moss, Tom Hiddleston, Luke Evans
The brutalism begins with the architecture and extends all the way down to the residents in Ben Wheatleys High-Rise, a flashy adaptation of J.G. Ba... Read more
Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)
7.8/10
Director: Travis Knight
Starring: Charlize Theron, Matthew McConaughey, Ralph Fiennes, (Voices of)
Now on the run, Kubo joins forces with Monkey (Academy Award winner Charlize Theron) and Beetle (Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey), and sets o... Read more
L'Avventura (1960)
8/10
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Starring: Monica Vitti, Gabriele Ferzetti
A scathing examination of Italy's aristocratic classes set within the framework of a mystery story, director Michelangelo Antonioni's groundbreaking f... Read more
Le Notti Bianche ( White Nights ) (1957)
7.8/10
Director: Luchino Visconti
Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Maria Schell, Jean Marais
Aka 'White Nights'. Marcello Mastroianni, as a lonely city transplant, and Maria Schell, as a sheltered girl haunted by a lover's promise, meet by cha... Read more