frankie's - 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die List
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Signs & Wonders follows the lives of Alec (Skarsgard), an Americanised Swedish businessman based in Athens and his wife Marjorie (Rampling) as everything around them begins to unravel. Betrayed by Alec through lies and an affair with Katherine (Unger), Marjorie begins an affair of her own with a political activist who becomes involved in some life-threatening situations. Interwoven into this personal story of love and family obscured by money, guilt, fate and over-rationalisation is a larger political one about American cultural and corprate imperialism... - Director:
- Jonathan Nossiter
- Cast:
- Stellan Skarsgård, Charlotte Rampling, Deborah Kara Unger
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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)Wo hu cang long
Set in 19th century China, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon follows two martial-arts masters Li Mu Bai (Chow Yon Fat) and Vu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) as they battle against evil forces to regain the stolen Green Destiny sword and defeat long-time foe Jade Fox. To succeed they must overcome an unknown warrior, the supremely skilled Jen (Zhang Ziyi), who is fighting against an arranged marriage. In the process Li is torn between his deep and long-denied feelings for Shu, and his wish to tame and teach Jen. - Director:
- Ang Lee
- Cast:
- Yun-Fat Chow, Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zhang
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Traffic is the Academy Award winning thriller set in the world of drug trafficking, from the cartels in Mexico to the wealthy dealers across America. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Traffic evokes the high stakes and high risks of the drug trade, as seen through a series of interrelated stories, some of which are highly personal and some of which are filled with intrigue and danger. - Director:
- Steven Soderbergh
- Cast:
- Michael Douglas, Benicio Del Toro, Catherine Zeta-Jones
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Selma (Björk) is a Czech immigrant, a single mother working in a factory in rural America. She escapes the hardships of her tough life through the films that inspired her childhood. In her imagination she sees the world as an all-singing all-dancing Hollywood musical. But Selma harbours a secret: she is losing her eyesight and unless she can save enough money to pay for an operation her 10 year-old son will inherit her blindness. When a desperate neighbour falsely accuses Selma of stealing, her life begins to slip beyond her control and propels itself towards a tragic and numbing finale. - Director:
- Lars Von Trier
- Cast:
- Björk, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse
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From director Christopher Nolan, a unique and intriguing thriller that begins with the ultimate act of revenge and backtracks through time to reveal the shocking and provocative reasons behind it. Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) remembers everything up to the night his wife was brutally raped and murdered. But since that tragedy, he has suffered from short-term memory loss and cannot recall any event, the places he has just visited or anyone he has met just minutes before. Determined to find out why his wife was killed, the only way he can store evidence is on scraps of paper, by taking Polaroid photos and tattooing vital clues on his body. Throughout his investigation, he appears to have the help of both bartender Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss), who may have her own secret agenda and police officer Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) whose friendship is always suspect. As Shelby's fractured memory tries to piece together a chilling jigsaw of deceit and betrayal in reverse, breathtaking twists and surprising turns rapidly occur in the most challenging, original and critically acclaimed thriller in years. - Director:
- Christopher Nolan
- Cast:
- Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano
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Kandahar (2001)Safar e Ghandehar
Nafas, a young Afghan journalist now living in Canada receives a desperate letter from her sister in Afghanistan who intends to kill herself at the next solar eclipse. Nafas herself fled Afghanistan with her father during the civil war with the Taliban; her sister had been injured by a land mine and was too ill to travel. Setting out to reach her sister, Nafas reaches Iran with some difficulty. Heavily veiled and disguised as a peasant, she now attempts the border crossing into a war-ravaged wasteland, aided by a boy she meets near the border. Post September 11, Makhmalbaf set out with his digital camera to document the lives of refugee children fleeing from both the warring factions. Afghan Alphabet focuses on the life of one particular girl attending an UNICEF school in the border villages between Iran and Afghanistan. She refuses to coma out of her burqa despite the fact that she has run away from Afghanistan and the Taliban are no longer present. She is more afraid of the horrifying God that the Taliban have conjured than she is of the Taliban itself. - Director:
- Mohsen Makhmalbaf
- Cast:
- Nelofer Pazira, Noam Morgensztern, Hassan Tantai
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What Time Is It There? (2001)Ni na bian ji dian
From acclaimed director Tsai Ming-Liang comes the quirky story of Hsiao Kang (who sells watches in the streets of Taipei for a living. A few days after his father's death, he meets Shiang-chyi, a young woman who leaves for Paris the very next day. She persuades him to sell her his own watch, which has two dials, so that she can keep Taipei time as well as local time, on her upcoming trip. Troubled by the behavior of his mother who prays constantly for the return of her late husband's spirit, Hsiao Kang takes refuge in the memory of his brief encounter with Shiang-chyi. In an effort to bridge the miles between them, he runs around setting all the watches and clocks in Taipei to Paris time. Meanwhile, in Paris, Shiang-chyi confronts events that seem to be mysteriously connected with Hsiao Kang. - Director:
- Ming-liang Tsai
- Cast:
- Kang-sheng Lee, Shiang-chyi Chen, Yi-Ching Lu
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And Your Mother Too (2001)Y Tu Mama Tambien
Julio and Tenoch are typical over-sexed and under-occupied teenagers. During a festive afternoon with their families they meet Luisa, a twenty eight year old Spaniard, and flirt with her with all the style and grace seventeen year old boys are known for. As a joke, they invite her to accompany them on a road trip to a beach called Boca Del Cielo, neglecting to mention that they wouldn't know where to find it, even if it did actually exist. To their astonishment, she accepts. - Director:
- Alfonso Cuarón
- Cast:
- Maribel Verdú, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Gael García Bernal
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Amelie (2001)Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain
Amelie Poulian has led a sheltered life – educated at home by over-protective parents, she retreats into a fantasy world of her own. When she finally leaves home and finds work as waitress in a Parisian café, life is pretty uneventful until a chain of extraordinary events leads her to the discovery of a thin box containing a schoolboy's long forgotten mementos. It is then that Amelie discovers her true vocation in life – helping others find love and happiness – which she sets about in her own unique and magical way. When Amelie falls in love herself, she realises that making neat solutions is not as easy as it seems… - Director:
- Jean-Pierre Jeunet
- Cast:
- Audrey Tautou, Franck-Olivier Bonnet, Mathieu Kassovitz
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Spirited Away (2001)Sen to chihiro no kamikakushi
Chihiro, a headstrong 10-year-old girl, is unhappy that her family are moving house and that she will have to make new friends. As they make their way to the new home, Chihiro's father takes a detour to explore a mysterious tunnel in the woods. On the other side is what seems to be a deserted theme park but is in fact a ghostly town. Unwittingly, they have strayed into the Land of the Spirits, a world of dreamlike scenery inhabited by ancient gods and magical beings, ruled over by the sorceress, Yubaba. With her parents held captive and Yubaba set on enslaving them forever, Chihiro must use all her energy to survive in this strange new place. With the help of Haku, a brave young spirit, she is forced to overcome her Pears and join an epic battle for her family's freedom. - Director:
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Cast:
- Daveigh Chase, Suzanne Pleshette, Miyu Irino
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The Piano Teacher (2001)La pianiste
Isabelle Huppert gives a performance of astounding emotional intensity as Erika Kohut, a repressed woman in her late thirties who teaches piano at the Vienna Conservatory and lives with her tyrannical mother (Annie Girardot), with whom she has a volatile love-hate relationship. But when one of Erika's students, the handsome and assured Walter Klemmer (Benoit Magimel), attempts to seduce her, the barriers that she has carefully erected around her claustrophobic world are shattered, unleashing a previously inhibited extreme and uncontrollable desire. - Director:
- Michael Haneke
- Cast:
- Isabelle Huppert, Noam Morgensztern, Annie Girardot
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The Son's Room (2001)La stanza del figlio
The story of family grief and bereavement. Psychiatrist Giovanni (Nanni Moretti) lives happily with his family in a small Italian coastal town. One Sunday he is due to spend time with his son Andrea (Giuseppe Sanfelice), when he receives an anguished call from Oscar (Silvio Orlando), one of his patients, and feels he must go and see him instead; however later that afternoon Andrea accidentally drowns in a diving accident. Over the following weeks, Giovanni, his wife Paola (Laura Morante), and daughter Irene (Jasmine Trinca), remain shell-shocked with grief; with Giovanni suspending his practice, and relations between himself and Paola becoming increasingly difficult. When a letter then arrives from a girl who Andrea had met the previous summer, who none of the family knew anything about, they all become curious to learn more about this person who meant so much to their departed son and brother. - Director:
- Nanni Moretti
- Cast:
- Nanni Moretti, Laura Morante, Jasmine Trinca
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No Man's Land (2001)Nicija Zemlja
Against the sunny landscape of a Bosnian summer, two enemy soldiers are trapped in a trench in no man's land. The world's press watch as a French UN sergeant battles with a British colonel to negotiate their safety. And the only people who speak the same language are the men fighting each other for survival in the trench. Surprisingly funny, strikingly moving, No Man's Land is a portrait of the petty normality, not only of one particular war, but of all conflicts everywhere. - Director:
- Danis Tanovic
- Cast:
- Branko Djuric, Rene Bitorajac, Filip Sovagovic
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A passion-filled poet falls for a breathtaking courtesan in this exotic musical love story from the unique and spellbinding imagination of visionary director Baz Luhrmann. Stunning performances from stars Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor fuel this moving romantic journey set in and around a fabulous sensuous night club. Mesmerizing and exuberant entertainment, the film pops with a contemporary, chart-topping soundtrack that makes Moulin Rouge an experience you won't forget! - Director:
- Baz Luhrmann
- Cast:
- Nicole Kidman, Ozzy Osbourne, Ewan McGregor
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An exuberant family drama set in Mira Nair's beloved Punjabi culture, where ancient tradition and dot-com modernity combine in unique and perfect harmony. As the romantic monsoon rains loom, the extended Verma family reunites from around the globe for a last-minute arranged marriage in New Delhi. Monsoon Wedding traces five intersecting stories, each navigating different aspects of love as they cross boundaries of class, continent and morality. The film celebrates a contemporary India never seen before. - Director:
- Mira Nair
- Cast:
- Mira Nair, Naseeruddin Shah, Lillete Dubey
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