griggs's - Favourite 100 Films List
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Edward Yang's multi-award-winning film looks at several turbulent weeks in the life of the Jian family. Husband and father NJ (Nien-Jen Wu) is a partner in a failing software company, which might just save itself by teaming up with an innovative Japanese games designer. Meanwhile his wife Min-Min (Elaine Jin) has gone off to a mountain retreat with a dubious guru, his teenage daughter Ting Ting (Kelly Lee) is getting her first, rough lessons in love, his young son Yang-Yang (Jonathan Chang) is asking difficult questions and getting into trouble at school - and his mother-in-law has suffered a stroke and lies in a coma. In the middle of all the confusion NJ runs into his childhood sweetheart Sherry, the girl he jilted twenty years earlier, and starts to wonder about starting over. - Director:
- Edward Yang
- Cast:
- Nien-Jen Wu, Ray Fan, Elaine Jin
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Persona (1966)Kinematografi
Bergman's masterpiece of self-doubt, identity and eroticism is an audacious example of cinematic art. The notional story centres on newly mute actor Elisabet (Liv Ullmann) recuperating at her coastal holiday home in the care of a nurse, Alma (Bibi Andersson). As tensions between the pair grow, their very selves seem to blur, chronology becomes uncertain and what is real and unreal loses significance. Yet the true impact of Persona goes beyond mere storytelling, touching, as Bergman said, 'wordless secrets that only the cinema can discover'. - Director:
- Ingmar Bergman
- Cast:
- Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Margaretha Krook
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In the Mood for Love (2000)Hua yang nian hua
Hong Kong, 1962. Chow (Tony Leung) is a junior newspaper editor with an elusive wife. His new neighbour Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) is a secretary whose husband seems to spend all his time on business trips. They become friends, making the lonely evenings more bearable. As their relationship develops they make a discovery that changes their lives forever... - Director:
- Kar-Wai Wong
- Cast:
- Roy Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Paulyn Sun
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Memories of Murder (2003)Salin ui Chu-eok
In 1986 Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, after two women are found raped and murdered, Seoul detective Seo Tae-yoon (Sang-kyung Kim) is brought in to help local detective Park Doo-man (Kang-ho Song) with the investigation. As more bodies are found, the pair realise they have a serial killer on their hands. Inspired by true events, Bong Joon Ho's sophomore feature blends true-crime with social satire and even comedy is his typically masterful fashion. - Director:
- Joon-Ho Bong
- Cast:
- Kang-ho Song, Sang-kyung Kim, Roe-ha Kim
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Cassavetes' most commercially successful feature and a benchmark of American independent cinema, 'A Woman Under the Influence' is a devastating drama starring Gena Rowlands as Mabel Longhetti, a mother of three whose blue collar husband Nick (Peter Falk) toils as a construction worker. Their simmering differences lead to a series of domestic dramas that eventually culminate in Mabel's nervous breakdown and six-month stay in a psychiatric hospital. Once released, Mabel and Nick must confront their uncertain futures. - Director:
- John Cassavetes
- Cast:
- Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, Fred Draper
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The acclaimed latest from writer-director Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas, Wings of Desire), 'Perfect Days' is a luminous reflection on the beauty found in everyday life. Koji Yakusho (13 Assassins) stars as Hirayama, a contemplative middle-aged man who lives a life of modesty and serenity, spending his days balancing his job as a dutiful caretaker of Tokyo's numerous public toilets with his passion for music, literature and photography. As we join him on his structured daily routine, a series of unexpected encounters gradually begin to reveal a hidden past that lies behind his otherwise content and harmonious life. Featuring an unforgettable soundtrack of classic rock and pop, this is a tender, shimmering and ultimately life-affirming marvel. - Director:
- Wim Wenders
- Cast:
- Kôji Yakusho, Tokio Emoto, Arisa Nakano
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A tall, handsome 'preacher' - his knuckles eerily tattooed with 'love' and 'hate' - roams the countryside, spreading the gospel...and leaving a trail of murdered women in his wake. To Reverend Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum), the work of the Lord has more to do with condemning souls than saving them, especially when his own interests are involved. Now his sights are set on $10,000 - and two little children are the only ones who know where it is. 'Chill...dren!' the preacher croons to the terrified boy and girl hiding in the cold, dark cellar...innocent young lambs who refuse to be led astray. - Director:
- Charles Laughton
- Cast:
- Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish
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Underground (1995)Bila jednom jedna zemlja / Once Upon a Time There Was a Country
This extraordinarily dramatic black tragicomedy is an epic tale of love, friendship and betrayal set against the complex historical backdrop of the former Yugoslavia. The story follows two likeable crooks - Marko (Miki Manojlovic), a charmer who manipulates everyone within his reach, and the foolish but loveable Blacky (Lazar Ristovski) - and Natalija (Mirjana Jokovic), an actress of easy virtue with whom they are both in love. The three become embroiled in a world of conflict, self-delusion and deceit - but where there are also moments of tenderness and love - in this visionary allegory of Balkan vitality, energy, humour and the will to survive. - Director:
- Emir Kusturica
- Cast:
- Predrag 'Miki' Manojlovic, Lazar Ristovski, Mirjana Jokovic
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Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)A Woman tries to do her Taxes
As she braced for an IRS audit, middle-aged emigré Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) felt a failure as wife, daughter, mother, and businesswoman. It was a heck of a time to discover that she could tap into the abilities of countless variant versions of herself across reality - and that she would need them to conquer a threat poised to collapse it all. Audacious fantasy-action farce from the makers of "Swiss Army Man" co-stars Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, James Hong, and Jamie Lee Curtis. - Director:
- Dan Kwan
- Cast:
- Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Jamie Lee Curtis
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The acclaimed fourth film from groundbreaking writer and director Quentin Tarantino, 'Kill Bill: Volume 1' stars Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu and Vivica A. Fox in an astonishing. action-packed thriller about brutal betrayal and an epic vendetta! Four years after taking a bullet in the head at her own wedding, the bride (Thurman) emerges from a coma and decides it's time for payback...with a vengeance. Having been gunned down by her former boss (David Carradine) and his deadly squad of international assassins, it's a kill-or-be-killed fight she didn't start but is determined to finish! Loaded with explosive action and outrageous humour, it's a must-see motion picture event that had critics everywhere raving! - Director:
- Quentin Tarantino
- Cast:
- Uma Thurman, Ai Maeda, Naomi Kusumi
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