Kermode's 50 Films Every Film Fan Should Watch
BFI list
List activity
203 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
50 titles
- DirectorClio BarnardStarsManjinder VirkChristine BottomleyNatalie GavinPortrayal of the late Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar.Artist Clio Barnard’s moving film about the late Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar (Rita, Sue and Bob Too) is no ordinary documentary. Mixing interviews with Dunbar’s family and friends (seen lip-synched by actors), scenes from her plays performed on the estate where she lived, and TV footage of her in the 1980s, the film makes intriguing, inventive play with fact, fiction and reminiscence.
Mark Kermode says: “Somehow the disparate elements form a strikingly cohesive whole, conjuring a portrait of the artist and her offspring that is both emotionally engaging, stylistically radical and utterly unforgettable.” - DirectorNicolas RoegStarsArt GarfunkelTheresa RussellHarvey KeitelA psychiatrist, living in Vienna, enters a torrid relationship with a married woman. When she ends up in the hospital from an overdose, an inspector becomes set on discovering the demise of their affair.Seen in flashback through the prism of a woman’s attempted suicide, this fragmented portrait of a love affair expands into a labyrinthine enquiry into memory and guilt. One of director Nic Roeg’s finest films, starring Art Garfunkel, Theresa Russell and Harvey Keitel.
Mark Kermode says: “Roeg himself reported that a friend refused to talk to him for three years after seeing the film. Today, Bad Timing still divides audiences: monstrosity or masterpiece? Well, watch it and decide for yourself.” - DirectorJean CocteauRené ClémentStarsJean MaraisJosette DayMila ParélyA beautiful young woman takes her father's place as the prisoner of a mysterious beast, who wishes to marry her.With its enchanted castle, home to fantastic living statuary, and director Jean Cocteau’s lover Jean Marais starring as a Beast who is at once brutal and gentle, rapacious and vulnerable, shamed and repelled by his own bloodlust, this remains a high point of the cinematic gothic imagination.
Mark Kermode says: “Personally I think Mexican filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro, the maestro of the modern screen fairytale, said it best when he declared La Belle et la Bête simply to be the most perfect cinematic fable ever told.” - DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsDeborah KerrDavid FarrarFlora RobsonA group of nuns struggle to establish a convent in the Himalayas, while isolation, extreme weather, altitude, and culture clashes all conspire to drive the well-intentioned missionaries mad.A group of nuns open a makeshift convent in the foothills of the Himalayas but soon find their vows challenged in this new, exotic environment. Deborah Kerr’s Sister Clodagh has a spiritual crisis, while a fellow nun, brilliantly played by Kathleen Byron, becomes erotically obsessed with a British agent, leading to an unforgettable ending.
Mark Kermode says: “Black Narcissus is a vividly sensual work, which looks unlike any other British film of the period. Oscar wins for Jack Cardiff’s cinematography and Alfred Junge for production design confirm it as a technical triumph, but it is still so much more than that. It is a work of extraordinary power and passion from Powell and Pressburger.” - DirectorDavid LeanStarsRex HarrisonConstance CummingsKay HammondA man and his second wife are haunted by the ghost of his first wife.When an eccentric spiritualist summons a man’s first wife, the ghost refuses to leave, much to his and his second wife’s frustration in this wonderful comedy based on one of Noël Coward’s most beloved plays. Rex Harrison and Constance Cummings are great as the husband and second wife, but the funniest turns come from Kay Hammond as the spoilt first wife and Margaret Rutherford as the batty medium.
Mark Kermode says: “A spicy screen comedy filmed in blushing technicolour… why Lean is still considered one of Britain’s greatest directors.” - DirectorSaul DibbStarsAshley WaltersLuke FraserLeon BlackIn one of East London's most volatile neighborhoods, pride, rivalry and revenge are the only codes on the street. Touted as a British Boyz in the Hood, Bullet Boy is a gripping and authentic drama that takes an unflinching look at two troubled, street-smart boys. Fresh out of jail, 18-year-old Ricky (Ashley Walters, Get Rich or Die Tryin') and his 12-year-old brother, Curtis, struggle to walk the straight and narrow when a minor street clash escalates into an all-out neighborhood war. For Ricky and Curtis, friendships, family and loyalty will be tested to the extreme in a world where guns are a fact of everyday life and boys try to be men before they're even teenagers. Music by Massive Attack.Ashley Walters rose to fame as one of So Solid Crew but impresses here in his first lead acting role, anchoring Saul Dibb’s stark and compelling urban drama. When Ricky (Walters) is released from prison he soon finds himself drawn back into old ways, while trying protect his brother Curtis (Luke Fraser) from the advances of a local gang.
Mark Kermode says: “Both Dibb and Walters have travelled far since the days of Bullet Boy, but this urgent, low-budget British drama remains a defining moment in both of their diverse careers.” - DirectorPeter HyamsStarsElliott GouldJames BrolinBrenda VaccaroWhen the first manned flight to Mars is deemed unsafe and scrubbed on the launch pad, anxious authorities must scramble to save face and retain their funding - and so an unthinkable plot to fake the mission is hatched.Peter Hyams’ stunning sci-fi thriller is steeped in post-Watergate paranoia. The world watches the first manned flight to Mars, unaware the mission is being faked. Forced to participate, the astronauts realise that when the hoax goes wrong, their existence threatens national security. In desperation, they escape…
Mark Kermode says: “After the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, it was easy for audiences to believe that governments were corrupt and recordings could be doctored – it is no wonder that so many people took Capricorn One at face value.” - DirectorJacques RivetteStarsJuliet BertoDominique LabourierBulle OgierA mysteriously linked pair of young women find their daily lives preempted by a strange boudoir melodrama that plays itself out in a hallucinatory parallel reality.Jacques Rivette’s biggest commercial hit is an exhilarating combination of the themes of theatricality, paranoia and ‘la vie parisienne’, all wrapped up in an extended and entrancing examination of the nature of filmmaking and film watching. Its freewheeling, playful spirit still captures the imagination of new audiences today.
Mark Kermode says: “A comparative commercial hit on its release, Céline and Julie Go Boating has since gone on to become a much sought after cult item and has influenced everyone from David Lynch to Susan Seidelman. It was also hailed as an influential female buddy movie by critic Jonathan Rosenbaum who wrote that many women consider it to be their favourite film about female friendship, and many men too.” - DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsPierre BatcheffSimone MareuilLuis BuñuelLuis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí present 16 minutes of bizarre, surreal imagery.“Seventeen minutes of pure, scandalous dream-imagery…reveals itself at each viewing to be richer and more indefinable, as the sensitivity of its shades of each mood become apparent.” (Raymond Durgnat). Buñuel and Dalí’s provocative first collaboration, a classic of surrealist cinema, is a scabrous study of desire, the subconscious and anti-clericalism.
Mark Kermode says: “Arguably the most celebrated work of surrealist cinema, a satirical gem which, when I first saw it at the Museum of the Moving Image as an unsuspecting young film fan, caused me to faint.” - DirectorNeil JordanStarsSarah PattersonAngela LansburyDavid WarnerA teenage girl in a country manor falls asleep while reading a magazine, and has a disturbing dream involving wolves prowling the woods below her bedroom window.The gothic landscape of the imagination has rarely been filmed with such invention as it was in Neil Jordan’s second feature. Within lavish, expressive sets, the teenage heroine begins to discover her sexuality and its dark, unsettling power. Wolves become human, humans become wolves. The film’s elaborate structure offers tales within tales, but what really grips is the utterly lucid fantasy.
Mark Kermode says: “Pitched somewhere between arthouse tract and exploitation horror movie, The Company of Wolves drew mixed responses from some baffled critics, but proved an enduring audience favourite. Today, it has become a timeless classic, which is studied by film scholars and adored by film fans alike. If you like your fairy tales to have teeth, this is the film for you.” - DirectorPeter SasdyStarsIngrid PittNigel GreenSandor ElèsIn 17th-century Hungary, elderly widow Countess Elisabeth Nádasdy maintains her misleading youthful appearance by bathing in the blood of virgins regularly supplied to her by faithful servant Captain Dobi.Public decency is breached with laudable regularity in Hammer’s 1971 tale, based on the legend of Elizabeth Báthory. Ingrid Pitt plays the widowed countess rejuvenated by virgins’ blood, and Nigel Green her accomplice and lover, Captain Dobi. Indignity is a theme and, for Pitt, a reality: her role was dubbed, and she never spoke to director Peter Sasdy again.
Mark Kermode says: “A bona fide screen icon, at the very height of her dark powers.” - DirectorVal GuestStarsEdward JuddJanet MunroLeo McKernWhen the U.S. and Russia unwittingly test atomic bombs at the same time, it alters the nutation (axis of rotation) of the Earth.When the USA and Russia simultaneously test atomic bombs, the Earth is knocked off its axis and set on a collision course with the sun. Peter Stenning (Edward Judd), a washed-up Daily Express reporter, breaks the story and sets about investigating the government cover-up. With strong performances (Leo McKern is a standout), a vivid depiction of the world of newspaper journalism and extensive location shooting on the streets of London, Val Guest delivers one of the best British sci-fi films.
Mark Kermode says: “Today, the film may seem almost quaint, but it’s as captivating as ever.” - DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJeremy IronsGeneviève BujoldHeidi von PalleskeTwin gynecologists take full advantage of the fact that nobody can tell them apart, until their relationship begins to deteriorate over a woman.David Cronenberg’s multi-award-winning psychological thriller explores the bizarre lives of identical twins, Elliot and Beverly, both played by Jeremy Irons. World-renowned gynaecologists, the twins share everything from their clinic to their women, until they meet Claire (Geneviève Bujold). Beverly falls in love with her, and a schism develops between the brothers for the first time.
Mark Kermode says: “It’s not the visual effects that dazzle, the real magic is in the performances, with Jeremy Irons using the Alexander technique to give Elliot and Beverly different stances, different energy points… The result is overwhelming, at times horrifying, but mostly heartbreaking.” - DirectorTerence DaviesStarsPete PostlethwaiteFreda DowieAngela WalshThe lives of an English working-class family are told out of order in a free-associative manner. The first part, "Distant Voices", focuses on the father's role in the family. The second part, "Still Lives", focuses on his children.Set in a world before Elvis, a Liverpool before the Beatles, Terence Davies’ debut feature is a remarkable evocation of working-class family life in the 1940s and 50s and a visionary exploration of memory. Davies’ poetic masterpiece has now acquired the status of a modern British classic.
Mark Kermode says: “Described at one point as ‘a forgotten masterpiece’, Distant Voices Still Lives has grown in stature over the years, and in 2011 it was voted the third best British film in a survey conducted by TimeOut magazine, beaten only by Nic Roeg’s Don’t Look Now and Carol Reed’s The Third Man.” - DirectorYorgos LanthimosStarsChristos StergioglouMichele ValleyAngeliki PapouliaA controlling, manipulative father locks his three adult offsprings in a state of perpetual childhood by keeping them prisoner within the sprawling family compound.Yorgos Lanthimos’ frighteningly relevant but mordantly witty look at a dysfunctional Greek family offers a brilliant if deeply disturbing analysis of the power dynamics of parent-child relationships. Highly original and insightful in its narrative details, and directed with an impressively cool, almost mechanical precision, the film was greeted as a breakthrough in Greek filmmaking.
Mark Kermode says: “Balancing astute social commentary with absurd tragi-comedy, Dogtooth has been read as a dissection of Greek society, both personal and political. Lanthimos retains a Lynchian quality of refusing to discuss his work, saying that, ‘If I wanted to discuss social problems I would have become a writer, but I am a filmmaker it is all I can do’.” - DirectorPeter GreenawayStarsAnthony HigginsJanet SuzmanAnne-Louise LambertA young artist is commissioned by the wife of a wealthy landowner to make a series of drawings of the estate while her husband is away.Peter Greenaway became a director of international status with this witty, stylised and erotic country house murder mystery. In an apparently idyllic 17th-century Wiltshire, an ambitious draughtsman is commissioned by the wife of an aristocrat to produce 12 drawings of her husband’s estate and negotiates terms to include sexual favours from his employer. Extravagant costumes, a twisting plot, elegantly barbed dialogue and a mesmerising score by Michael Nyman make the film a treat for ear, eye and mind.
Mark Kermode says: “It is weirdly wonderful, from Nyman’s Purcell-influenced score to Sue Blane’s eye-catching costumes. Most importantly the film shows a unique talent getting to grips with narrative cinema that is as engaging and alluring as it is baffling and perplexing.” - DirectorDavid LynchStarsAnthony HopkinsJohn HurtAnne BancroftA Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of kindness, intelligence and sophistication.John Hurt, unrecognisable beneath the makeup, delivers a tender performance as the severely deformed Joseph Merrick, rescued by Anthony Hopkins’ kindly surgeon from the hell of a circus sideshow to a more genteel world of scientific enquiry. David Lynch’s sensitive study of disability and difference was shot in lustrous black and white by veteran cinematographer and ex-Hammer director Freddie Francis.
Mark Kermode says: “There was nothing John Hurt couldn’t do, but it is a role in which his famous face was all but hidden and his mellifluous voice almost unrecognisable that ironically garnered some of his greatest reviews. - DirectorAntonia BirdStarsRobert CarlyleRay WinstoneSteve SweeneyIn the face of demise in his values, a socialist in England decides to form a gang and rob banks for a living.Robert Carlyle and Ray Winstone star in a stylish and exciting crime thriller from acclaimed director Antonia Bird (Safe, Priest). A close-knit gang of professional thieves plan an intricate heist but begin to turn on each other when things go wrong.
Mark Kermode says: “A cracking but often overlooked crime thriller from 1997, featuring a sharp script, a stellar cast, and a dynamite soundtrack. Directed by Antonia Bird, Face one of the UK’s most versatile and sorely missed filmmakers, Face is an ace heist-gone-wrong thriller that was correctly hailed by London’s Time Out magazine as a ‘muscular, raw and aggressive slice of vividly authentic populist cinema.’” - DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsBrigitte MiraEl Hedi ben SalemBarbara ValentinA lonely widow meets a much younger Moroccan worker in a bar during a rainstorm. They fall in love, to their own surprise and to the outright shock of their families, colleagues, and drinking buddies.Not a shot is wasted in this bold reworking of Douglas Sirk’s All That Heaven Allows (1955), which unfolds with gripping simplicity: one evening in Munich, an elderly cleaning lady (Brigitte Mira) escapes from the rain into a bar frequented by immigrants. To her surprise, the jukebox plays an old German tango and a handsome young Moroccan (El Hedi ben Salem) asks her to dance…
Mark Kermode says: “Sit back and experience a film that seems even more relevant today than it did in 1974.” - DirectorWerner HerzogStarsKlaus KinskiClaudia CardinaleJosé LewgoyThe story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an extremely determined man who intends to build an opera house in the middle of a jungle.One of Werner Herzog’s most acclaimed and audacious films, Fitzcarraldo tells the incredible story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald (played by Herzog regular Klaus Kinski), an opera-loving fortune hunter who dreams of bringing opera (specifically Caruso) to a remote trading post on the heart of the Peruvian jungle.
Mark Kermode says: “‘I live my life or end my life with this project’, declared Herzog, and he wasn’t kidding. No wonder Fitzcarraldo remains such an overwhelming experience.” - DirectorIshirô HondaStarsTakashi ShimuraAkihiko HirataAkira TakaradaAfter a dinosaur-like beast - awoken from undersea hibernation by atom bomb testing - ravages Tokyo, a scientist must decide if his similarly dangerous weapon should be used to destroy it.The original Godzilla is arguably the definitive monster movie – both a bold metaphor for the atomic age and a thrilling powerhouse of pioneering special effects. It stars Takashi Shimura as the revered palaeontologist who uncovers the horrible secret at the heart of the monster, a long dormant Jurassic beast awoken by the atom bomb. Don’t miss the film that instilled Japan – and the world – with an unquenchable appetite for destruction.
Mark Kermode says: “While the scenes of destruction viscerally recall the destruction of America’s nuclear strikes, the dialogue offers a surprisingly thoughtful meditation on the guilty responsibilities of scientific advancements… reveal in the mastery of this superb creature feature.” - DirectorBruno DumontStarsJulie SokolowskiKarl SarafidisYassine SalimeA young nun is expelled from a convent because of her extreme devoutness and forms a relationship with a radical Muslim.Céline, a young novice nun, is rejected by her convent as is attracted by the conviction and charisma of a Muslim religious teacher and activist in this provocative drama from Bruno Dumont (Camille Claudel 1915). Recalling the work of Robert Bresson, Hadewijch is an uncompromising film with an ending that will provide much debate among viewers. Exploring the themes of city and country, faith and fanaticism, it’s a unique and powerful study.
Mark Kermode says: “Make no mistake, Hadewijch is not for everyone, but if you are looking for something different, it’s challenging, arresting and thought-provoking fare.” - DirectorPeter SasdyStarsEric PorterAngharad ReesJane MerrowAs a young child Jack the Ripper's daughter witnesses him kill her mother. As a young woman she carries on the murderous reign of her father. A psychiatrist tries to cure her with tragic consequences.In Edwardian London, a series of gruesome murders match those of the Whitechapel Ripper, revealing an unlikely suspect. Hammer’s second stab at the Ripper (after 1949’s Room To Let) is an atmospheric curiosity anchored by its star. Angharad Rees gives depth and colour to the role of Anna, the young woman exploited by her twisted guardian (Dora Bryan), a medium haunted by visions of infamous Victorian killer. Peter Sasdy made this a particularly bloody affair, with results that still shock over four decades later.
Mark Kermode: “For all the film’s shortcomings, Sadsy brings a dash of Argento-esque style to the increasing splatter, ensuring that the hands of the Ripper continue to grip audiences even today.” - DirectorAlex CoxStarsRoberto SosaBruno BichirVanessa BaucheAgainst his father's wishes, Pedro, a naive kid from Mexico City, joins the Federal Highway Patrol. His simple desire to do good rapidly comes into conflict with the reality of police work.Highway Patrolman charts the harrowing transition from idealism to grim realism in an intense and brilliantly played character study that offers a fascinating and gritty insight into corruption and embittered disillusionment. Alex Cox’s Spanish-language film remains a high-point in an undervalued career, and it’s ahead of its time too, anticipating the wave of Mexican crime and corruption films that would follow in the 21st century.
Mark Kermode says: “A Mexican drama from British director Alex Cox, who made his name with the cult classic Repo Man, and cemented his reputation as the new rose of post-punk cinema with Sid & Nancy. It was described by the Los Angeles Times in 1991 as ‘Cox’s finest film to date.’ - DirectorWalerian BorowczykStarsLise DanversFabrice LuchiniCharlotte AlexandraAn erotic collection of short stories, an anthology comprised of tantalizing tales about sexual desire and its diverse manifestations.Walerian Borowczyk presents a history of sexual taboos, comprising four stories around unmentionable practices such as incest, bloodlust and bestiality that recur throughout history. Featuring historic characters such as Lucrezia Borgia and Erzsébet Báthory, Immoral Tales was considered an affront to decency upon its release, scandalising the London Film Festival in 1973 and becoming mired in censorship controversies for much of the decade.
Mark Kermode says: “Today it remains divisive, with scholars referring to it as Borowczyk’s least substantial work while others succumb to its bawdy pleasures. Art or exploitation? Watch it and decide for yourself.”