griggs's - Letterboxd Official Top 250 Narrative Feature Films List
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Andrei Rublev (1966)Andrey Rublyov
Widely regarded as Tarkovsky's finest film, 'Andrei Rublev' charts the life of the great icon painter through a turbulent period of 15th Century Russian history, a period marked by endless fighting between rival Princes and Tatar invastions. Made on an epic scale, it does not flinch from portraying the savagery of the time, from which, almost inexplicably, the serenity of Rublev's art arose. The great set-pieces - the sack of Vladimir, the casting of the bell, the pagan ceremonies of St. John's night and the Russian crucifixion are tours-de-force of visceral film-making. - Director:
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Cast:
- Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Klara Rumyanova, Ivan Lapikov
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C.C. "Bud" Baxter (Jack Lemmon) knows the way to success in business...it's through the door of his apartment! By providing a perfect hideaway for philandering bosses, the ambitious young employee reaps a series of underserved promotions. But when Bud lends the key to big boss J.D. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray), he not only advances his career, but his own love life as well. For Sheldrake's mistress is the lovely Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), elevator girl and angel of Bud's dreams. Convinced that he is the only man for Fran, Bud must make the most important executive decision of his career: lose the girl... or his job. - Director:
- Billy Wilder
- Cast:
- Jack Lemmon, Edith Simmons, Shirley MacLaine
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Apocalypse Now (1979)Apocalypse Now Redux / Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier / Apocalypse Now: Final Cut
Francis Ford Coppola's stunning vision of man's heart of darkness revealed through the madness of the Vietnam War. Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) receives orders to seek out a renegade military outpost led by the mysterious Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando). Willard's mission: "Terminate with extreme prejudice". - Director:
- Francis Ford Coppola
- Cast:
- Martin Sheen, Hattie James, Marlon Brando
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Tokyo Story / Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (1953)Tôkyô monogatari / Todake no kyôdai
A constant fixture in critics' polls, Yasujiro Ozu's most enduring masterpiece, 'Tokyo Story', is a beautifully nuanced exploration of filial duty, expectation and regret. From the simple tale of an elderly husband and wife's visit to Tokyo to see their grown-up children, Ozu draws a compelling contrast between the measured dignity of age and the hurried insensitivity of a younger generation. - Director:
- Yasujirô Ozu
- Cast:
- Chishû Ryû, Chieko Higashiyama, Sô Yamamura
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The Cranes Are Flying (1957)Letyat Zhuravli
This landmark film by the virtuosic Mikhail Kalatozov was heralded as a revelation in the post-Stalin Soviet Union and the international cinema community alike. It tells the story of Veronica (Tatiana Samoilova) and Boris (Alexei Batalov), a couple who are blissfully in love until World War II tears them apart. With Boris at the front, Veronica must try to ward off spiritual numbness and defend herself from the increasingly forceful advances of her beau's draft-dodging cousin. - Director:
- Mikhail Kalatozov
- Cast:
- Tatyana Samoylova, Aleksey Batalov, Vasiliy Merkurev
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Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, an ageing silent film queen, and William Holden as the struggling writer who is held in thrall by her madness, created two of the screen's most memorable characters in 'Sunset Boulevard'. Winner of three Academy Awards, director Billy Wilder's orchestration of the bizarre tale is a true cinematic classic. From the unforgettable opening sequence through the inevitable unfolding of tragic destiny, the film is the definitive statement on the dark and desperate side of Hollywood. Erich von Stroheim as Desmond's discoverer, ex-husband and butler, and Nancy Olson as the bright spot in unrelenting ominousness, are equally celebrated for their masterful performances. - Director:
- Billy Wilder
- Cast:
- William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim
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Twins Jeanne (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin) and Simon (Maxim Gaudette) are left two envelopes in their mother's will, asking them to find a brother they never knew existed, and father they believed to be dead. Journeying from Canada to Lebanon to unravel this mystery, they begin to uncover the terrifying secrets of their mother's tumultuous and brutal past, their discoveries moving them ever closer to a gut-wrenching and inevitable truth that will define their very existence. - Director:
- Denis Villeneuve
- Cast:
- Lubna Azabal, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette
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The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)La passion de Jeanne d'Arc
One of the most emotional film experiences of any era, Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1928 'The Passion of Joan of Arc' is a miracle of the cinema, an enigmatic and profoundly moving work that merges the worlds of the viewer and of saintly loan herself into one shared experience of hushed delirium. Drever's film charts the final days of Joan of Arc as she undergoes the debasement that accompanies her trial for charges of heresy - through her imprisonment and execution at the stake. - Director:
- Carl Theodor Dreyer
- Cast:
- Maria Falconetti, Eugene Silvain, André Berley
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Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2020)Portrait de la jeune fille en feu
Painter Marianne (Noemie Merlant) is commissioned by an affluent countess to paint the wedding portrait of her sheltered but headstrong daughter Héloïse (Adele Haenel). While posing as her hired companion, Marianne is instructed to complete the portrait in secret, observing Héloïse by day and painting her by night. However, as the two women grow closer, their intimacy and attraction begins to blossom, paving the way for a simmering, star-crossed romance. - Director:
- Céline Sciamma
- Cast:
- Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Luàna Bajrami
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Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) is an ambitious young jazz drummer, in pursuit of rising to the top of his elite music conservatory. Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), an instructor known for his terrifying teaching methods, discovers Andrew and transfers the aspiring drummer into the top jazz ensemble, forever changing the young man's life. But Andrew's passion to achieve perfection quickly spirals into obsession, as his ruthless teacher pushes him to the brink of his ability and his sanity. - Director:
- Damien Chazelle
- Cast:
- Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist
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Fanny and Alexander (1982)Fanny och Alexander
"Fanny and Alexander" is Bergman's dreamlike family chronicle. The Ekdahl's are an upper-middle-class theatrical family sheltered by their own theatrics from the deepening chaos of the outside world. One tumultuous year in the life of the Ekdahl family is viewed through the eyes of ten-year-old Alexander (Bertil Guve), whose imagination fuels the magical goings-on leading up to and following the death of his father. His mother's remarriage to a stern prelate banishes Alexander and his sister Fanny (Pernilla Allwin) from all known joys, and thrusts them and the movie into a kind of gothic horror. The bishop is a Bergmanesque character whose severity has gone awry - he has become sinister - and the film's round rejection of him in favour of "kindness, affection and goodness" may be Bergman's fondest farewell to cinema. - Director:
- Ingmar Bergman
- Cast:
- Bertil Guve, Pernilla Allwin, Kristina Adolphson
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Paul Schrader's visually stunning, collage-like portrait of acclaimed Japanese author and playwright Yukio Mishima (played by Ken Ogata) investigates the inner turmoil and contradictions of a man who attempted an impossible harmony between self, art, and society. Taking place on Mishima's last day, when he famously committed public seppuku, the film is punctuated by extended flashbacks to the writer's life as well as by gloriously stylized evocations of his fictional works. With its rich cinematography by John Bailey, exquisite sets and costumes by Eiko Ishioka, and unforgettable, highly influential score by Philip Glass, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters is a tribute to its subject and a bold, investigative work of art in its own right. - Director:
- Paul Schrader
- Cast:
- Ken Ogata, Masayuki Shionoya, Hiroshi Mikami
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The story of a team of pioneers undertaking the most important mission in human history. Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey stars as ex-pilot-turned-farmer Cooper, who must leave his family and a foundering Earth behind to lead an expedition travelling beyond this galaxy to discover whether mankind has a future among the stars. - Director:
- Christopher Nolan
- Cast:
- Matthew McConaughey, Bill Irwin, Anne Hathaway
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The Battle of Algiers (1966)La Battaglia di Algeri
Gillo Pontecorvo's multi-award winning picture 'The Battle of Algiers' has perhaps never been as pertinent as it is now. Set from 1954 to 1962, the movie uses documentary-style black and white photography to recreate real events. Algerian liberation fighters use terrorist techniques against the French colonial occupiers; the French retaliate with brutal military force. Brilliantly directed set-pieces and remarkable crowd scenes make the film a masterpiece; the ominous familiarity of its subject makes it a must-see" - The Times How to win battle against terrorism and lose the war of ideas. Children shoot soldiers at point blank range. Women plant bombs in Cafes. Sounds familiar? The French have a plan. It succeeds tactically, but fails strategically. To understand why, come to a rare showing of this film.'' - Pentagon tlyer for their in-house screening of Battle Of Algiers All the armies of the world - including the Pentagon - will never, but never, be able to conquer a country which wants to control its own destiny" - Saadi Yacef - Director:
- Gillo Pontecorvo
- Cast:
- Brahim Hadjadj, Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi
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Close Up (1990)Nema-ye Nazdik
A brilliant exploration of the power of movies, 'Close-Up' reconstructs the true story of a cinephile's attempt to become a filmmaker he admires. Hossein Sabzian introduces himself as celebrated Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf and, under the pretext of working on a film project, enters the private life of a well-to-do Teheran family and eventually faces fraud charges. - Director:
- Abbas Kiarostami
- Cast:
- Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Hossain Sabzian, Abolfazl Ahankhah
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