Belle de Jour (1967)

Director:   Luis Bunuel
Writers:    Luis Bunuel, Joseph Kessel, Jean-Claude Carriere
Language: French
Belle de Jour in French translates to Daylight Beauty. Severine is a young frigid housewife who has masochistic fantasies which leads her to spending her midweek afternoons as a prostitute.

The film is great in the sense that it doesn't go for cliches towards the end even though the events leading up to it seems to be run of the mill. Its another film in which Bunuel does not seem to care about the morals upheld by the society.

Martin Scorsese promoted the DVD release of the film in 2002.

Rating: 4.5/5

Il Conformista (The Conformist) (1970)

Director:   Bernardo Bertolucci
Writers:    Bernardo Bertolucci, Alberto Moravia (Novel)
Language: Italian
Bernardo Bertolucci's masterpiece film 'Il Conformista' is about a weak willed Italian man of wealthy family who becomes a Fascist flunky who goes aboard to arrange the assassination of his old teacher, a political dissident. Screenplay is based on Alberto Moravia's 1951 novel 'The Conformist'. The protagonist, Marcello, was harrased by his friends during his WW1 school years because of him belonging to a wealthy family and when grown up he longs for Normalcy and conformity which leads him to fascism. He develops feeling for his teacher's young wife and has second thoughts about his project.

The most striking aspect of the film is its cinematography done by Vittorio Storaro who went on to do 'Apocalypse Now'. There is one particular scene towards the end which takes your breath away. The fascist offices are shown huge beautiful halls.

Rating: 4.5/5

Viridiana (1961)

Director:   Luis Bunuel
Writer:      Luis Bunuel, Julio Alejandro, Benito Perez Galdos
Language: Spanish
Viridiana, a young nun about to take her final vows, pays a visit to her widowed uncle who rapes her. The uncle commits suicide the day after. Viridiana decides to stay in the house taking poor people into her care. She is joined in the house by uncle's son who was conceived outside the marriage.

Franco, Spanish dictator, invited back Bunuel from exile to do a film and this was Bunuel's message to him and religious charities. Franco was furious with the film and he tried to block it from Cannes. He was unsuccessful and it won Palme d'Or at Cannes. The point raised by Bunuel  in this film is poignant and is very relevant to our times. I could especially relate it to the aid given to African countries which just leads to corruption and lack of cooperation and trade between African countries.

The film is not surrealistic like other Bunuel films.

Rating: 3.5/5

Eraserhead (1977)

Director: David Lynch
Writer:    David Lynch
Cast:       Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Allen Joseph
There is not much point talking about plot in a David Lynch film. Eraserhead is Lynch's first feature film and it was produced with a $10,000 grant and as the money ran out he completed the film over five years. It was a midnight classic than ran as a cult classic in several American cities and London. Mel Brooks asked Lynch to direct 'The Elephant Man' after seeing this film and Eraserhead is a favorite for Stanley Kubrick as well. Kubrick showed it to the cast of Shining before the shoot began to convey to them what mood he was looking for in his film.

A notable feature of Eraserhead is its soundtrack. Throughout the most duration of the film it sounds like the one we get when we tune radio and at other times he uses industrial sounds.

Rating: 4/5

Bill Hicks: Sane Man (1989)

Directors: Kevin Booth, David Johndrow
Writer:     Bill Hicks
Stars:       Bill Hicks
Bill Hicks is regarded as a visionary by many of his mans and you can see why in this 1989 stand up show. He speaks about cigarette smoking, drugees, consumerism , pornography, George Michael, Hendrix and American presidents during this 80 minutes show. Its really worth a watch.

Rating: 4/5

Krótki film o zabijaniu (A Short Film About Killing) (1988)

Director:   Krzysztof Kieslowski
Writers:    Krzysztof Kieslowski, Krzysztof Piesiewicz
Language: Polish
Its a film that raises questions to those who advocate Death Penalty. The story is simple enough- Jacek is a troubled young man who is roaming the streets of Warsaw. He hires a taxi and kills the driver using a rope. Jacek is arrested (How and when is not shown) and Ballicki is the lawyer defending him, arguing against death penalty. Jacek is given death sentence and we are shown his execution by hanging after a talk he has with Ballicki.

Greatest thing about the film is that unlike other films like Green Mile, in which the convicts are shown with more courageous postures before their execution, Jacek is showing great fear and remorse before the execution. Whole thing is shown in a very realistic manner when it comes to his behavior as well as those who are preforming the execution. Only gripe I have is the victim Taxi Driver is shown as a very sadistic and shady person and I thought it was a cheap attempt to tilt the moral balance. It was not really needed in the context of the film.

Rating: 4/5

30 Minutes or Less (2011)

Director: Ruben Fleischer
Writers:  Michael Diliberti, Mathew Sullivan
Cast:      Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Nick Swardson
Two fledgling criminals kidnap a pizza delivery guy (Eisenberg), strap a bomb to his chest, and inform him that he has mere hours to rob a bank or else...

Film is set for release on August 12 in the US and is directed by Ruben Fleischer, who directed Zombieland.