The best independent movies of the last 20 years
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- DirectorUlrich SeidlStarsMaria HofstätterChristine JirkuViktor HennemannIn the tomb-like quiet of their ranch-style purgatory, a divorced husband and wife fight a wordless war while mourning an unspeakable mutual loss. A sadistic lover's ritual humiliation spawns both tenderness and revenge.Ice-cold, sterile view of society's decay. Fantastic acting, horrible reality, hits you like a freight train.
- DirectorBouli LannersStarsBouli LannersFabrice AddePhilippe NahonYvan finds a burglar in his house. He doesn't call the police and decides to give the young man a lift home to his parents.A brilliant road movie which causes you to laugh and shed tears simultaneously.
- DirectorGregg ArakiStarsBrady CorbetJoseph Gordon-LevittElisabeth ShueTwo pre-adolescent boys both experienced a strange event and later it affects their lives in different ways. One becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous prostitute, while the other retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction.The best ever movie on a very problematic, taboo issue: pedophilia. Objective, without moralizing, but in the same time tender and intelligent look on how differently people embrace a difficult traumatic past experience.
- DirectorRémy BelvauxAndré BonzelBenoît PoelvoordeStarsBenoît PoelvoordeJacqueline Poelvoorde-PappaertNelly PappaertA film crew follows a ruthless thief and heartless killer as he goes about his daily routine. But complications set in when the film crew lose their objectivity and begin lending a hand.Mockumentary on a psycho killer let loose somewhere in Belgium. Benoit Poelvoorde should have received an oscar for his performance - incredible. Witty and repulsive in the same time.
- DirectorMichel GondryStarsJim CarreyKate WinsletTom WilkinsonWhen their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories forever.Brilliant, very emotional and romantic and cleverly complicated view on love.
- DirectorManuel PoirierStarsSergi LópezSacha BourdoÉlisabeth VitaliCatalonian Paco is a traveling rep for a shoe manufacturer. When he stops to pick up Russian emigree hitchhiker Nino, Paco soon finds himself on the side of the road with everything stolen out from under him. Local gift shop owner Marinette gives the Spaniard a lift. Their mutual attraction manifests itself quickly, and Paco, who was fired over the stolen-car episode, hangs around. When he happens to spot Nino in the same town, he beats up the scrawny Russian, who lands in the hospital. Oddly enough, this marks the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Paco and Nino soon take the trip down the road together.Another fantastic heart-warming road movie about friendship.
- 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.Almost Freud-like study of the effects of completely blocking your children from the outside world. Not for the faint-hearted.
- DirectorMira NairStarsNaseeruddin ShahLillete DubeyShefali ShahA stressed father, a bride-to-be with a secret, a smitten event planner, and relatives from around the world create much ado about the preparations for an arranged marriage in India.Warm, gracious movie about love and its consequences.
- DirectorMichael HanekeStarsDaniel AuteuilJuliette BinocheMaurice BénichouA married couple is terrorized by a series of surveillance videotapes left on their front porch.Features the best scene ever - period - in any movie. I won't tell, you have to find out for yourself. Sufficed to say it is a typical Haneke scene...
- DirectorTom McCarthyStarsRichard JenkinsHaaz SleimanDanai GuriraA college professor travels to New York City to attend a conference and finds a young couple living in his apartment.Intelligent look on nowadays american society and xenophobia.
- DirectorUlrich SeidlStarsMaria HofstätterNabil SalehRené RupnikA single woman in her 50s devotes her vacations to doing Catholic missionary work in Vienna, descending into violent self-punishment as part of her faith.Only two actors carry this movie and the drama is palpable.
- DirectorYorgos LanthimosStarsBarry G. BernsonHerb CaillouetBill CampSteven, a charismatic surgeon, is forced to make an unthinkable sacrifice after his life starts to fall apart, when the behavior of a teenage boy he has taken under his wing turns sinister.Starts out with lots of symbolism but completely engrosses the viewer as it develops.
- DirectorAsghar FarhadiStarsTaraneh AlidoostiGolshifteh FarahaniShahab HosseiniThe mysterious disappearance of a kindergarten teacher during a picnic in the north of Iran is followed by a series of misadventures for her fellow travelers.A thriller with lots of intelligent commentary on society
- DirectorRuben ÖstlundStarsClaes BangElisabeth MossDominic WestA prestigious Stockholm museum's chief art curator finds himself in times of both professional and personal crisis as he attempts to set up a controversial new exhibit.Brilliant analysis of modern day society.
- DirectorAndrey ZvyagintsevStarsAleksey SerebryakovElena LyadovaRoman MadyanovIn a Russian coastal town, Kolya is forced to fight the corrupt mayor when he is told that his house will be demolished. He recruits a lawyer friend to help, but the man's arrival brings further misfortune for Kolya and his family.A hardcore movie that left me completely speechless