
Blue Velvet
(1986)A college kid stumbles across a bizarre mystery lurking beneath his hometown's picture-postcard veneer and wants to know more—perhaps too much more.

Delicatessen
(1991)In this dystopian dark comedy, a landlord’s culinary secret may be related to why his handymen disappear, until his daughter falls for his newest hire.

Decision to Leave
(2022)A detective investigates the unnatural death of a man in the mountains and begins to develop feelings for the murder suspect, the man's mysterious wife.

Good Time
(2017)After a botched robbery lands his younger brother in prison, a small-time criminal traverses the depraved underbelly of New York City in search of bail money before the sun rises in this masterful, twisting pulse-pounder.

Holy Spider
(2022)Zar Amir Ebrahimi won Best Actress in Cannes for her performance as a fearless reporter in Ali Abbasi’s gripping serial-killer procedural. Based on a shocking true story, Holy Spider prowls the Iranian night, refusing to pull any punches in its trenchant critiques of misogyny and hypocrisy.

Irreversible
(2002)Starring Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci, Gaspar Noé’s infamous backtracking revenge thriller is a groundbreaking, frightening provocation that caused much controversy at its premiere in Cannes. A viciously dark story audaciously told, Irreversible is not for the faint of heart!

Kids Return
(1996)A coming-of-age gem, Takeshi Kitano’s spirited look at teenage delinquency delicately tempers its violent provocations with tender moments of male camaraderie and affection. Featuring gorgeous music by Joe Hisaishi and an unforgettable color palette, Kids Return is a richly emotional paean to youth.

Mean Streets
(1973)While neither Scorsese nor De Niro’s debut, few films have launched young talent with such rousing confidence as this first collaboration. More intimate than their future crime epics, Keitel’s attempts at penance also keep the film of a piece with Scorsese’s later explorations of crises of faith.

The Girl with the Needle
(2024)Struggling to survive in post-WWI Copenhagen, a newly unemployed and pregnant young woman is taken in by a charismatic elder to help run an underground adoption agency. The two form an unexpected bond, until a sudden discovery changes everything.

Thief
(1981)A master safecracker plans his last heist for the sake of a woman but the gangster who hires him won't let go so easily in this tense drama.

Tangerine
(2015)Heartbroken on Christmas Eve, a trans sex worker embarks on a journey across L.A. to get revenge on her cheating pimp boyfriend and his new cis lover.

Winter's Bone
(2010)Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, this enveloping drama by Debra Granik (Leave No Trace) also launched Lawrence’s career with her fiery turn as an ordinary hero. An intimate odyssey of family, women, and survival, set in the Ozark mountains.

13 Tzameti
(2006)Tension simmers until it reaches an explosive boil in Géla Babluani’s taut, atmospheric noir. Etched in stark monochrome, this story of a hard-on-his-luck Georgian immigrant and his struggles to support his family arches with unexpected twists. A triumph of diabolical filmmaking imagination.

A Most Violent Year
(2014)In 1981, an immigrant family tries to expand their business as rampant violence and corruption threaten to destroy all they have built.

Beating Hearts
(2024)Starring the inimitable Adèle Exarchopoulos and cowritten with Audrey Diwan, this thrilling film zooms from criminal underworld to teen romance, ricocheting through time and genre. Quickening pulses and breaking hearts, Gilles Lelouche’s second solo-directed feature pops with outrageous flair.

The Foreigner
(2017)Weaponizing tropes to neo-feminist ends, Coralie Fargeat fires on all cylinders in this killer film. Adrenalized by the same fascination with transformation that sparks across The Substance, the provocateur filmmaker empowers her heroine to go from Barbie to badass with dangerous, delirious style.

Calm with Horses
(2020)The loyalties of an ex-boxer-turned-enforcer for a drug-dealing family are tested when his ruthless employers order him to kill for the first time.

First Love
(2019)Throughout a single night in Tokyo, Leo, a young boxer, and Monica, a sex worker, meet in a whirlwind of romance and accidental drug smuggling.

The Settlers
(2023)Chile, 1901. Three horsemen embark on an expedition, tasked with securing a wealthy landowner’s vast property. Accompanying a British lieutenant and an American mercenary is mestizo marksman Segundo, who comes to realize their true mission is to violently “remove” the indigenous population.

The Wild Goose Lake
(2019)After winning the Berlinale Golden Bear with Black Coal, Thin Ice, Diao Yinan returns with a hyper-stylised noir set in modern China’s underbelly. Twisting the conventions of the genre, this impressively crafted choreography of violence, moral decay and neon colours is striking, intoxicating cinema.