-35-
El

Year: 1953
Director: Luis Buñuel
Buñuel’s most scathing, wickedly funny attack on the Church, El explores the irrational jealousy of a respectable churchgoer, whose deeply ingrained sexual neuroses, firmly rooted in the repressive practices of the Church, come to the fore soon after his marriage, sparking within him paranoid suspicions of his wife’s unfaithfulness and ultimately compelling […]

Posted on August 22nd, 2009 by Mat Viola
Filed under: Top 50 Countdown | No Comments »

 
-40-
The Long Goodbye

Year: 1973
Director: Robert Altman
Altman’s revisionist masterpiece places a ‘50s style version of Philip Marlowe within the narcissistic, morally indifferent milieu of ‘70s L.A., an inspired conceit which allows Altman to critique the selfish Me-generation and parody the conventions of the private eye genre while also telling an engrossing mystery story, aided by Elliot […]

Posted on August 15th, 2009 by Mat Viola
Filed under: Top 50 Countdown | No Comments »

 
-45-
Shoot the Piano Player

Year: 1960
Director: François Truffaut
Balancing playful comedy, moving romance, winking reflexivity and dark existential tragedy within a narrative involving a honky-tonk pianist’s failed efforts to remain emotionally detached from the world, Truffaut’s Shoot the Piano Player deliriously blends genres, styles and tones with the kind of cinematic razzmatazz associated with talented young filmmakers […]

Posted on August 1st, 2009 by Mat Viola
Filed under: Top 50 Countdown | No Comments »