Cinematic Essays
by anasi992 | created - 08 Sep 2017 | updated - 13 Oct 2020 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Häxan (1922)
Not Rated | 91 min | Documentary, Fantasy, Horror
Fictionalized documentary showing the evolution of witchcraft, from its pagan roots to its confusion with hysteria in Eastern Europe.
Director: Benjamin Christensen | Stars: Benjamin Christensen, Elisabeth Christensen, Maren Pedersen, Clara Pontoppidan
Votes: 16,740
2. À Propos de Nice (1930)
Not Rated | 24 min | Documentary, Short, Comedy
What starts off as a conventional travelogue turns into a satirical portrait of the town of Nice on the French Cote d'Azur, especially its wealthy inhabitants.
Directors: Boris Kaufman, Jean Vigo
Votes: 4,634
3. Las Hurdes (1933)
30 min | Documentary, Short
A surrealist film, a pseudo-documentary portrait of Las Hurdes, a remote region of Spain where civilisation has barely developed, showing how the local peasants try to survive without even the most basic utilities and skills.
Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Abel Jacquin, Alexandre O'Neill
Votes: 6,264
4. Bel Ami (1939)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama
Shortly after being demobilized, Georges Duroy becomes aware of his power over women in the arms of Rachel, a young singer. Thanks to his good looks and his charming manners and his ... See full summary »
Director: Willi Forst | Stars: Willi Forst, Olga Tschechowa, Johannes Riemann, Ilse Werner
Votes: 140
5. Life Begins Tomorrow (1950)
86 min | Documentary, Drama
Become a man of tomorrow ,and leave a little the past behind.
Director: Nicole Védrès | Stars: Jean-Pierre Aumont, André Labarthe, Jean-Paul Sartre, Daniel Lagache
Votes: 21
6. Bullfight (1951)
76 min | Documentary, Sport
Everything you wanted to know about bullfighting and bullfighters. After a historical insight into tauromachy, the film shows the way the bulls meant for the arena are raised and selected. ... See full summary »
Directors: Myriam Borsoutsky, Pierre Braunberger | Stars: Jean Desailly, Julio Aparicio, Carlos Arruza, Juan Belmonte
Votes: 13
7. Hôtel des Invalides (1952)
22 min | Documentary, Short
A tour of the Hotel des Invalides, and more particularly of the Army Museum and the Saint Louis Chapel. From François I's armor to Guynemer's airplane, to Napoleon's and Marshall Foch's ... See full summary »
Director: Georges Franju | Stars: Michel Simon, Choeurs des Petits Chanteurs de St. François
Votes: 405
8. Avec André Gide (1951)
85 min | Documentary
Throughout his life, André Gide was haunted by questions of a religious and moral nature. When he published "Les Nourritures terrestres" ("The Fruits of the Earth") in 1897, success opened the doors to the literary salons.
Director: Marc Allégret | Stars: André Gide, Roland Alexandre, Jean-Louis Barrault, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Votes: 25
9. Along the Coast (1958)
25 min | Documentary, Short, History
A humorous travelogue of the French Riviera.
Director: Agnès Varda | Stars: Roger Coggio, Anne Olivier, Jacopo Nizi
Votes: 1,753
10. Letter from Siberia (1958)
62 min | Documentary
A witty examination of life and culture in Siberia.
Director: Chris Marker | Star: Georges Rouquier
Votes: 844
11. Third Side of the Coin (1960)
60 min | Documentary
A documentary about the then only twelve year old country of Israel, caught amidst the tensions of the Middle East and the ongoing Cold War.
Director: Chris Marker | Stars: Ali, Père Gauthier, Monsieur Klein, Yaakov Malkin
Votes: 232
12. Love Meetings (1964)
Not Rated | 92 min | Documentary
Director Pasolini traverses Italy in 1963 with camera and microphone interviewing people in public places about sex, marriage and gender roles.
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini | Stars: Lello Bersani, Alberto Moravia, Cesare Musatti, Peppino Di Capri
Votes: 2,644
13. The Clowns (1970 TV Movie)
G | 92 min | Comedy
A ragout of real memories and mockumentary, as Fellini explores a childhood obsession: circus clowns.
Director: Federico Fellini | Stars: Riccardo Billi, Gigi Reder, Tino Scotti, Valentini
Votes: 2,958
14. The Sorrow and the Pity (1969)
PG | 251 min | Documentary, History, War
An in-depth exploration of the various reactions by the French people to the Vichy government's acceptance of the German invasion.
Director: Marcel Ophüls | Stars: Helmut Tausend, Marcel Verdier, Alexis Grave, Louis Grave
Votes: 4,098
15. Roma (1972)
R | 120 min | Comedy, Drama
A fluid, unconnected and sometimes chaotic procession of scenes detailing the various people and events of life in Italy's capital, most of it based on director Federico Fellini's life.
Director: Federico Fellini | Stars: Britta Barnes, Peter Gonzales Falcon, Fiona Florence, Pia De Doses
Votes: 13,809 | Gross: $0.73M
16. Filming 'Othello' (1978)
84 min | Documentary
Essay film shot for TV including Orson Welles reflections on Othello close to the Moviola, a chat with Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammóir and fragments of a conversation with the audience in Boston after a screening of the film.
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Orson Welles, Micheál MacLiammóir, Hilton Edwards
Votes: 531
17. Genèse d'un repas (1979)
115 min | Documentary
With this documentary on the plots and sub-plots of the universe of food, Moullet moves away from comedy to become a pioneer of today's trend to analyze the forms of globalization by ... See full synopsis »
Director: Luc Moullet | Stars: Paul Anquetil, Emile Azoulay, Gustavo Borges, Jean Bouy
Votes: 122
18. Mur murs (1981)
80 min | Documentary
Agnes Varda's documentary on murals in Los Angeles.
Director: Agnès Varda | Stars: Juliet Berto, Agnès Varda, Judy Baca, Terry Schoonhoven
Votes: 1,140
19. Tokyo-Ga (1985)
92 min | Documentary
Moved by the work of director Yasujirô Ozu, Wim Wenders travels to Japan in search of the Tokyo seen in Ozu's films.
Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: Chishû Ryû, Werner Herzog, Yûharu Atsuta, Chris Marker
Votes: 3,345
20. God's Country (1985 TV Movie)
90 min | Documentary
Original footage of the prosperous farming community of Glencoe Minnesota, 60 miles west of Minneapolis, was filmed in 1979 for a PBS documentary. But for the next six years Malle was too ... See full summary »
Director: Louis Malle | Stars: Louis Malle, Lowell Barnum, Arnold Beneke, Millie Beneke
Votes: 941
21. ...and the Pursuit of Happiness (1986 TV Movie)
80 min | Documentary
After acknowledging his own immigrant background, Malle, tries to present the range of immigrant experiences in the US during the 1980's. In an attempt to be comprehensive, the film ... See full summary »
Director: Louis Malle | Stars: Franklin Chang-Diaz, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Lenwood Johnson, Boris Lyoskin
Votes: 523
22. Roger & Me (1989)
R | 91 min | Documentary
After General Motors closes its factory in Flint, Michigan, eliminating 35,000 jobs, filmmaker Michael Moore undertakes a quixotic quest to interview General Motors' chairman, Roger B. Smith.
Director: Michael Moore | Stars: Michael Moore, Roger B. Smith, Rhonda Britton, Fred Ross
Votes: 27,518 | Gross: $6.71M
23. Hôtel Terminus (1988)
Unrated | 267 min | Documentary, Biography, History
A documentary about Klaus Barbie, the Gestapo chief of Lyon, and his life after the war.
Director: Marcel Ophüls | Stars: Klaus Barbie, Claude Lanzmann, Marcel Ophüls, Johannes Schneider-Merck
Votes: 1,592 | Gross: $0.34M
24. Notebook on Cities and Clothes (1989)
Not Rated | 81 min | Documentary
Wim Wenders talks with Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto about the creative process and ponders the relationship between cities, identity and the cinema in the digital age.
Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: Wim Wenders, Yohji Yamamoto
Votes: 1,106
25. Jacquot of Nantes (1991)
PG | 118 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
A boy growing up in Nantes during World War II around his father's auto shop has a love for puppet shows and cinema and develops it into his own art. Jacques Demy, the artist at the end of his life, reflects on his childhood influences.
Director: Agnès Varda | Stars: Philippe Maron, Edouard Joubeaud, Laurent Monnier, Brigitte De Villepoix
Votes: 2,000 | Gross: $0.15M
26. The Young Girls Turn 25 (1993)
64 min | Documentary, Music
A recital becomes part of the French culture; 25 years later the performers return to the village where it was first launched.
Director: Agnès Varda | Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Agnès Varda, Michel Legrand, Jacques Perrin
Votes: 533
27. Veillées d'armes (1994)
Not Rated | 224 min | Documentary, War
We follow Marcel Ophuls' two journeys to Sarajevo in 1993. He is starting a documentary about war correspondants. But this also becomes a reflexion about truth and life. The form consists ... See full summary »
Director: Marcel Ophüls | Stars: Christiane Amanpour, Paul Amar, Sergio Apollonio, Isabelle Baillancourt
Votes: 116
28. Lettre pour L... (1993)
100 min
Director: Romain Goupil | Stars: Françoise Prenant, Régine Provvedi, Anita Mancic, Alenka Mandik
Votes: 42
29. JLG/JLG: Self-Portrait in December (1994)
62 min | Documentary, Drama
Director Jean-Luc Godard reflects in this movie about his place in film history, the interaction of film industry and film as art, as well as the act of creating art.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Jean-Luc Godard, Geneviève Pasquier, Denis Jadót, Brigitte Bastien
Votes: 803
30. Looking for Richard (1996)
PG-13 | 111 min | Documentary, Drama
Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."
Director: Al Pacino | Stars: Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey, Frederic Kimball
Votes: 8,572 | Gross: $1.36M
31. Route One USA (1989)
255 min | Documentary
Doc (McIsaac), back from a decade in in Africa, and filmmaker Kramer, decide to follow Route 1, from the Canadian border all the way to the tip of Florida.
Director: Robert Kramer | Stars: Jesse Jackson, Paul McIsaac, Pat Robertson
Votes: 302
32. Buena Vista Social Club (1999)
G | 105 min | Documentary, Music
Aging Cuban musicians whose talents had been virtually forgotten following Castro's takeover of Cuba, are brought out of retirement by Ry Cooder, who travelled to Havana in order to bring the musicians together, resulting in triumphant performances of extraordinary music, and resurrecting the musicians' careers.
Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: Compay Segundo, Ibrahim Ferrer, Rubén González, Octavio Calderon
Votes: 20,550 | Gross: $7.00M
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