Brave New World: The Best of Modern Black and White Films
Everything changed in the 1960s. Black and white went from being the norm to a very specific aesthetic choice, which is also why contemporary black and white films have an added edge. Against conventional wisdom, and in most cases with the clear knowledge that it will hurt them at the box office, the below are the very best films that chose not to display life in living colours.
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- DirectorGuy MaddinStarsGretchen KrichSullivan BrownMaya LawsonReturned home to his long-estranged mother upon a request from her deathbed, a man raised by his parents in an orphanage has to confront the childhood memories that have long haunted him.
- DirectorLarisa ShepitkoStarsBoris PlotnikovVladimir GostyukhinSergey YakovlevTwo Soviet partisans on a mission to gather food contend with the winter cold, the occupying Germans, and their own psyches.
- DirectorMichael HanekeStarsChristian FriedelErnst JacobiLeonie BeneschStrange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. Who is responsible?
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroCathy MoriartyJoe PesciThe life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.
- DirectorTim BurtonStarsJohnny DeppMartin LandauSarah Jessica ParkerAmbitious but troubled movie director Edward D. Wood Jr. tries his best to fulfill his dreams despite his lack of talent.
- DirectorPeter BogdanovichStarsRyan O'NealTatum O'NealMadeline KahnDuring the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership.
- DirectorAndrew LemanStarsMatt FoyerJohn BolenRalph LucasWhile sorting the affairs of his late Uncle, a man accidentally stumbles across a series of dark secrets connected to an ancient horror waiting to be freed.
- DirectorMathieu KassovitzStarsVincent CasselHubert KoundéSaïd Taghmaoui24 hours in the lives of three young men in the French suburbs the day after a violent riot.
- DirectorGuy MaddinStarsDarcy FehrMelissa DionisioAmy StewartIt's time for hockey! There's no telling what will happen when the Winnipeg Maroons' own star player Guy becomes embroiled in the twisted lives of Meta, a vengeful Chinoise, and her hairdresser/abortionist mother Liliom. Innocent Veronica, caught in the middle, is treated to both services! Meanwhile poor, dithering, cowardly Guy can only stand by and watch.
- DirectorBob FosseStarsDustin HoffmanValerie PerrineJan MinerThe story of acerbic 1960s comic Lenny Bruce, whose groundbreaking, no-holds-barred style and social commentary was often deemed by the Establishment as too obscene for the public.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsJack NanceCharlotte StewartAllen JosephHenry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.
- DirectorDarren AronofskyStarsSean GulletteMark MargolisBen ShenkmanA paranoid mathematician searches for a key number that will unlock the universal patterns found in nature.
- DirectorPeter BogdanovichStarsTimothy BottomsJeff BridgesCybill ShepherdIn 1951, a group of high schoolers come of age in a bleak, isolated, atrophied North Texas town that is slowly dying, both culturally and economically.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenCharlotte RamplingJessica HarperWhile attending a retrospective of his work, a filmmaker recalls his life and his loves: the inspirations for his films.
- 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.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMatt DillonMickey RourkeDiane LaneAbsent-minded street thug Rusty James struggles to live up to his legendary older brother's reputation, and longs for the days of gang warfare.
- DirectorJim JarmuschStarsJohn LurieEszter BalintRichard EdsonA New Yorker's life is thrown into a tailspin when his younger cousin surprise-visits him, starting a strange, unpredictable adventure.
- DirectorKaizô HayashiStarsMasatoshi NagaseShirô SanoKiyotaka NanbaraMaiku Hama is a private detective working in Yokohama. Hama comes to the aid of a Taiwanese waiter named Yang and agrees to track down his missing brother. Through a series of double-crosses Hama gets embroiled in a gang war and a revenge plot between the two brothers.
- DirectorJean EustacheStarsBernadette LafontJean-Pierre LéaudFrançoise LebrunThe chauvinist Alexandre balances relationships with several women in the post-1968 intellectual scene of Paris.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsAnthony HopkinsJohn HurtAnne BancroftA Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of kindness, intelligence and sophistication.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenMia FarrowMichael KirbyWith a serial strangler on the loose, a bookkeeper wanders around town searching for the vigilante group intent on catching the killer.
- DirectorJohn WatersStarsDivineDavid LocharyMary Vivian PearceWatch as the life of a leader of a menacing group of deviants, explodes in a spectacle of debauchery. Accidentally filmed from beginning to end, on purpose.
- DirectorGeorge ClooneyStarsDavid StrathairnGeorge ClooneyPatricia ClarksonBroadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow looks to bring down Senator Joseph McCarthy.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsYella RottländerRüdiger VoglerLisa KreuzerA German journalist is saddled with a nine-year-old girl after encountering her mother at a New York airport.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenDiane KeatonMariel HemingwayThe life of a divorced television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.
- DirectorJim JarmuschStarsJohnny DeppGary FarmerCrispin GloverOn the run after murdering a man, accountant William Blake encounters a strange Native American man named Nobody who prepares him for his journey into the spiritual world.
- DirectorAbel FerraraStarsLili TaylorChristopher WalkenAnnabella SciorraA New York philosophy grad student turns into a vampire after getting bitten by one, and then tries to come to terms with her new lifestyle and frequent craving for human blood.
- DirectorKevin SmithStarsBrian O'HalloranJeff AndersonMarilyn GhigliottiA day in the lives of two convenience clerks named Dante and Randal as they annoy customers, discuss movies, and play hockey on the store roof.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsRobert AtzornChristine BucheggerMartin BenrathAn account of the events before and after a murder committed by a disturbed businessman in a strained marriage, and what led him to perform such a shocking act.
- DirectorBéla TarrÁgnes HranitzkyStarsLars RudolphPeter FitzHanna SchygullaA naive young man witnesses an escalation of violence in his small hometown following the arrival of a mysterious circus attraction.