Harvey Pekar lives the life most of us dream of avoiding, a filing clerk by day, a man at odds with, and lost in, the world he inhabits the other sixteen hours. Harvey begins to write down his disgruntled observations and with the help of equally cantankerous illustrator, Harry Crumb, ‘American Splendor' is born. This movie of the man's life is an inspired mixture of animation, documentary and dramatisation, with Paul Giamatti finally getting a role worth his talent. Funny, sad, sharp and hip to find out more...

A frustrated, highly strung, spectacularly unsuccessful puppeteer inadvertently finds a passage way into the mind of John Malkovich and, uniquely skilled as he is in the art of manipulation, this seems like the perfect opportunity to escape his dead-end life and dull wife. There is little point in trying to explain the story further, you'll just have to watch this fantastically surreal, absurd, dark, gobsmackingly original comedy - the brainchild of a quite obviously seriously warped puppy. G find out more...

Selma is an immigrant factory worker in America, whose only form of escape is through the Hollywood musicals of old, her young son is going blind and she is struggling to scrape together enough money for an operation to reverse his condition; But Selma's grim existance is on an ever darker path and as her world escapes from her control it spirals into a relentless and unavoidably doomed finale. Visually stunning, surreal and unflinchingly tragic, Dancer In The Dark won the Palme D'or at Cannes find out more...

Hailed as the best film debut since Eraserhead, Donnie Darko's instant cult status and mainstream success are well deserved. find out more...

Phyllis Dietrichson is trapped in a loveless marriage to a man who inspires in her nothing but contempt, but rather than leave him Phyllis decides to kill him and collect on the insurance policy she's had set up with the help of her lover, and naive partner in crime, insurance salesman Walter Neff. The only flaws in their plan are the company's reluctance to pay out so much, the diligence of Neff's increasingly suspicious colleague, (and his 'little man'), and the exemplary ruthlessness of Ph find out more...

A family reunion is the setting for this dark and inventive film from Denmark. When the eldest son gives a speech for his father, Helge's sixtieth birthday, Helge and the guests are taken aback by what they hear. There's also a missing daughter and a party of revellers keen to pretend the speech never happened! The fantastic cinematography from Lars von Triers as well as the richly textured plot makes this a unique film. Highly recommended. find out more...

Leonard Shelby's wife has been brutally murdered, and he is obsessed by the need to find out why and exact revenge; But Shelby's search is impeded by his short term memory loss, never really knowing whom he can trust, or indeed who he knows, and having to resort to the desperate measure of tattooing his body with clues as the only reliable way of holding onto any evidence he's garnered. 'Memento' is an awesome psychological thriller, riddled with deceit and betrayal, your chances of guessing the find out more...

The world as a lunatic asylum. Jack Nicholson plays the anarchist determined to challenge the smug system of authority and obedience that rule the roost. The first film by Czech dissident Forman after migrating from Czechoslovakia to the United States, and a superb comment on society! Won Best Picture plus others at 1975 Academy Awards. find out more...

A disenchanted Vietnam vet becomes a New York taxi driver and lets the violence and squalor around him explode in his mind. One of the most atmospheric films ever made about urban alienation. Foster's first film and the one which almost resulted in Ronald Reagan's assassination when he was President - it must be good! find out more...

In this follow-up to his critical success Read My Lips, Jacques Audiard has adapted and updated James Toback's cult 1978 noir Fingers to come up with this memorable character study about a young man torn between a life of crime and classical music. Romain Duris, in a standout performance, portrays the 28-year-old Tom who seems destined to follow in his amoral father's footsteps as a Parisian property shark taking work in a sleazy and sometimes brutal milieu. However, a chance encounter with h find out more...