20th Century Flicks, Bristol

1560, Peru. In a beautiful poetic opening scene the conquistadors cross an Andes pass, situated between the peaks and the valleys, between conquered land and unexplored forests, between 'heaven' and 'earth', shrouded in mists, they make their way down a narrow path. Aguirre's meglomania grows as around him his comrades mutiny and die in his search for the lost city of El Dorado. Herzog's best film, an unforgetable tour de force. Made before the director himself gave in to meglomania on a later t find out more...

AMADEUS (1984)

CertificationPG Our Rating

An award winning film full of baroque splendour. The talented composer Antonio Salieri found himself in competition with Mozart, a genius, and he couldn't understand why God favored such a vulgar creature to be his instrument. Salieri turned into a hate-filled monster, whose aim in life became to ruin his colleague, but he emerges as a tragic and sympathetic character. He alone could appreciate the perfection of Mozart's music and, perhaps, he speaks up for all of us whose talents fall short of find out more...

AN ACTOR'S REVENGE (1962)

CertificationPG Our Rating

Wildly unusual costume tale of a Kabuki female impersonator who avenges his parents' suicides by courting (in female guise) their tormentors. His elaborate revenge is superbly choreographed by director Ichikawa, and the central performance of Hasegawa (in TWO roles!) is beyond remarkable. find out more...

ANDREI RUBLEV (1966)

Certification15 Our Rating

Tarkovsky's mysterious masterpiece that charts the life and times of an obscure 15th Century Russian icon painter. Rublev's character is recreated, through 8 separate chapters, as a symbol of Russian suffering at the hands of Tartar invaders. Beautifully told, a fantastic and brilliantly directed tale. find out more...

BABETTE'S FEAST (1988)

CertificationU Our Rating

Babette is a refugee from Paris who flees to a small ultrapuritan Danish community to work as a cook. Their only diet is one of ale-bread and fish soup, so when she offers to prepare a feast they are determined not to enjoy it. Oscar winning film whose style changes to fit the mood of the plot. find out more...

BARRY LYNDON (1975)

CertificationPG Our Rating

Winner of four Oscars, this film is shot with the most beautifully scenic backgrounds and with great attention to costume detail. An Irish adventurer, Barry Lyndon, crosses Europe from woman to job, but in the end returns to Britain seeking a wealthy marriage. find out more...

BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (1925)

CertificationPG Our Rating

Mind those steps! Perhaps the most famous movie scene in the history of cinema. The documentary style story of mutiny aboard the Potemkin as the sailors fight oppression and fire on Tzarist troops attempting to quell rebellion in the city of Oddessa. Almost every shot is so beautiful it could work as a still. find out more...

BECKET (1964)

CertificationPG Our Rating

In a move designed to subordinate the Catholic Church to the state, Henry II gave the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury to his close friend and ally Thomas Becket. With Becket now installed as his 'man on the inside' Henry could be forgiven for thinking that the church would more easily acquiesce to his bidding. Henry, however, had neither bargained on Becket's ecclesiastical fervour nor realized his zealous nature. Thus the stage was set for one of the greatest battles of supremacy between find out more...

BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)

Certification15 Our Rating

An all time classic 60s movie glamourising the real life story of the Barrow gang who terrorised the American South in the early 30s. 'Reclaiming the American gangster movie, after it had been stolen by the Nouvelle Vague, Penn's film was so successful (and so imitated) that it inevitably met with some grudging devaluation. But it's still great, half comic fairytale, half brutal fact, it reflects the essential ambiguity of its heroes by treading a no man's land suspended between reality and fant find out more...

BURNT BY THE SUN (2007)

Certification15 Our Rating

Russia, 1936: revolutionary hero Colonel Kotov is spending an idyllic summer in his dacha with his young wife and six-year-old daughter Nadia and other assorted family and friends. Things change dramatically with the unheralded arrival of Cousin Dmitri from Moscow, who charms the women and little Nadia with his games and pianistic bravura. For most of its running time, the film seems to follow suit: it's a placid, languorous country-house comedy far removed from the realities of the Stalinist te find out more...