A Good Year
Ridley Scott
This movie is so underrated yet one of the best feel-good movies ever made. In this short, picturesque, generally light and definitely charming film the director has created something new and different, which comes alive through the rich plot, vivid characters and breath-taking landscape. Just imagine a life spent living in a château, overlooking one’s own vineyard, with Marion Cotillard’s warmth and Russell Crowe’s genius.
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
Michel Gondry
This movie gives us what we all secretly wish for — a chance to forget something that’s hurt us in the past. Carrey and Winslet pull off a great performance, both abandoning the typecasts that they’ve been shackled with. Ellen’s images and Jon Brion’s music added magic to Michel Gondry’s writing. Love, romance and their memories have rarely been examined as thought-provokingly and tenderly as they are in this picture. It truly gives new meaning to the phrase “You never know what you’ve got until it’s gone”.
Into The Wild
Sean Penn
Into the Wild is a sensitive and poignant cinematic experience. The feelings it evoked were all based on the power of the acting and the writing. The words, characters and their relationships were real. There are scenes in this movie that one will never be able to forget, particularly the ending sequence. Hirsch deserves a lot of credit because he truly outshines the film itself with his dedication and sacrifice to the role.
American History X
Tony Kaye
A powerful portrayal of the Neo-Nazi movement in America, the story is told in a series of flashbacks. The original direction from Tony Kaye gives the movie a nice visual style and a certain atmosphere. This is not a movie with a happy ending or a movie that provides a solution to problems of race.
Inglourious Basterds
Quentin Tarantino
My top five would not be complete without a Tarantino film. This film is tremendously entertaining, shocking, dramaticand funny at the same time. All the actors shine and Tarantino throws in wonderful flourishes, but ones that work with the story. After a sensational slow-burn opening and a glorious introduction to those Inglourious Basterds, the pace never slows down.
The ones that almost made it
Serpico : Sidney Lumet
My Blueberry Nights : Wong Kar Wai
Full Metal Jacket : Stanley Kubrick
Kannathil Muthamittal : Mani Ratnam
Swades : Ashutosh Gowariker
Match Point : Woody Allen
500 Days of Summer : Marc Webb
It’s A Wonderful Life : Frank Capra
The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas : Mark Herman
Gauri Shanker is an engineering graduate from BITS Pilani, Goa who seeks solace in good films and music.
