Exceptional Films – The Best of Cinema
This is a complete list of every film I have given a rating of 8 or higher, meaning that the film is exceptional. You will not go wrong with any film on this list. In my opinion this is a list of the best of the best that cinema has to offer and comprises a full list of all my favourites. This list also contains the best documentaries, but not multi-episode TV series of documentaries or otherwise. These can be viewed in my profile - go to see all ratings, and on the right of the screen Refine Ratings, then go to TV or movies.
List activity
1.9K views
• 1 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
492 titles
- DirectorMarco Tullio GiordanaStarsLuigi Lo CascioAlessio BoniJasmine TrincaAn Italian epic that follows the lives of two brothers from the 1960s to the 2000s.
- DirectorKim Ki-dukStarsKim Ki-dukOh Yeong-suJong-ho KimA boy is raised by a Buddhist monk in an isolated floating temple where the years pass like the seasons.
- DirectorWalter SallesStarsFernanda MontenegroVinícius de OliveiraMarília PêraThe emotive journey of a former schoolteacher who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.
- DirectorPaddy ConsidineStarsPeter MullanArchie LalJag SangheraJoseph, a man plagued by violence and a rage that is driving him to self-destruction, earns a chance of redemption that appears in the form of Hannah, a Christian charity shop worker.
- DirectorMichael WinterbottomStarsJamal Udin TorabiEnayatullahImran ParachaA refugee family is trying to reach more peaceful lands illegally inside trucks.
- DirectorJohn CrowleyStarsAndrew GarfieldPeter MullanShaun EvansThe story of a young Jack, newly released from serving a prison sentence for a violent crime he committed as a child.
- DirectorXiaoshuai WangStarsLin CuiXun ZhouBin LiA seventeen-year-old country boy working in Beijing as a courier has his bicycle stolen, and finds it with a schoolboy his age.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsIrène JacobJean-Louis TrintignantFrédérique FederA model discovers a retired judge is keen on invading people's privacy.
- DirectorJamie ThravesStarsAidan GillenKate AshfieldDean Lennox KellyRelationships as they are really lived.
- DirectorJoachim TrierStarsAnders Danielsen LieHans Olav BrennerIngrid OlavaOne day in the life of Anders, a young recovering drug addict, who takes a brief leave from his treatment center to interview for a job and catch up with old friends in Oslo.
- DirectorAsghar FarhadiStarsTaraneh AlidoostiGolshifteh FarahaniShahab HosseiniThe mysterious disappearance of a kindergarten teacher during a picnic in the north of Iran is followed by a series of misadventures for her fellow travelers.
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsDhritiman ChatterjeeAsgar AliArabinda BanerjeeA young college graduate is struggling to find a job. He lives in a flat with his younger, employed sister, revolutionary brother and widowed mother. The strain of the situation ultimately causes him to hallucinate.
- DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsJonny GreenwoodEhtisham Khan AjmeriNihal KhanMusician Jonny Greenwood travels to Rajasthan, where he performs with a multitude of Indian musicians.
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsSoumitra ChatterjeeSharmila TagoreAlok ChakravartyThis final installment in Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogy follows Apu's life as an orphaned adult aspiring to be a writer.
- DirectorCatherine BreillatStarsSarah PrattGilles GuillainMarc FilipiA young French man and an older English woman spend one night together on a ship.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMartin SheenMarlon BrandoRobert DuvallA U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.
- DirectorHans Petter MolandStarsDamien NguyenBai LingDang Quoc Thinh TranAfter reuniting with his mother in Ho Chi Minh City, a family tragedy causes Binh to flee from Viet Nam to America. Landing in New York, Binh begins a road trip to Texas, where his American father is said to live.
- DirectorReha ErdemStarsOzen OzkanAli Bey KayaliElit IscanThe pain of growing up, as seen by three Turkish youths: Ömer, the son of the local imam, who wishes the death of his father; his best friend, Yakup, who's enamored with the village schoolteacher; and Yildiz, who is forced to balance her studies with the needs of her demanding mother.
- DirectorRadu MunteanStarsDragos BucurAnamaria MarincaMimi BranescuOn his spring break at the seaside, with his wife and his four year old son, Bogdan Ciocazanu runs into his best friends from high-school at the precise date and time that reminds all of them of their most glorious drinking trips and sexual escapades of their younger days. Frustrated that, between his job and his family, time is no longer his to manage and play with, Boogie now takes his shock dosage of freedom and spends a night to tick off all the items on the map of his youth (drinking, games, flirting, prostitutes). In the morning, after the disillusionment of the remake he experiences with his former friends, he returns to his wife.
- DirectorNanni MorettiStarsNanni MorettiRenato CarpentieriAntonio NeiwillerDirector Nanni Moretti takes a mordant look at Italian life through three disparate journeys, presented as the chapters of an open diary.
- DirectorJohn StockwellStarsKirsten DunstJay HernandezBruce DavisonAt Pacific Palisades High, a poor Latino falls hard for a troubled girl from an affluent neighborhood.
- DirectorRaoul MartinezJoshua van PraagStarsMichael AlbertStanley AronowitzTony BennDo you shape the world or does it shape you? Drawing on leading thinkers from around the world, and with a torrent of mind-expanding ideas and information, THE LOTTERY OF BIRTH will make you think again about what it means to be free.
- DirectorCristi PuiuStarsDoru AnaMonica BarladeanuAlina BerzunteanuMr. Lãzãrescu, a dying old man, is shuttled from hospital to hospital by a loyal paramedic as doctors refuse to operate and no one can agree on a diagnosis.
- DirectorDavid MorrisseyStarsBeverley EveJames BroughKate HenryLondon gentleman David spends a day and all his cash to bring his one-night stand a presentation folder at her office in Liverpool, only to be rather rudely ignored a minute later. After a night on the streets, he meets diner waitress Tina, who takes pity on him. David wins spending money at the race tracks and decides to spend it on a playful tour of the city guided by Tina, which is mainly an excuse to get close romantically and learn about each-other.
- DirectorDom RotheroeStarsBradley ColeBrittany AshworthAngela ForrestThe timely story of a normal family disintegrating under financial pressure, eventually driven to the unimaginable. We witness the terrifying events unfold through daughter Judith's video camera, which subsequently becomes Exhibit A.