The Ascent(Восхождение)

The Spirit of the Beehive
(El espíritu de la colmena)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Spain • 1973
• Director Víctor Erice
• Cast Fernando Fernán Gómez, Teresa Gimpera, Ana Torrent, Isabel Tellería, Laly Soldevila, Miguel Picazo
• Genre Drama, Fantasy
• Available on Criterion

Ashes and Diamonds
(Popiól i diament)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Poland • 1958
• Director Andrzej Wajda
• Cast Zbigniew Cybulski, Ewa Krzyżewska, Waclaw Zastrzezynski, Adam Pawlikowski, Bogumił Kobiela, Halina Kwiatkowska
• Genre Drama, Romance, War
• Available on iTunes, Kanopy, Criterion, Amazon, HBO Max

Touched with the fire and rebellion of a new generation of Polish film makers

Ivan the Terrible, Part I
(Иван Грозный)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Soviet Union • 1945
• Director Sergei Eisenstein
• Cast Nikolai Cherkasov, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, Serafima Birman, Mikhail Nazvanov, Mikhail Zharov, Mikhail Kuznetsov
• Genre Drama, History
• Available on HBO Max, iTunes, Kanopy, Criterion, FlixFling

Woman in the Dunes
(砂の女)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Japan • 1964
• Director Hiroshi Teshigahara
• Cast Eiji Okada, Kyôko Kishida, Ginzô Sekiguchi, Kôji Mitsui, Sen Yano
• Genre Drama, Thriller
• Available on Kanopy, Criterion, Amazon, iTunes

Haunting. Erotic. Unforgettable.

Sansho the Bailiff
(山椒大夫)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Japan • 1954
• Director Kenji Mizoguchi
• Cast Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyōko Kagawa, Eitarō Shindō, Akitake Kôno, Masao Shimizu
• Genre Drama
• Available on iTunes, Kanopy, Criterion, Amazon

A family is tragically separated after the patriarch is sent into exile.

Marketa Lazarová

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Czechoslovakia • 1967
• Director František Vláčil
• Cast Josef Kemr, Magda Vášáryová , Naďa Hejná, František Velecký, Karel Vašíček
• Genre Drama, History
• Available on iTunes, Kanopy, Criterion, Amazon

A compelling, stripped-down, and surreal account of the shift from Paganism to Christianity.

The Shop on Main Street
(Obchod na korze)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Czechoslovakia • 1965
• Director Ján Kadár
• Cast Ida Kaminska, Jozef Kroner, Hana Slivková, Martin Hollý, Adam Matejka, Elena Zvaríková-Pappová
• Genre Drama, War
• Available on Criterion, HBO Max

An unlikely friendship develops between a pair on different sides of World War II.

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
(Тіні забутих предків)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Soviet Union • 1965
• Director Sergei Parajanov
• Cast Ivan Mykolaichuk, Larisa Kadochnikova, Tatyana Bestayeva, Nikolay Grinko, Spartak Bagashvili, Leonid Yengibarov
• Genre Drama, Romance, Music
• Available on Mubi, Amazon

I Am Cuba
(Soy Cuba)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Cuba, Soviet Union • 1964
• Director Mikhail Kalatozov
• Cast Sergio Corrieri, Luz María Collazo, José Gallardo, Jean Bouise, Raúl García, Celia Rodriguez
• Genre Drama
• Available on No streaming locations found.

The Burmese Harp
(ビルマの竪琴)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Japan • 1956
• Director Kon Ichikawa
• Cast Rentaro Mikuni, Shōji Yasui, Jun Hamamura, Taketoshi Naitô, Shunji Kasuga, Kō Nishimura
• Genre Drama, Music, War
• Available on Criterion

Gertrud

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Denmark • 1964
• Director Carl Theodor Dreyer
• Cast Nina Pens Rode, Bendt Rothe, Ebbe Rode, Baard Owe, Axel Strøbye, Karl Gustav Ahlefeldt
• Genre Drama, Romance
• Available on Criterion

The Cranes Are Flying
(Летят журавли)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Soviet Union • 1957
• Director Mikhail Kalatozov
• Cast Tatyana Samoylova, Aleksey Batalov, Vasili Merkuryev, Aleksandr Shvorin, Svetlana Kharitonova, Konstantin Kadochnikov
• Genre Drama, Romance, War
• Available on Criterion, HBO Max

The compelling story of a girl's impassioned search for happiness.

Day of Wrath
(Vredens dag)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Denmark • 1943
• Director Carl Theodor Dreyer
• Cast Preben Lerdorff Rye
• Genre Drama, Romance
• Available on Kanopy, iTunes, Criterion

A Drama of Fear and Superstition in the 20th Century

Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Belgium, France • 1975
• Director Chantal Akerman
• Cast Delphine Seyrig, Jan Decorte, Henri Storck, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, Yves Bical
• Genre Drama
• Available on Kanopy, Criterion, Amazon, VUDU, iTunes

Ballad of a Soldier
(Баллада о солдате)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Soviet Union • 1959
• Director Grigoriy Chukhray
• Cast Vladimir Ivashov, Zhanna Prokhorenko, Evgeniy Urbanskiy, Nikolay Kryuchkov, Antonina Maksimova, Elza Lezhdey
• Genre Drama, Romance, War
• Available on Criterion

From the very pages of life itself!

Earth
(Земля)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Soviet Union • 1930
• Director Alexander Dovzhenko
• Cast Stepan Shkurat, Semyon Svashenko, Yuliya Solntseva, Yelena Maksimova, Nikolai Nademsky, Ivan Franko
• Genre Drama
• Available on Kanopy

Ordet

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Denmark • 1955
• Director Carl Theodor Dreyer
• Cast Birgitte Federspiel, Henrik Malberg
• Genre Drama
• Available on Criterion

A Legend for Today

Wings
(Крылья)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Soviet Union • 1966
• Director Larisa Shepitko
• Cast Maya Bulgakova, Zhanna Bolotova, Pantelejmon Krymov, Leonid Dyachkov, Vladimir Gorelov, Yuri Medvedev
• Genre Drama
• Available on Criterion

The Red and the White
(Csillagosok, Katonák)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Hungary, Soviet Union • 1967
• Director Miklós Jancsó
• Cast József Madaras, Tibor Molnár, András Kozák, Jácint Juhász, Anatoli Yabbarov, Sergey Nikonenko
• Genre War, Drama
• Available on No streaming locations found.