Edgar Wright is one of the most original directors of the last two decades. His films, like Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, reimagine genre movies with a madcap sense of humor and stylish cinematography.
Like pal Quentin Tarantino, Wright is also a major movie buff with eclectic taste. Each year he puts together a list of his favorite new movies. He also has an online list of his 1000 favourite films, dating back to the 1920s. His recommendations include many underrated gems and indie classics, which are sure to appeal to a variety of tastes.
Bottle Rocket (1996)
These days, Wes Anderson is Hollywood's preeminent eccentric auteur, but his debut film is less well-known. 1996's Bottle Rocket is a crime comedy starring Luke and Owen Wilson in what was also their first movie. They play two friends who carry out a series of heists in Austin, Texas.
Bottle Rocket is one of the standouts among the wave of indie films that arrived in the 1990s. Its low budget quality is charming, and the film has only become more interesting in the decades since its release in light of the success Anderson and the Wilson brothers would go on to have. Like Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, it serves as a window into the development of a great director.
Compliance (2012)
Edgar Wright is a big fan of thrillers, and Compliance is one of the most disturbing films in the genre. It portrays a real 2004 incident in which a man pretending to be a police officer encouraged a McDonald's manager to carry out unlawful procedures on an employee.
Compliance is a kind of real-world version of the 1960s Milgram experiments, where psychologists tricked people into believing they were administering electric shocks to helpless victims. The majority of the test subjects were willing to inflict increasingly powerful "shocks", despite screams and pleas from the actors posing as the victims. People still debate what we can conclude from the Milgram experiments, if anything at all. But like those experiments, Compliance is sure to leave you with some uneasy thoughts long after the credits roll.
Mistress America (2015)
Mistress America is the second collaboration between actress-director Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, the filmmaker behind dialogue-driven critical darlings Marriage Story and The Squid and the Whale.
Gerwig is excellent as Brooke, a young woman chasing fame and success but with no real plan to actually achieve it. She brings some humor and lightness to the movie, which is a great balance against the cynicism that often pervades Baumbach's work. The result is an intelligent comedy-drama with plenty to say about our current moment. It deals with similar themes to HBO's Girls, though it handles them with more warmth and humanity.
The Skin I Live In (2011)
Cult Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar has an impressive filmography. His stylish, glossy movies span a range of genres, from surreal comedy to prestige drama. But this 2011 film stands out for the way it weaves elements of horror into Almodóvar's usual themes.
The Skin I Live In follows plastic surgeon Robert Ledgard (Antonia Banderas) who keeps a young woman (Elena Anaya) captive in his home. It explores their complicated relationship along with questions of loneliness, connection and sexual identity. But the plot takes unexpected twists and turns. Secrets bubble up from beneath the surface. The result is a visually-stunning psychological thriller that unnerves the audience without a single fright or jump scare.
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)
British director Mike Leigh is known for his improvisational dramas that explore the lives and dilemmas of ordinary people. The way his films portray the UK has been compared to Yasujirō Ozu's depictions of Tokyo and Federico Fellini's visions of Rome.
2008's Happy-Go-Lucky is not one of Leigh's most famous films, but it is one of his best. It stars Sally Hawkins as school teacher Poppy, a carefree and positive person who stubbornly resists the surrounding cynicism. The bulk of the narrative revolves around Poppy's interactions with her driving instructor Scott (Eddie Marsan), a bigoted loner prone to conspiracy theories. It's not the most intriguing of premises, but the film is carried along by excellent performances from its cast, especially Hawkins. It's sweet, funny and - ultimately - life-affirming.
The One I Love (2014)
Married couple Ethan (Mark Duplass) and Sophie (Elizabeth Moss) go for a weekend getaway in the hopes of rekindling their strained relationship. But in the guest house at their vacation spot, they each inexplicably encounter a doppelganger of their spouse. The problem is the clones are way better than their real partners.
The One I Love is Scenes From a Marriage meets The Twilight Zone. It might seem a little ridiculous, but it's held together by believable performances from its co-stars. Duplass and Moss have great chemistry. Together, they convincingly portray a real relationship, full of genuine affection and serious problems. The script is funny too and doesn't take itself too seriously. The One I Love only had a limited release, so it didn't reach as many viewers as it should have. It makes sense that Edgar Wright was a fan. With its fusion of sci-fi and comedy, it comes across like the kind of romantic drama he would make.
The Hunt (2020)
This Danish drama stars Mads Mikkelsen as Lucas, a kindergarten teacher wrongfully accused of sexually abusing one of his pupils. The people of his small, snowy town are convinced of his guilt, and they quickly spiral into a moral panic. Soon, almost all the parents of Lucas's students believe he has molested their children too.
American audiences will probably know Mikkelsen for his performances as villains like Hannibal Lecter, Le Chiffre in Casino Royale and, mostly recently, Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts. But this role is a change of pace for Mikkelsen. He's sympathetic and restrained. With just a twitch of a facial muscle and a crack in his voice, he conveys Lucas's emotional upheaval. The Hunt wrestles with difficult questions around false guilt and how good people can, in the name of stopping evil, commit evil acts themselves.
Election (1999)
Director Alexander Payne is probably most well-known these days for movies like Sideways and Nebraska, but his masterpiece might be this black comedy from 1999. It stars Reese Witherspoon as a selfish over-achiever running for student body president and Matthew Broderick as a teacher trying to sabotage her campaign.
Election is a satire of both education and politics. The film implies that most people running for high office are much like its characters. While not a box office success, Election has since beome something of a cult movie. It's influence can be seen in subsequent political comedies like Veep and Parks and Rec. Payne even claims that Barack Obama told him that Election was his favorite political movie, which says a lot.
Raw (2016)
Shy teenager Justine (Garance Marillier) joins a veterinary school where her older sister is a popular student. There, the seniors subject the first years to hazing rituals, including making out with strangers and eating raw rabbit kidneys. These experiences trigger a craving for raw flesh in Justine. What follows is a rollercoaster thriller about Justine's evolution from doormat to predator.
Raw is a stylish debut, boasting artful cinematrography and a nerve-wracking score. Other recent horrors about cannibals like this year's Fresh are cartoonish to the point of self-parody. What sets Raw apart is its realism and willingness to engage with serious themes. Justine isn't a hero per se, but the movie does make her sympathetic. In the process, director Julie Ducournau spins this cannibalism horror into a meditation on sexual awakening, forbidden desire and personal agency.
Timecrimes (2007)
Spanish sci-fi Timecrimes is one of the most interesting time travel movies ever made. It begins when average joe Hector (Karra Elejalde) sees a nude woman sunbathing near his house. When he investigates, Hector finds the woman unconscious. Moments later, a bandaged man attacks Hector with a blade. To escape, Hector unwittingly hides in a time machine, which only makes matters worse. He has to race to stop alternate versions of himself before everything spins out of control.
This all sounds very crazy, and it is. But somehow Timecrimes pulls it off. It's action-packed and surprisingly engrossing. The filmmakers especially deserve kudos for their devotion to the 'single continuum' time loop premise. Where other sci-fi movies play fast and loose with the rules of time travel (see Back to the Future), Timecrimes sticks with its premise to the end - no matter how absurd the outcome.