Team FC
Akira Kurosawa's film birthed many children, but the premise of a samurai helping protect a village from bandits is best viewed in the original.
Sidney Lumet's modestly-made drama raised tough questions about American jurisprudence, race relations, and the concentration of power.
A samurai's quest to commit suicide leads to questions being cast upon the notions of honour and integrity in the Masaki Kobayashi film, which is often hailed as one of the finest samurai films ever made.
The smash-hit multi-starrer cemented Francis Ford Coppola's status as a director to watch out for: under his direction, Marlon Brando and Al Pacino delivered stunning turns that changed the crime film for good.
Coppola's sequel to the 1972 film was more expansive, richer, and crueler as he moved forward and backward in time to expand the stories of Vito and Michael Corleone.
In Elem Klimov's film, a young boy joins the Resistance in the hope of fighting the invading Nazis, only to lose all he holds dear, leading to a journey through the war, constantly combatting conflicting emotions.
Bong Joon-ho's black comedy-thriller was undoubtedly the film of 2019, with its precise humour balancing its critique of societal imbalance and the systemic challenges that the underprivileged encounter.