Transcendent Moments of the Ecstatic Truth

By: Blue K, Custodi​an of the Cinema

Because the truth arrived at in an oblique fashion can be so enlightening…
Because the realization of human frailty can be so ennobling…
Because the random moments of the quotidian can be so revelatory…
Because the futility of the existential struggle can be so ecstatic…
Because the 24 frames per second can be so transcendent…

• 01
  The House is Black
  Forugh Farrokhzad
• 02
  Mother and Son
  Aleksandr Sokurov
• 03
  Bicycle Thieves
  Vittorio De Sica
• 04
  Forest of the Hanged
  Liviu Ciulei
• 05
  Fata Morgana
  Werner Herzog
• 06
  The Human Condition
  Masaki Kobayashi
• 07
  Diamonds of the Night
  Jan Němec
• 08
  Pickpocket
  Robert Bresson
• 09
  Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East?
  Bae Yong-Kyun
• 10
  Closely Watched Trains
  Jiří Menzel
• 11
  Come and See
  Elem Klimov
• 12
  Still Life
  Jia Zhangke
• 13
  Pather Panchali
  Satyajit Ray
• 14
  Aparajito
  Satyajit Ray
• 15
  The World of Apu
  Satyajit Ray
• 16
  Close-Up
  Abbas Kiarostami
• 17
  Melancholia
  Lav Diaz
• 18
  Through the Olive Trees
  Abbas Kiarostami
• 19
  A Moment of Innocence
  Mohsen Makhmalbaf
• 20
  The Shop on Main Street
  Ján Kadár
• 21
  Grand Illusion
  Jean Renoir
• 22
  The Golden Thread
  Ritwik Ghatak
• 23
  Sansho the Bailiff
  Kenji Mizoguchi
• 24
  Ikiru
  Akira Kurosawa
• 25
  Maborosi
  Hirokazu Kore-eda
• 26
  Yi Yi: A One and a Two
  Edward Yang
• 27
  Heremias
  Lav Diaz
• 28
  Nostalghia
  Andrei Tarkovsky
• 29
  The Mirror
  Andrei Tarkovsky
• 30
  The Silence
  Ingmar Bergman
• 31
  Through a Glass Darkly
  Ingmar Bergman
• 32
  Peppermint Candy
  Lee Chang-dong
• 33
  As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
  Jonas Mekas
• 34
  A Buddhist Ascetic Mandara
  Im Kwon-taek
• 35
  In Search of Famine
  Mrinal Sen
• 36
  Charulata
  Satyajit Ray
• 37
  Black Girl
  Ousmane Sembène
• 38
  The Silences of the Palace
  Moufida Tlatli
• 39
  Wanderers of the Desert
  Nacer Khemir
• 40
  Black God, White Devil
  Glauber Rocha
• 41
  Barren Lives
  Nelson Pereira dos Santos
• 42
  Vivre sa vie
  Jean-Luc Godard
• 43
  Spring in a Small Town
  Fei Mu
• 44
  The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums
  Kenji Mizoguchi
• 45
  When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
  Mikio Naruse
• 46
  The Age of the Earth
  Glauber Rocha
• 47
  Sátántangó
  Béla Tarr
• 48
  Werckmeister Harmonies
  Béla Tarr
• 49
  The Sacrifice
  Andrei Tarkovsky
• 50
  Sunrise
  F.W. Murnau
• 51
  The Horse Thief
  Tian Zhuangzhuang
• 52
  Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
  Sergei Parajanov
• 53
  The Color of Pomegranates
  Sergei Parajanov
• 54
  Landscape in the Mist
  Theodoros Angelopoulos
• 55
  The Travelling Players
  Theodoros Angelopoulos
• 56
  Paths of Glory
  Stanley Kubrick
• 57
  In a Lonely Place
  Nicholas Ray
• 58
  When the Tenth Month Comes
  Đặng Nhật Minh
• 59
  A Brighter Summer Day
  Edward Yang
• 60
  A Time to Live and a Time to Die
  Hou Hsiao-hsien
• 61
  I Am Cuba
  Mikhail Kalatozov
• 62
  Stalker
  Andrei Tarkovsky
• 63
  The Last Temptation of Christ
  Martin Scorsese
• 64
  The Cranes Are Flying
  Mikhail Kalatozov
• 65
  The Gospel According to St. Matthew
  Pier Paolo Pasolini
• 66
  Accattone
  Pier Paolo Pasolini
• 67
  Mamma Roma
  Pier Paolo Pasolini
• 68
  The Given Word
  Anselmo Duarte
• 69
  On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate
  Hong Sang-soo
• 70
  Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks - Part 1: Rust
  Wang Bing
• 71
  Be with Me
  Eric Khoo
• 72
  La libertad
  Lisandro Alonso
• 73
  The Straight Story
  David Lynch
• 74
  The Elephant Man
  David Lynch
• 75
  Hannah and Her Sisters
  Woody Allen
• 76
  Harvest: 3000 Years
  Haile Gerima
• 77
  The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun
  Djibril Diop Mambéty
• 78
  Los olvidados
  Luis Buñuel
• 79
  Killer of Sheep
  Charles Burnett
• 80
  La strada
  Federico Fellini
• 81
  Nights of Cabiria
  Federico Fellini
• 82
  Night of the Shooting Stars
  Paolo Taviani
• 83
  The Tree of Wooden Clogs
  Ermanno Olmi
• 84
  Drifter
  Cao Guimarães
• 85
  Bitter End of a Sweet Night
  Yoshishige Yoshida
• 86
  Orpheus
  Jean Cocteau
• 87
  The Wages of Fear
  Henri-Georges Clouzot
• 88
  Ashes and Diamonds
  Andrzej Wajda
• 89
  Hiroshima, mon amour
  Alain Resnais
• 90
  L'eclisse
  Michelangelo Antonioni
• 91
  La jetée
  Chris Marker
• 92
  Days and Nights in the Forest
  Satyajit Ray
• 93
  Almanac of Fall
  Béla Tarr
• 94
  Yeelen
  Souleymane Cissé
• 95
  Entranced Earth
  Glauber Rocha
• 96
  Badlands
  Terrence Malick
• 97
  La notte
  Michelangelo Antonioni
• 98
  The Thin Red Line
  Terrence Malick
• 99
  Eternity and a Day
  Theodoros Angelopoulos
• 100
  Sopyonje
  Im Kwon-taek
• 101
  In Memory of the Day Passed By
  Sharunas Bartas
• 102
  The Last Letter
  Frederick Wiseman
• 103
  Humanity and Paper Balloons
  Sadao Yamanaka
• 104
  The Corridor
  Sharunas Bartas
• 105
  Still Life
  Sohrab Shahid Saless
• 106
  Brick and Mirror
  Ebrahim Golestan
• 107
  The Aimless Bullet
  Yu Hyun-mok
• 108
  Marketa Lazarová
  František Vláčil
• 109
  The Ashes
  Andrzej Wajda
• 110
  Life, and Nothing More...
  Abbas Kiarostami
• 111
  Respite
  Harun Farocki
• 112
  The Name of a River
  Anup Singh
• 113
  The Green Ray
  Éric Rohmer
• 114
  Stone Wedding
  Dan Piţa
• 115
  Shara
  Naomi Kawase
• 116
  Husbands
  John Cassavetes
• 117
  Ju Dou
  Zhang Yimou
• 118
  Distance
  Hirokazu Kore-eda
• 119
  Red Sorghum
  Zhang Yimou
• 120
  Shock Corridor
  Samuel Fuller
• 121
  Cría cuervos...
  Carlos Saura
• 122
  Georgian Ancient Songs
  Otar Iosseliani
• 123
  Heartbeat Detector
  Nicolas Klotz
• 124
  Until the Ship Sails
  Alexis Damianos
• 125
  Evdokia
  Alexis Damianos
• 126
  Electra, My Love
  Miklós Jancsó
• 127
  The Boys from Fengkuei
  Hou Hsiao-hsien
• 128
  Early Summer
  Yasujirô Ozu
• 129
  Death by Hanging
  Nagisa Ôshima
• 130
  Belarmino
  Fernando Lopes
• 131
  Jackal of Nahueltoro
  Miguel Littin
• 132
  Days of Being Wild
  Wong Kar-wai
• 133
  Elégia
  Zoltán Huszárik
• 134
  The Bloody Child
  Nina Menkes
• 135
  Greed
  Erich von Stroheim
• 136
  Three
  Aleksandar Petrović
• 137
  Sans soleil
  Chris Marker
• 138
  My Childhood
  Bill Douglas
• 139
  In Vanda's Room
  Pedro Costa
• 140
  The Passion of Joan of Arc
  Carl Theodor Dreyer
• 141
  The Wedding March
  Erich von Stroheim
• 142
  Breaking the Waves
  Lars von Trier
• 143
  The Unscrupulous Ones
  Ruy Guerra
• 144
  Aniki Bóbó
  Manoel de Oliveira
• 145
  Rashômon
  Akira Kurosawa
• 146
  A Spring for the Thirsty
  Yuri Ilyenko
• 147
  The Last of England
  Derek Jarman
• 148
  Love Streams
  John Cassavetes
• 149
  Blue
  Derek Jarman
• 150
  Tange Sazen and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo
  Sadao Yamanaka
• 151
  Time Stood Still
  Ermanno Olmi
• 152
  Lost, Lost, Lost
  Jonas Mekas
• 153
  Cardiogram
  Darezhan Omirbaev
• 154
  The Tree of Life
  Terrence Malick
• 155
  Phantom Love
  Nina Menkes
• 156
  Son nom de Venise dans Calcutta désert
  Marguerite Duras
• 157
  The Ascent
  Larisa Shepitko
• 158
  The Cloud-Capped Star
  Ritwik Ghatak
• 159
  Paris, Texas
  Wim Wenders
• 160
  A Corner in Wheat
  D.W. Griffith
• 161
  The Turin Horse
  Béla Tarr