Coining the new term 'action noir' in Korea, director Kim Ji-woon follows up his extraordinary features A Quiet Family and A Tale Of Two Sisters with this blackly comic thriller. Lee Byeong-heon stars as sartorially elegant Sun-woo, a unique character with a curious lifestyle - he's not only the proprietor of a hotel bar but also the right-hand man to the powerful gang leader, Mr Kang. When Kang suspects that his beautiful young mistress Hee-soo might be messing around with another man, he enlis
find out more...
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (2005)
Certification18 Our Rating
In the small backwater town of Millbrook, Tom Stall lives an uneventful but contented life. A loving father, husband and the owner of a small but bustling cafe' he's a pillar of his little community. When two sadistic robbers threaten Tom his staff and his customers, one fateful night, he reacts without mercy. Hailed as a hero, Tom is uncomfortable with his new status and when strangers arrive from the city it becomes increasingly obvious why, it would seem Tom has a past and oh boy it ain't a p
find out more...
BOILING POINT (1993)
Certification18 Our Rating
A young station attendent takes a slug at the wrong guy and soon becomes embroiled in confrontation with a local yakuza. He sets off to Okinawa to find a gun but instead finds Beat Takeshi, who also is in trouble with his Yakuzab for holding on to the mobs' money. Both need help to get out of their fix.
find out more...
BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA (1974)
Certification18 Our Rating
A penniless pianist learns that contract-killing target Alfredo Garcia is already dead and sets out to recover his head and claim the bounty. Perhaps Peckinpah's most complex and critically controversial film, an eclectic mix of existensial quest, gothic tale, political critique of American involvement in Latin America and a love story of two losers challenging destiny. Set in Mexico.
find out more...
CUL-DE-SAC (1965)
Certification15 Our Rating
Returning to themes he had touched upon in his earlier films Polanski develops the idea of Pinter's "two people in a room and then a third enters" with a couple on a remote island invaded by two on-the-run gangsters. Gradually the power positions shift... underlined with great black humour.
find out more...
DEAD OR ALIVE 2 - BIRDS (2000)
Certification18 Our Rating
Pushing the boundaries farther than in the first of the trilogy Takeshi again takes us into the underworld of Japanese gangsters. When Otamoko is hired to assassinate a gangster he is surprised to find that the job has already been done. Fleeing the city with the money for the job he didn't do, Otamoko has to keep the Yakuza and the Triads off of his tail. Returning to his home island he realises that the other assassin is someone from his past and they team up to eat noodles together, reminisce
find out more...
DIVA (1981)
Certification15 Our Rating
One of the most stylish and beautiful films ever made and a cult classic that helped to repopularise French cinema over here. A courier obsessed with a beautiful black opera singer enters an underworld of visual splendour and tortuous emotions where love and desire go a long way to realising dreams. Brilliant!
find out more...
DRUNKEN ANGEL (1948)
CertificationPG Our Rating
The moody 28-year-old Mifune is the violent gangster whom boozy doctor Shimura diagnoses as suffering from TB ('a hole in the heart,' says the sour 'angel', ruefully). The movie breathes the polluted air of post-war pessimism, dissipation and poetic fatalism, symbolised in the shots of the oily, malaria-ridden swamp of a Tokyo dockside, but it is dramatically qualified by Mifune's suggested redeemability and Shimura's stoical humanism. Fascinating, highly enjoyable and filled with great scenes -
find out more...
GHOST DOG WAY OF THE SAMURAI (1999)
Certification15 Our Rating
Ghost Dog is an assassin, but what sets him apart from his fellow killers, apart from his lethally effective abilities, are his many character traits including communicating by carrier pigeon and following the warrior code of the Samurai. His occasional employers, the comically inept local mafia, place a contract on him so Ghost Dog, strictly following the way of the Samurai, sets about turning the tables on his hunters. "Ghost Dog" is a hip, offbeat, thriller with all the usual quirks and humou
find out more...
GOODFELLAS (1991)
Certification18 Our Rating
Irish Sicilian Henry Hill always wanted to be a gangster and from running errands as a small boy, he graduates to becoming a trusted member of the "family". A stunning, violent and essential portrait of the Mafia's intimate details. An award winning film, superbly crafted by Scorsese.
find out more...