1. Watermark
Following their triumph with Manufactured Landscapes, photographer Edward Burtynsky and filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal reunite to explore the ways in which humanity has shaped, manipulated and depleted one of its most vital and compromised resources: water.
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
2. Visual Acoustics
Visual Acoustics celebrates the life and career of Julius Shulman, the world's greatest architectural photographer, whose images brought modern architecture to the American mainstream. Shulman, who passed away this year, captured the work of nearly every modern and progressive architect since the 1930s including Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, John Lautner and Frank Gehry. His images epitomized the singular beauty of Southern California's modernist movement and brought its iconic structures to the attention of the general public. This unique film is both a testament to the evolution of modern architecture and a joyful portrait of the magnetic, whip-smart gentleman who chronicled it with his unforgettable images.
It has an average vote of 7.4 on TMDB.
3. High Tech Soul: The Creation of Techno Music
HIGH TECH SOUL is the first documentary to tackle the deep roots of techno music alongside the cultural history of Detroit, its birthplace. From the race riots of 1967 to the underground party scene of the late 1980s, Detroit's economic downturn didn't stop the invention of a new kind of music that brought international attention to its producers and their hometown.
It has an average vote of 6.1 on TMDB.
4. China Blue
"China Blue" is an engrossing documentary that tells the story of 3 teenage girls who leave their rural homes in China to come work for a factory that makes blue jeans.
It has an average vote of 5.6 on TMDB.
5. McLibel
McLibel is a documentary film directed by Franny Armstrong for Spanner Films about the McLibel case. The film was first completed, as a 52 minute television version, in 1997, after the conclusion of the original McLibel trial. It was then re-edited to 85 minute feature length in 2005, after the McLibel defendants took their case to the European Court of Human Rights.
It has an average vote of 6.7 on TMDB.
6. The Corporation
Since the late 18th century American legal decision that the business corporation organizational model is legally a person, it has become a dominant economic, political and social force around the globe. This film takes an in-depth psychological examination of the organization model through various case studies. What the study illustrates is that in the its behaviour, this type of "person" typically acts like a dangerously destructive psychopath without conscience. Furthermore, we see the profound threat this psychopath has for our world and our future, but also how the people with courage, intelligence and determination can do to stop it.
It has an average vote of 7.698 on TMDB.
7. Kind Hearts and Coronets
When his mother eloped with an Italian opera singer, Louis Mazzini was cut off from her aristocratic family. After the family refuses to let her be buried in the family mausoleum, Louis avenges his mother's death by attempting to murder every family member who stands between himself and the family fortune. But when he finds himself torn between his longtime love and the widow of one of his victims, his plans go awry.
It has an average vote of 7.679 on TMDB.
8. Mama Weed (La Daronne)
A translator working for the police gets involved in the other side of drug dealing.
It has an average vote of 5.9 on TMDB.
9. Big Eyes
In the late 1950s and early '60s, artist Walter Keane achieves unbelievable fame and success with portraits of saucer-eyed waifs. However, no one realizes that his wife, Margaret, is the real painter behind the brush. Although Margaret is horrified to learn that Walter is passing off her work as his own, she is too meek to protest too loudly. It isn't until the Keanes' marriage comes to an end and a lawsuit follows that the truth finally comes to light.
It has an average vote of 6.988 on TMDB.
10. The Darjeeling Limited
Three American brothers who have not spoken to each other in a year set off on a train voyage across India with a plan to find themselves and bond with each other -- to become brothers again like they used to be. Their "spiritual quest", however, veers rapidly off-course .
It has an average vote of 7.165 on TMDB.
11. Room
Held captive for 7 years in an enclosed space, a woman and her young son finally gain their freedom, allowing the boy to experience the outside world for the first time.
It has an average vote of 8.025 on TMDB.
12. Tenet
Armed with only one word - Tenet - and fighting for the survival of the entire world, the Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.
It has an average vote of 7.183 on TMDB.
13. Junkyard Dog (Chien de la casse)
Dog and Mirales have been friends since childhood, and live in a small village in the south of France. They spend most of the day hanging around in the streets. To kill time, Mirales has got into the habit of teasing Dog, to the extent that he has become a sort of whipping boy. But one summer, Dog meets Elsa, and they fall in love. Eaten away with jealousy, Mirales will have to get over his past to be able to grow and find his place…
It has an average vote of 7.107 on TMDB.
14. Boston Strangler
Reporters Loretta McLaughlin and Jean Cole bravely pursue the story of the Boston Strangler at great personal risk, putting their own lives on the line in their quest to uncover the truth.
It has an average vote of 6.7 on TMDB.
15. Umberto D. (Umberto D.)
When elderly pensioner Umberto Domenico Ferrari returns to his boarding house from a protest calling for a hike in old-age pensions, his landlady demands her 15,000-lire rent by the end of the month or he and his small dog will be turned out onto the street. Unable to get the money in time, Umberto fakes illness to get sent to a hospital, giving his beloved dog to the landlady's pregnant and abandoned maid for temporary safekeeping.
It has an average vote of 7.863 on TMDB.
16. As Above, So Below
When a team of explorers ventures into the uncharted maze of bones that lies beneath the streets of Paris, they embark on a journey into madness and terror.
It has an average vote of 6.689 on TMDB.
17. Snowpiercer (Snowpiercer)
In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, a class system evolves aboard the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine.
It has an average vote of 6.903 on TMDB.
18. Oppenheimer
The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.
It has an average vote of 8.11 on TMDB.
19. Official Secrets
The true story of British intelligence whistleblower Katharine Gun who—prior to the 2003 Iraq invasion—leaked a top-secret NSA memo exposing a joint US-UK illegal spying operation against members of the UN Security Council. The memo proposed blackmailing member states into voting for war.
It has an average vote of 7.235 on TMDB.
20. The Quiet Girl (An Cailín Ciúin)
A quiet, neglected girl is sent away from her dysfunctional family to live with relatives for the summer. She blossoms in their care, but in this house where there are meant to be no secrets, she discovers one.
It has an average vote of 7.5 on TMDB.