Wild Innocence (2001)

Sauvage innocence

2001 | France | Philippe Garrel | ★★★★

Philippe Garrel's acclaimed, FIPRESCI Prize-winning Wild Innocence is a slow, beautifully crafted meta-drama about the making of an anti-drug film, featuring cleverly layered storytelling, gorgeous black and white photography, and quietly affecting performances.

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"A director wants to make an anti-drug film because his wife died of a heroin overdose. He’s planned the lead for a young actress with whom he’s in love. One day, a man becomes interested in the story and offers the director a vast sum of money—if he’ll smuggle heroin in a suitcase across the border." Mubi

Strumpet (2001)

2001 | UK | Danny Boyle | ★★★★

Starring Christopher Eccleston and Jenna G, Danny Boyle's exuberantly bonkers Strumpet is an experimental urban musical fairy tale, featuring grainy and grimy yet decidedly striking digital photography and a number of wonderfully full-blooded performances.

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"Spontaneous poet Strayman, his neighbour Knockoff, and Strumpet, a homeless girl with a gift for music, set off for London in search of fame, fortune and Top of the Pops." BBC

Metropolis (2001)

メトロポリス

2001 | Japan | Rintaro | ★★★★

Based on Tezuka Osamu's 1949 manga of the same name, Rintaro's Metropolis is a visually stunning, hugely moving animated feature, replete with unforgettable imagery, mellifluous scoring, and a truly, indelibly spectacular climax.

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"In the industrial, tri-level world of Metropolis, Duke Red is a powerful leader with plans to unveil a highly advanced robot named Tima. But Duke Reds violent son Rock distrusts robots and intends to find and destroy Tima. Lost in the confusing labyrinth beneath Metropolis, Tima is beginning a friendship with the young nephew of a Japanese detective. But when Duke Red separates the two innocents, Tima's life – and the fate of the universe – is dangerously at stake." Eureka

Dragonflies (2001)

Øyenstikker

2001 | Norway | Marius Holst | ★★★★★

Marius Holst's Dragonflies is a sensuously atmospheric yet discomfortingly enigmatic almost-thriller, featuring some striking photography and a trio of excellent performances from Dane Kim Bodnia, Norwegian Maria Bonnevie, and Swede Mikael Persbrandt.

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"Eddie (Kim Bodnia) and Maria (Maria Bonnevie) enjoy an idyllic life in their remote countryside farmhouse. But their happiness is threatened by the arrival of Kullmann (Mikael Persbrandt), an old friend of Eddie's with whom he had committed a crime that landed Kullmann in jail." Studiocanal



See also:

Stotty's Norwegian Favourites
Stotty's 2000s Favourites