Anthony Bourdain’s Top 10
American chef and art-film epicure Anthony Bourdain is
chef at large at New York’s Brasserie les Halles; the author of ten
books, including Kitchen Confidential and No Reservations; and the host of the Travel Channel’s Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. Photo courtesy of the Travel Channel.
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This is a superb and uncompromising
adaptation of George V. Higgins’s bleak masterpiece of low-level
criminality—and possibly Robert Mitchum’s finest performance.
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Georges Franju’s eerie,
face-transplant melodrama has stuck in my memory since the first time I
saw it as a freaked-out kid on late-night TV.
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The film that politicized me
overnight. It’s riveting, multidimensional agitprop with a compelling
documentary feel—still relevant and still the best of its kind.
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I could watch the work of Wong
Kar-wai (and the brilliant cinematographer Christopher Doyle) all day
long. I don’t have to understand what’s going on . . . I don’t care.
Beautiful people, photographed beautifully. His films are the best, most
romantic out there.
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Easily the ugliest, greasiest, darkest, and most influential noir of its day. Love it.
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Nagisa Oshima will probably be remembered best for his groundbreaking and beautiful hardcore film In the Realm of the Senses,
but this is a wonderful one. Breathtakingly shot, with a fantastic,
memorable score, and great performances by David Bowie, Tom Conti, and
“Beat” Takeshi Kitano.
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One of the funniest goddamn films ever made—with an amazing performance by the brilliant Richard E. Grant.
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A hard, unflinching look at what it was like to resist during wartime France. Personally, I prefer Bob le flambeur, but any Melville is good Melville. And this is very, very good.
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Mamet’s best film. Joe Mantegna’s
best film. A suspense film about the big con. With a tight, delightfully
convoluted script, great dialogue—and Ricky Jay!
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It’s simply one of the best films
ever made—and it perfectly conveys everything you need to know about
film. The scene of the convicts watching cartoons is a timeless,
classic, and life-enriching moment.
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