Staff Picks: Must-Watch Films

Julianne Moore and John Cusack star in David Cronenberg’s caustic take on modern Hollywood, depicted as a nightmare world of ego and obsession.

Akira Kurosawa’s procedural crime masterpiece follows an industrialist who faces an agonising choice.

One dress changes everything for a family in Dionne Edwards’ brilliant debut. Defiant, uplifting and with music at its core.

Tom Tykwer’s breathtaking time-loop thriller, with a terrific Franka Potente as the titular runner attempting to save her boyfriend.

Godard's playful tribute to the Hollywood pulp crime movies of the 1940s, executed with typically Gallic cool.

Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winning tale of two brothers joining the fight for Irish independence in the 1920s, starring Cillian Murphy and Pádraic Delaney

Gripping account of repressed sexual desire in a masculine environment, with British newcomer Harris Dickinson as a virulently macho Brooklyn teen.

Mathieu Kassovitz’s landmark mid-90s drama throws a cinematic Molotov cocktail at structural racism, police brutality and media manipulation.

Guillermo del Toro’s Cannes prize-winning directorial debut offers a unique take on the classic vampire story.

Ondi Timoner’s cult music documentary returns after 20 years, remastered and extended, to explore rock’s most volatile friendship.

Bresson’s hugely influential study of a petty thief in late 50s Paris is one of his most widely acclaimed films.

Menelik Shabazz (Burning an Illusion) shines a light on the music genre often dubbed ‘romantic reggae’; a uniquely black British sound that developed in the late 70s and 80s against a backdrop of riots, racial tension and sound systems.