Rashomon

The debut feature from actor Harris Dickinson sees a homeless addict get a shot at recovery and redemption.

A teenager is taken to a Corsican villa where her fugitive mob boss father is hiding, before an assassination attempt forces them to go on the run.

This wildly violent ‘70s Japanese sexploitation film about a gambler hunting her father’s killers was a key influence on Tarantino’s Kill Bill series.

Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a crime journalist scouring the streets of after-dark LA in a stylish thriller that examines the morals of mass media.

A bouncer is enlisted to fight off a mob boss, in this barmy, shot-on-video cult actioner from famed Mancunian hardman Cliff Twemlow.

Michael Haneke’s drama explores a teenager’s obsession with screen violence, and his inability to distinguish between reality and fiction.

Alejandro González Iñárritu's (Birdman, The Revenant) gripping debut feature is a savagely brilliant triptych around the theme of animalistic desires.

This Oscar-nominated, Almodóvar-produced anthology of six tales of ordinary madness is the most riotously enjoyable portmanteau film since Pulp Fiction.

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

Steven Soderbergh’s Oscar-winning ensemble drama explores America’s war on drugs at the start of the 21st century.

Haneke’s brilliant multi-strand narrative delivers a chillingly prescient treatise on migration and racism, starring Juliette Binoche.

Multi-stranded meditation on the experiences of indigenous communities across the Americas, from Argentinian filmmaker Lisandro Alonso.

Part gangster film, part melodrama and part social critique, Akira Kurosawa's first critical success follows the troubled friendship between a disillusioned doctor and a young yakuza.

In Akira Kurosawa's comedy, a ronin runs rings around nine young samurai while cleaning up a spot of corruption in local government.

Toshiro Mifune delivers an outstanding performance as a paranoid man striving to move his family to Brazil to escape the nuclear holocaust which he fears is imminent.

The first film made by Akira Kurosawa's own production company is a dark tale of greed, corporate corruption and revenge.

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

Akira Kurosawa’s thrilling mix of fairy story and samurai movie - a story of rival clans, hidden gold and a princess in distress - was famously a key inspiration for George Lucas’ Star Wars.

Adapted from Noh and Kabuki theatre, Kurosawa’s classic tale of deception sees a lord and his bodyguard disguise themselves as monks to bypass an enemy roadblock.

Part gangster film, part melodrama and part social critique, Akira Kurosawa's first critical success follows the troubled friendship between a disillusioned doctor and a young yakuza.

In Akira Kurosawa's comedy, a ronin runs rings around nine young samurai while cleaning up a spot of corruption in local government.

Kurosawa’s assured debut film about a young man’s spiritual journey through the study and practice of judo.

Toshiro Mifune delivers an outstanding performance as a paranoid man striving to move his family to Brazil to escape the nuclear holocaust which he fears is imminent.

The first film made by Akira Kurosawa's own production company is a dark tale of greed, corporate corruption and revenge.

Buñuel’s surreal, darkly satirical masterpiece about a group of wealthy dinner guests finding themselves inexplicably unable to leave the room.

Marina de Van’s deeply personal debut about a young woman's addiction to self-mutilation stretches the body horror genre in new ways.

Banned in Spain, condemned by the Vatican and celebrated at Cannes, Buñuel’s satire about an aspiring nun takes a stinging crack at society.

Silvia Pinal's Devil torments and tempts a holy man in Buñuel’s final Mexican film, which features the most thrillingly unexpected ending.

Marion Cotillard brings a thrilling magnetism to this snowbound tale of obsession and wish fulfilment between an actress and a young runaway.

Critic and broadcaster Rhianna Dhillon selects her pick of the films that will help you make a change for 2026.