One of the greatest films in French cinema, À bout de souffle immortalized Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg forever. The jump cuts are famous and many classic scenes are seemingly improvisational, but there's a James Dean quality that's exercised by the leading stars: infinite flexibility. It doesn't happen much in films.

Sensually unusual, mysterious, and romantic, Como agua para chocolate, which is better known as Like Water for Chocolate, has one of the best cinematography ever. It's a magical film. What a brilliant direction by Alfonso Arau. Lumi Cavazos is perfect.

El Mariachi is a stunner of a picture that's set apart from the others through its avant-garde camera work. What's also nice is the romantic tragedy as it suddenly happens at the end. Adding a lot of flavor to the film is the Mexican grittiness. The overall result is the hard-to-capture foreign quality that's more poetic than anything else.

There's no doubt that Russia had its own Audrey Hepburn, and her name was Tatiana Samoilova. Her most famous performance is given in Letyat zhuravli, otherwise known as The Cranes Are Flying. Highly romantic, it's one of the prettiest pictures made with unique shots. Whenever Tatiana appears, she enhances the visually striking black-and-white cinematography even more.

Henri-Georges Clouzot and Alfred Hitchock were in a race to buy the filming rights to Les diaboliques (Diabolique or The Devils), and the former emerged as the winner. As a result, he directed a winning French thriller, making the Master of Suspense envious, but it did have an enormous influence on Psycho.

Thanks to Benoît Poelvoorde's arresting Oscar-worthy performance, C'est arrivé près de chez vous (Man Bites Dog) is one of the most compelling movies made. A one-man tour de force show, he can't be more charming, likeable, and manipulative. Endlessly talkative, Benoît's character is also knowledgeable, philosophical, and worldly in many areas through situational analysis.

Dip huet seung hung, translated as The Killer in English, is arguably one of the most influential movies of all time, making John Woo famous. It has the best editing ever which is the chief reason why people should see this Hong Kong masterpiece to feel its poetic power which is relentless at a scorching pace.

German for The Boat, Das Boot is an intense action-adventure submarine picture that's unlike anything. This one is about exploring how far a man can go. Also, it's about the reality of survival in naval warfare, something that Charles Darwin would succintly call: "The survival of the fittest." The ending is unforgettable as well.

Perfect and sublime, Alain Delon is all that and more in Plein soleil (Purple Noon), giving one of the finest performances of his career. I have to love the exquisite photography of Italy: land and water. Complementing it is the beauty of three principal stars: Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet, and Marie Laforêt. They all have the vibe and are sumptuous-looking creatures.

What the romantic movie (aka The Postman) is about is a simple friendship between a famous poet and a sycophant. Perhaps it doesn't mean much to the former but means the world to the latter. Massimo Troisi postponed heart surgery in order to complete the film, and then one day after the end of principal photography, he died of a heart attack.

Le violon rouge (The Red Violin) features a fictional history of the red Bussotti violin that was later revealed to be varnished with the blood of a violin-maker's wife who passed away during labor and saw itself exchanged by various owners across many continents over four centuries as told in five different vignettes through six different languages. It's fascinating stuff.

Shot on location in Taipei of Taiwan, Ang Lee proves in Yin shi nan nu, which is better known as Eat Drink Man Woman, why he's an excellent director. It's one of the most interesting movies made despite the marathon of cooked animals. Great performances are rendered by everybody.

A famous picture of the French New Wave, Les quatre cents coups, which is better known as The 400 Blows, is an interesting tale about the life of a typical juvenile delinquent. François Truffaut's masterly direction results in superb performances, especially from Jean-Pierre Léaud who plays Antoine Doinel.

Why La vita è bella (Life Is Beautiful) is a memorable film is due to what Roberto Benigni did during the 1999 Oscars show when he literally walked over the people who were in their seats. To make the Holocaust a positive experience for the sake of shielding the son's eyes from the horrors in order to mitigate the effects of the inevitable psychological trauma that'll soon follow after liberation makes it a compelling film to watch.

One of the best from the silent film era, Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, which is translated as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, is the quintessential example of German Expressionism cinema. It's the jagged shapes in the background that gives the picture a distorted, surreal look.

A victim of trying too hard to be the coolest and most intelligent movie ever, Le samouraï, aka The Samurai, is a near masterpiece and a nice addition to the neo-noir genre. One thing is for sure: the style is impeccable. Alain Delon couldn't be any happier when he was given the easiest role of his life. He hardly does anything but look cool.

Without doubt, Spoorloos is a quintessential Hitchcockian movie. One of the most remarkable qualities is the director's willingness to reveal the identity of a sociopathic killer from the get-go and show his routine while taking his time to unfold the layers of how and why he has become this sort of person.

A political-driven picture, Novecento, aka 1900, is about generations of families, spanning five decades in Italy. A near masterpiece, it's probably a difficult picture for Bernardo Bertolucci to direct because he has to put together many aspects and achieve a balance among them while depicting the slow erosion of Italy's culture and identity.

Alberto Sordi's brilliant performance is the chief reason to see Mafioso. His character is both funny and sad. If not for him, I seriously doubt the film would see the light of the day nowadays. His personality reminds me of Chevy Chase's Clark Griswold.

Better known as Rififi, Du rififi chez les hommes is a nice caper film at the hands of Jules Dassin. It's methodical in a fascinating way with many quintessential elements that makes it a worthy noir picture.