"A camera in your hand and an idea in your head" was how film critic-turned-filmmaker Glauber Rocha characterized the creative conditions under which Brazil's "Cinema Novo" (New Cinema) began. Rocha was the movement's guiding spirit, both in theory and in practice, as he and other filmmakers sought t

Cinema novo, Epic, Intense, Political, Social revolution, Violent

Jane Campion's lush study of repression, "The Piano," contains an enduring image: high cliffs tower over a deserted beach, waves crashing and rolling upon the cold sand. Deposited in the tide is a black piano, a misplaced presence seemingly dropped from heaven. It is a solitary signifier of humanity

Dissonant, Enigmatic, Erotic, Film down under, Intense, Tribal

"My characters are not violent or vile. They're everyday people. They have some money, but find themselves discontented with their own loneliness, their own mortality, the sameness of life." Championing a gritty, unencumbered approach to filmmaking, John Cassavetes directed his art toward a new front

Anxiety, Event, Gritty, Intense, Intimate, Open-ended, Psychological, Sincere, Sprawling