Flicks w/ The Film Snob

A groundbreaking 1991 film by Julie Dash concerns a matriarchal culture of former slaves living in the Gullah Islands off the coast of Georgia.

A documentary about the giant of Yiddish literature explores the life and work of Sholem Aleichem, and the vanished world of east European Jewry from which he came.

My top four films from last year all deal in some way with the nature of reality, and the problem of human illusions.

An epic about a filmmaker searching for the first film shot in the Balkans is a parable of the tragic struggles and sufferings of the Balkan countries.

A silent film in 2012? Yes, and a very clever and funny one about the power of movies to enchant and entertain.

Tomas Alfredson's adaptation of the John Le Carre's Cold War spy novel emphasizes themes of isolation and betrayal.

A classic of Swedish silent film tells of a young woman who falls in love with a man without knowing that he had murdered her family many years earlier.

Rookie filmmaker J.C. Chandor brings us a scathing film, with a high-powered cast, about a group of investment bankers going into damage control on the eve of the 2008 meltdown

The wry humorist Aki Kaurismaki brings us a delightful fairy tale about an eccentric old man hiding an African boy refugee from the police.

Vanessa Roth's documentary explodes conservative myths about teachers, making a strong case for higher pay and greater respect.

Martin Scorsese's first family film slyly employs the current fad for 3-D in a celebration of one of film's earliest pioneers.

Lars von Trier's beautiful and provocative film puts chronic depression in the scales with the end of the world.

Val Lewton's 1944 Gothic mystery values the power of a child's imagination.

A haunting film by a new director tells of a young woman who has left an abusive cult but can't adjust to so-called "normal" life either.

Israeli agents grapple with a legacy of lies in this taut suspense thriller.