Costa-Gavras's electrifying thriller is based on the assassination of a Greek anti-war activist and physician (Yves Montand) in the 1960s, and the ensuing, government-toppling investigation. There are a few portions of Z that have less impact today than when the film was originally released; most of them are action and chase scenes that have been eclipsed so handily in contemp…
Just after World War II, an American and self-proclaimed pacifist named Leopold finds himself working as a sleeping-car conductor on a huge German railway system called Zentropa. He wants to take part in the post-war rebuilding of Germany, or so he claims, and this is what he comes up with. The railroad—now carrying ordinary passengers but until recently carrying Jews to the ovens—is…
Zero de Conduit Jean Vigo was 27 when he directed this magnificently poetic, lyrical portrait of youthful rebellion at a restrictive French boarding school. The children have just returned to school from a holiday, and are in no mood to take orders from “Sourpuss,” the most obnoxious of their instructors. From a spirited, dormitory pillow fight (a hauntingly beautiful slow-mot…
Young, shy Ann (Joanna Shimkus) learns that her adored Aunt Zita (Katina Paxinou) is dying, but she's unable to accept the idea of parting from her great friend and confidant, the woman who has meant everything to her since her childhood. Ann finds it too heartbreaking to remain in the house with the deathly ill Zita, so she runs off into the Parisian night, look…