Avant-garde / Experimental
Avant-garde is a word from the French, meaning 'ahead of the crowd'. In contemporary English, we'd say it's on the 'cutting edge'. Avant-garde filmmakers want to experiment with new ideas, forms, techniques, and expressions - and are often said to be 'ahead of their time'. Avant-garde films are characterized by a high degree of experimentation - whether it be in manipulation of narrative materials, highly stylized visual representation, or radical departures from the norms and conventions current at the time, avant-garde film is always a vehicle for the filmmaker's expression. Surrealism, abstract studies of light and form, Dadaism, and impressionistic studies of people and things figure heavily in early works of the genre.
Below is a Alice's extensive collection in this genre.
Right: The famous eyeball scene from Luis Bunuel & Salvador Dali's 'Un Chien Andalou'.
The Nine Lives Of Fritz The Cat (1974)
5.4/10
Director: Robert Taylor
Starring: Skip Hinnant, Reva Rose, Voices Of, Bob Holt
This sequel to the notorious original finds the hippie feline in the '70s. Now on welfare with a nagging wife, he smokes dope for escape, and fantasiz... Read more
The Phantom of Liberty (1974)
8/10
Director: Luis Bunuel
Starring: Adolfo Celi, Adriana Asti, Bernard Verley, Jean Rochefort, Jean-Claude Brialy, M...
Bourgeois convention is demolished in Luis Buñuel's surrealist gem "The Phantom of Liberty". Featuring an elegant soiree with guests seated at toilet... Read more
The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes (2005)
6.4/10
Director: The Brothers Quay
Starring: Amira Casar, Gottfried John, Assumpta Serna
A characteristically surreal and stunning blend of live action, animation and puppetry from the Brothers Quay. On the eve of her wedding, opera singe... Read more
The Pillow Book (1996)
6.7/10
Director: Peter Greenaway
Starring: Yoshi Oida, Vivian Wu, Ken Ogata, Ewan McGregor
Peter Greenaway's bold stylistic experiment has as it's theme, the 'correspondence' between the daughter of a famous writer and a publisher, written o... Read more
The Power of Emotion (1983)
7.2/10
Director: Alexander Kluge
Iconoclast, philosopher, aesthete: Alexander Kluge is all this and more. One of the founding fathers of the New German Cinema, Kluge made a varied and... Read more
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
7.4/10
Director: Jim Sharman
Starring: Barry Bostwick, Tim Curry, Meat Loaf, Susan Sarandon, Richard O'Brien, Patricia...
This camp musical sci-fi horror movie spoof has become - thanks to elaborate audience participation on the midnight movie circuit - the definitive cul... Read more
The Rocky Horror Picture Show ( Blu-ray ) (1975)
7.4/10
Director: Jim Sharman
Starring: Barry Bostwick, Charles Gray, Richard O'Brien, Susan Sarandon, Tim Curry, Meat L...
This camp musical sci-fi horror movie spoof has become - thanks to elaborate audience participation on the midnight movie circuit - the definitive cul... Read more
The Seventh Seal (1957)
8.2/10
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Starring: Gunnar Bjornstrand, Bengt Ekerot, Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson
Disillusioned and exhausted after a decade of battling in the Crusades, a knight (Max von Sydow) encounters Death on a desolate beach and challenges h... Read more
The Square (2017)
7.3/10
Director: Ruben Östlund
Starring: Dominic West, Elisabeth Moss, Terry Notary, Claes Bang, Annica Liljeblad, Christ...
Christian is the respected curator of a contemporary art museum, a divorced but devoted father of two who drives an electric car and supports good cau... Read more
The Tempest (1979)
6.6/10
Director: Derek Jarman
Starring: Heathcote Williams, Karl Johnson, Toyah Wilcox
British helmer Derek Jarman's film version of Shakespeare's most fanciful play is definitely one of a kind. The plot remains intact, however, liberty... Read more