Black and White by choice
Films shot in B&W in the colour era.
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- DirectorAndrei TarkovskyStarsAnatoliy SolonitsynIvan LapikovNikolay GrinkoThe life, times and afflictions of the fifteenth-century Russian iconographer St. Andrei Rublev.I could have picked almost any of Tarkovsky's films, but this is probably my favourite, with majestic photography. Do not let the running time put you off.
- DirectorAndrei TarkovskyEduard AbalovStarsNikolay BurlyaevValentin ZubkovEvgeniy ZharikovDuring WWII, Soviet orphan Ivan Bondarev strikes up a friendship with three sympathetic Soviet officers while working as a scout behind the German lines.Another Tarkovsky - startling imagery, beautiful B&W, and a devastating story.
- DirectorFrantisek VlácilStarsPetr CepekJan KacerVera GalatíkováOndrej, a young boy who loves bees and bats, is introduced to his new mother, a woman much younger than his father. He brings her a basketful of flowers which she starts to throw in the air and then gives out a shriek, as she discovers several bats in the bottom of the bowl. In a rage, Ondrej's father picks the boy up and hurls him against the wall. As the boy lays on the ground paralyzed the father promises the Holy Virgin to dedicate the boy to her if she spares his life. Ondrej survives and is raised in a strict Knightly Order, where he is mentored by a devout monk, Armin. But one day, an extraordinary event makes him doubt the Order and remember where he came from.I only found this film recently through the excellent 'Second Run' DVD series. Directed by Frantisek Vlácil, and surprisingly engaging considering the setting and subject matter.
- DirectorFrantisek VlácilStarsJosef KemrMagda VásáryováNada HejnaA grim portrayal of the shift from Paganism to Christianity in medieval central Europe - as a young virgin promised to God is kidnapped and raped by a marauder who her religious father seeks to kill in return.Another film by Frantisek Vlácil - probably his best known and a classic in certain circles where it is considered one of the most beautiful films ever made. Visionary and hallucinogenic, with a non-linear narrative.
- DirectorJerzy KawalerowiczStarsLucyna WinnickaMieczyslaw VoitAnna CiepielewskaA priest is sent to a small parish in the Polish countryside which is believed to be under demonic possession and there he finds his own temptations awaiting.Another discovery made thanks to 'Second Run'. Great photography again, with striking sets and images.
- DirectorAleksey GermanStarsLeonid YarmolnikAleksandr ChutkoYuriy TsuriloIn the distant future, a space traveler from Earth breaks a special law and interferes with the history of another, Medieval-like planet.A strange meeting of Medieval setting and Sci-Fi - but ends up not being quite as interesting as it sounds. Spectacular design and cinematography. The story does not match it, but is worth sitting through all 3 hours at least once; remarkable photography.
- DirectorFrançois OzonStarsPierre NineyPaula BeerErnst StötznerIn the aftermath of WWI, a young German who grieves the death of her fiancé in France meets a mysterious Frenchman who visits the fiancé's grave to lay flowers.More beautiful photography, in the service of a poignant story. The outdoor scenes look luminous at times.
- DirectorHenning CarlsenStarsPer OscarssonGunnel LindblomBirgitte FederspielIn 1890, Pontus, the starving writer, wanders the streets of Christiania, in search of love and a chance to get his work published. All he meets is defeat and suffering while his sense of reality is withering. One moment his is delighted and the next he curses everybody. All the time he manages to maintain human dignity and pride.Set in Christiania (Oslo) in 1890, the crisp and atmospheric photography transports you convincingly to that era. Based on the book by Knut Hamsun and retaining its black humour and off kilter sense of 'reality'.
- DirectorRobert EggersStarsRobert PattinsonWillem DafoeValeriia KaramanTwo lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.Filmed in the unusual aspect ratio of 1.19 : 1 - this has the effect of concentrating the images and your attention to the centre of the screen......all the better to enjoy those fabulous visuals. This may be the 'darkest' film I have seen.....by which I mean literally; that is the tonality of the lighting, rather than the narrative (though that DOES get dark too). Director Robert Eggers first made the great 'The Witch'.....then onto this B&W bad dream.
- DirectorRainer SarnetStarsRea LestJörgen LiikArvo KukumägiIn a poor Estonian village, a group of peasants use magic and folk remedies to survive the winter, and a young woman tries to get a young man to love her.I only found this film by chance through a trailer on another DVD I bought. The trailer looked SO great that I immediately ordered it - and was not disappointed. Remarkable visuals.....AND a good story with a range of interesting characters. Arcane and like a delirium......it seems odd this is not better known.
- DirectorMikhail KalatozovStarsInnokentiy SmoktunovskiyTatyana SamoylovaVasiliy LivanovFour geologists search for diamonds in the wilderness of Siberia.Made by Mikhail Kalatozov, who also directed 'The Cranes are flying', and 'I am Cuba'. The B&W scheme magnificently portrays the various faces of the Siberian wilderness - tundra, forests, rivers, snow. A great story - and look out for the bravura sequence that communicates the euphoria of the Geologists when they make a discovery.
- DirectorMichael HanekeStarsChristian FriedelErnst JacobiLeonie BeneschStrange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. Who is responsible?Michael Haneke is typically a provocateur, and here he couches his tale in a beautiful B&W that seems simultaneously both nostalgic yet contemporary. The life of a German village in the pre WW I years is presented in splendid monochrome, which services the growing sense of unease and unspecified doom.
- DirectorA.J. EdwardsStarsJason ClarkeDiane KrugerBrit MarlingThe story of Abraham Lincoln's childhood in the harsh wilderness of Indiana and the hardships that shaped him, the tragedy that marked him for ever and the two women who guided him to immortality.I only found out about this film via the trailers on DVD's - it seems less known outside of the U.S.A. The mediocre score probably reflects the thin narrative - but the strength of the film is the quality of the photography. Directed by A.J. Edwards who appears to be an acolyte of Terrence Malick - this is like a B&W Malick odyssey, dreamy, ethereal, lovely to look at.
- DirectorJan-Ole GersterStarsTom SchillingKatharina SchüttlerJustus von DohnányiAn aimless university dropout attempts to make sense of life as he spends one fateful day wandering the streets of Berlin.Once again, a discovery through the trailers at the start of DVD's. I think this is only available on import. Beautiful photography, B&W seems to best evoke the feel of Berlin......the heavy recent history, the varying districts, bohemian cafes, a city repeatedly re-inventing itself while maintaining a core identity.
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsJeremy IronsTheresa RussellJoel GreyKafka works during the day at an insurance company, where events lead him to discover a mysterious underground society with strange suppressive goals.Surely anything related to Kafka (the writer) must be visualised in B&W? And Steven Soderbergh makes a great job of conjuring the 'Kafkaesque' staples of threat, confusion, and unease. Seductive visuals to accompany a waking nightmare. (SPOILER - there are a few scenes in colour).
- DirectorWim WendersStarsBruno GanzSolveig DommartinOtto SanderAn angel tires of his purely ethereal life of merely overseeing the human activity of Berlin's residents, and longs for the tangible joys of physical existence when he falls in love with a mortal.I saw this in the cinema when originally released in 1987, and it was almost single handedly responsible for the precipitation of my love of film. Wim Wenders returns to Germany and creates a sort of love letter to Berlin (pre fall of the wall) - magnificently aided by cinematographer Henri Alekan. (Note a similar proviso regarding the B&W scheme as for 'Kafka').
- DirectorChris NewbyStarsNatalie MorseGene BervoetsToyah WillcoxIn the 14th-century, a visionary girl is to become an Anchoress, a walled-in recluse, so that she can live in the Virgin's house forever. Over time she awakens to her own sensuality and explores her own female, earth-based spirituality.Another film I only found recently. Some IMDB commentators have called it "breath-taking, mystifying...", while other have felt it is dull and goes nowhere. Interestingly some people seem to combine the 2 - where their rational sense feels disappointed, yet some intuition feels compelled by it. An interesting narrative idea, with wonderful images and photography in general.
- DirectorAlexander PayneStarsBruce DernWill ForteJune SquibbAn aging, booze-addled father makes the trip from Montana to Nebraska with his estranged son in order to claim a million-dollar Mega Sweepstakes Marketing prize.Low key, as the title suggests. B&W is ideal for conveying this small scale story, and expressing the humanity at its core. Life at the margins, in by-passed and forgotten towns, and dreams never realised.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsNobuko OtowaJitsuko YoshimuraKei SatôTwo women kill samurai and sell their belongings for a living. While one of them is having an affair with their neighbor, the other woman meets a mysterious samurai wearing a bizarre mask.A dark palette - the most atmospheric grass ever.....and more unsettling and haunting than most conventional ghost stories. I could have selected something by Ozu, or Kurosawa - but this list is about more subjective choices.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsKichiemon NakamuraNobuko OtowaKei SatôTwo women are raped and killed by samurai soldiers. Soon they reappear as vengeful ghosts who seduce and brutally murder the passing samurai.Another film by Kaneto Shindô (as is #19) - who also made 'The Naked island'. This film has such rich deep blacks, and shining spectral faces.....beautiful B&W images.
- DirectorHiroshi TeshigaharaStarsTatsuya NakadaiMikijirô HiraKyôko KishidaA businessman with a disfigured face obtains a lifelike mask from his doctor, but the mask starts altering his personality.Full of quite modern seeming concerns and subtexts. This nightmarish psycho-drama feels as though it HAD to be in B&W.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsMax von SydowGunnar BjörnstrandBengt EkerotA knight returning to Sweden after the Crusades seeks answers about life, death, and the existence of God as he plays chess against the Grim Reaper during the Black Plague.Bergman…..I could have chosen almost anything from his canon up until he started using colour in the early 1970's. This may be an obvious choice, but it seems unavoidable. The glow of the scenes in nature, and the darkness when 'Death' is on screen....and Max von Sydow's hulking presence.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsVictor SjöströmBibi AnderssonIngrid ThulinAfter living a life marked by coldness, an aging professor is forced to confront the emptiness of his existence.The 2nd Bergman choice - the B&W imagery is ideal for the dream like sense that tinges the journey of the main character....who lapses into reverie and memories
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsHarriet AnderssonGunnar BjörnstrandMax von SydowRecently released from a mental hospital, Karin rejoins her emotionally disconnected family in their island home, only to slip from reality as she begins to believe she is being visited by God.A 3rd Bergman - the striking coastal imagery and meditative interiors put this just ahead of other B&W contenders such as:
'Summer Interlude', 'Summer with Monika', 'Sawdust and Tinsel', 'The Magician', 'The Virgin Spring', 'Winter Light', 'The Silence', 'Persona', or 'Hour of the Wolf'. - DirectorDavid LynchStarsAnthony HopkinsJohn HurtAnne BancroftA Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of kindness, intelligence and sophistication.David Lynch began in B&W with 'Eraserhead', but I prefer this work. He makes the Victorian era look like a nightmare....but in a beautiful way. Society and the city environment is far more grotesque and unsettling than poor Joseph Merrick.
- DirectorJim JarmuschStarsJohnny DeppGary FarmerCrispin GloverOn the run after murdering a man, accountant William Blake encounters a strange Native American man named Nobody who prepares him for his journey into the spiritual world.This is very slow, and can feel longer than its 2 hours - BUT I say it is worth being patient with because of the entrancing Neil Young score, and the gorgeous visuals by D of P Robby Müller. He also worked with Jim Jarmusch on 'Down By Law', and segments of 'Coffee and Cigarettes'. Müller also did D of P for several films by Wim Wenders and Lars Von Trier.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenDiane KeatonMariel HemingwayThe life of a divorced television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.More 'mainstream' than most on this list.....but Woody Allen made New York look ravishing, and it is now hard to think of that city in colour.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsHenrik MalbergEmil Hass ChristensenPreben Lerdorff RyeFollows the lives of the Borgen family, as they deal with inner conflict, as well as religious conflict with each other, and the rest of the town.Carl Theodor Dreyer is a master of black and white.....especially the WHITE. He always tried to strip down his sets, to focus on the essentials - and the scenes are often glowing, which suits the transcendent theme of this film.
- DirectorPawel PawlikowskiStarsAgata KuleszaAgata TrzebuchowskaDawid OgrodnikA novice nun about to take her vows uncovers a family secret dating back to the German occupation.Pawel Pawlikowski directs. I prefer this to the subsequent 'Cold War'. The photography is so attractive that it manages to make dirt-poor rural Poland look romantic. The novice nun (main character) channels a quality of innocence and other Worldliness, aided by the B&W scheme.
- DirectorBen WheatleyStarsJulian BarrattPeter FerdinandoRichard GloverAmid the Civil War in 17th-century England, a group of deserters flee from battle through an overgrown field. Captured by an alchemist, the men are forced to help him search to find a hidden treasure that he believes is buried in the field.I do not think anyone is quite sure WHAT this film means......but that is not important. It is the journey that counts......and Ben Wheatley delivers a head 'trip'.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMatt DillonMickey RourkeDiane LaneAbsent-minded street thug Rusty James struggles to live up to his legendary older brother's reputation, and longs for the days of gang warfare.Directed by Coppola. Mickey Rourke is 'The Motorcycle Boy'; he is colour blind and has damaged hearing. Someone asks how things look to him, and he whispers - "Like a black and white TV with the sound turned low". Also has Tom Waits in a cameo, and a great soundtrack.
- DirectorBen RiversStarsJake WilliamsAfter working at sea, a man realizes his dream of moving to the middle of the forest.A low budget work by Ben Rivers, who used a 16mm camera, and intentionally distressed the film through a sort of DIY processing system. Almost dialogue free, this one divides people - but the photography is always great to look at.
- DirectorLuc BessonStarsRie RasmussenJamel DebbouzeGilbert MelkiA beautiful woman helps an inept scam artist get his game together.Has Paris ever looked more sumptuous? An interesting storyline, elevated by the lighting and cinematography....and Rie Rasmussen.
- DirectorPrinceMichael BallhausStarsPrinceJerome BentonKristin Scott ThomasTwo con artist brothers attempt to swindle a soon-to-be wealthy heiress, but things get complicated when one falls in love with her.This is PRINCE....in a B&W film that he co-directs. I would have to say it is not great....easily the lowest IMDB score on this list.....but the soundtrack is the album 'Parade', and the photography is radiant, with an almost silvery sheen to the B&W. Approach it as a light hearted bit of fun.
- DirectorTony RichardsonStarsJeanne MoreauEttore ManniKeith SkinnerResidents of a small French town are quick to accuse Manou of arson because he seduced most of the town's women. No one suspects the real culprit, a woman committing random crimes, all in an attempt to draw Manou's attention to herself.I only recently discovered this and I see there are other IMDBers calling it a 'hidden gem'. Directed by Tony Richardson it is a thing of visual beauty - David Watkins (D of P for films like 'Out of Africa' and 'The Devils') uses Panasonic lenses and a range of film stock to get different tones of gorgeous B&W. There is no soundtrack, but rather beguiling use of the natural countryside sounds. A dark story of wicked behaviour and the suspicions it provokes. Jeanne Moreau is superb.
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsHanna SchygullaWolfgang SchenckUlli LommelIn the nineteenth century, seventeen year old Effi Briest is married to the older Baron von Instetten and moves into a house, that she believes has a ghost, in a small isolated Baltic town. She soon bears a daughter, Annie, and hires the lapsed Catholic Roswitha to look after her. Effi is lonely when her husband is away on business, so she spends time riding and walking along the shore with Major Crampas. Instetten is promoted to Ministerial Councillor and the family moves to Berlin, where Effi enjoys the social life. Six years later, the Baron is given letters from Crampas to Effi that convince him that they had an affair. He feels obliged to challenge Crampas to a duel and banish Effi from the house.More beautiful photography - I was more used to Fassbinder's films set in post WW II Germany, so I was surprised and delighted by this period piece (I believe it is set in the late 19th Century). The cinematography feels precise and discreet - perhaps reflecting the societal values dealt with in the story.
- DirectorKen RussellStarsMax AdrianMaureen PryorChristopher GableTraces last 5 years of the life of Frederick Delius through the eyes of the young composer Eric FenbyThis is relatively restrained for Ken Russell who limits himself to a few touches of directorial idiosyncrasy; it is my favourite by him. Made for TV, but still highly 'Cinematic' - beautiful B&W images married to the music of Delius - it tells the real life story of Eric Fenby who acted as the blind composers' amanuensis for a number of years. This inspired the song 'Delius' by Kate Bush.
- DirectorFrantisek VlácilStarsVítezslav VejrazkaMiroslav MachácekCestmír RandaA priest travels to investigate a miller suspected to be working with the devil.Another film by Frantisek Vlácil - after #'s 3 and 4 in this list, I wanted to see more of his films, and this is another great one, with fine photography. Not quite the level of the other two, but that would be asking a lot.
- DirectorBéla TarrÁgnes HranitzkyStarsJános DerzsiErika BókMihály KormosA rural farmer is forced to confront the mortality of his faithful horse.Be warned - this is pretty slow and quite long......and very little happens. Sounds great, right? So, I was a little apprehensive, but after settling down to the sedate pace I was soon hypnotised by the beauty of the minimal sets and narrative, and the bleak harsh landscapes - the fantastic B&W cinematography is a big factor. Anyone fancy another Potato?
- DirectorJuho KuosmanenStarsJarkko LahtiOona AirolaEero MilonoffThe true story of Olli Mäki, the famous Finnish boxer who had a shot at the 1962 World Featherweight title.An enjoyable film from Finland with fine photography. B&W feels very fitting for the light quality, nature and landscapes of Finland. The actress Oona Airola looks radiant.