The Gauntlet

Bamako (2006) / Life Without Principle (2011)

This week: globalization and its discontents as we put the financial system on trial with Abderrahmane Sissako and crash the market with Johnnie To’s recession thriller

7-Man Army (1976) / Odd Couple (1979)

This week everybody’s kung-fu fighting as we defend the great wall with Chang Cheh and duel with a double dose of Lau Kar-wing and Sammo Hung

95 – Playing with Fire (1975) / Emanuelle in America (1977)

This week things are getting steamy at the arthouse and grindhouse as we are kidnapped into a labyrinth of pleasure by Alain Robbe-Grillet and shoved into Joe D’Amato’s videodrome

Dossier 51 (1978) / Pacifiction (2022)

This week we’re grappling with forces beyond our control as we join Michel Deville’s shady surveillance operation and grab a cocktail on Albert Serra’s island of torment

Deathrow Gameshow (1987) / Stay Tuned (1992)

This week we’re ready at the buzzer because slow reaction time will lead to execution on Mark Pirro’s diabolical game show and a lifetime of hell with Peter Hyams

Iracema: Uma Transa Amazônica (1975) / No, or the Vainglory of Command (1990)

This week we hitch a ride on the Trans-Amazonian Highway with Jorge Bodanzky & Orlando Senna and truck through Portuguese military history with Manoel de Oliveira

The Big Parade (1925) / La Grande Guerra (1959)

This week we’re off to the trenches as we march towards love and death with King Vidor’s parade of doughboys while Mario Monicelli’s comic cowards show us that war is no joke

So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993) / Saving Face (2004)

This week we’re trying to fall in love but are too busy caring for our pregnant mother with Alice Wu and worrying about serial killers with Michael Myers

Brannigan (1975) / Routine Pleasures (1986)

This week we’re in search of relaxation as we join a model railroaders club with Jean-Pierre Gorin and explore the dull rhythms of late John Wayne as he saunters through London

Visiting Hours (1982) / Syndromes and a Century (2006)

This week we’re checking in and stalking the corridors of death with Michael Ironside while Apichatpong Weerasethakul prescribes a space of healing