Roger Luckhurst

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Touch of Evil

From the opening tracking shot across the border to a bitter, rancid finale, its influence seems to outpace that *other* perennial Welles choice these days…

Taxi Driver

Political conspiracy, violence and queasy comedy – as fresh as it ever was.

Mulholland Dr.

The consummation of Lynch's experiments in narrative twist, a film miraculously rescued out of tortured fragments of a failed TV pilot, the most remarkable cinematic experience of the 21st century – still!

Cléo from 5 to 7

Varda sneaks up and grabs the top spot for the New Wave from the rowdy boys that hogged the limelight for decades. Amazing that Faces Places, more than 50 years later, nearly steals this spot too!

Professione: reporter

This fusion of severe European modernism and the New Hollywood still proves unbeatable to summarise the open mesh of possibilities in the 1970s.

Cemetery of Splendour

A run of transportive trance-state films, in a dream-like mode no one else can quite sustain, reaches one peak here. The ability to hold two completely different realities on screen at the same time with the same image is properly magical.

Once upon a Time in Anatolia

Luminous scenes, total immersion in perfect rhythm, astounding last sequence.

The Shining

Reviled on release for hokey misreading of horror, an indelible influence on the genre ever since. Few films introduce a new way of seeing: the Steadicam glides here introduce a whole new cinematic emotion.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Transporting slow-burn desire heightened by exacting formal rigour.

The Driver

My wild card: no one else will vote for this – knock-off existential pretensions; assholery real (Ryan O'Neal) and brilliantly portrayed (Bruce Dern); Adjani looking at sea; a silent drama for long stretches, I always say the car chases speed along at 24 frames per second, as pure kinetic cinema.