Basic Instinct in 4K

Considered by many historians to be the first feature-length talkie out of Britain, this seminal thriller from the Master of Suspense cemented Alfred Hitchcock “as the most admired British director of all time” (Mark Duguid, BFI Screenonline). Shot on location in the London Underground, at the Tea House at Piccadilly Circus, and atop the British Museum, Blackmail succeeds not just in its compelling mystery, but also in capturing the richness of life in 1920s London. A picture that could have been a simple police procedural transcends its roots in the theater to become an exemplar of cinematic formalism and a high watermark of Hitchcock’s early years, with well-timed sonic emphases that could unnerve even the steeliest of dispositions.

Ivan Passer (Intimate Lighting, 1966) directed this low-key mystery, based on Newton Thornberg’s novel Cutter and Bone. John Heard is Cutter, a disabled, hard-drinking Vietnam veteran, and Jeff Bridges is Bone, his easygoing best friend. When Cutter becomes convinced that Bone is the witness to a young woman’s murder, the resulting obsession challenges their friendship and threatens their lives. With its Santa Barbara setting, evocative cinematography by Jordan Cronenweth (Blade Runner, 1982), and a dreamy score by Jack Nitzsche (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1975), Cutter’s Way is a one-of-a-kind cross between a 70s-style character study and a paranoid thriller.

“On one side, thick walls, bars, soldiers, weapons. On the other, one lone man, unarmed, doomed from the start.”

In minimalist Robert Bresson’s 1956 film, a French Resistance fighter attempts escape from a German military prison against impossible odds. While the title of the film seems to say it all, it belies the film’s gripping tension and near-silent sequences of harrowing engineering feats, unbelievable patience, and human resilience, all performed with placid determination by François Leterrier as he embodies lieutenant Fontaine, a proxy for André Devigny, whose life Bresson loosely adapted for the screen from his 1956 memoir.

Jane Campion’s gritty erotic thriller stars Meg Ryan as Frannie Avery, a seemingly apathetic writer and English teacher who finds solace in her daydream of language and literature. At a bar near her apartment, Frannie accidentally witnesses a sexual encounter between a woman and a man whose face she cannot recall. The woman is later found dismembered, spurring a visit from a detective who quickly becomes Frannie’s infatuation. Paralleling the desolate ambience of the urban landscape is Frannie’s facade, until her suppressed emotions trigger outbursts that may lead her straight into the path of a serial killer of women.

In person: Academy Governor Howard A. Rodman

In Paul Verhoeven’s stylish, psychological-erotic thriller, author Gerard (Jeroen Krabbé), begins a romantic affair with Christine (Renée Soutendijk), an enigmatic widow from literary society, only to become obsessed with her lover, Herman (Thom Hoffman). While continuing the affair in hopes of getting closer to Herman, Gerard is plagued by ominous visions, fueling paranoid thoughts about Christine plotting murder. Based on the novel by celebrated Dutch author Gerard Reve, The 4th Man was Verhoeven’s final film shot in Dutch before directing English-language and Hollywood productions. It was the Netherlands’ official submission for International Feature Film at the 56th Academy Awards, and, upon its release in the US, gave American audiences a taste of Verhoeven’s unabashed take on sex, violence, and religion.

One of the most important auteurs of the 20th century cinema, Otto Preminger is known for his bold exploration of themes challenging the societal norms of his era. Carol Lynley, in an exceptional performance, portrays Ann Lake, a mother recently moved to London from New York with her 4-year-old daughter, Bunny. When Bunny vanishes without a trace, as if she never existed in the first place, Superintendent Newhouse excavates disturbing truths behind a family’s refined façade. Preminger finesses a subtle construction of atmospheric tension, amplified with a crisp, black-and-white cinematography that articulates Ann’s psychological isolation and creates an eerie, claustrophobic ambience.

Michèle (Isabelle Huppert), the head of a popular video game company, is attacked in her home by a masked assailant. Unaware of her attacker’s identity and suspicious of the men in her life, she begins to track down the criminal herself, stepping into a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Based on the award-winning novel Oh... by Philippe Djian and propelled by Huppert’s Oscar-nominated performance, Paul Verhoeven’s first French-language film was France’s official submission for International Feature Film for the 89th Academy Awards.

Two illusionists compete at the turn of the 20th century to create history’s greatest magic trick in this time-fracturing thriller from director/co-writer Christopher Nolan. Based on the 1995 novel by Christopher Priest, the film earned Oscar nominations for its cinematography (Wally Pfister) and art direction (Nathan Crowley, Julie Ochipinti), which cleverly used surviving Los Angeles picture palaces as key locations. The stellar cast includes Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale as the rivals, Michael Caine as their mentor, Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall as the women in their lives, and a memorable cameo from David Bowie as the inventor Nikola Tesla.

In person: director Adrian Lyne

In person: director Adrian Lyne

In person: director Yeon Sang-ho

In person: director Yeon Sang-ho and actor Park Jeong-min

Rinko Tatsumi (Asuka Kurosawa) is a suicide hotline worker resigned to a life of unhappiness until she receives a package from a blackmailer. Through the increasingly vulgar acts of exhibitionism her blackmailer forces upon her, she learns to shed the social restrictions and repression dominating her life. Shot on black-and-white film and tinted a monochromatic blue, Shinya Tsukamoto’s A Snake of June is a visual feast. Filled with shaky, hand-held camerawork, voyeuristic close-ups, and near-constant rain, Tsukamoto creates a damp and cold erotic thriller that explores sexual dynamics, transformation, and releasing one's inner desires.