2 Best Movies to Watch by Ewan Stewart

1. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, 1989

	
There’s something wrong with the Le Hollandais restaurant in London where most of the events of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. When the mobster makes the sudden decision to venture into restaurant acquisition, this high class French restaurant is turned upside down, with his hot-tempered, cruel behavior so over-the-top, unnecessary, and violent that his wife’s sexual affair actually feels rather tame, and yet silently rebellious. This story is quite straightforward for director Peter Greenaway, but in his hands, the melodrama becomes highly stylized, with separate rooms assigned colors, with the dishwasher singing classical opera, and with sharp observation of how much is lost when those with money can take over at the expense of the artisans, the scholars, and those more vulnerable in society.Genre: Crime, Drama
Actor: Alan Howard, Alex Kingston, Ciarán Hinds, Diane Langton, Emer Gillespie, Ewan Stewart, Gary Olsen, Helen Mirren, Ian Dury, Ian Sears, Janet Henfrey, Liz Smith, Michael Gambon, Paul Russell, Richard Bohringer, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Roger Lloyd Pack, Ron Cook, Sue Maund, Tim Roth, Tony Alleff, Willie Ross, Yolande Brener
Director: Peter Greenaway
Rating: R

2. Conspiracy, 2001

	
Like 12 Angry Men before it, Conspiracy follows a group of men who come to a standstill when asked to make a crucial, fateful decision. The two films are mostly stationary and dialogue-heavy, but where the former is hopeful, the latter is purely heinous. Sure, the Nazi officials argue amongst themselves about the Final Answer to the Jewish Question—in other words, the genocide of European Jews—but the debate is less about the morality of the act than the practicality of it. No one in that room is redeemable. They’re varying levels of evil, but evil nonetheless. It’s a testament to the filmmakers, then, the entire film manages to be stirring. Loring Mandel’s script is incredibly taut and intelligent but never lets you fall for the officials’ wise-sounding traps. Director Frank Pierson, for his part, expertly paces the movie, knowing when to bring out the big guns (mostly via Colin Firth’s impassioned Wilhelm Stuckart) and when to rely on subtlety. It’s a fine example of how a film can succeed with few but quality parts, but more importantly, it’s a timeless reminder of how unnervingly plain evil can look.Genre: Drama, History, TV Movie, War
Actor: Barnaby Kay, Ben Daniels, Brendan Coyle, Brian Pettifer, Colin Firth, David Threlfall, Ewan Stewart, Florian Panzner, Ian McNeice, Jonathan Coy, Kenneth Branagh, Kevin McNally, Nicholas Woodeson, Owen Teale, Stanley Tucci, Tom Hiddleston
Director: Frank Pierson