4 Movies Like Like Crazy (2016)

Staff & contributors
Human Capital is a rich and absorbing tale of two families tied together by love, money and a hit-and-run accident. One family is wealthy, the other struggling to get by in the days after the 2008 economic meltdown. Human Capital dexterously contrasts the social calculations the characters make about who can afford to step outside the lines of law and morality. The story is told from different perspectives, a device that serves to give the tale and the characters greater depth. In Italian with English subtitles.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Alessandro Betti, Bebo Storti, Elettra Dallimore-Mallaby, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Fabrizio Gifuni, Federica Fracassi, Franco Pinelli, Fulvio Milani, Gigio Alberti, Giovanni Anzaldo, Guglielmo Pinelli, Isabelle Tanakil, Luca Toracca, Luigi Lo Cascio, Matilde Gioli, Paolo Pierobon, Pia Engleberth, Saman Anthony, Silvia Cohen, Silvia Degrandi, Stella Maris, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Valeria Bruni‑Tedeschi, Valeria Golino, Vincent Nemeth

Director: Paolo Virzì

Rating: Not Rated

A riveting take on one of the most prestigious forms of modern art, The Best Offer is a film laced with symbolism and thick, posh accents. Virgil Oldman (Geoffrey Rush) ends up pursuing a socially inept woman through Robert (Jim Sturgess), who guides him in winning her heart, albeit, rather unconventionally. What starts out as something Oldman brushes off to be some poor laid-out scam ends up a mystery he begins obsessing over, turning his life to shambles of sorts. This uncanny film by Academy Award-winning director Giuseppe Tornatore delivers sharp twists and appropriately-timed surprises in a suspense-thriller served on a silver platter.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Romance

Actor: Amanda Walker, Brigitte Christensen, Dermot Crowley, Donald Sutherland, Gen Seto, Geoffrey Rush, Giuseppe Tornatore, Hannah Britland, Jim Sturgess, John Benfield, Jun Ichikawa, Kiruna Stamell, Klaus Tauber, Laurence Belgrave, Liya Kebede, Maximilian Dirr, Miles Richardson, Philip Jackson, Rita Davies, Sean Buchanan, Sylvia Hoeks

Director: Giuseppe Tornatore

Rating: R

Tied together by a song that seems to drive people to end their own lives, Gloomy Sunday's tale of polyamorous love torn apart by the advent of the Second World War is one that doesn't operate according to your usual narrative structure. Its stranger elements might not always work with the very real horrors of the Nazis' invasion of Hungary, but the film still expresses this horror in a unique way. Even long before the war begins, this song that joins our three lovers together seems to touch on a sense of doom everybody is feeling—warning signs of Hitler's rise to power that ordinary people seem to have been powerless to stop in time. It's certainly unique for a non-action-driven war film, bathed in tragedy and bitter irony.

Genre: Drama, History, Romance, War

Actor: András Bálint, Anna Ráckevei, Áron Sipos, Ben Becker, Denis Moschitto, Dorka Gryllus, Erika Marozsán, Ernst Kahl, Ferenc Bács, Ferenc Némethy, Ilse Zielstorff, István Kanizsay, István Mikó, Joachim Krol, Jörg Gillner, Karl Fischer, László I. Kish, Markus Hering, Márta Bakó, Michael Gampe, Rolf Becker, Sebastian Koch, Stefan Weinert, Stefano Dionisi, Tibor Kenderesi, Ulrike Grote, Veit Stübner, Wanja Mues, Zsuzsa Mányai

Director: Rolf Schübel

Let me just preface this by saying The Best of Youth is 6 hours long. Yes, that's 358 minutes of run time, and it puts off a lot of people. But if you're into unusual movie premises like me and up for the challenge - the reward is tremendous. The Best of Youth tells the story of four friends through a period of 30 years; what they go through how they develop their personalities, their worldviews, etc. And because it spans such an extended period of time, it acts as a highlight reel of moments from the characters' lives (so the long run-time actually feels short). It wouldn't be an understatement to say that you'll probably never know characters of any movie as well as you will in The Best of Youth. A perfect illustration of the genius of Italian cinema that gave us The Great Beauty and other amazing movies.

Genre: Drama, History, Romance

Actor: Adriana Asti, Alberto Pozzo, Alessio Boni, Andrea Tidona, Angelo Costabile, Antonello Puglisi, Camilla Filippi, Claudia Fiorentini, Claudio Gioè, Danilo Maria Valli, Dario Veca, Domenico Centamore, Enzo Marcelli, Fabio Camilli, Fabrizio Gifuni, Fausto Maria Sciarappa, Giorgio Crisafi, Giovanni Martorana, Giovanni Scifoni, Giuseppe Gandini, Jasmine Trinca, Juana Jimenez, Kristine M. Opheim, Krum De Nicola, Lidia Vitale, Luigi Lo Cascio, Maddalena Recino, Manuela Massarenti, Marcello Prayer, Maria Grazia Bon, Mario Schiano, Massimiliano Petrucci, Maurizio Di Carmine, Maya Sansa, Michele Melega, Mimmo Mignemi, Nanni Tormen, Paolo Bonanni, Paolo De Vita, Patrizia Punzo, Riccardo Scamarcio, Roberto Accornero, Sonia Bergamasco, Stefano Abbati, Valentina Carnelutti

Director: Marco Tullio Giordana

Rating: R