"Previous versions of these essays have appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, 1997, 1999, 2006, and 2009-2013."

25th hour -- A.I. artificial intelligence -- An autumn afternoon -- Badlands -- The ballad of Narayama -- Barry Lyndon -- The big Lebowski -- The cabinet of Dr. Caligari -- Caché -- La ceremonie -- The circus -- La collectionneuse -- Come and see -- Contact -- Day for night -- Departures -- Diary of a country priest -- Diary of a lost girl -- Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind -- French cancan -- The grey zone -- The hairdresser's husband -- Harakiri -- Heart of glass -- In a lonely place -- Ivan the Terrible, parts I and II -- The killing -- Leon Morin, priest -- Lost in translation -- Make way for tomorrow -- A man escaped -- The man who shot Liberty Valance -- Man with a movie camera -- The match factory girl -- Mon oncle d'Amerique -- Monsieur Hire -- Mulholland Dr. -- Mystery train -- Night moves -- Nosferatu the vampyre -- The only son -- Pale flower -- Pink Floyd, the Wall -- The pledge -- Red Beard -- Richard III -- Rio Bravo -- Senso -- Seven -- Shadow of doubt -- Shoah -- Smiles of a summer night -- Souls for sale -- The spirit of the beehive -- Spirited away -- Spring, summer, fall, winter ... and spring -- Stagecoach -- Superman -- Tender mercies -- Veronika Voss -- Viridiana -- Yellow submarine