Which one or two movies have most blown your mind?

Nostalgia (1983)
Tarkovsky is literally better at using a camera to capture movement and color then anyone else I have seen; his technique alone blows my mind at various scenes in this movie.

The movie is also terribly beautiful.

But, the highly philosophical nature of Nostalgia is really what makes it a huge favorite of mine.

Come and See (1985)
A rather realistic view of war from the eyes of a boy. A hard film to describe in words, but I will say that what makes it memorable for me is the way that Klimov manages to showcase total depravity in a factual, nearly emotionless manner. This allows for the viewer to wrestle with the idea of war in their own mind; it is really not a preachy film at all.

Fantastic, thanks for those and for the details. I'll check them both out. Which of those two would you recommend first?

Come and See probably. I think it is pretty approachable even if it has a bit slower pace. You might want to have some alcohol with Nostalgia, I think it is important to be relaxed and patient when you first watch it.

But, for Western viewers they are both a bit out of the ordinary. If you want me to think of something more mainstream just let me know. :) (Also, they are both subtitled so if you hate that, let me know.)

Cool, I'll check out Come and See first. Thanks!

P.s. l'm searching for good stories, so subtitles and non-western make no difference.

M

Seven Samurai

The Seventh Seal

Once Upon a Time In the West

Helped me to realize how incredible and moving film can be.

2001 A Space Odyssey

Fight Club and Interstellar both immediately come to mind. Both are films that might be hard to understand at first and will need a couple of rewatches to get a good reading on. But from a quality standpoint they are near perfect. Interstellar is beautiful to look at and McConaughey is excellent. Fight Club's more brutal scenes are realistic and I found both Pitt and Norton to be captivating (with a nice supporting part from Helena Bonham Carter). Obviously these are both movies that have been critically praised to the limit by now, and I can only say so much, but I'd say definitely these two helped me realize what it truly means to be an "artist" when making a movie.

Also I'd like to mention Dazed and Confused and Reservoir Dogs. Two low-budget movies made by (at the time) up and coming directors who would both turn out to have quite a remarkable career ahead of them. One of them is a great high school hangout film with some young faces before they got famous and is pretty much my favorite movie of all time. The other is a pretty standard plot presented in a fresh way, as most Tarantino movies tend to be. It's still my favorite QT film to this day. These movies made me take my previous realization a step further: you don't have to have large, brilliant special effects and set-pieces to make a good movie. You just have to be a talented writer and director and get the right actors into the parts.

"We're not too old for this sh*t!" -Riggs and Murtaugh, 'Lethal Weapon 4' (1998)

Seen all of those, some great choices. I especially liked M. *spoilers* Something powerful about citizens AND criminals uniting in protest about the murder of a child