20 wonderful retro movies that you can't tear yourself away from

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Warm, sad and inspiring paintings about the difficult life in the 20th century.

1. The Great Gatsby

• Drama, melodrama.
• Australia, USA, 2013.
• Duration: 143 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 3.

A dramatic story about love and customs of the first half of the twentieth century. Nick, a young Yale graduate, moves to New York in search of the American Dream. There he meets the extravagant millionaire Gatsby and plunges into the world of wealth, illusion and lies.

2. Servant

• Drama.
• USA, India, UAE, 2011.
• Duration: 146 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 1.

Slavery in America has long been abolished, but blacks are still considered second-class people. Skeeter has always been different from her peers, and therefore chose a career over marriage. After university, the girl returns home, where she gets a plot for the book. Faced with hatred of people with different skin colors, Skeeter decides to write the truth about the work of maids in wealthy white families.

3. Inglourious Basterds

• Action, drama, comedy.
• USA, Germany, 2009.
• Duration: 153 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 3.

The Second World War. A detachment of Jews is operating on the territory of occupied France, instilling fear in German soldiers.

Tarantino's handwriting is noticeable in every scene: long fascinating dialogues, mesmerizing acting, oppressive atmosphere and crazy plot twists. Only he knows how to make a movie.

Particularly distinguished was Christoph Waltz, who played a German officer. For his role, he received an Oscar and critical acclaim.

4. Diary of memory

• Drama, melodrama.
• USA, 2004.
• Duration: 124 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 9.

He is a poor sawmill worker, she is from a wealthy family. There are many obstacles on the way of a young couple, but love is an excellent incentive that helps to overcome everything in the world.

5. The magic of moonlight

• Melodrama, comedy.
• USA, UK, 2014.
• Duration: 98 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 6.

The popular illusionist Stanley Crawford comes to France to bring out a girl who can talk to the dead. Stanley is a convinced atheist, so he immediately senses a catch, but over time, his confidence begins to fade.

6. The road to change

• Drama, melodrama.
• USA, UK, 2008.
• Duration: 114 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 3.

A story from the life of an ordinary middle-class family. Frank and April have been married for seven years. They have children and a cherished dream to go to Paris. For this, the couple is ready to put their marriage on the line.

The film mesmerizes with the warm atmosphere of the 50s and the duet of Leonardo DiCaprio with Kate Winslet. This is the first film since "Titanic" in which the best friends have played together again.

7. Majestic

• Drama, melodrama.
• USA, 2001.
• Duration: 153 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 9.

Viewers are used to seeing Jim Carrey in a comic role, but sometimes the actor gets tired of laughing and starred in films like Majestic.

Hollywood screenwriter Peter Appleton is accused of having links with the Communists. He loses his job, friends and memory. Waking up in a small provincial town, Pete cannot remember anything, and residents mistake him for a missing World War II hero.

8. Mind games

• Drama, biography, melodrama.
• USA, 2001.
• Duration: 135 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 2.

Genius and insanity are two sides of the same coin. John Nash is a talented mathematician who made significant contributions to the creation of game theory and faced mental illness.

And although the director does not accurately portray the life of the Nobel laureate, the picture still copes with its task: it inspires and helps to look at many things differently. This is the beauty of biographical films: successful people, by solving their problems, help us become better.

9. Rock wave

• Drama, comedy.
• Great Britain, Germany, France, 2009.
• Duration: 129 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 4.

1960s. The British authorities do not recognize rock and roll, so pirate radio stations appear here and there. One of them is in the sea. The main character, 17-year-old Karl, arrives on it. The insecure young man gradually changes and learns a lot from the DJs of the radio station. What else to say? Rock Wave is a treasure trove of great music and British actors.

10. Trumbo

• Drama, biography.
• USA, 2015.
• Duration: 124 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 5.

Another film about the era in which the communists were more afraid of the end of the world. The talented screenwriter Dalton Trumbo was blacklisted in Hollywood because of his beliefs. He was imprisoned for a year and banned from working in the film industry. But Trumbo didn't give up. Instead, he wrote several great screenplays under a pseudonym, received an Oscar for them and went down in film history.

11. Pleasantville

• Drama, comedy.
• USA, 1998.
• Duration: 124 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 5.

David Wagner lives in the 1990s, but dreams of being on the utopian TV series of the 50s, away from his unbearable sister. One day he succeeds. A strange-looking TV master takes Wagner and his sister straight into their favorite TV series.

Something similar happened in The Last Action Hero. Only baby Danny could not influence the crazy world of cinema, but David greatly changed the TV show, adding colors to it.

12. Hidden figures

• Drama, biography.
• USA, 2016.
• Duration: 127 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 8.

We are talking about three NASA employees who perform complex mathematical calculations to launch the first space mission. Heroines face not only racial discrimination, but also gender. They are women, which means they cannot do important and difficult work, no matter how smart they are. Of course it is not.

13. Education of the senses

• Drama.
• UK, USA, 2009.
• Duration: 100 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 3.

Early 60s. Jenny lives in a remote province and dreams of quickly leaving to study at Oxford. But plans change when the girl meets David. He's older, drives an expensive car, goes to the best clubs and lives in grand style. Jenny, of course, falls in love with him and forgets about everything in the world.

14. Midnight in Paris

• Melodrama, comedy.
• USA, Spain, 2011.
• Duration: 94 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 7.

Woody Allen seems to have a time machine hidden in the garage. How else to explain such an authentic atmosphere of France in the 20s in his film?

The romantic writer travels every night to Paris at the beginning of the last century. There he meets the Fitzgeralds, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway and other no less famous personalities. Under their influence, the hero understands himself and realizes what he really wants.

15. Miss Pettigrew

• Melodrama, comedy.
• UK, USA, 2008.
• Duration: 92 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 1.

After another dismissal, the wayward Guinevere Pettigrew does not know where to go. Her hiring agent refuses to help with her job search. Then, taking this opportunity, Guinevere gets a job as a maid for the eccentric actress. Over time, they become friends, and Miss Pettigrew is promoted to secretary. From that moment on, her life changes for the better.

16. Brooklyn

• Drama, melodrama.
• UK, Canada, Ireland, Belgium, 2015.
• Duration: 117 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 5.

A film about the difficult fate of an emigrant from Ireland. Eilis Lacey arrives in Brooklyn. Having ceased to yearn for her homeland, she begins to breathe deeply and falls in love. However, bad news from home forces her to return to Ireland. There Eilis falls in love again and faces a difficult choice.

17. Shape of water

• Fantasy, drama.
• USA, 2017.
• Duration: 123 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 6.

Guillermo del Toro's films are like children's fairy tales: they excite the imagination and make you a little distracted from the routine. Probably because the director, deep in his soul, remained a child. The Oscar-winning "Shape of Water" tells the touching story of an amphibian man and a dumb cleaning lady.

Jimmy Kimmel joked during the awards ceremony: "The guys this year made such a blunder that the girls began to date fish."Against the backdrop of recent scandals that shook the whole world, the importance of this picture can hardly be overestimated.

18. Catch Me If You Can

• Drama, biography.
• USA, Canada, 2002.
• Duration: 141 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 1.

The talented fraudster Frank Ebegneil ran away from home in search of a better life. He managed to be a doctor, and a pilot, and a lawyer, learned to masterfully forge bank checks and made a fortune. But sooner or later he will have to answer for everything.

19. Carol

• Drama, melodrama.
• UK, USA, Australia, 2014.
• Duration: 118 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 2.

Two talented Hollywood actresses will tell a tragic love story in the sophisticated atmosphere of 50s New York. Therese and Carol embrace feelings that they have to hide from society.

20. Water for elephants

• Drama, melodrama.
• USA, 2011.
• Duration: 116 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 9.

When his parents are killed, Jacob drops out of his last year at university and joins a traveling circus. Together with everyone, he is forced to live in difficult conditions, because the circus was not the most popular entertainment in those years. The real problems arise when a guy falls in love with the rider Marlene - the girl of the host of the show.