HIDDEN TREASURES - DISTANT VOICES, STILL LIVES, THE MAID, TAXIDERMIA

Everybody comes from a family of some kind. A working-class family in 1940-50s Liverpool, a middle-class Chilean family and their eccentric succession of maids, or three generations of, frankly, Hungarian weirdos, all families are different, but none more so than these three!

DISTANT VOICES, STILL LIVES (1988) - TERENCE DAVIES

Terence Davies is one of the defining British filmmakers in cinema history, and Distant Voices, Still Lives is his defining film. Part two of his autobiographical trilogy, it's an impeccably acted, beautifully written, delicately observed gem of a film. You absolutely must see it. You absolutely must.

THE MAID (2009) - SEBASTIAN SILVA

Sebastian Silva will never let you in on what he's thinking in his films, but his actors definitely will. This consistently surprising, disarming, blackly-comic story of an increasingly unstable maid working for a family in modern-day Chile features excellent performances, particularly from Catalina Saavedra in the lead role of Raquel.

TAXIDERMIA (2006) - PALFI GYORGY

You haven't seen much like Taxidermia, and that's probably a good thing, since it makes Palfi Gyorgy's film such a unique and entertaining experience. Rape over pig carcasses, celebrity overeaters and self-taxidermy, and you haven't even heard the half of it.

HIDDEN TREASURES - THE GLEANERS & I, NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT, THE QUINCE TREE SUN

Documentaries reflecting our way of life. Revealing the beauty in nature, in art, even in trash - art of its own kind, perhaps. Three hidden treasures this week, all three documentaries.

THE GLEANERS & I (AGNES VARDA) - 2000

What a wonder Agnes Varda is. Cinema wouldn't be the same without her. The Gleaners & I is her excellent documentary about gleaners in France, and also about herself, with the affectionate affinity she comes to feel with these people. It's an illuminating and quite heartwarming little treat, and if you don't check it out, that had better be because you're checking out all of Agnes Varda's other films.

NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT (2010) - PATRICIO GUZMAN

The science of life. The physics of the universe, and the biology of the mind. This is the external space in which we exist, and that is the internal space in which we feel. The cinematography is by the great Katell Dijan, but even his magical images can't compare to the unutterably stunning photographs of our universe.

THE QUINCE TREE SUN (1992) - VICTOR ERICE

A beautiful film about the creation of art, with veteran filmmaker Victor Erice stepping back simply to observe, as any one of us might observe the charming Antonio Lopez Garcia's gorgeous artwork. An intimate, evocative film, full of a disarming honesty in its depiction of life as it happens.

HIDDEN TREASURES - CENTRE STAGE, ENTER THE VOID, SITA SINGS THE BLUES

We're all going east in this week's belated Hidden Treasures article. Off to Asia, to discover what under-seen, underrated and under-appreciated cinematic gems there lie. One of which is directed by an American. And another by a French. Fuck's sake...

CENTRE STAGE (1992) - STANLEY KWAN

The film that confirmed Maggie Cheung as one of the leading lights in 90s and 00s Hong Kong cinema, Stanley Kwan's biopic of 1930s silent film star Ruan Ling Yu is a thoughtful, tasteful and psychologically ambitious period piece. In his multi-layered exploration of Ruan's life in the years when she was at her most famous, leading up to her suicide, and Cheung's challenges in bringing her to life, he purposes Centre Stage (also known as The Actress) into a study of womankind, with Cheung carrying such heavy responsibility with ease and grace. Seek out the director's cut, though the original cut is lost (rumoured to be located in the archives of some Australian TV network).

ENTER THE VOID (2009) - GASPAR NOE

Another film where you'd do well to watch the director's cut, since the initial Cannes cut was considered even by director Noe himself to contain swathes of extraneous material. An intoxicating, enveloping, dazzling story of the lengths we go to for the love of our family, a bond of enormous resolve, in an ephemeral, digital, impalpable world. Noe jettisons the natty self-consciousness of Irreversible in favour of his incredible sensory ingenuity. Young Emily Alyn Lind gives a momentous, though small, performance.

SITA SINGS THE BLUES (2009) - NINA PALEY

A recanting of true events, and of obviously untrue ones. The making of a movie, the breaking of a relationship, and the retelling and reconstruction of a centuries-old narrative, picked to pieces and reassembled with sensational musical sequences featuring the inimitable voice of Annette Hanshaw. One of the best animated films I've seen. That's all!

HIDDEN TREASURES - THE CIRCLE, DAISIES, PARIS IS BURNING

Rise up! Rise up and revolt! Don't dare allow yourself to be oppressed! Don't accept the status quo on the basis that it is the status quo! Don't deny yourself to placate those around you! Don't neglect these classic films! Rise up and watch them! And revolt!

THE CIRCLE (2000) - JAFAR PANAHI

This is the way we live. These people are not just women. Not just Iranian women. They're as much a part of the human race as you or I. They're us. And this is the way we live. No home, no justice, no respect, no love, no happiness, no notice. Jafar Panahi notices, and in doing so implicitly respects and loves these people. One of the 21st Century's first masterpieces. It's banned in Iran.

DAISIES (1966) - VERA CHYTILOVA

Hooray for Vera Chytilova! A female director, still alive today, and barely recognised by film-watching communities around the world for the maverick she is. Daisies is one of the most infectiously vivacious films I've seen, quirky, funny and genuinely cute, in a good way! It was banned after release in Czechoslovakia, not long before Chytilova herself was banned from filmmaking altogether for six years.

PARIS IS BURNING (1990) - JENNIE LIVINGSTON

As drag began its rise into mainstream entertainment in the US, through the 1980s, Jennie Livingston made this portrait of the New York scene, and the queens who defined it and were defined by it. Check it out to see some of the most sickening queens in history at their peak. What they've contributed to contemporary pop culture is invaluable. The library is open!

HIDDEN TREASURES - HUMANITY, MUSIC BOX, THE VANISHING

It'd be a crime to miss these three films! That's relevant because they're all about crimes! What happened, who did it, who's innocent, who's guilty, who's next, who cares? I care!

HUMANITY (1999) - BRUNO DUMONT

Bruno Dumont's 1999 masterpiece is a punishing, harrowing watch, but also an extremely intelligent one, if distressingly so. Superb performances from Emmanuel Schotte and Severine Caneele and stark cinematography from Yves Cape complete one of cinema's most unforgiving visions of the human race.

MUSIC BOX (1989) - COSTA-GAVRAS

Since 1989, audiences had somewhat tired of Costa-Gavras' politicising, and his career has seriously sunk since then. But Music Box is an excellent courtroom thriller, and highly underrated. Jessica Lange's Oscar nominated lead performance is easily among her very best.

THE VANISHING (1988) - GEORGE SLUIZER

Hidden from few, sure, but George Sluizer's original Dutch version of The Vanishing ought to be known by all. A film that trusts its storyline to unfold in due time, and its audience to engage with it as its characters do, to one of film's most unforgettable endings.

HIDDEN TREASURES - BLEAK MOMENTS, THE MEMORY OF JUSTICE, MOTHER KUSTERS GOES TO HEAVEN

While the 1970s is celebrated by so many as the greatest decade for film in the history of the art form, the dominance of American cinema in that argument can obscure one's view of the quality of movies elsewhere in the world, particularly in Europe. Three films in today's Hidden Treasures feature from 1970s European cinema.

BLEAK MOMENTS (1971) - MIKE LEIGH

Mike Leigh's debut work of filmed drama came before he made such a big name for himself in the British theatre and television circuits, and 17 years before he'd return to cinema. It's classic, possibly even stereotypical Leigh, and you need look no further than the film's own title to work out how. But what too is classic Leigh is the outstanding acting and writing, and that perfectly pitched note of naturalism, sustained throughout.

THE MEMORY OF JUSTICE (1976) - MARCEL OPHULS

The great documentary filmmaker Marcel Ophuls' great work, or one of several. Examining the nature and impact of justice in relation to wartime atrocities in the 20th Century, particularly those committed in World War II, The Memory of Justice is certainly not a fun film, but nor is it a tough film to endure, and it's enormously enlightening. A monument among documentaries.

MOTHER KUSTERS GOES TO HEAVEN (1975) - RAINER WERNER FASSBINDER

Most definitely one of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's best. It's typically lean and cold, but also one of his most astute and least indulgent works, and it features terrific performances from Brigitte Mira and Ingrid Caven, and the consistently excellent cinematographer Michael Ballhaus does some of the strongest work in his career. Rich pickings for film fans, and surely worthy of at least one watch.

HIDDEN TREASURES - MY BROTHER TOM, MY FRIEND IVAN LAPSHIN, MY SON MY SON WHAT HAVE YE DONE

My oh my what a selection of hidden treasures for you this week. That's just that, they all begin with 'My'.

MY BROTHER TOM (2001) - DOM ROTHEROE

This is kind of ultimate early-00s middle-class, Middle England rebellious teenage girl lifestyle porn times infinity. The film that introduced people to Ben Whishaw also ought to have introduced people to the terrific Jenna Harrison. It yields to a whole heap of cliches, but the dramatic effect is undeniable, and the biting earnestness in the performances is captivating.

MY FRIEND IVAN LAPSHIN (1986) - ALEKSEY GERMAN

A scattershot, surprisingly challenging ensemble comedy-drama from that most idiosyncratic Russian director, the recently deceased Aleksey German. Every time you think you know which route German's going to take you down, he swerves and races off in an entirely different, unexpected direction. German was a true original, and he'll be missed.

MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE (2009) - WERNER HERZOG

Werner Herzog rather puzzled a few viewers with My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done, one of his most bolshily abtsract films, but then that's what he's here for. Michael Shannon is riveting and terrifying, and Herzog's direction as fabulously, peculiarly bizarre as ever. Proof (though it was never required) that Herzog has lost none of his brilliance, even over forty years after commencing his filmmaking career.

HIDDEN TREASURES - AE FOND KISS..., THE NEW WORLD, WALKABOUT

Culture clashes! What a cliche, but I suppose it is manifested in three rather different forms in this week's three hidden treasures. Once again, I remind you that these films are not necessarily hidden from widespread public consumption, but that they are all worthy of reaching a greater audience than they currently have.

AE FOND KISS... (2004) - KEN LOACH

Ae Fond Kiss... is Ken Loach at his most commercial. It's testament to his integrity as a filmmaker that none of those qualities which define his most celebrated works are absent here. A man of Indian heritage and a Northern Irish woman both living in Glasgow begin a relationship, and though the challenges faced by this couple may seem obvious to you from the outset, Loach and Paul Laverty depict them with a potency that raises the film far higher than its potentially soapy storyline.

THE NEW WORLD (2005) - TERRENCE MALICK

Nonsense! No Terrence Malick film is actually hidden from anyone! Indeed, but The New World is a hands-down masterpiece, and it surpasses whatever artistic achievements (and there are many) critics have noted in Badlands, Days of Heaven and The Tree of Life because it sifts out what doesn't work, leaving only what does, which Malick then embellishes with grace and precision. The first of his collaborations with DP Emmanuel Lubezki. A delight.

WALKABOUT (1971) - NICOLAS ROEG

The only Nicolas Roeg film I've yet seen which I liked more after I'd seen it than before. Actually, it's one of the great artworks of British cinema. Famous for being the first film to feature David Gulpilil, and the one where Jenny Agutter gets her tits out, it's also exquisitely crafted, with signature stunning cinematography from Roeg and a John Barry score that is somehow both soothing and jarring, brilliantly so.

HIDDEN TREASURES - THE ADJUSTER, CONSPIRATORS OF PLEASURE, GABBEH

Everybody who's ever been alive knows that the 1990s were the best decade ever. That's because I was born in the 1990s. To celebrate, filmmakers started making good films to honour my existence, and here are three examples all from that glorious decade.

THE ADJUSTER (1991) - ATOM EGOYAN

Atom Egoyan ought to get back to making films like The Adjuster. It's weird, a little obscure, a lot icky, and wholly hypnotic. It could be seen as defining the career that he was starting to eke out, perhaps. It doesn't take a lot to get me waxing on about Egoyan's films, and I'm of the opinion that the seductive The Adjuster is one of his best.

CONSPIRATORS OF PLEASURE (1996) - JAN SVANKMAJER

A terrific, zany comedy from the incomparable Jan Svankmajer and his unconscionable imagination. His marvellous sense of humour and inspired musical cues, and the cast's committed work swiftly make up for the absence of dialogue, which only adds to the film's idiosyncrasy. Hooray for Jan Svankmajer! See all of his crazy, quirky films!

GABBEH (1996) - MOHSEN MAKHMALBAF

A vibrant sensorial celebration of colour, both literal colour and the colour of emotion, imparted by rich history and informed by a profound sense of nationality, enhanced by Mohsen Makhmalbaf's appreciation of the power of the Iranian landscape in telling his story. Less a conventional film than a singular work of art, classifiable only as cinema for the fact that it's a sustained collection of images and synchronised sound.

HIDDEN TREASURES - BUG, DEALER, OSLO AUGUST 31ST

Drugs are bad! Not all of them, though. Caffeine and Calpol are obviously very good. But, alas, in today's three hidden treasures, drugs are bad, because they're not caffeine and they're not Calpol.

BUG (2006) - WILLIAM FRIEDKIN

It ought to be clear to just about anyone who's seen William Friedkin's masterful Bug that the Oscar-winning director has certainly not lost his mojo. A brilliant, eventually beserk psychological horror as seen through the twisted mind of Tracy Letts, featuring brave, unhinged performances from Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon. Bug puts you through the wringer as it puts a wry smile on your face. Neat stuff.

DEALER (2004) - BENEDEK FLIEGAUF

Benedek Fliegauf is in no hurry to flaunt his directorial prowess. Dealer is an extremely well-made film. You might hate it. You might lose patience even before the opening credits have finished. You might yearn for a line of dialogue, a moment of warmth, and shot of bright colour. But what Fliegauf has crafted in Dealer is ambitious, pure and insidiously thought-provoking.

OSLO, AUGUST 31ST (2011) - JOACHIM TRIER

A film that develops more poignancy the more you dwell on it, or your memory of it. It is a film about memory, in a way. It's about time: the past, the present and the future, what this one man's mind can make of all of that in, for him, a most extraordinary of circumstances. Anders Danielsen Lie is excellent in the lead role.

HIDDEN TREASURES - THE APE, BEAU TRAVAIL, WHERE THE TRUTH LIES

Good boys, bad boys and misunderstood boys feature in this week's Hidden Treasures. Three films hidden from different audiences for different reasons.

THE APE (2009) - JESPER GANSLANDT

Lead actor Olle Sarri himself wasn't even aware of the secrets his deeply damaged character harbours. Perhaps you might know. Perhaps you might be able to work it out. But will you know where The Ape is going to take him? The tension alone is reason enough to take this challenging, disturbing film on. An under-seen independent film from maverick Swedish director Jesper Ganslandt.

BEAU TRAVAIL (1999) - CLAIRE DENIS

Thing is, you may well have heard of this one. But it qualifies as a hidden treasure, because not enough of you have actually seen it. It's a masterpiece of all time. It's the jewel in Claire Denis' already glorious crown. Denis Lavant's mesmerising performance, Agnes Godard's stunning photography, the magnificent Algerian landscapes. A riveting, beautiful experience.

WHERE THE TRUTH LIES (2005) - ATOM EGOYAN

Nor is Atom Egoyan, Canada's finest, two-time Oscar nominee, especially underrated or poorly known. But Where the Truth Lies, like a collaboration between the sensual Egoyan and the cheekily chaste Hitchcock, a closer cousin than one might expect, is a wondrous modern film noir, delving into the NC-17 recesses of the human mind, where Egoyan is obviously most comfortable. Luscious.

HIDDEN TREASURES - 1900, THE DAMNED, TEOREMA

I wouldn't consider any of the three films in this week's Hidden Treasures article to be 'hidden' by any means. But they deserve a great deal more widespread appreciation than they currently enjoy among cineaste circles. All three are from great Italian directors this time.

1900 (1976) - BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI

I could recommend watching Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900 (or Novecento) in installments. Ideally, all films ought to be experienced in one sitting, but there's so much to this extraordinary film that anyone could be forgiven for taking a few breaks. Enormously ambitious, it was considered a failure by many upon release in 1976; it is nonetheless a film of awesome power and scope, exquisitely filmed by a master operating near his artistic peak.

THE DAMNED (1969) - LUCHINO VISCONTI

A silly, excessive film from Luchino Visconti, but isn't that exactly what you'd want from the great director, making a film about the German bourgeoisie in the 1930s? A ravishing, sickening, appallingly riveting film, Visconti directs as if staging a grand ball, with the characters dancing over these sumptuous sets. The cinematography by Pasqualino de Santis and Armando Nannuzzi is among the finest in all of cinema history.

TEOREMA (1968) - PIER PAOLO PASOLINI

Teorema (Theorem) is, in a very distinct way, not really a film. Not as one might understand the concept of film. It is a work of modern art, beguiling, elusive, experimental. Pier Paolo Pasolini is as interested in the art of transmitting his message and the subsequent effect of that as he is in the message itself and its own effect. It is the ultimate riposte to those who consider film to be an inferior, or low, art form. It's also an extended meditation on Terence Stamp's crotch, but then you don't hear me complaining...

HIDDEN TREASURES - CRIA CUERVOS, DROWNING BY NUMBERS, PLEASE GIVE

Female ensembles take centre stage in this week's Hidden Treasures. Spanish women after Franco, British women under Thatcher, and American women in the recession, of different ages, cultures and temperaments, in films melancholy, experimental and uplifting, and barely a Y chromosome in sight!

CRIA CUERVOS (1976) - CARLOS SAURA

A mournful film, but not a moribund one. The mysteriousness of death, revealed to us adults only now through the perspective of a child. Ana's apathetic distance from the deaths of her parents, and her obsession with death as a result. She is devastated, emotionally, and though she may react with measure, she does not react with sense. A fascinating, surprisingly soulful, spirited film, with one of the exceptional child artists in film history at its fore - the extraordinary Ana Torrent.

DROWNING BY NUMBERS (1988) - PETER GREENAWAY

One of Peter Greenaway's most mischievous cinematic theorems, and also one of his most adroit. He administers a mathematical reason to Drowning by Numbers that is delightfully recalcitrant to the emotional reason that it wants to pursue. When, eventually, he amalgamates the two, he produces a wonderfully absolute vision of the logic of chaos, and the chaos of human existence. Stunning in every respect.

PLEASE GIVE (2010) - NICOLE HOLOFCENER

Nicole Holofcener has such a charming demeanour about her filmmaking style that she makes every slap of dialogue, every observation feel like a tickle. Her women are bright, balky and bawdy, and her men are by no means under-developed or demonised in comparison. She deals with drama, but puts on it a cheekily comedic spin. There's a liveliness to Please Give, yet it doesn't use this attribute to escape the robust themes that pervade it.