144 articles
The Rules of the Game
The Rules of the Game (La Règle du jeu), Jean Renoir's 1939 French comedy-drama satirizing aristocrats and servants at a Sologne hunting party; booed, banned, cut, reconstructed in 1959, now a top-ranked masterpiece.
The Ruling Class
The Ruling Class (1972) is a British black comedy by Peter Medak, adapted from Peter Barnes's play, starring Peter O'Toole as the mad Earl of Gurney who believes he is Jesus Christ, then Jack the Ripper; Oscar-nominated, Cannes entry, Criterion Spine #132.
The Square (2017 film)
The Square (2017) is Ruben Östlund's Palme d'Or-winning satirical drama about Stockholm art curator Christian, Claes Bang, whose altruism installation and PR campaign backfire; also starring Elisabeth Moss, Dominic West, Terry Notary; Oscar-nominated Best Foreign Language Film.
The Swissmakers
The Swissmakers is a 1978 Swiss satirical comedy directed by Rolf Lyssy, following two naturalization policemen investigating three citizenship applicants; it set a Swiss box office record.
The Warlord (1972 film)
The Warlord (大軍閥, Da jun fa) is a 1972 Shaw Brothers Mandarin satirical comedy directed by Li Han-hsiang, starring Michael Hui in his debut as warlord Pang Ta Fu; it earned HK$3,464,724, Hong Kong's second-highest 1972 gross.
The Witness (1969 film)
The Witness (A tanú) is Péter Bacsó's 1969 Hungarian satirical feature film about a naive dyke-reeve made star witness in a 1950s show trial; banned for a decade, it premiered at Cannes in 1981 and became Hungary's leading cult film.
Three Colors: White
Three Colors: White (Trois couleurs: Blanc, Trzy kolory: Biały) is Krzysztof Kieślowski's 1994 dark comedy, second of the Three Colors trilogy, about Polish hairdresser Karol Karol's divorce, return to Warsaw, and revenge, exploring equality; Silver Bear winner.
Too Many Ways to Be No. 1 (一个字头的诞生)
Too Many Ways to Be No. 1 (一个字头的诞生) is Wai Ka-fai's 1997 Hong Kong triad film, Milkyway Image's debut, following Lau Ching-wan's gangster through two diverging fates after a fortune teller's prediction.
Trainspotting (film)
Trainspotting (1996) is Danny Boyle's British black comedy drama adapted from Irvine Welsh's 1993 novel, starring Ewan McGregor as Edinburgh heroin addict Mark Renton; a £1.5-1.7m film that grossed about $72 million worldwide and defined 1990s Cool Britannia cinema.
Triangle of Sadness
Triangle of Sadness (2022) is Ruben Östlund's English-language debut satire, also called Sans filtre in French, about models Carl and Yaya on a doomed luxury yacht; it won the 2022 Palme d'Or and three Oscar nominations.
Twin Town (1997 film)
Twin Town (1997) is Kevin Allen's Welsh black comedy crime film set in Swansea, starring Rhys Ifans and Llŷr Ifans as vengeful brothers; Danny Boyle executive produced, and it became a cult Welsh film.
Undercover Brother
Undercover Brother is a 2002 American action comedy directed by Malcolm D. Lee and starring Eddie Griffin, adapted from John Ridley's animated internet series and distributed by Universal Pictures.
Visitor Q (ビジターQ)
Visitor Q (ビジターQ) is Takashi Miike's 2001 Japanese black comedy, also titled Bijita Q, about a stranger who moves in with a collapsing family. Shot on MiniDV in under a week for under $60,000 for the V-cinema market.
Voice of Silence (소리도 없이)
Voice of Silence (소리도 없이, Sorido Eobsi) is Hong Eui-jeong's 2020 South Korean crime drama debut: corpse cleaners Yoo Ah-in and Yoo Jae-myung guard a kidnapped girl, winning Baeksang and Blue Dragon awards.
Weekend (1967 film)
Weekend (Week-end) is Jean-Luc Godard's 1967 French-Italian satirical film in which a bourgeois couple drive from Paris to collect an inheritance amid apocalyptic traffic jams and cannibal guerrillas, famous for its 300-metre traffic-jam tracking shot and its closing "End of Cinema" title.
Welcome Mr. Marshall!
Welcome Mr. Marshall! (Bienvenido, Mister Marshall) is a 1953 Spanish comedy by Luis García Berlanga, written with Bardem and Mihura, satirizing a Castilian village's failed Marshall Plan welcome; Cannes 1953 International Prize winner.
What Have I Done to Deserve This?
What Have I Done to Deserve This? (¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto?) is Pedro Almodóvar's 1984 Spanish comedy-drama, his fourth film, starring Carmen Maura as Gloria, an amphetamine-addicted housewife in a Madrid outskirts flat, an Italian-neorealist homage from the Movida era.
What We Did on Our Holiday
What We Did on Our Holiday is a 2014 British comedy-drama by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin (Outnumbered), starring Rosamund Pike, David Tennant, and Billy Connolly; divorcing parents' three children expose family secrets at a 75th birthday in the Scottish Highlands.
Where's Poppa?
Where's Poppa? (1970), also re-released as Going Ape, is a Carl Reiner dark comedy starring George Segal and Ruth Gordon, adapted by Robert Klane from his novel, about a lawyer trying to escape his senile mother.
Wicked Little Letters
Wicked Little Letters (2023) is a Thea Sharrock comedy-mystery starring Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley, based on the 1920s Littlehampton poison-pen letter scandal; premiered at TIFF 2023, released 2024 by Sony Pictures Classics.
Withnail and I
Withnail & I (also Withnail and I) is a 1987 British cult comedy by Bruce Robinson, starring Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann as unemployed 1969 London actors on a disastrous Lake District holiday.
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios) is Pedro Almodóvar's 1988 Spanish comedy about abandoned actress Pepa, starring Carmen Maura and Antonio Banderas, an Oscar-nominated, five-Goya international breakthrough.
Xala
Xala is a 1975 Senegalese satirical film by Ousmane Sembène, adapted from his 1973 novel, about a corrupt businessman cursed with impotence on taking a third wife; a neocolonialism satire in Wolof and French.
You Shoot, I Shoot (买凶拍人)
You Shoot, I Shoot (买凶拍人, 2001) is Pang Ho-cheung's Hong Kong black comedy debut about a hitman and a Scorsese-worshipping cameraman filming assassinations; made for HK$500,000, HKFA screenplay nominee.