A Walk in the Clouds, Alfonso Arau, 1995 — Heady historical romance when Keanu Reeve’s war veteran meets pregnant Aitana Sanchez-Giton on her way home to help with the grape harvest at her father’s vineyard.

The Birds, Alfred Hitchcock, 1963 — Birds of all kind go homicidal when wealthy San Franciscan Tippi Hedren follows potential beau Rod Taylor to the small NoCal village of Bodega Bay.

Scream, Wes Craven, 1996 — The gory, groundbreaking ironic teen slasher movie with Drew Barrymore, Neve Campbell and David Arquette has a scene shot at the Sonoma Community Center.

Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock, 1958 — Acrophobic detective James Stewart becomes obsessed with platinum blond Kim Novak on the hilly San Francisco streets in a Hitchcock classic.

Dirty Harry, Clint Eastwood, 1989 — A killer punk, Scorpio, makes the day of Eastwood’s detective all across the city on the hill in a thinly veiled version of the famed Zodiac murders.

The Last Waltz, Martin Scorsese, 1978 — Directed by Marty in the fertile period between Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, the intimate, festive film documents The Band’s farewell concert on Thanksgiving 1976 at San Francisco’s Winterland.

Harold and Maude, Hal Ashby, 1971 — Rarely has a Hollywood movie combined whimsy and suicide with more grace than this cult comedy shot on location in the Bay Area about a morbid youth (Bud Cort) infatuated with a free-spirited septuagenarian (Ruth Gordon).

Rear Window, Alfred Hitchcock, 1954 — Chaired with a broken leg, cranky Gotham photographer Jimmy Stewart peers out his back window, spying on his neighbors and realizing a husband has murdered his wife! Grace Kelly is glorious as his girlfriend, and extra pair of legs.

On the Waterfront, Elia Kazan, 1954 — Failed boxer Marlon Brando could have been a contender in the masterful black-and-white drama about union strife on the New York docks.

Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese, 1990 — Mid-level NYC mobster Ray Liotta tries to keep his head (and his marriage to Lorraine Bracco) together, between murders, cocaine highs, jail sentences and the kind of office politics where whacking replaces firing.

Manhattan, Woody Allen, 1979 — Disenchanted urbanites grapple with love and relationships in 1970s New York. Cast includes Meryl Streep, the director’s longtime muse, Diane Keaton and a young Mariel Hemingway, who plays Allen’s character’s 17-year-old lover.

Arthur, Steve Gordon, 1981 — Dudley Moore as a millionaire playboy forced to choose between his inheritance and the love of his live—a Queens waitress played by Liza Minnelli.

Barefoot in the Park, Gene Saks, 1967— In Saks’ film adaptation of Neil Simon’s 1963 play, Jane Fonda and Robert Redford play newlyweds moving into the typical first-year Manhattan apartment: the fifth-floor walkup.

The Way We Were, Sydney Pollack, 1973 — The relationship between an idealistic Jewish woman (Barbara Streisand) and a laid-back WASP (Robert Redford) falls apart in the Age of McCarthyism. College scenes were shot at Union College in Schenectady, New York while the ending, immortalized by Sex and the City, takes place before the Plaza.

Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese, 1976 — In a role that largely shot him to stardom (and cemented his penchant for sociopathic characters), DeNiro plays Travis Bickle, a mentally unstable Vietnam veteran who, when suffering from insomnia, takes on a nighttime cab-driving gig.

Laurel Canyon — Lisa Cholodenko’s sexy film starring Oscar-winner Frances McDormand peaks into one of the city’s hippest, most hidden neighborhoods, the funky bridge between Hollywood and the Valley, making it and exile.

The Music Box — Sometimes you just have to see what unspoiled L.A. was like when you could still smell the Orange blossoms in the breeze; this slapstick 1932 Laurel and Hardy comedy has the pair as bumbling (of course!) piano movers fighting gravity and a steep staircase. It was shot in front of a Descanso Drive house that you can still search out.

Chinatown — Stolen water is the root of all Los Angeles’s many evils in this darkly entertaining 1974 noir pairing Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway.

Volcano —A guilty pleasure, the disaster movie sets Los Angeles aflame, with lava coursing down Wilshire Boulevard from an eruption beneath the La Brea Tar Pits and Tommy Lee Jones trying very hard to rescue the City of the Angels from its own tarry foundation. Tagline? “The coast is toast.”

Beach Blanket Bingo — Nostalgic for a time when bikinis were considered racy? Shake and shimmy with this sandy, sun-tanned Pacific California dream with national treasures Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon.

Muriel’s Wedding, P. J. Hogan, 1994 —Toni Collette stars as a homely, Abba-obsessed local girl in Porpoise Spit, Australia who finds love with the help of friend Rachel Griffiths in a feel-good comedy.

Strictly Ballroom, Baz Luhrman, 1992 — The writer/director’s breakthrough is a likeable musical comedy set in the world of ballroom dancing competitions.

Moulin Rouge!, Baz Luhrman, 2001 — Filmed at Fox Studios Australia, and starring local Nicole Kidman, this ebullient postmodern musical gives a sense of Sydney style, sophistication and irreverence.

The Road to Bali, Hal Walker, 1952 — Among the funniest of the Bob Hope-Bing Crosby road movies, the duo rush out of Australia to avoid romantic entanglements and find they’ve jumped out of the frying pan into the fire.

South Pacific, Joshua Logan, 1958 — Okay, so the song Bali Hai isn’t really the precise Indonesian island, but the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical presents a Western vision of South Seas paradise.

CHINA: GENERAL

Up the Yangtze, Yung Chang, 2008 — Largely set on a tourist boat making a “farewell to Old China” cruise, Chang’s documentary, like Jia Zhangke’s Still Life, explores the impact of China’s Three Gorges Dam project, said to displace over 2 million families before its completion in 2011.

Still Life, Jia Zhangke, 2006 — In this harrowing, Golden Lion Award winner, two people—whose paths never actually cross—search for their spouses in Fengjie, a village slowly being demolished by the Three Gorges Dam Project.

BEIJING

The Last Emperor, Bernardo Bertolucci, 1987 —A lushly-directed masterpiece charting the dramatic history of Pu Yi, the final Chinese Emperor, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City.

55 Days at Peking, Nicholas Ray, 1963 — Diplomats, soldiers and other representatives of a dozen nations fend off the siege of the International Compound in Peking during the 1900 Boxer Rebellion. Cast: Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner.

Raise the Red Lantern, Yimou Zhang, 1991 — Extraordinary view of gender, sexuality, female rivalry and bonding in a historical context (1920s China) that bears political relevance to the present.

Moving the Mountain, Michael Apted, 1994 — Told from the students’ perspective, this canny documentary addresses the 1989 Peking student demonstrations for more democracy in the People’s Republic.

Summer Palace, Lou Ye, 2006 —Romance and politics parallel each other in this tale of a young girl whose first year at Beijing University ends with the Tiananmen Square demonstrations.

CHINA: GENERAL

Up the Yangtze, Yung Chang, 2008 — Largely set on a tourist boat making a “farewell to Old China” cruise, Chang’s documentary, like Jia Zhangke’s Still Life, explores the impact of China’s Three Gorges Dam project, said to displace over 2 million families before its completion in 2011.

Still Life, Jia Zhangke, 2006 — In this harrowing, Golden Lion Award winner, two people—whose paths never actually cross—search for their spouses in Fengjie, a village slowly being demolished by the Three Gorges Dam Project.

HONG KONG

Chungking Express, Kar Wai Wong, 1994 — Nominally about a pair of love-struck policemen, the film’s visual poetry and narrative audacity transformed the shy hipster director into an international darling.

Infernal Affairs, Wai Keung Lau & Su Fai Mak, 2002 — A gripping, authentic cop drama that is way better than Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning Hollywood remake, The Departed.

Love is a Many-Splendored Thing, Henry King, 1955 — See how Hong Kong looked before high rises – and smog! William Holden and Jennifer Jones play the star-crossed lovers – he’s white, she’s Eurasian – in this famed Oscar-winner.

CHINA: GENERAL

Up the Yangtze, Yung Chang, 2008 — Largely set on a tourist boat making a “farewell to Old China” cruise, Chang’s documentary, like Jia Zhangke’s Still Life, explores the impact of China’s Three Gorges Dam project, said to displace over 2 million families before its completion in 2011.

Still Life, Jia Zhangke, 2006 — In this harrowing, Golden Lion Award winner, two people—whose paths never actually cross—search for their spouses in Fengjie, a village slowly being demolished by the Three Gorges Dam Project.

SHANGHAI

Mission Impossible III, J. J. Abrams, 2006 — Tom Cruise and the gang travel the world battling arms dealers with gadgets and state-of-the-art weaponry – including a stop in Shanghai where Cruise’s character swings between two skyscrapers.

The Painted Veil, John Curran, 2006 — A brilliant period romance about a mismatched English couple (Naomi Watts, Edward Norton) that travels to Shanghai in the 1920’s for the husband’s work as an epidemiologist, based on the W. Somerset Maugham tragic novel.

Empire of the Sun, Steven Spielberg, 1987 — Christian Bale got his major break in this spirited historical drama about an English boy struggling under Japan’s occupation of Shanghai during WWII, based on J. G. Ballard’s autobiographical novel of the same name.

The White Countess, James Ivory, 2005 — Set in 1930’s Shanghai, Natasha Richardson plays a beautiful, titled Russian noblewoman who befriends a blind former diplomat (Ralph Fiennes) – and does some questionable things to support her family.

Closely Watched Trains, Jiri Menzel, 1966 — Oscar-winning Czech film about a young man’s coming of age, and first affair, at a rural railroad station during the German Occupation in WWII.

Kolja, Jan Sverak, 1996 — The darkly comic buddy movie about a grouchy old cellist whose money-making schemes land him with a five-year-old stepson.

The Shop on Main Street, Jan Kadar & Elmar Klos, 1965 — Racism, Nazism and the common man are examined in this Oscar winner about a Slovakian who takes over a Jewish widow’s dry goods shop. They develop a relationship that is endangered when the authorities want to eradicate all Jews – and he considers hiding her.

Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milos Forman, 1988 — Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Tomas, the apolitical ladykiller of a Czech surgeon so distracted by his sex games circa 1968 that he’s nearly blinded to the Soviet invasion that follows the Prague Spring.

Amadeus, Milos Forman, 1984 — Lavish, Oscar-winning, bawdy biopic of the composer starring Tom Hulce shot on location in Prague and Vienna.

The Queen, Stephen Frears, 2006 — What’s a monarch with a stiff-upper-lip like Elizabeth II to do when her ex-daughter-in-law Princess Diana dies – and she totally misjudges the tenor of the times and her people? Helen Mirren royally deserved her Oscar.

The Battle of Britain, Frank Capra, 1943 — The award-winning documentary from the “Why We Fight” series outlines the British war effort against the Nazis post-Dunkirk; meticulous and stirring.

Shaun of the Dead, Edgar Wright, 2004 — In this hilarious zombie romantic buddy movie, the brain-eating undead scour London while slacker Shaun, a humble Londoner, tries to reconcile with his ex. Bloody brilliant!

Notting Hill, Roger Michell, 1999 — Hugh Grant embodies English boyish charm in this winning comedy about a famous American actress (Julia Roberts) whose arrival disrupts a, yes, stuttering bookseller’s romantic life and London neighborhood.

My Beautiful Launderette, Stephen Frears, 1985 — Hanif Kureishi’s witty, thorny, daring drama about interracial male lovers (Gordon Warnecke, Daniel Day Lewis) who confront bigotry when they open a London Laundromat in Thatcher’s England.

Before Sunset, Richard Linklater, 2004 — A continuation of Before Sunrise, this Oscar-nominated romance film, tells the encounter of Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) nine years after they met in Vienna on a train. Now the plot takes place in Paris.

An American in Paris, Vicente Minnelli, 1951 — Yankee painter Gene Kelly struggles – and dances – his way through Paris and his romantic complications with Leslie Caron.

Amélie, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001 — Elation: that’s what you’ll feel after watching Amelie, the visually inventive French romance from Delicatessen director Jeunet starring.

The Da Vinci Code, Ron Howard, 2006 — Amelie’s gamine Audrey Tatou joins a tuft-haired Tom Hanks in the blockbuster, thoughy overwrought, adaptation of the bestselling religious mystery that opens with a murder in the Louvre Museum.

Breathless, Jean-Luc Godard, 1960 — Godard’s first feature film casts Jean-Paul Belmondo as a thug who idolizes Humphrey Bogart, a parallel to the French New Wave revering and morphing American film noir. American waif in Paris Jean Seberg protects then betrays Belmondo, who has one of the most famous, and often copied, death scenes in film history.

Charade, Stanley Donen, 1963 — The delicious, twisty, stylish Paris-set mystery partners widowed Audrey Hepburn with American Cary Grant in a race to retrieve a clue to where her late husband stashed his cash, before the villains do.

Gigi, Vincente Minnelli, 1958 — This classic won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture, when it was released in 1958. Not only do you get Maurice Chevalier singing “I Remember It Well,” but Leslie Caron and the scenes of Paris are utterly charming.

A Little Romance, George Roy Hill, 1979 — This delightful film, starring a young Diane Lane and the late Laurence Olivier, proves that Paris isn’t just for adult love. Two thirteen-year-olds fall for each other and their dapper, older advisor aids them in their little romance.

For the Younger Set

The Aristo Cats, Disney, 1970 — One of Disney’s most charming animated films ever. Zsa Zsa Gabor is the voice of Duchess. There are scenes of Paris, tunes from Carmen and swinging Jazz as well as humor that makes it fun for the tiny set and their parents.

Le Ballon Rouge, Albert Lamorisse, 1956 — A poetic fantasy without dialog pairs a red balloon and a young boy who wander together through the Paris streets in a classic picaresque.

Madeline, 1998 — The video series of the Madeline books features lots of adventures about the girls in one straight line. Many of the titles are set in Paris, but mostly available only on VHS.

Cabaret, Bob Fosse, 1972 — The Liza Minnelli classic is set in a nightclub in Weimar Republic-era Berlin.

Wings of Desire, Wim Wenders, 1987 — Considered one of the director’s best, it’s the story of two angels wandering in a mixture of post-war and modern Berlin.

Run Lola Run, Tom Tykwer, 1998 — Tykwer’s directorial breakthrough feature features actress Franka Potente sprinting all over Berlin in an effort to save her on-screen boyfriend.

Goodbye, Lenin!, Wolfgang Becker, 2003 — A fun comedy about the attempt of a young Eastern German to hide from his mother that, while she was in a coma, the Berlin Wall came down.

The Lives of Others, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006 — This remarkable film about East Berlin’s oppressive Stasi regime won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

Saint-Tropez

And God Created Woman, Roger Vadim, 1956 — The famous French film made the world fall in love with Brigette Bardot—and with this fishing village, where the actress still resides today.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Frank Oz, 1988 — Conmen Steve Martin and Michael Caine fleece their way through the playground of the rich – until they get their comeuppance from Glenne Headly. It was later adapted for the Broadway stage.

On the Riviera, Walter Lang, 1951 — Danny Kaye plays a dual role as a French Industrialist and an American entertainer opposite Gene Tierney in this frothy musical comedy.

BARCELONA

Barcelona, Whit Stillman, 1994 — Two Americans find themselves in Barcelona in the early 1980s.

All About My Mother, Pedro Almodovar, 1999 — The brilliant, Oscar-winning movie about a grieving mother who goes to Barcelona to find her son’s father, a transvestite.

The Passenger, Michelangelo Antonioni, 1975 — Jack Nicholson plays a reporter who assumes a dead man’s identity.

FILM

Mandela, Angus Gibson and Jo Menell, 1997 — The emotionally-charged, Oscar-nominated non-fiction film documents the future president’s rise to power, and the radical changes that occurred in his native country.

In My Country, John Boorman, 2004 — Journalists Samuel L. Jackson and Juliette Binoche launch an interracial affair while covering post- Apartheid South Africa and the Truth and Reconciliation Hearings in this intense, provocative and satisfying drama.

The Cape Town Affair, Robert D. Webb, 1967 — Claire Trevor and James Brolin star in a thriller about South African secret agents intent on keeping microfilm out of Communist control.

MARRAKECH

The Sheltering Sky, Bernardo Bertolucci, 1990 — In a gorgeous drama based on Paul Bowles’ famous 1949 novel, alientated American artists Kit and Port Moresby (Debra Winger, John Malkovich) travel to Africa to escape despair – but find it follows them wherever they travel.

Casablanca, Michael Curtiz, 1942 — Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman are star-crossed lovers dodging sharp one-liners and bullets in North Africa during the early days of WWII. It is considered by many to be the best American movie romance – men fall for Ingrid; women for Humphrey. Discussed in When Harry Met Sally, it becomes a Rosetta stone for Billy Crystal’s and Meg Ryan’s mutual feelings.

Babel, Alejandro Gonzalen Inarritu, 2006 — Unhappily wed Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett take a second honeymoon to North Africa; when a sniper’s bullet penetrates her shoulder, that random act becomes the locus of interlocking stories set in Japan, America and Mexico as well.

INDIA-GENERAL

“To understand the real India, the Indians say, you must go to the villages. But that is not strictly true, because the Indians have carried their villages to the railway stations.” ~Paul Theroux, The Great Railway Bazaar

Gandhi, Richard Attenborough, 1982 — Sir Ben Kingsley won an Oscar for playing the Mahatma in this lavish, worshipful biopic, which also garnered Best Picture and six more awards.

Monsoon Wedding, Mira Nair, 2001 — A rich, multi-layered, often comic look at the cross-currents of Indian, British and American life centered on an arranged New Delhi wedding scheduled on the eve of the monsoons.

Passage to India, David Lean, 1984 — Judy Davis plays Adela Quested, the traveling British Woman who accuses Victor Banerjee’s Indian doctor of rape.

Florence

A Room with a View, James Ivory, 1985 — A favorite, and among the most delicious of the Merchant Ivory films, the romance starring Julian Sands, Daniel Day Lewis, Helena Bonham Carter and Maggie Smith captures E.M. Forster’s infatuation with the sun-drenched city on the Arno.

The Agony and the Ecstasy, Carol Reed, 1965 — Charlton Heston takes artistic license in this historical biography of Florentince artist Michelangelo’s struggles to paint the Sistine Chapel, urged on by Pope Julius.

Tea with Mussolini, Franco Zefferelli, 1999 — A semi-autobiographical movie about an Italian businessmen’s illegitimate son, Luca, raised by an Englishwoman (Joan Plowright) and her ex-pat circle.

Under the Tuscan Sun, Audrey Wells, 2003 — In this gooey yet irresistible chick flick, Diane Lane glows as a heartsick, recently-divorced writer who gets her groove back in Florence and the surrounding Tuscan countryside.

Milan

A Month by the Lake, John Irvin, 1995 — Uma Thurman, Vanessa Redgrave and Edward Cox form a romantic triangle on the shores of Lake Como in the spring of 1937.

La Notte, Michelangelo Antonioni, 1961 — Jeanne Moreau and her writer husband Marcello Mastroiannni visit a dying friend in Milan, and confront a similar death in their passion.

Miracle in Milan, Vittorio De Sica, 1951 — A cerebral fantasy about an orphan found in a cabbage patch who grows up to find oil in a post-war Milan beggar colony.

Venice

Casanova, Lasse Hallstrom, 200 — A studly Heath Ledger seduces as the Venetian philanderer who finally meets his match – a liberated Sienna Miller—in a lavish, buoyant production shot on location.

Casino Royale, Martin Campbell, 2006 — A major climax occurs in a sprawling Venice palazzo during renovation; needless to say, it’s rubble, along with assorted villains, when Daniel Craig’s James Bond finishes with it.

Don’t Look Now, Nicholas Roeg, 1973 — A classic, moody psychic thriller about a married couple (Donald Sutherland, Julie Christie) mourning their young daughter’s drowning death in wintry Venice.

The Merchant of Venice, Michael Radford, 2004 — There are several productions, but the most recent one stars Al Pacino as the Jewish merchant, Shylock.

Muriel’s Wedding, P. J. Hogan, 1994 — Toni Collette stars as a homely, Abba-obsessed local girl in Porpoise Spit, Australia who finds love with the help of friend Rachel Griffiths in a feel-good comedy.

Strictly Ballroom, Baz Luhrman, 1992 — The writer/director’s breakthrough is a likeable musical comedy set in the world of ballroom dancing competitions.

Moulin Rouge! Baz Luhrman, 2001 — Filmed at Fox Studios Australia, and starring local Nicole Kidman, this ebullient postmodern musical gives a sense of Sydney style, sophistication and irreverence.

ROME

La Dolce Vita, Federico Fellini, 1960. Playboy journalist Marcello Mastroianni lives the sweet life in Rome, and meets up with famed actress Anita Ekberg in this high-water mark of Italian cinema.

Fellini’s Roma, Federico Fellini, 1972. The city is the star in Fellini’s impressionistic, often autobiographical celebration of the Italian capital.

Roman Holiday, William Wyler, 1953. Oscar-winner Audrey Hepburn plays a sheltered princess who gets loose on the streets of Rome with Yankee newsman Gregory Peck in this most romantic, yet genteel, romantic comedies.

To Catch A Thief, Alfred Hitchcock, 1955. The film that brought Grace Kelly to Monaco where she met Prince Rainier, who made her the principality’s princess. Cary Grant is charming, and there are lots of shots of Riviera landmarks.

Never Say Never Again, Irvin Kershner, 1983. The Sean Connery James Bond adventure is partially set in Monaco.

Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, Vincent McEveety 1977. A goofy Disney family comedy that takes the talking VW, aka the Love Bug, to the Monte Carlo Rally.

INDIA

Gandhi, Richard Attenborough, 1982 — Sir Ben Kingsley won an Oscar for playing the Mahatma in this lavish, worshipful biopic, which also garnered Best Picture and six more awards.

Monsoon Wedding, Mira Nair, 2001 — A rich, multi-layered, often comic look at the cross-currents of Indian, British and American life centered on an arranged New Delhi wedding scheduled on the eve of the monsoons.

Passage to India, David Lean, 1984 — Judy Davis plays Adela Quested, the traveling British Woman who accuses Victor Banerjee’s Indian doctor of rape.

Venice

Casanova, Lasse Hallstrom, 200 — A studly Heath Ledger seduces as the Venetian philanderer who finally meets his match – a liberated Sienna Miller—in a lavish, buoyant production shot on location.

Casino Royale, Martin Campbell, 2006 — A major climax occurs in a sprawling Venice palazzo during renovation; needless to say, it’s rubble, along with assorted villains, when Daniel Craig’s James Bond finishes with it.

Don’t Look Now, Nicholas Roeg, 1973 — A classic, moody psychic thriller about a married couple (Donald Sutherland, Julie Christie) mourning their young daughter’s drowning death in wintry Venice.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, 1989 — Harrison Ford a.k.a. Indiana Jones hunts treasure again, with scenes set in Venice.

The Merchant of Venice, Michael Radford, 2004 — There are several productions, but the most recent one stars Al Pacino as the Jewish merchant, Shylock.

Films

The Third Man, Carol Reed, 1949. Classic film noir about a smuggler played by Orson Welles, set against a backdrop of gritty cityscapes in 1947 Vienna. Prominently featured: the Prater Ferris wheel.

Amadeus, Milos Forman, 1984. Milos Forman’s flashy portrait of the genius composer won eight Academy Awards in 1985, including Best Picture. The film was shot mostly in Prague, but it paints a colorful portrait of imperial Vienna.

James Bond: The Living Daylights, John Glen, 1987. Timothy Dalton’s 007 is all over the Austrian capital in this chapter of the Bond franchise.

Immortal Beloved, Bernard Rose, 1995. Gary Oldman plays Ludwig van Beethoven in a loose interpretation of the composer’s love life.

Before Sunrise, David Linklater, 1995. Charming film about two twenty-somethings, one American and one French (played by Ethan Hawke and Julie Deply), who spend a day and night in Vienna. Locations you will recognize: Prater, Kleines Café and Tram No. 1.

La Pianiste, Michael Haneke, 2001. French actress Isabelle Huppert won several acting awards for her portrayal of the piano teacher in an adaptation of Nobel Prize winner Elfriede Jelinek’s disturbing novel.

The Rape of Europe, Richard Berge & Bonni Cohen, 2006. A fascinating documentary by Richard Berge and Bonni Cohen about the Nazis’ plundering of great works of art during World War II. Actress Joan Allen narrates.

Lost in Translation (2003). A clichéd and patronizing take on the city in which the Japanese characters speak no-so-gleat Englees but Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson are outstanding.

The Last Samurai (2003). It is hard to take Tom Cruise seriously with a topknot and battle armor, but the film is jolly good fun for the flavor of feudal Japan, with its strict code of honor and rigid morals. The honor-and-morals bit must have been particularly mystifying for the Hollywood executives at the screenings.

Blade Runner (1982). Tokyo’s streets are said to have been one inspiration for the futuristic Harrison Ford–Ridley Scott thriller.

Babel (2006). A rather disjointed film but notable for a stunning performance by Rinko Kikuchi as a deaf Tokyo girl trying to both communicate with her widowed father and make sense of the crazy world around her.

Tokyo Story. Usually included among the all-time classics, this 1950s movie concerns the younger and older generations of a family failing to understand each other. Some things don’t change.

Apocalpyse Now, Francis Ford Coppola, 1979. Based on Vietnam vet Michael Herr’s screenplay, this film starring Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando and Robert Duvall captures the horror and chaos of the American’s war in Vietnam and has been compared to a modern version of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. It won the Oscar and Palme d’Or at Cannes and remains a classic for good reason.

Born on the Fourth of July, Oliver Stone, 1989. The epic adaptation of the true story of Ron Kovic’s experience in Vietnam and his return home in a wheelchair. With possibly the best performance of Tom Cruise’s career, the film won the Oscars for Best Director and Film Editing.

Deer Hunter, Michael Cimino, 1978. Winner of five Academy Awards, this film, which stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and Meryl Streep, examines the ravages of war and its lingering impact on its veterans and those they go home to.

Full Metal Jacket, Stanley Kubrick, 1987. A haunting examination of the madness that descended on young soldiers sent to Vietnam and all of its gory consequences.

Platoon, Oliver Stone, 1986. Charlie Sheen (whose father Martin played in Apocalpse Now) stars with Tom Berenger and Kevin Dillon in this film that was based on Stone’s own experiences in Vietnam. It won the Oscar for Best Picture.

Something’s Gotta Give, Nancy Meyers, 2003. Jack Nicholson stars as Harry Sanborn a playboy approaching senior citizenship; Diane Keaton is the mother of his current love interest (played by Amanda Peet). A weekend in the Hamptons brings the two together.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Michael Gondry, 2004. In this 2005 Oscar winner, Jim Carry (whose signature over-the-top goofiness is contained) desperately tries to hold on to the memories of his former love (Kate Winslet) while undergoing a procedure to have them removed. The romance begins on a LIRR train en route to Montauk and many scenes were shot in the Hamptons.

The Door in the Floor, Tod Williams, 2004. An adaptation of the John Irving novel, A Widow for One Year, starring Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger.

Pollock, Ed Harris, 2000. Harris both directs and stars in this Jackson Pollock biopic, filmed over a 10-year period in East Hampton and New York City. Marcia Gay Harden’s performance as Lee Krasner won her an Oscar.

The Killing Fields, 1984. This British film drama about the Khmer Rouge is based on the war experiences of three journalists. Nominated for Best Picture in 1984, Killing Fields won awards for best supporting actor, best editing and best cinematography.

S-21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine, 2004. This documentary features first-hand accounts from both victims and former soldiers in the S-21 detention center. The film won the Francois Chalais Award at Cannes Film Festival, Best Documentary at Chicago International Film Festival and the International Human Rights Award.