The Movies canon

Sourced and screened.

Every film chosen by hand and annotated for why it matters.
Browse all 731 films or filter by genre, director, place, and year.

Y Tu Mama Tambien

Directed by Alfonso Cuaron
2001 · Mexico

A road trip with a narrator who keeps interrupting to tell you things the characters will never know: Cuaron slips a portrait of Mexico under a teenage sex comedy.

★ 7.3

The Magnificent Seven

Directed by John Sturges
1960

Kurosawa liked this remake of his own film enough to send Sturges a ceremonial sword: Seven Samurai relocated to the Mexican border, with Elmer Bernstein's theme doing half the work.

★ 6.6

Los Olvidados

Directed by Luis Bunuel
1950

Mexico City pulled it after three days and demanded it be banned, then Cannes gave Bunuel the directing prize: street children filmed without a trace of sentimentality about them.

★ 5.8

Like Water for Chocolate

Directed by Alfonso Arau
1992 · Mexico

Food is the only language anyone in it is allowed: a Mexican daughter forbidden to marry cooks her feelings into every dish, and everyone at the table has to eat them.

★ 3.7

Three Amigos

Directed by John Landis
1986

Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short play silent film stars mistaken for real gunfighters: a Mexican village hires them in earnest, and the singing bush is exactly as stupid as it sounds.

★ 3.0