iCM Forum's Favorite Contemporary Black & White Movies Complete List
Although almost since the birth of film there have been various color(ized ) movies for the first few decades black and white was the dominant use. After the 1930s the use of color started to rise until it became the standard in the mid 60s. But even after that filmmakers still continued to make films in black & white, mostly for artistic reason. These are the favorite contemporary black and white (b&w) movies of the ICMForum
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- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsLiam NeesonRalph FiennesBen KingsleyIn German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.
- DirectorMathieu KassovitzStarsVincent CasselHubert KoundéSaïd Taghmaoui24 hours in the lives of three young men in the French suburbs the day after a violent riot.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsAnthony HopkinsJohn HurtAnne BancroftA Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of kindness, intelligence and sophistication.
- DirectorPeter BogdanovichStarsTimothy BottomsJeff BridgesCybill ShepherdIn 1951, a group of high schoolers come of age in a bleak, isolated, atrophied North Texas town that is slowly dying, both culturally and economically.
- DirectorTim BurtonStarsJohnny DeppMartin LandauSarah Jessica ParkerAmbitious but troubled movie director Edward D. Wood Jr. tries his best to fulfill his dreams despite his lack of talent.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenDiane KeatonMariel HemingwayThe life of a divorced television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsJack NanceCharlotte StewartAllen JosephHenry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.
- DirectorRobert EggersStarsRobert PattinsonWillem DafoeValeriia KaramanTwo lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.
- DirectorMichel HazanaviciusStarsJean DujardinBérénice BejoJohn GoodmanWhen George, a silent movie superstar, meets Peppy Miller, a dancer, sparks fly between the two. However, after the introduction of talking pictures, their fortunes change, affecting their dynamic.
- DirectorDarren AronofskyStarsSean GulletteMark MargolisBen ShenkmanA paranoid mathematician searches for a key number that will unlock the universal patterns found in nature.
- DirectorFrank MillerQuentin TarantinoRobert RodriguezStarsMickey RourkeClive OwenBruce WillisAn exploration of the dark and miserable Basin City and three of its residents, all of whom are caught up in violent corruption.
- DirectorAlfonso CuarónStarsYalitza AparicioMarina de TaviraDiego Cortina AutreyA year in the life of a middle-class family's maid in Mexico City in the early 1970s.
- DirectorPeter BogdanovichStarsRyan O'NealTatum O'NealMadeline KahnDuring the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership.
- DirectorJuraj HerzStarsRudolf HrusínskýVlasta ChramostováJana StehnováSet in Central Europe during World War II, a demented cremator believes cremation relieves earthly suffering and sets out to save the world.
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsJean-Louis TrintignantFrançoise FabianMarie-Christine BarraultA devout Catholic man's rigid principles are challenged during a one-night stay with Maud, a divorced woman with an outsize personality.
- DirectorGeorge A. RomeroStarsDuane JonesJudith O'DeaKarl HardmanA ragtag group of Pennsylvanians barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls that are ravaging the Northeast of the United States.
- DirectorMichael HanekeStarsChristian FriedelErnst JacobiLeonie BeneschStrange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. Who is responsible?
- DirectorCiro GuerraStarsNilbio TorresJan BijvoetAntonio BolívarThe story of the relationship between Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman and last survivor of his people, and two scientists who work together over the course of forty years to search the Amazon for a sacred healing plant.
- DirectorPawel PawlikowskiStarsJoanna KuligTomasz KotBorys SzycIn the 1950s, a music director falls in love with a singer and tries to persuade her to flee communist Poland for France.
- DirectorMel BrooksStarsGene WilderMadeline KahnMarty FeldmanAn American grandson of the infamous scientist, struggling to prove that his grandfather was not as insane as people believe, is invited to Transylvania, where he discovers the process that reanimates a dead body.
- DirectorLarisa ShepitkoStarsBoris PlotnikovVladimir GostyukhinSergey YakovlevTwo Soviet partisans on a mission to gather food contend with the winter cold, the occupying Germans, and their own psyches.
- DirectorShin'ya TsukamotoStarsTomorô TaguchiKei FujiwaraNobu KanaokaA businessman accidentally kills The Metal Fetishist, who gets his revenge by slowly turning the man into a grotesque hybrid of flesh and rusty metal.
- DirectorAlexander PayneStarsBruce DernWill ForteJune SquibbAn aging, booze-addled father makes the trip from Montana to Nebraska with his estranged son in order to claim a million-dollar Mega Sweepstakes Marketing prize.
- DirectorRémy BelvauxAndré BonzelBenoît PoelvoordeStarsBenoît PoelvoordeJacqueline Poelvoorde-PappaertNelly PappaertA film crew follows a ruthless thief and heartless killer as he goes about his daily routine. But complications set in when the film crew lose their objectivity and begin lending a hand.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenMia FarrowNick Apollo ForteIn his attempts to reconcile a lounge singer with his mistress, a hapless talent agent is mistaken as her lover by a jealous gangster.
- DirectorKevin SmithStarsBrian O'HalloranJeff AndersonMarilyn GhigliottiA day in the lives of two convenience clerks named Dante and Randal as they annoy customers, discuss movies, and play hockey on the store roof.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenMia FarrowPatrick Horgan"Documentary" about a man who can look and act like whoever he's around, and meets various famous people.
- DirectorBernard QueysanneStarsJacques SpiesserLudmila MikaëlA 25-year-old male student in Paris becomes indifferent to the world around him, and subsequently feels a strong sense of alienation and hopelessness.
- DirectorJoel CoenStarsBilly Bob ThorntonFrances McDormandMichael BadaluccoA laconic, chain-smoking barber blackmails his wife's boss and lover for money to invest in dry cleaning, but his plan goes terribly wrong.
- DirectorBéla TarrStarsMihály VigPutyi HorváthLászló feLugossyOn the eve of a large payment, residents of a collapsing collective farm see their plans turn into desolation when they discover that Irimiás, a former co-worker who they thought was dead, is returning to the community.
- DirectorPawel PawlikowskiStarsAgata KuleszaAgata TrzebuchowskaDawid OgrodnikA novice nun about to take her vows uncovers a family secret dating back to the German occupation.
- DirectorKôhei OguriStarsTakahiro TamuraMariko KagaNobutaka AsaharaIn post-War Japan, a boy from a noodle store-owning family befriends a neighboring boy living in poverty.
- DirectorNoah BaumbachStarsGreta GerwigMickey SumnerAdam DriverA New York woman apprentices for a dance company and throws herself headlong into her dreams, even as the possibility of realizing them dwindles.
- DirectorGeorge ClooneyStarsDavid StrathairnGeorge ClooneyPatricia ClarksonBroadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow looks to bring down Senator Joseph McCarthy.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroCathy MoriartyJoe PesciThe life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.
- DirectorJim JarmuschStarsJohnny DeppGary FarmerCrispin GloverOn the run after murdering a man, accountant William Blake encounters a strange Native American man named Nobody who prepares him for his journey into the spiritual world.
- DirectorKarel KachynaStarsJirina BohdalováRadoslav BrzobohatýGustav OpocenskýAfter coming home from a Party gathering one night, a Czech official becomes convinced that he is about to be the subject of a political purge and tries to do damage control, while also dealing with his turbulent marriage.
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsRosel ZechHilmar ThateCornelia FroboessPartially based on the life of Sybille Schmitz, who found fame under the Nazi regime, but whose career was destroyed afterward. Veronika Voss is a once prominent UFA actress, kept by her doctor, who raises suspicion in a sports journalist.
- DirectorTomás Gutiérrez AleaStarsSergio CorrieriDaisy GranadosEslinda NúñezA Cuban man cycles through his opinions and memories as the threat of foreign invasion intensifies and the rest of his family moves to Miami.
- DirectorCarl ReinerStarsSteve MartinRachel WardAlan LaddFilm noir parody with a detective uncovering a sinister plot. Characters from classic noir films appear as scenes from various movies interjected into the story.
- DirectorChristopher NolanStarsJeremy TheobaldAlex HawLucy RussellA young writer who follows strangers for material meets a thief who takes him under his wing.
- DirectorGuy MaddinStarsGretchen KrichSullivan BrownMaya LawsonReturned home to his long-estranged mother upon a request from her deathbed, a man raised by his parents in an orphanage has to confront the childhood memories that have long haunted him.
- DirectorKenneth BranaghStarsJude HillLewis McAskieCaitríona BalfeA young boy and his working-class Belfast family experience the tumultuous late 1960s.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsYella RottländerRüdiger VoglerLisa KreuzerA German journalist is saddled with a nine-year-old girl after encountering her mother at a New York airport.
- DirectorGakuryû IshiiStarsRena KomineTadanobu AsanoKotomi KyônoBus conductor Tomiko falls in love with driver Niitaka, even though she also suspects him of being a serial killer who killed his female conductors after tiring of them.
- DirectorJohn CassavetesStarsJohn MarleyGena RowlandsLynn CarlinA middle-aged man leaves his wife for another woman. Shortly after, his ex-wife also begins a relationship with a younger partner. The film follows their struggles to find love amongst each other.
- DirectorBéla TarrÁgnes HranitzkyStarsJános DerzsiErika BókMihály KormosA rural farmer is forced to confront the mortality of his faithful horse.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenMia FarrowMichael KirbyWith a serial strangler on the loose, a bookkeeper wanders around town searching for the vigilante group intent on catching the killer.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsBruno GanzSolveig DommartinOtto SanderAn angel tires of his purely ethereal life of merely overseeing the human activity of Berlin's residents, and longs for the tangible joys of physical existence when he falls in love with a mortal.
- DirectorBéla TarrÁgnes HranitzkyStarsLars RudolphPeter FitzHanna SchygullaA naive young man witnesses an escalation of violence in his small hometown following the arrival of a mysterious circus attraction.
- DirectorMarcel OphülsStarsHelmut TausendMarcel VerdierAlexis GraveAn in-depth exploration of the various reactions by the French people to the Vichy government's acceptance of the German invasion.
- DirectorBéla TarrStarsMiklós Székely B.Vali KerekesGyula PauerA lonely barfly falls in love with a married bar singer.
- DirectorEsteban SapirStarsAlejandro UrdapilletaValeria BertuccelliJulieta CardinaliThis near-silent black and white film from Argentina tells the story of a city that has lost its voice, stolen by Mr. TV, and the attempts of a small family to win the voice back. Similar in design to early German expressionist films.
- DirectorJim JarmuschStarsJohn LurieEszter BalintRichard EdsonA New Yorker's life is thrown into a tailspin when his younger cousin surprise-visits him, starting a strange, unpredictable adventure.
- DirectorVincent ParonnaudMarjane SatrapiStarsChiara MastroianniCatherine DeneuveGena RowlandsA precocious and outspoken Iranian girl grows up during the Islamic Revolution.
- DirectorKároly MakkStarsLili DarvasMari TörőcsikIván DarvasThe wife of a political prisoner tends to her mother-in-law and keeps from the old woman the truth about her son, whom she believes is in New York making a film.
- DirectorBob FosseStarsDustin HoffmanValerie PerrineJan MinerThe story of acerbic 1960s comic Lenny Bruce, whose groundbreaking, no-holds-barred style and social commentary was often deemed by the Establishment as too obscene for the public.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenCharlotte RamplingJessica HarperWhile attending a retrospective of his work, a filmmaker recalls his life and his loves: the inspirations for his films.
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsGary OldmanAmanda SeyfriedLily Collins1930s Hollywood is re-evaluated through the eyes of scathing social critic and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he races to finish the screenplay of Citizen Kane (1941).
- DirectorTim BurtonStarsWinona RyderCatherine O'HaraMartin ShortWhen a boy's beloved dog passes away suddenly, he attempts to bring the animal back to life through a powerful science experiment.
- DirectorAna Lily AmirpourStarsSheila VandArash MarandiMarshall ManeshIn the Iranian ghost-town Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, the townspeople are unaware they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire.
- DirectorMiguel GomesStarsTelmo ChurroMiguel GomesHortêncílio AquinaA restless retired woman teams up with her deceased neighbor's maid to seek out a man who has a secret connection to her past life as a farm owner at the foothill of Mount Tabu in Africa.
- DirectorJean EustacheStarsBernadette LafontJean-Pierre LéaudFrançoise LebrunThe chauvinist Alexandre balances relationships with several women in the post-1968 intellectual scene of Paris.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsLiv UllmannMax von SydowSigge FürstIn the midst of a civil war, former violinists Jan and Eva Rosenberg, who have a tempestuous marriage, run a farm on a rural island. In spite of their best efforts to escape their homeland, the war impinges on every aspect of their lives.
- DirectorMarv NewlandBambi is contentedly nibbling the grass, seemingly unaware of his impending encounter with Godzilla. What will happen when the two finally meet?
- DirectorRebecca HallStarsTessa ThompsonRuth NeggaAndré Holland"Passing" follows the unexpected reunion of two high school friends, whose renewed acquaintance ignites a mutual obsession that threatens both of their carefully constructed realities.
- DirectorTim BurtonStarsVincent PriceYoung Vincent Malloy dreams of being just like Vincent Price and loses himself in macabre daydreams which annoys his mother.
- DirectorPablo BergerStarsMaribel VerdúEmilio GaviraDaniel Giménez CachoA twist on the Snow White fairy tale that is set in 1920s Seville and centered on a female bullfighter.
- DirectorGary RossStarsTobey MaguireJeff DanielsJoan AllenTwo 1990s teenage siblings find themselves transported to a 1950s sitcom where their influence begins to profoundly change that colorless, complacent world.
- DirectorAndrew BujalskiStarsKriss SchludermannTom FletcherWiley WigginsA 1980s-set story centered around a man vs. machine chess tournament.
- DirectorJim JarmuschStarsTom WaitsJohn LurieRoberto BenigniTwo men are framed and sent to jail, where they meet a murderer who helps them escape and leave the state.
- DirectorGuy MaddinStarsDarcy FehrAnn SavageLouis NeginFact, fantasy and memory are woven seamlessly together in this portrait of film-maker Guy Maddin's home town of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
- DirectorAbel FerraraStarsLili TaylorChristopher WalkenAnnabella SciorraA New York philosophy grad student turns into a vampire after getting bitten by one, and then tries to come to terms with her new lifestyle and frequent craving for human blood.
- DirectorGuy MaddinStarsLeslie BaisCaelum VatnsdalShaun BalbarA scientist chooses a wealthy man over her two lovers but must heal the earth's core to save humanity.
- DirectorYoshihiko MatsuiStarsToshihiko HinoSimon KumaiYukiko MurataIn the slums of Osaka, various marginalized misfits have their own interpretations of love. Completely alienated from the outside world, they commit sexual perversions, violence and cannibalism.
- DirectorAkio JissôjiStarsMichiko TsukasaRyô TamuraEiji OkadaNear a remote Buddhist monastery, a young man falls in love with his sister and gets her pregnant. After a monk finds out, the young man becomes an assistant to a master sculptor, only to proceed to complicate matters with his affairs.
- DirectorLarry BlamireStarsLarry BlamireFay MastersonBrian HoweA bad scientist and his wife, a mad scientist, a skeleton, and two aliens and their escaped pet are all searching for the elusive element "atmospherium".
- DirectorCharles BurnettStarsHenry G. SandersKaycee MooreCharles BracySet in the Watts area of Los Angeles, a slaughterhouse worker must suspend his emotions to continue working at a job he finds repugnant, and then he finds he has little sensitivity for the family he works so hard to support.
- DirectorGrzegorz KrólikiewiczStarsFranciszek TrzeciakAnna NieborowskaIrena LadosiównaBased on a pre-war murder case of the Malisz couple. They end up committing a petty robbery and a sordid murder. He is an illustrator who is not used by a climbing architect. His folks don't like his wife and keeping both of them around as they float from one petty job to another. They finally try to rob a mailman of a bogus money order they have cooked up and end up killing an old, invalid couple with whom they have roomed.
- DirectorLuc BessonStarsPierre JolivetJean BouiseJean RenoIn a post-apocalyptic future where no one is able to speak, the few remaining humans fight over resources in order to survive.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsYoshiko TanakaKazuo KitamuraEtsuko IchiharaThe story of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, based on Masuji Ibuse's novel.
- DirectorLars von TrierStarsBarbara SukowaJean-Marc BarrUdo KierJust after World War II, an American takes a railway job in Germany, but finds his position politically sensitive with various people trying to use him.
- DirectorPeter WatkinsStarsEliane Annie AdaltoPierre BarbieuxBernard BombeauIn this war drama blurring the lines between documentary and fiction, the working class and the bourgeoisie of 19th century Paris are interviewed and covered on television, before and during a tragic workers' class revolt.
- DirectorDenis VilleneuveStarsMaxim GaudetteSébastien HuberdeauKarine VanasseA dramatization of the 1989 Montréal Massacre, during which several female engineering students were murdered by an unstable misogynist.
- DirectorVitali KanevskyStarsDinara DrukarovaPavel NazarovElena PopovaTwo children living in a remote mining town in the distant wastes of Siberia in 1947, survive poverty and hardship through the warmth of their friendship and a shared sense of humour.
- DirectorAlain Robbe-GrilletStarsJean-Louis TrintignantSylvie BréalZuzana KocúrikováOn the run from pursuing soldiers, a man hides in a small European town.
- DirectorRainer SarnetStarsRea LestJörgen LiikArvo KukumägiIn a poor Estonian village, a group of peasants use magic and folk remedies to survive the winter, and a young woman tries to get a young man to love her.
- DirectorIldikó EnyediStarsDorota SegdaOleg YankovskiyPaulus MankerTwo twin sisters, who grew up separately, Dóra, a pseudo-aristocrat, and Lili, an anarchist bomber, are reunited through Z, a mysterious traveller of the luxurious Orient-Express.
- DirectorToshio MatsumotoStarsKatsuo NakamuraJûrô KaraYasuko SanjoAfter being robbed by a geisha, a ronin warrior carves a bloody path to seek revenge.
- DirectorLinh VietStarsSon BacKhuong BeNgan ThaiTells the bittersweet story of a small traveling circus stopping in an impoverished ethnic minority village in Vietnam's central highlands. Through the eyes of a village youngster, we witness the magic of the circus, and the naive hope that illusion can be transformed into reality.
- DirectorYoshishige YoshidaStarsMariko OkadaToshiyuki HosokawaYûko KusunokiTwo interwoven stories. The first is a biography of anarchist Sakae Osugi which follows his relationship with three women in the 1920s. The second centers around two 1960s students researching Osugi's theories.
- DirectorAnton CorbijnStarsSam RileySamantha MortonCraig ParkinsonA profile of Ian Curtis, the enigmatic singer of Joy Division whose personal, professional, and romantic troubles led him to die by suicide at the age of 23.
- DirectorGuy MaddinStarsIsabella RosselliniMark McKinneyMaria de MedeirosA musical of sorts set in Winnipeg during the Great Depression, where a beer baroness organizes a contest to find the saddest music in the world. Musicians from around the world descend on the city to try and win the $25,000 prize.
- DirectorMartti HeldeStarsLaura Peterson-AardamTarmo SongMirt Preegel"Risttuules" is a very emotional, tragic movie about mass deportation to Siberia based on the memories of Erna. It all started on June 14, 1941, when trucks came for the innocent families with their children where they headed to the train station and later by animal wagons to Siberia. "How to survive hunger, cold, humiliation, losing friends and freedom, but still keep living on, when almost all hope is lost?"
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsWojciech PszoniakEwa DalkowskaTeresa Budzisz-KrzyzanowskaThe last days of life of the legendary Polish pedagogue Dr. Janusz Korczak and his heroic dedication to protecting Jewish orphans in the Warsaw Ghetto.
- DirectorFrantisek VlácilStarsPetr CepekJan KacerVera GalatíkováOndrej, a young boy who loves bees and bats, is introduced to his new mother, a woman much younger than his father. He brings her a basketful of flowers which she starts to throw in the air and then gives out a shriek, as she discovers several bats in the bottom of the bowl. In a rage, Ondrej's father picks the boy up and hurls him against the wall. As the boy lays on the ground paralyzed the father promises the Holy Virgin to dedicate the boy to her if she spares his life. Ondrej survives and is raised in a strict Knightly Order, where he is mentored by a devout monk, Armin. But one day, an extraordinary event makes him doubt the Order and remember where he came from.
- DirectorYoshishige YoshidaStarsMariko OkadaKaizo KamodaKazumi TsutsuiAn engineer's wife returns home with a lost teenager. A man posing as her dad tries to get her back, causing the engineer to recall his youth as a revolutionary, obscured by dreamlike disruptions of time and space, fantasy and reality.
- DirectorJoel CoenStarsDenzel WashingtonFrances McDormandAlex HassellA Scottish lord becomes convinced by a trio of witches that he will become the next King of Scotland, and his ambitious wife supports him in his plans of seizing power.
- DirectorBen WheatleyStarsJulian BarrattPeter FerdinandoRichard GloverAmid the Civil War in 17th-century England, a group of deserters flee from battle through an overgrown field. Captured by an alchemist, the men are forced to help him search to find a hidden treasure that he believes is buried in the field.
- DirectorGakuryû IshiiStarsYoshiki ArizonoTadanobu AsanoMasakatsu FunakiA violent, guitar-playing, electrically charged boxer faces off against an electronic wizard half-merged with a metallic Buddha.