allmovie
allmusicallmovieallgame
Rovi: Powered by AMG

enter a title or name

» Coming Soon » Quick Browse
» Essays » Glossary
» New Releases » Movie Trailers
» AllMovie Blog » In the Spotlight
 
Born Today
Bob Burns (1884)
Ingrid Pitt (1945)
Charles Korvin (1907)
Marcel Ophüls (1927)
explore by.../type
Satire

A film in which the point is to send up or skewer an aspect of society, a type of person, or established, often sacred beliefs. Satires rely on precision timing, from both actors and directors, while utilizing irony, cynicism and sarcasm as a primary tool. In the best examples of the form, deadpan humor, in which the characters take themselves and their situations very seriously, is favored while the director or screenwriter winks knowingly at the audience. An all-encompassing movie type, satire essentially divides up into several categories, depending on what topic is being tackled. Political and social satire has long been a favorite weapon of foreign filmmakers, with seminal films like La Dolce Vita, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, If..., WR: Mysteries of the Organism, and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie being prime examples. Under governments with strict artistic restrictions concerning political commentary, satire became the only tool with which to covertly criticize society, leading to films like France's L'Age d'Or, Spain's Viridiana, Yugoslavia's Underground and Cuba's Memories of Underdevelopment. In America, political and social satire can be traced back to the silent era, with the films of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. The style was utilized most often during times of duress. For example, Dr. Strangelove, M.A.S.H, and Catch-22 savagely trounced the jingoism of the ‘60s, while post-Watergate turmoil spawned The Candidate and Nashville. Political candidates have been the largest target of Hollywood in the latter quarter of the century with films such as Bob Roberts, Tanner ‘88, Wag the Dog and Bulworth showing America's disillusionment with the government. Other sub-types of satire include entertainment satire (This is Spinal Tap and The Player, for example) and religious satire (Monty Python's Life of Brian, Leap of Faith).

Major Works
Rating
Year
 Title
 
 Director
  9 Stars 1967 Belle de jour   Luis Buñuel
  9 Stars 1970 MASH   Robert Altman
  9 Stars 1964 Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb   Stanley Kubrick
  9 Stars 1967 Weekend   Jean-Luc Godard
  9 Stars 1928 Un Chien Andalou   Luis Buñuel
  9 Stars 1942 To Be or Not to Be   Ernst Lubitsch
  9 Stars 1950 Sunset Blvd.   Billy Wilder
  9 Stars 1941 Sullivan's Travels   Preston Sturges
  9 Stars 1958 Mon Oncle   Jacques Tati
  9 Stars 1936 Modern Times   Charles Chaplin
  9 Stars 1960 La Dolce Vita   Federico Fellini
  9 Stars 1933 Duck Soup   Leo McCarey
    9 Stars 1972 The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie   Luis Buñuel
  9 Stars 1971 A Clockwork Orange   Stanley Kubrick
  9 Stars 1985 Brazil   Terry Gilliam
  9 Stars 1932 Boudu Saved from Drowning   Jean Renoir
  9 Stars 1950 All About Eve   Joseph L. Mankiewicz
  9 Stars 1963 8 1/2   Federico Fellini
    8 Stars 1971 The Ceremony   Nagisa Oshima
    8 Stars 1968 Death by Hanging   Nagisa Oshima
  8 Stars 1996 Irma Vep   Olivier Assayas
  8 Stars 1992 The Story of Qiu Ju   Zhang Yimou
    8 Stars 1968 The Profound Desire of the Gods   Shohei Imamura
  8 Stars 1961 Viridiana   Luis Buñuel
  8 Stars 1979 Vengeance Is Mine   Shohei Imamura
  8 Stars 1970 Tristana   Luis Buñuel
  8 Stars 1986 Tampopo   Juzo Itami
  8 Stars 1975 Smile   Michael Ritchie
  8 Stars 1975 Shampoo   Hal Ashby
  8 Stars 1985 The Purple Rose of Cairo   Woody Allen
  8 Stars 1966 The Pornographers   Shohei Imamura
  8 Stars 1992 The Player   Robert Altman
  8 Stars 1944 The Miracle of Morgan's Creek   Preston Sturges
  8 Stars 1985 Lost in America   Albert Brooks
  8 Stars 1949 The Inspector General   Henry Koster
    8 Stars 1963 The Insect Woman   Shohei Imamura
  8 Stars 1992 Husbands and Wives   Woody Allen
  8 Stars 1988 Hairspray   John Waters
  8 Stars 1962 The Exterminating Angel   Luis Buñuel
  8 Stars 1965 Darling   John Schlesinger
  8 Stars 1989 The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover   Peter Greenaway
  8 Stars 1963 Contempt   Jean-Luc Godard
  8 Stars 1950 Born Yesterday   George Cukor
  8 Stars 1931 À Nous la Liberté   René Clair
  7 Stars 1999 Fight Club   David Fincher
    7 Stars 1953 Puu-san   Kon Ichikawa
  7 Stars 1997 Deconstructing Harry   Woody Allen
    7 Stars 1960 Bonchi   Kon Ichikawa
    7 Stars 1989 Wings of Fame   Otakar Votocek
    7 Stars 1989 Astenichesky Sindrom   Kira Muratova
  7 Stars 1996 Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy   Kelly Makin
  7 Stars 1995 Tokyo Fist   Shinya Tsukamoto
  7 Stars 1994 Swimming with Sharks   George Huang
    7 Stars 1994 Ermo   Zhou Xiaowen
  7 Stars 1995 Living in Oblivion   Tom DiCillo
  7 Stars 1994 Bullets Over Broadway   Woody Allen
    7 Stars 1970 Indagine su un Cittadino al di Sopra di Ogni Sospetto   Elio Petri
    7 Stars 1979 Garazh   Eldar Ryazanov
  7 Stars 1967 The Firemen's Ball   Milos Forman
  7 Stars 1989 The War of the Roses   Danny DeVito
  7 Stars 1983 Trading Places   John Landis
  7 Stars 1977 That Obscure Object of Desire   Luis Buñuel
  7 Stars 1976 The Tenant   Roman Polanski
  7 Stars 1987 A Taxing Woman   Juzo Itami
    7 Stars 1988 Tanner '88 [TV Series]   Robert Altman
  7 Stars 1977 Stroszek   Werner Herzog
  7 Stars 1981 S.O.B.   Blake Edwards
    7 Stars 1991 Revolution! A Red Comedy   Jeff Kahn
  7 Stars 1974 Le Fantôme de la Liberté   Luis Buñuel
  7 Stars 1980 Neskolko Dney iz Zhizni I.I. Oblomova   Nikita Mikhalkov
  7 Stars 1973 O Lucky Man!   Lindsay Anderson
  7 Stars 1958 Nazarin   Luis Buñuel
  7 Stars 1959 The Mouse That Roared   Jack Arnold
  7 Stars 1983 Monty Python's The Meaning of Life   Terry Gilliam
  7 Stars 1980 Mon Oncle d'Amérique   Alain Resnais
  7 Stars 1951 The Man in the White Suit   Alexander MacKendrick
  7 Stars 1965 Loves of a Blonde   Milos Forman
  7 Stars 1962 Lolita   Stanley Kubrick
  7 Stars 1930 L'ge d'Or   Luis Buñuel
    7 Stars 1987 A Hungarian Fairy Tale   Gyula Gazdag
  7 Stars 1989 High Hopes   Mike Leigh
  7 Stars 1944 Hail the Conquering Hero   Preston Sturges
  7 Stars 1953 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes   Howard Hawks
  7 Stars 1966 The Fortune Cookie   Billy Wilder
  7 Stars 1957 A Face in the Crowd   Elia Kazan
  7 Stars 1986 The Decline of the American Empire   Denys Arcand
  7 Stars 1966 La Muerte de un Burocrata   Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
    7 Stars 1955 Ensayo de un Crimen   Luis Buñuel
  7 Stars 1979 Being There   Hal Ashby
    7 Stars 1927 Bed and Sofa   Abram Room
  7 Stars 1991 The Adjuster   Atom Egoyan
  6 Stars 1996 Citizen Ruth   Alexander Payne
  6 Stars 1996 Schizopolis   Steven Soderbergh
  6 Stars 1996 The Cable Guy   Ben Stiller
  6 Stars 1994 Serial Mom   John Waters
  6 Stars 1993 The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom   Michael Ritchie
    6 Stars 1987 Sammy and Rosie Get Laid   Stephen Frears
  6 Stars 1991 Poison   Todd Haynes
  6 Stars 1954 It Should Happen to You   George Cukor
  6 Stars 1970 Catch-22   Mike Nichols
    5 Stars 1949 Yabure-daiko   Keisuke Kinoshita
    5 Stars 1999 Kazoku Cinema   Park Chul-Soo
  5 Stars 1999 But I'm a Cheerleader   Jamie Babbit
  5 Stars 1999 The Muse   Albert Brooks
  5 Stars 1998 The Idiots   Lars von Trier
    5 Stars 1996 Buddha Bless America   Wu Nien-Jen
  5 Stars 1960 Les Bonnes Femmes   Claude Chabrol
    5 Stars 1992 Minbo No Onna   Juzo Itami
    5 Stars 1995 The Last Dance   Juzo Itami
    5 Stars 1985 The Crazy Family   Toshihiro Ishii
  5 Stars 1991 Tribulation 99 - Alien Anomalies Under America   Craig Baldwin
    5 Stars 1952 El   Luis Buñuel
  5 Stars 1987 Walker   Alex Cox
  5 Stars 1965 Simon del Desierto   Luis Buñuel
  5 Stars 1984 The Funeral   Juzo Itami
    5 Stars 1981 Eijanaika   Shohei Imamura
  5 Stars 1976 Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson   Robert Altman
  5 Stars 1989 The Big Picture   Christopher Guest
    4 Stars 1997 Marutai no onna   Juzo Itami
  4 Stars 1994 Jimmy Hollywood   Barry Levinson
  4 Stars 1981 Polyester   John Waters
    4 Stars 1970 Brewster McCloud   Robert Altman
    4 Stars 1968 Black Lizard   Kinji Fukasaku
  3 Stars 1999 Drop Dead Gorgeous   Michael Patrick Jann
  3 Stars 1998 Three Businessmen   Alex Cox
  3 Stars 1998 A Merry War   Robert Bierman
    3 Stars 1958 Nishi Ginza Ekimae   Shohei Imamura
    3 Stars 1996 Haru   Yoshimitsu Morita
  2 Stars 1980 City of Women   Federico Fellini
 
 
 
Rovi About Us | Contact | Employment | Product Submissions | Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Copyright Policy
© 2009 Macrovision Corporation. All Rights Reserved.