Top five films: Best of the big screen

ARTISTS AND MODELS (105 minutes) G

Frank Tashlin's mindblowing 1955 satire on the comic-book industry has Jerry Lewis as a demented fanboy, Dean Lewis as his painter roommate, and Dorothy Malone and Shirley Maclaine as the artist and model duo living upstairs. A masterpiece far ahead of its time and a peak of what the critic J. Hoberman called "vulgar modernism". Screens as part of the Seniors Film Festival. Digitally projected. ACMI, Sunday, October 7, 11am. All tickets $5.

Dean Martin and Dorothy Malone in Artists and Models.

Dean Martin and Dorothy Malone in Artists and Models.

NORTH BY NORTHWEST (136 minutes) M

Alfred Hitchcock gave free rein to his love of nonsense in this superlative 1959 comedy-thriller, with Cary Grant as a boring Manhattan ad man who's mistaken for an assassination target and chased across the US, crossing paths with a mysterious blonde (Eva Marie Saint) along the way. Nearly getting killed never looked like so much fun. Digitally projected. Astor, Sunday, October 7, 2pm.

Maria Onetto in The Headless Woman.

Maria Onetto in The Headless Woman.

BREATHLESS (90 minutes) PG

Jean-Luc Godard kick-started the French New Wave with his seminal 1960 first feature, a hip, jokey thriller in which the sketchy plot serves as an excuse for stylistic flourishes and philosophical asides. Jean-Paul Belmondo plays the anti-hero, an insolent young hoodlum hiding out in the Paris flat of his American girlfriend (Jean Seberg). Digitally projected. Thornbury Picture House, Sunday, October 7, 1pm.

THE HEADLESS WOMAN (87 minutes) Unrated 15+

When a wealthy Argentinean woman (Maria Onetto) is involved in an ambiguously portrayed car accident, she tries to shrug it off but soon finds her whole sense of reality coming apart. Keeping the viewer almost as much in the dark as the heroine, this 2008 puzzler from the talented Lucrecia Martel (Zama) is a challenge worth taking up. Screens as part of a tribute to Martel. Digitally projected. ACMI, Saturday, October 6, 3.30pm.

Scene from 1948: CREATION AND CATASTROPHE

Scene from 1948: CREATION AND CATASTROPHE

1948: CREATION AND CATASTROPHE (85 minutes) Unrated

Straightforward in style but dense with information, Andy Trimlett and Ahlam Muhtaseb's documentary on the partition of Palestine and the subsequent Arab-Israeli War incorporates often harrowing firsthand testimony from both sides. Essentially, however, this is the story from the Palestinian perspective – which in itself is worth the attention of anyone who wants to understand the world today. Screens as part of the Palestinian Film Festival. Cinema Nova, Saturday, October 6, 5pm.

Jean Seberg (Patricia Franchini) in Jean Luc Godard's A Bout De Souffle (Breathless).

Jean Seberg (Patricia Franchini) in Jean Luc Godard’s A Bout De Souffle (Breathless).

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