3º – Mississippi Burning (Alan Parker, 1988)
Allocated in the mid-1960s, the film brings the investigation of two FBI agents in Mississippi after a black activist has disappeared into a possible crime involving racism. A masterpiece of the cinema’s investigation and suspense, ‘Mississippi on Fire’ is hard on its unfolding, bringing difficult discussions about a destructive bow of the social apparatus. The film gains even more quality with the duo of actors who command the central characters, with the presence of Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe.
2º – Night Moves (Arthur Penn, 1975)
A private investigator is hired by a woman whose adolescent daughter had disappeared, having to insert herself into the mysterious meanderings of the girl’s disappearance. The film gains its substance when the man begins to face, as the investigation progresses, a degeneration of all the apparatuses of his life, with his wife betraying him, his turbulent past returning to the surface and his day to day more and more empty. An underestimated masterpiece of the 1970s, ‘A Lance in the Dark’ is a film that impresses with the rigor of its unretouchable script, Arthur Penn’s productive direction and Gene Hackman’s powerful performance, working to investigate the dead end that is the life of a middle-aged man in his character’s situation.
1º – The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
A reputable wiretapping expert has the mission of investigating for some time a man and a woman at the request of a large company trustee. Always involved in a solitary routine, living alone in his apartment and without friends, the man will become completely obsessed with the content of the wiretaps, creating a conspiratorial paranoia that may not be so unfounded. A masterpiece in all its aspects by filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, ‘The Conversation’ details every meander that cinema has to offer, creating a story that manages to shiver the spectator even working with scenes that are cadenced and focused on small details. The film also presents one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema, with actor Gene Hackman explaining what is most beautiful and tragic about his character and the human species.
