Black And White Isn’t Just A Thing Of The Past, Here Are The Best Modern Black And White Movies

Summary

• Black and white films in the modern era offer exceptional cinema experiences from romance to horror.
• Polytechnique and Schindler’s List tackle powerful and tragic historical events in gripping black and white.
• The Lighthouse and Sin City showcase atmospheric black and white cinematography in unique storytelling.

Black and white movies are still an underrated film aesthetic widely seen today, done to capture unique cinematography or for artistic reasons. While you have classics like Metropolis, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, and Rebecca, black and white films of the modern era still bestow you with exceptional cinema.

Whether it be the mid-’90s, 2000s, 2010s, or even the 2020s, filmmakers continue to channel old Hollywood by creating new black and white movie masterpieces. Below are some of the best examples, from romance to horror, biopics, and even Shakespeare and Godzilla.

10

Angel-A

Angel-A is a French black and white movie from Luc Besson, the director of action and sci-fi films like Léon: The Professional, Lucy, and The Fifth Element, but this is far from his traditional route. Besson’s underrated 2005 movie is a dramedy about a man owing debts to dangerous criminals attempting to take his life before encountering a tall woman who’s seemingly an angel.

The main protagonist, André, is played by French-Moroccan actor and comedian Jamel Debbouze, who is hilarious in his portrayal, and the enigmatic Angela is played by model and actress Rie Rasmussen. The movie isn’t subtle in its hints at Angel-A’s true angelic nature, and it’s a surreal romantic comedy tale with stylish camerawork and editing.

9

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

In a world of modern American classic vampire films like Sinners, Nosferatu, and Doctor Sleep, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night sets itself apart as a black and white vampire movie from Iranian American filmmaker Ana Lily Amirpour. It’s a unique indie film and also one of the best of its genre.

Set in a fictional Iranian city known as Bad City and with dialogue spoken entirely in Persian, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night can be described as a soundtrack-driven genre blend of romance, Western, and vampire horror. It’s about a female vampire who stalks the streets of Bad City, and eventually kills a drug dealer and pimp named Saeed, which has lots of consequences for the rest of the story.

8

The Tragedy Of Macbeth

Like with all of Shakespeare’s works, there have been a lot of adaptations of Macbeth, modern and classic, but now there’s a black and white version from Apple TV+ and A24 by director Joel Coen (precisely of the sibling duo behind Fargo and No Country for Old Men). The eponymous future Thane of Cawdor is now played by Denzel Washington, and his wife, Lady Macbeth, is Frances McDormand.

The Tragedy of Macbeth’s exquisite set design, stunning Oscar-nominated black and white cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel (Darkest Hour, Disclaimer, and Amélie), and powerful Oscar-nominated performance by Washington give new meaning to a modern masterpiece of Shakespeare. It could become your favorite version of the guilt-ridden, lust for power tragedy.

7

Sin City

Sin City is an action neo-noir film co-directed by Frank Miller in collaboration with Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, with the central character being Mickey Rourke’s Marv, and also following multiple storylines. It’s a black and white film purposely done to place you within the graphic novel pages of Frank Miller’s Sin City comics from Dark Horse.

Marv has a heartbreaking storyline involving his dead lover, Goldie, but then there’s also the story of Jessica Alba’s Nancy, who’s being hunted by a yellow, mutated serial killer named Roark Jr., whom Bruce Willis’ character, Detective John Hartigan, is also after. The mood, atmosphere, and characters of Basin City are unmatched, and the black and white with minimal color helps keep you immersed.

6

Frances Ha

Frances Ha is a fun little movie about adults figuring it out, with one of the most relatable protagonists, played by none other than future Barbie, Little Women, and Lady Bird director Greta Gerwig. Gerwig’s Frances Ha is a young woman in New York with aspirations of being a dancer and with no place to stay after breaking up with her boyfriend, and her best friend, Sophie, also deciding to move to a more upscale neighborhood.

The struggling Frances continues to chase her dreams of dance while now living with two guy friends she met through Sophie, Lev and Benji, who form a bond with each other. The writing, editing, and performances make the film enjoyable, and it’s a fun nod to French New Wave cinema. Frances running and dancing through the New York streets to Bowie is iconic and a vibe in itself.

5

Polytechnique

Before his sci-fi blockbusters like Blade Runner: 2049 and the Dune series, Denis Villeneuve directed the most powerful and tragic film of his career, 2009’s Polytechnique. It depicts the real-life mass shooting that occurred on December 6, 1989, at Canada’s Polytechnique Montréal university, which claimed the lives of 14 innocent women, targeted by the actions of a misogynist.

Denis Villeneuve handled this harrowing and traumatic event masterfully with the writing and direction, giving you the points of view of the killer and the students to show the full scale of the tragedy, while filming everything in black and white and honoring all those who were senselessly killed. It is tough to watch, but Polytechnique has a strong and everlasting message against misogyny.

4

The Lighthouse

Robert Eggers is a master of atmospheric horror, but he achieved his ultimate best with The Lighthouse, which was shot in black and white and also uses a square aspect ratio of 1.19:1. The story is weird, artful, and thought-provoking, featuring the sole duo performances of Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson, who were both equally intense and humorous as their characters.

The Lighthouse examines the mundanity of two lighthouse keepers, Ephraim Winslow and Thomas Wake, who will remain stuck on the island through a storm. The overall mood and isolation feel akin to The Shining, with Pattinson’s Winslow and Dafoe’s Wake slowly losing their sanity, and there’s lots of symbolism, as well as references to paintings and Greek mythology.

3

Ed Wood

While Tim Burton is well-known for Beetlejuice, Batman, and Dark Shadows, Ed Wood remains one of his most underrated films, which is also his second Johnny Depp collaboration after Edward Scissorhands, and arguably Depp’s best performance. Before Tommy Wiseau, there was Ed Wood, a Hollywood disaster artist legend with B-horror productions often starring monster actor Bela Lugosi.

To put Ed Wood in the classic era of one of his films, Burton shot the biopic in black and white. Ed Wood chronicles the creative and personal life of the embattled filmmaker, whose vision for original monster movies often resulted in box office nightmares, but never stopped him from creating. The movie also explores Ed Wood’s love for drag.

2

Godzilla Minus One Minus Color

While Warner Bros. is continuing with its Godzilla monsterverse series, Japan also came out with a new original Godzilla entry in 2023 with a more emotional story, called Godzilla Minus One. It was then also re-released in black and white, so you could experience the Oscar-winning film like a classic Godzilla movie made by Ishirô Honda.

Godzilla Minus One sees the titular monster emerge after the Second World War due to nuclear explosions, rising from the water to unleash its usual destruction on Japan, with the military also after it. The main protagonist is a former fighter pilot named Koichi Shikishima, who becomes a minesweeper and must soon help end the giant creature. But Godzilla is stronger than ever.

1

Schindler’s List

The modern black and white masterpiece remains Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, one of the most impactful films about the Holocaust that also won Best Picture. Based on the book by Thomas Keneally, the film tells the story of German industrialist Oskar Schindler, who, despite his ties to the Nazi Party, helped save the lives of over a thousand Polish Jews during the Holocaust.

Liam Neeson, typically known for his action movie roles, is amazing here as Oskar Schindler, delivering a moving performance and one of his best in a dramatic role that earned him an Oscar nomination. Neeson also stars opposite Ralph Fiennes, who plays the ruthless Nazi Amon Goeth, and he too was nominated for an Oscar.