16 Great NC-17 Films To Watch:
People who want to push the edges of their comfort zone have long been interested in NC-17 movies. In 1990, the MPAA changed the grade from X to NC-17 because X was beginning to mean pornography.
Even after the rating was modified to NC-17, the bad reputation of the old rating made it nearly impossible to get these movies shown in cinemas. But the most important unrated movies have made an effect through both serious themes and creative art.
A lot of well-known movies, such as American Psycho, Saw, Boys Don’t Cry, as well as Goodfellas, had to change or remove scenes to get their NC-17 ratings changed to R ratings. But some movies didn’t care about what other people thought, fought restrictions, and wouldn’t change.
After that, these movies came out carrying an NC-17 rating or without a rating at all. Because of this, it was hard for cinemas to show them. However, home video as well as how streaming have rendered it easy for people to watch the greatest NC-17 movies.
Point Blank:
In this buddy action movie, Frank Grillo plays a tough thief and Anthony Mackie plays an ER nurse. They both have to fight dangerous forces to keep their loved ones from being killed.
Abe takes Paul on the most exciting ride of his life, where danger is around every turn. Even though the movie is only 87 minutes long, it sometimes feels like it’s going on for too long.
Many good things happen at the start of the story, but it gets less interesting as it goes on. “Point Blank’s” main flaw is that it has a pretty standard plot that doesn’t give anything new or interesting.
There are also ways that the characters could have been developed better than what scriptwriter Adam G. Simon does.
Henry & June:
The MPAA’s first NC-17 rating was given to the movie Henry & June. Henry as well as June Miller are played by Fred Ward as well as Uma Thurman in the movie. The story is based on Anaïs Nin’s book of the same name, which is about her friendship alongside Henry as well as June.
In 1931, Henry and June are living a free-spirited life in Paris when they meet Anaïs. She quickly starts seeing Henry and then starts looking for June to date.
The movie, which was directed by Philip Kaufman, got mixed reviews. Some said it wasn’t very sexy after all the fuss over the grade. Kaufman praised the movie as a “daring, erotic masterpiece” as well as tried to make the many sex scenes in the movie more artistic through the way he shot them.
Even though the rating caused a lot of debate, the movie was only moderately successful. It is one of only three pictures to get an Oscar nod despite the NC-17 rating.
Blonde:
Blonde, a movie by director Andrew Dominik, was a big deal after it came out in 2022. It made history by being the first NC-17-rated movie to only be available on streaming services. It also caused a lot of debate because of how it portrayed Marilyn Monroe, which some people say was wrong.
Blonde does certain things really well, like Ana de Armas’s amazing role as the famous actor. But the offensive way it shows Monroe’s supposedly real experiences, even though it’s called fiction, far outweighs any good things about it that make it interesting watching.
365 Days:
“365 Days,” directed through Barbara Białowąs as well as Tomasz Mandes, is an erotically charged Polish thriller that doesn’t hold back when it comes to sexual violence, questionable consent, and sadomasochism.
Don Massimo Torricelli, the movie’s main male character, takes over a Sicilian crime family after his father is killed. Since the first time he saw Polish executive Laura Biel five years ago on a beach, he has been crazy about her. After Laura has a fight with her boyfriend, she runs into Massimo and he takes her away.
He brings her to his house and tells her that he will hold her hostage for a year or until she really feels something for him. The two stubborn characters then start a war to see who is stronger.
Last Tango In Paris:
The movie Last Tango in Paris caused a lot of controversy when it came out in cinemas in 1972. The movie had several very racy scenes, which is why the MPAA gave it the feared X grade. Marlon Brando played the lead part.
The movie is about an older, married American who has a physical connection alongside a young Parisian woman. It was directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, who is one of the best makers in movie history.
Even though it had an X rating, it became one of the most popular movies of 1972 and is still one of the scariest love stories ever made. In the end, though, governments didn’t like it and wanted to ban the movie, in large part because it shows a very detailed sexual attack.
Italy even charged the directors with a crime and gave Bertolucci as well as Brando suspended terms of two months in jail for making the movie.
The Dreamers:
Underground love story The Dreamers takes place in Paris in 1968 and is about a friendship between three friends: Matthew, an American exchange student, and Isabelle and Théo, two French brothers. The movie, which was directed through Bernardo Bertolucci, is about sexuality, politics, as well as the unrest in society in the 1960s.
The movie was rated NC-17 because it has some very detailed sexual scenes and naked people. The movie is also known for showing sexuality in a violent and erotic way, which some people find insulting.
People who haven’t seen it before might enjoy its strong message of sexual freedom, which comes through in the manner in which the characters explore as well as sexually express themselves alongside each other.
Amar:
This exciting and sexy romance story was the first movie directed by Spanishman Esteban Crespo. Before, the tale had been stuck within his mind for a long time.
This short film was made by Crespo in 2005. It had the same story but new players. As Laura as well as Carlos, two young adults who explore every part of their sexuality alongside each other, María Pedraza as well as Pol Monen play them on the big screen.
Such a strong sense of hope fills the first half of the movie that the sadness and separation that come next don’t feel as heavy as they should.
The intimate relationship between the two main characters is shown in great detail by cinematographer Ángel Amorós. However, the camerawork never feels nosy or invasive, not even for a moment.
‘Amar’ is a celebration of becoming an adult, that short time in our lives when we attempt to discover our true selves through all the confusing things that happen when we are teens.
Happiness:
In 1998, Todd Solondz released the black comedy independent film Happiness. When he sent it to the MPAA, they threatened to give it an NC-17 grade.
But Solondz didn’t agree with the rating, wouldn’t make any changes, so that year the movie came out without a rating.
Indie movie stars Dylan Baker, Jane Adams, Elizabeth Ashley, as well as other big names from the 1990s. The movie is about three sisters, their families, as well as the individuals who are close to them. The movie did not try to hide how bad things were in people’s lives.
The movie wasn’t rated because it had adult themes that were more serious than the average film of the time. The movie is about rape, masturbation, and feeling alone in the suburbs.
general dropped it because it had mature material and wasn’t rated, but it was still a huge hit. It won at Cannes and got almost general praise for how it dealt with the subject. One more award was given to the movie: a Golden Globe.
Crash:
The psychological movie Crash, directed by the renowned David Cronenberg, is based on a book of the same name by J.G. Ballard that came out in 1973. The movie is about a group of individuals in and around Toronto who become sexually obsessed with car accidents.
Some of the things that the movie talks about are sexuality, fetishism, as well as technology in shocking as well as downright weird ways. It’s not a surprise that Crash got an NC-17 rating because of its violent and sexual material and because the movie’s main idea was seen as too controversial for a R grade.
There are a lot of sexual encounters as well as violent scenes in the movie that were deemed too detailed for a wide audience.
It was also thought that the movie’s theme of car crash fetishism was too shocking and out of the ordinary. However, the movie has since become a cult favorite among Cronenberg fans.
Natural Born Killers:
Oliver Stone directed a film in 1984 based on a story by Quentin Tarantino. The movie was a criticism of how the media can make serial killers famous in the modern world.
Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis play Mickey and Mallory Knox in Natural Born Killers. They are a pair of serial killers who leave a trail of bodies across the Midwest.
The movie was based upon Charles Starkweather as well as Caril Fugate, but not exactly. Robert Downey Jr. played a news reporter who wanted to talk to them because he knew people were falling in love with the killers.
Stone sent the film to the MPAA, and they gave it an NC-17 rating because of the violent and dark humor in it.
Stone changed it so that it would get a R rating in theaters, but then he put out the NC-17 movie version as an unrated home video release, putting everything back in so that fans could decide for themselves.
The Devils:
The Devils is set in the beautiful country of France in the 1600s. A group of sexually obsessed nuns follow the priest Father Grandier because of his controversial ideas about sex and faith.
Cardinal Richelieu, who wants power, knows that he has to get rid of Grandier to take control of France. So, Richelieu makes the priest look like a Satanist to make people angry and hurt the priest’s well-liked image.
Even though it has an NC-17 rating, The Devils is a classic movie. The movie is based on true events that happened to Urbain Grandier, who was put to death.
But the movie was highly cut before it came out. Graphic scenes that merged violence and sex with Christian rites and sacred items were taken out.
Blue Is The Warmest Color:
This French drama is based on a graphic book with the same name. Léa Seydoux as well as Adèle Exarchopoulos, who played two women who fall in love, give amazing performances.
The movie got an NC-17 rating because it showed sex without apologizing for it, but that wasn’t what sparked most of the trouble.
Reports from outlets like Vulture say that working conditions alongside director Abdellatif Kechiche were very bad, which caused a lot of stress on set.
There were good reviews and awards for the movie in the end, but it didn’t win over many LGBTQ+ people because they were worried about how real it was.
Man Bites Dog:
In this dark comedy mockumentary, a documentary team freely records the actions of a serial killer called Ben who is on the loose. By listening to Ben talk about what he does for a living, the team ends up working with him and committing crimes with him.
This movie has so much horrible violence that it’s impossible to explain why it got an NC-17 rating without giving too much away.
But even critics agree that the movie has some smart and thought-provoking ideas. For example, it shows how a journalist’s duty to be “objective” might be stronger than the human urge to help in a bad situation.
Kids:
Over the course of the 1990s, Larry Clark made a number of movies that were very controversial with reviewers, censors, and parent groups.
Kids, a story about some New York teens doing everything from drugs to open sex, was one of the most well-known. It additionally stars a young Chloe Sevigny as well as Rosario Dawson.
There is a sad ending because the topic is so unpleasant to read. Kids is a movie that tries to warn people about the risks of being idle and wasting their youth at a time when many young individuals didn’t feel like they had any morals to guide them.
Bad Lieutenant:
It’s not a surprise that Harvey Keitel’s crime film was the first movie to get an NC-17 rating after the MPAA added it. There is a lot of sexual violence, bad language, and drug use in the movie.
Many cop movies have been made in Hollywood, but Abel Ferrara’s takes on the genre never stop to breathe while they study a man who is controlled by some of people’s worst urges.
The movie is about the Lieutenant, a crooked cop who has a lot of debt and uses his power to sexually harass young girls, abuse drugs, as well as steal money.
It all comes to a head when the mob warns him he has to pay off his bills or else. It’s a prize for the Lieutenant to catch the two men who attacked a nun, so he jumps at the chance to get the money.
The Human Centipede:
This 2009 movie, The Human Centipede, was one of the most talked-about movies ever. A scary German surgeon plans to sew three people together to make a human centipede. Of course, the MPAA would never say anything good about the movie, so IFC released it without a rating.
The movie was shown in some places around the world at midnight, but only people over the age of 18 were allowed to go. Many people started to line up to see the “grossest movie ever” as word got out.
It has grown into one of the few real “Midnight Movies” of our time and a cultural event that has inspired many parodies, such as a South Park episode. In addition, it pushed the limits of free speech as well as what is meant by the word “film.”The movie is gross and important to the history of movies.
