Have you ever watched a film so, for lack of a better word, intriguing, that you’ve left the movie theatre or closed your laptop and looked around with your mouth agape wondering if you’ll ever be able to formulate a sentence again? Similar to pilots, filmmakers can take you places. Some filmmakers know how to transport us to distant lands and sometimes it takes a while for us to fully return back to the real world. This, as my grandmother would say, is a type of magic. You don’t need a boarding pass or a train ticket to go where these films take you, all you need is an otherworldly ensemble of characters, a divine score and a well-established plot. The following films have all made me feel like the world is infinitely vast and small at the same time and have pushed me to look for inspiration everywhere I go.

Arguably one of Tarantino’s best work and a film referenced countless times in pop culture. The cast includes Bruce Willis, Uma Thurman, Tim Roth and a cameo appearance from Tarantino himself. The plot is simple: it’s about several characters with interweaving storylines. There’s a hold up, a kidnapping and in true Tarantino fashion, a lot of blood so viewer discretion is advised.

I can’t talk about this film without giving the entire plot away so I'll just encourage you all to watch it.

A dystopian classic (and it's infinitely better than the remake) and it features one of the most iconic lines in cinema history: “All these moments will be lost in time like tears in rain.”

This story is will bring you back to earth. It’s a story about a boy from the favelas of Rio and how he saves himself from a life of violence like his peers. It’s based on a true story and is so incredibly heartwarming!

An art lover’s dream! Forgive us for including Woody Allen on this list, this is not a celebration of him but an appreciation of the characters the actors brought to life. This film is primarily set in 1920s Paris and follows Owen Wilson, a writer in search of inspiration for his novel. He meets Picasso, Dali, Ernest Hemingway and a whole slew of celebrated literary and art heroes.