See five surreal films on the Lower East Side that will change your life

It's hard to believe that a filmmaker as radical as Luis Buñuel—a surrealist who sliced up eyeballs and also got Oscar nominations—once walked the earth. All of the Spanish-born Buñuel's movies are worth seeing, but his final films, made in France, represent a high point of socially cutting screenwriting, gilt-edged satire and (perversely) mainstream appeal. Some of them even feel like reality TV, decades ahead of time. Metrograph, which just celebrated its first birthday last night, cements its reputation as NYC's classiest art house with "Buñuel in France," an essential five-film series running March 31 to April 3. The handful of titles, all of which will be presented in crisp 35mm, represent an amazing introduction to a major director. They are Diary of a Chambermaid (1961), The Milky Way (1969), the Academy Award-winning The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), The Phantom of Liberty (1974) and That Obscure Object of Desire (1977). All of them feature sexy actors, religious heresy, snobby verbal exchanges, dinner parties that never actually begin, and a vision of filmmaking that still feels brazen. Go and get inspired.