Five films take you on a guided tour of five continents without your ever having to say, “I’ll take the pat down.”

Dreams
Filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s own dreams inspire the eight vignettes that comprise the 1990 film set in Japan. Mountain climb through a blizzard, wander through a mystical forest, stroll in a Van Gogh-like garden, and then wonder why you can’t remember having dreams this imaginative.

Swimming Pool
No time to get to your country home in the South of France? No worries. The thriller follows a British mystery author on vacation at her publisher’s home in Luberon. All seems like paradise until the publisher’s reckless daughter shows up and creates a mystery of her own.

Tetro
Warning: Two hours of the Francis Ford Coppola film will likely have you researching flights to Argentina. Though mostly shot in black and white, the film’s rich cinematography brings Buenos Aires to life. We’ll take the city’s European-influenced architecture as a backdrop for Vincent Gallo any day.

North by Northwest
Road trip! Visit The Plaza in NYC, downtown Chicago, Mount Rushmore, and even Bakersfield farms without buckling your seat belt. Not to mention that Hitchcock + Cary Grant + beautiful, glamorous blonde + a things-aren’t-always-what-they-seem plot = success.

Hideous Kinky
You can’t rent a time machine, but you can rent this movie in which Kate Winslet stars as a single mom who abandons city life in London for Marrakech in the 1970s. Busy marketplaces, rugged mountains, and flowy vintage dresses will make you want to visit Dar Maghreb at the very least.

Photo: ToastyKen / Flickr