Apu's Essential Films (March 18th, 2014)
Created by Apu.
Favorited 13 times, disliked 0 times, added to 3 watchlists.
I added this list after I had watched my 5000th feature film, House of Games (1987)
The idea behind it was that if I only had the opportunity to pick 10% of all the feature films I've seen in my life (i.e. 500 films) and put them all together into a personal canon, this would be the end result.
Broadly speaking, these are the 500 films I'd want to have with me on a desert island.
The criterion I've used for the inclusion of films are, for a lack of a better world, personal. For example, I haven't factored in any sense of historical importance a film might or might not have. These 500 films are not necessarily the best films I've seen (although it should be very close to it) but the films that fascinate me the most, the films I find most aesthetically pleasing, films that are important to me nostalgically, and films I basically could re-watch at any given time. In my opinion, all films included in this list possess a certain re-watch-value that films not included might lack.
Omissions, of course, are inevitable. I've made an effort to be exhaustive, and if, for instance, none or only a few films from a certain director/wave/movement/period/genre made it into this list, it's because I don't value it as much as others.
Omissions also apply to many of the films I've seen that, for some reason or another, didn't make it, as well as all (acclaimed) films I haven't yet caught up with. However, it may also be that if a certain film is absent, it's absent because I don't value it as much as those I've included.
Riefenstahl's Olympia (1938) is divided into two parts, hence why there are 501 entries instead of 500.
See also my Essential Short Film list.
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1 new
12 Angry Men
1957, in 30 top lists Check -
193 new
Kanal
1957, in 11 top lists Check -
261 new
Letyat zhuravli
1957 — a.k.a. The Cranes Are Flying, in 17 top lists Check -
276 new
Paths of Glory
1957, in 26 top lists Check -
351 new
Tôkyô boshoku
1957 — a.k.a. Tokyo Twilight, in 5 top lists Check -
378 new
Witness for the Prosecution
1957, in 12 top lists Check -
446 new
Il grido
1957 — a.k.a. The Cry, in 7 top lists Check -
475 new
Sweet Smell of Success
1957, in 20 top lists Check
Last updated on Mar 13, 2014;