Apu's Essential Films (March 18th, 2014)

Apu's Essential Films (March 18th, 2014)'s icon

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.

Remove ads

Pssst, want to check out the Apu's Essential Films (March 18th, 2014) list in our new look?

Filter

  1. 266 new

    Out 1, noli me tangere

    1971 — a.k.a. Out 1, in 4 top lists Check
  2. 317 new

    Shoah

    1985, in 18 top lists Check
  3. 307 new

    Sátántangó

    1994 — a.k.a. Satantango, in 12 top lists Check
  4. 216 new

    Les vampires

    1915, in 14 top lists Check
  5. 204 new

    La roue

    1923 — a.k.a. The Wheel, in 7 top lists Check
  6. 98 new

    La Belle Noiseuse

    1991 — a.k.a. The Beautiful Troublemaker, in 11 top lists Check
  7. 228 new

    La maman et la putain

    1973 — a.k.a. The Mother and the Whore, in 14 top lists Check
  8. 159 new

    The Godfather Part II

    1974, in 32 top lists Check
  9. 192 new

    Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080...

    1975, in 12 top lists Check
  10. 62 new

    Céline et Julie vont en bateau: Phantom Ladies...

    1974 — a.k.a. Celine and Julie Go Boating, in 11 top lists Check
  11. 271 new

    Les enfants du paradis

    1945 — a.k.a. Children of Paradise, in 21 top lists Check
  12. 34 new

    Barry Lyndon

    1975, in 24 top lists Check
  13. 94 new

    Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo

    1966 — a.k.a. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, in 28 top lists Check
  14. 158 new

    The Godfather

    1972, in 42 top lists Check
  15. 388 new

    Yi yi

    2000 — a.k.a. Yi Yi: A One and a Two..., in 19 top lists Check
  16. 36 new

    The Best Years of Our Lives

    1946, in 30 top lists Check
  17. 312 new

    Secret défense

    1998 — a.k.a. Secret Defense, in 0 top lists Check
  18. 320 new

    Solyaris

    1972 — a.k.a. Solaris, in 27 top lists Check
  19. 263 new

    C'era una volta il West

    1968 — a.k.a. Once Upon a Time in the West, in 28 top lists Check
  20. 472 new

    The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

    1943, in 16 top lists Check
  21. 434 new

    Nuovo Cinema Paradiso

    1988 — a.k.a. Cinema Paradiso, in 20 top lists Check
  22. 282 new

    Playtime

    1967, in 19 top lists Check
  23. 433 new

    Soldaat van Oranje

    1977 — a.k.a. Soldier of Orange, in 3 top lists Check
  24. 25 new

    Astenicheskiy sindrom

    1989 — a.k.a. The Asthenic Syndrome, in 8 top lists Check
  25. 219 new

    Lolita

    1962, in 11 top lists Check
  26. 239 new

    Metropolis

    1927, in 36 top lists Check
  27. 482 new

    The Big Parade

    1925, in 13 top lists Check
  28. 16 new

    Le deuxième souffle

    1966 — a.k.a. Second Breath, in 5 top lists Check
  29. 174 new

    Histoire de Marie et Julien

    2003 — a.k.a. The Story of Marie and Julien, in 1 top list Check
  30. 2 new

    2001: A Space Odyssey

    1968, in 45 top lists Check
  31. 23 new

    Apocalypse Now

    1979, in 37 top lists Check
  32. 500 new

    Mulholland Dr.

    2001 — a.k.a. Mulholland Drive, in 26 top lists Check
  33. 200 new

    Suna no onna

    1964 — a.k.a. Woman in the Dunes, in 22 top lists Check
  34. 419 new

    L'armée des ombres

    1969 — a.k.a. Army of Shadows, in 18 top lists Check
  35. 273 new

    Paris, Texas

    1984, in 21 top lists Check
  36. 290 new

    The Razor's Edge

    1946, in 1 top list Check
  37. 425 new

    The Wild Bunch

    1969, in 25 top lists Check
  38. 390 new

    L'avventura

    1960 — a.k.a. L'Avventura, in 24 top lists Check
  39. 88 new

    The Day of the Jackal

    1973, in 3 top lists Check
  40. 173 new

    Tengoku to jigoku

    1963 — a.k.a. High and Low, in 16 top lists Check
  41. 409 new

    Dersu Uzala

    1975, in 11 top lists Check
  42. 165 new

    Idi i smotri

    1985 — a.k.a. Come and See, in 27 top lists Check
  43. 262 new

    On Her Majesty's Secret Service

    1969, in 3 top lists Check
  44. 123 new

    El Norte

    1983, in 5 top lists Check
  45. 299 new

    Rio Bravo

    1959, in 19 top lists Check
  46. 322 new

    Soy Cuba

    1964 — a.k.a. I Am Cuba, in 16 top lists Check
  47. 209 new

    Le cercle rouge

    1970 — a.k.a. The Red Circle, in 11 top lists Check
  48. 364 new

    Fukushû suru wa ware ni ari

    1979 — a.k.a. Vengeance Is Mine, in 10 top lists Check
  49. 162 new

    Greed

    1924, in 21 top lists Check
  50. 481 new

    Lan feng zheng

    1993 — a.k.a. The Blue Kite, in 8 top lists Check
Remove ads
Show all 501 movies

Last updated on Mar 13, 2014;