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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11 new
All the President's Men
1976, in 21 top lists Check -
56 new
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
1969, in 21 top lists Check -
63 new
Ruan Ling Yu
1991 — a.k.a. Center Stage, in 10 top lists Check -
80 new
Crumb
1994, in 12 top lists Check -
124 new
The Elephant Man
1980, in 16 top lists Check -
194 new
Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle
1974 — a.k.a. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, in 11 top lists Check -
274 new
La passion de Jeanne d'Arc
1928 — a.k.a. The Passion of Joan of Arc, in 27 top lists Check -
347 new
Tóngnián wangshì
1985 — a.k.a. A Time to Live, a Time to Die, in 8 top lists Check -
389 new
Young Mr. Lincoln
1939, in 8 top lists Check -
409 new
Dersu Uzala
1975, in 11 top lists Check -
418 new
Le testament d'Orphée ou ne me demandez pas...
1960 — a.k.a. Testament of Orpheus, in 7 top lists Check -
467 new
Sayat Nova
1969 — a.k.a. The Color of Pomegranates, in 12 top lists Check -
496 new
Serpico
1973, in 9 top lists Check
Last updated on Mar 13, 2014;