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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80 new
Crumb
1994, in 12 top lists Check -
100 new
Olympia 1. Teil - Fest der Völker
1938 — a.k.a. Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations, in 14 top lists Check -
101 new
Olympia 2. Teil - Fest der Schönheit
1938 — a.k.a. Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty, in 14 top lists Check -
127 new
Une histoire de vent
1988 — a.k.a. A Tale of the Wind, in 5 top lists Check -
149 new
Dal Polo all'Equatore
1987 — a.k.a. From the Pole to the Equator, in 2 top lists Check -
180 new
Häxan
1922, in 17 top lists Check -
199 new
Koyaanisqatsi
1982, in 12 top lists Check -
317 new
Shoah
1985, in 18 top lists Check -
420 new
Sans soleil
1983 — a.k.a. Sans Soleil, in 16 top lists Check -
463 new
Les glaneurs et la glaneuse
2000 — a.k.a. The Gleaners & I, in 13 top lists Check
Last updated on Mar 13, 2014;