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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2 new
2001: A Space Odyssey
1968, in 45 top lists Check -
7 new
Alias Nick Beal
1949 — a.k.a. The Contact Man, in 2 top lists Check -
13 new
Alphaville: Une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution
1965 — a.k.a. Alphaville, in 13 top lists Check -
15 new
And Then There Were None
1945, in 2 top lists Check -
40 new
The Big Sleep
1946, in 22 top lists Check -
61 new
Cat People
1942, in 15 top lists Check -
64 new
La cérémonie
1995 — a.k.a. La Cérémonie, in 7 top lists Check -
65 new
Charade
1963, in 5 top lists Check -
69 new
Citizen Kane
1941, in 39 top lists Check -
75 new
The Conversation
1974, in 23 top lists Check -
93 new
Der amerikanische Freund
1977 — a.k.a. The American Friend, in 8 top lists Check -
96 new
Trois couleurs: Rouge
1994 — a.k.a. Three Colors: Red, in 20 top lists Check -
118 new
Duelle (une quarantaine)
1976 — a.k.a. Duelle, in 2 top lists Check -
132 new
The Fallen Idol
1948, in 10 top lists Check -
157 new
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
1947, in 8 top lists Check -
163 new
Green for Danger
1946, in 4 top lists Check -
173 new
Tengoku to jigoku
1963 — a.k.a. High and Low, in 16 top lists Check -
174 new
Histoire de Marie et Julien
2003 — a.k.a. The Story of Marie and Julien, in 1 top list Check -
184 new
In a Lonely Place
1950, in 19 top lists Check -
202 new
L.A. Confidential
1997, in 27 top lists Check -
211 new
Le pont du Nord
1981 — a.k.a. Le Pont du Nord, in 4 top lists Check -
213 new
Le samouraï
1967 — a.k.a. Le Samouraï, in 20 top lists Check -
215 new
Les diaboliques
1955 — a.k.a. Diabolique, in 21 top lists Check -
221 new
The Long Good Friday
1980, in 12 top lists Check -
250 new
Jodaeiye Nader az Simin
2011 — a.k.a. A Separation, in 15 top lists Check -
277 new
Il profumo della signora in nero
1974 — a.k.a. The Perfume of the Lady in Black, in 2 top lists Check -
285 new
Psycho
1960, in 39 top lists Check -
291 new
Rear Window
1954, in 31 top lists Check -
292 new
Rebecca
1940, in 23 top lists Check -
297 new
Ride the Pink Horse
1947, in 4 top lists Check -
309 new
Se7en
1995, in 29 top lists Check -
320 new
Solyaris
1972 — a.k.a. Solaris, in 27 top lists Check -
324 new
Strategia del ragno
1970 — a.k.a. The Spider's Stratagem, in 8 top lists Check -
325 new
Spoorloos
1988 — a.k.a. The Vanishing, in 15 top lists Check -
327 new
The Stepford Wives
1975, in 2 top lists Check -
336 new
Suspiria
1977, in 17 top lists Check -
344 new
The Third Man
1949, in 37 top lists Check -
367 new
Vertigo
1958, in 42 top lists Check -
378 new
Witness for the Prosecution
1957, in 12 top lists Check -
390 new
L'avventura
1960 — a.k.a. L'Avventura, in 24 top lists Check -
396 new
M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder
1931 — a.k.a. M, in 35 top lists Check -
411 new
Le fils
2002 — a.k.a. The Son, in 5 top lists Check -
423 new
Tenebre
1982 — a.k.a. Tenebrae, in 4 top lists Check -
454 new
House of Games
1987, in 7 top lists Check -
464 new
Chinatown
1974, in 31 top lists Check -
483 new
The Man Who Knew Too Much
1934, in 2 top lists Check -
487 new
The 39 Steps
1935, in 16 top lists Check -
497 new
Kiss Me Deadly
1955, in 20 top lists Check -
500 new
Mulholland Dr.
2001 — a.k.a. Mulholland Drive, in 26 top lists Check
Last updated on Mar 13, 2014;