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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357 new
Ugetsu monogatari
1953 — a.k.a. Ugetsu, in 25 top lists Check -
350 new
Tôkyô monogatari
1953 — a.k.a. Tokyo Story, in 27 top lists Check -
342 new
Thérèse Raquin
1953 — a.k.a. The Adultress, in 4 top lists Check -
280 new
Pickup on South Street
1953, in 14 top lists Check -
156 new
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
1953, in 11 top lists Check -
150 new
Le salaire de la peur
1953 — a.k.a. The Wages of Fear, in 29 top lists Check -
121 new
Él
1953 — a.k.a. El, in 8 top lists Check
Last updated on Mar 13, 2014;