1. robert bresson: pickpocket 1959
2. andrei tarkovsky: andrei rublev 1969
3. akira kurosawa: seven samurai 1954
4. michael snow: la région centrale 1971
5. ernie gehr: signal-germany on the air 1982-85
6. jean-pierre melville: le samouraï 1967
7. john ford: my darling clementine 1946
8. william wellman: the ox-bow incident 1943
9. bela tarr: satantango 1994
10. howard hawks: red river 1948
11. martin scorsese: mean streets 1973
12. wong kar-wai: in the mood for love 2001
13. anthony mann: the tin star 1957
14. john huston: the treasure of the sierra madre 1948
15. john cassavetes: the killing of a chinese bookie 1976
16. jules dassin: rififi 1955
17. robert siodmak: criss cross 1949
18. stanley kubrick: the killing 1956
19. david lean: brief encounter 1946
20. krzysztof kieslowski: trois couleurs: bleu, blanc, rouge 1993-94
21. terrence malik: the thin red line 1998
22. roman polanski: chinatown 1974
23. micheal powell & emeric pressburger: 49th parallel 1941
24: nicholas ray: in a lonely place 1950
25. william friedkin: the french connection 1971
26. ingmar bergman: scenes from a marriage 1973 & 1974
27. michelangelo antonioni: l'eclisse 1962
28. robert altman: mccabe & mrs. miller 1971
29. woody allen: broadway danny rose 1984
30. carl theodor dreyer: ordet 1955
4 images of beauty and abstraction from krzysztof kieslowski's: trois couleurs: rouge 1994
8 comments:
I lived in a cave which is why I have not seen any of those films, except no.2, but this one i have on dvd.....
It's always a relief that there is plenty of stuff to discover.
What a wonderful distillation...
there are so many to see,
at home i use my alembic and get on my alchemist cloths, i gave up on gold, to tough, so i distill movies......
good thing you were able to condense your original list- it was overwhelming!
i'm glad you see things my way about not ranking films. they are all amazing works of art, to be admired on their own terms for their own magic.
magic is an important word when describing essential cinema.
yes, magic is good, (magic hour)...
i would like to see a short version from you?
it is sort of interesting to see what movies had the most influence on people.
"to pick one great film over another seemed absurd to me."
No kidding! When asked to compile these sorts of lists, I invariably restrict myself to one film by one director, which--as you astutely pointed out--is equally difficult (I have the same problem with Bresson). Your list is really excellent--I've made a note of several titles I've yet to catch up with, including "La region centrale," which I've wanted to see for ages.
I compiled this list of 20 for the defunct YMDb.com (now Shompy.com) a few years ago...looking at it, it seems absurdly random:
1. Ordet (1955)
2. Au hasard Balthazar (1966)
3. Stalker (1979)
4. Dekalog (1988)
5. 2001 : A Space Odyssey (1968)
6. Sanshô dayû (1954)
7. Europa '51 (1952)
8. Late Spring (1949)
9. Perceval le Gallois (1978)
10. The Night Of The Hunter (1955)
11. Vertigo (1958)
12. Jalsaghar (1958)
13. Blade Runner (1982)
14. Sans soleil (1982)
15. Umberto D. (1952)
16. Playtime (1967)
17. Céline et Julie vont en bateau (1974)
18. Hiroshima mon amour (1959)
19. Battaglia di Algeri, La (1965)
20. Long Day Closes, The (1992)
thanks doug, i am very glad you put your list up.
very nice indeed. i have been wanting to put up some friends lists here as well, i love to look at what other people are looking at most, esp. people with good taste.
i have yet to see Celine et Julie, though i love his other films. also, rossellini is a major gap for me, keep hoping to see more of his films.
la region centrale is just such a profound experience, have you seen his other films?
thanks again.
Alas, I've only seen "Wavelength" and "*Corpus Callosum," but on the basis of those (not to mention Snow's reputation), I'd definitely like to see more.
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