The Chorus Canon • Page 13

cshadows2887 · Feb 4, 2022

OhTheWater said:

I am finally watching my first Cassavetes: Faces

Not a huge fan of that one, so if you’re not super into it, try A Woman Under the Influence

OhTheWater · Feb 4, 2022

cshadows2887 said:

Not a huge fan of that one, so if you’re not super into it, try A Woman Under the Influence

I actually am! About an hour in and I’ve been transfixed by the performances. Really enjoy the recurring motif of these sad characters constantly telling jokes

cshadows2887 · Feb 4, 2022

OhTheWater said:

I actually am! About an hour in and I’ve been transfixed by the performances. Really enjoy the recurring motif of these sad characters constantly telling jokes

Maybe I’ll revisit it after I’ve gone through more of his stuff

phaynes12 · Feb 4, 2022

i need to watch a woman under the influence, the criterion is just collecting dust

DarkHotline · Feb 4, 2022

OhTheWater said:

I made it an hour but lost focus. Now I am punishing myself with this Triller fight

I pity the man who couldn’t finish Stalker, that’s a sci fi classic

DarkHotline · Feb 4, 2022

Also is totally the Soviet Wizard of Oz

OhTheWater · Mar 30, 2022

Sometimes when I listen to Astral Weeks (or more recently The Blue Nile, Talk Talk or In a Silent Way), I have this feeling like everyone else should just stop making music because nothing will top what I’m hearing.

I just had that moment watching A Woman Under the Influence. Jesus fucking christ, man. The scene where Mabel returns and sees the kids. It crushed me

OhTheWater · Apr 1, 2022

Streetwise is on the Criterion Channel. I watched in parts on Youtube back when I was in college. Great to see it in better quality, a must watch imo

cshadows2887 · Apr 1, 2022

They also added How Green Was My Valley in their early John Ford collection, which really deserves to be remembered for the fantastic movie it is, not just “the movie that beat Citizen Kane for best picture”.

Nathan · Apr 21, 2022

The second Prismatic Ground festival is built around experimental/avant-garde/documentary. One of a slim few festivals to pay the filmmakers it screens, a selection of last year’s lineup is playing on the Criterion Channel under Prismatic Ground Presents if you’re curious, Loose Corner is a standout. I’d recommend looking into this year’s!

OhTheWater · Oct 20, 2022

https://shoparbelosfilms.com/produc...PKgTfzF4196-tKTh1Pyus0D-9vHzwTQk6cZy2LVkTDn7o

wooow Arbelos is putting out the films of Nina Menkes! I’ve only seen Queen of Diamonds, which is a must watch, so I assume the others are just as good

OhTheWater · Feb 7, 2023

Nina Menkes set came in today. Looks great!

OhTheWater · Mar 2, 2023

Meshes of the Afternoon was very good. Might revisit with some music in the background

cshadows2887 · Mar 3, 2023

OhTheWater said:

Meshes of the Afternoon was very good. Might revisit with some music in the background

If you're into that kind of experimental montage stuff, I'd recommend Marker's Sans Soleil, Pollet's Mediteranee, and Baille's Castro Street

OhTheWater · May 15, 2025

OhTheWater said:

Should I watch (or order of importance):
Stalker
A Woman Under the Influence
Sunset Boulevard
Le Samourai
Ace in the Hole

I am watching Le Samourai

OhTheWater · May 15, 2025

Nathan said:

I enjoyed doing this today. Luckily I've had a couple friends ask me for a sort of, guided film school type list, where they asked me to put together films they should see to get more out of cinema as a medium, so going from there and working with my up to date list of personal favorites, it was relatively simple to combine them into a personal canon that, pulling from the films I've seen, I'd want to preserve and share.

The first disclaimer I have to make is that, as is the case with most people, I have blind spots. Horror as a genre is something I never delved into as much as others growing up, so I'm behind on many of the best works in that genre. While I have always tried to see stuff that's been canonized, I just haven't seen everything so my list is by default incomplete.

Hand in hand with that, my collection comes overwhelmingly from directors, casts, and crews who are straight, white, cisgender, and male. Part of that is the inherent history of the industry/growing up in the United States, part of that is that I didn't really think consciously about seeing films from more diverse filmmakers until around the early 2010s. It's a flaw in my selections.

Finally, there are directors cited and members of casts and crews who have done heinous things in their lives. Directors, actors, and writers who have abused, manipulated, and harmed others, usually women, and who were largely allowed to continue doing so because of the status, privilege, and power that the film industry allowed them to accumulate. It is wrong, and I wondered how best to address films that had an undeniable impact on the world/myself, or I feel are important, but that came from those who should have been held accountable for the things they did in the moment but, unfortunately, were not. I decided to largely include their films, not as an erasure of what they did, but to acknowledge the work itself as important for its cultural moment and cinema legacy, and to also include as complete a history of cinema as possible, which, unfortunately, includes abuses of power and people. I think any conversation about a film that is cinematically important should include a conversation about those abuses as well, to assess how the filmmakers and the film industry failed morally. It shouldn't be ignored, but a sanitized version of cinema history is a failing of its own.

I'll include brief explanations for why films are grouped how they are. I decided on a couple large groups, some with sub-groups. The four large groups are:
1. Obvious Classics/Film School Curriculum
2. By Country
3. By Genre
4. Important Auteurs

There's overlap between groups and categories, and there are a million ways a canon can be organized, but I feel like the way I did it allows a decent starting collection, plus a guided way to follow-up (if, say, Rashomon resonates with someone looking at the Obvious Classics/Film School Essentials list, they can follow it up in the Japanese section of By Country and see more Kurosawa, plus his contemporaries in Japan. Or, if 2001: A Space Odyssey resonates with someone in that group, they can find more Kubrick in the Important Auteurs group)

I decided not to repeat films, so when, say, Vertigo is included in the first group, I didn't include it again in the Alfred Hitchcock section of the Important Auteurs group. Seven Samurai is in the first group, but not included in the Japan section of the By Country group. I tried to mostly put a film in a group where it made sense. Some films are tied more to their auteur than their genre, some are tied to their reputation more than anything, so I mostly tried to keep groupings in line with the prominent reason I included it.

Films were included and excluded based on reputation, yes, but also a personal feelings. I included films that significantly expanded, deepened, or revolutionized what cinema means to me. I included films that speak to a fundamental human truth or experience in a way I feel is uniquely insightful or potent. A lot of canonized films have that effect, which is why they have the legacies they do, but letting my personal feelings be a significant factor allows the list to feel more personal. Why compile a list if I'm trying to be objective? You can Google lists like that and get plenty of lists of mostly the same films (though I definitely included a lot of films you'd find on those lists). This is also not quite a list of my personal favorite films, either. Some of my favorite films, I recognize, probably wouldn't speak the same to someone else, or aren't cinematically equipped enough to stand amongst the best work in the medium. There are also films I wouldn't include in my personal favorites, some films that I recognize quality in from a filmmaking perspective, but whose larger message I personally disagree with, potentially even arguing a message I think is objectively harmful. I tried to keep selections like that to a minimum, but felt like attempting to reflect a canon of cinema honestly did require the inclusion of some, say, Saving Private Ryan or The Birth of a Nation.

This is a significantly lacking canon, which is inherent if one person is trying to compile a list like this. It's not an attempt to represent the whole spectrum of human experience told in cinema, or every kind of movie ever made. I hope it can be supplemented and improved upon by further entries in the thread.

Anyway, here are my selections. I capped myself at 450 films for now.

Group 1: Obvious Classics/Film School Essentials
50 Films
The first group I made was stuff that was obviously significant either because of its place in cinema history, as something that has developed a deserved reputation for being "important", or it's included in most film school curriculums. These are foundational works, works that inspired or were significant parts of historic cinematic movements, works whose fingerprints are all over everything we see today. Films listed chronologically.

Monkeyshines, No. 1 dir. William K.L. Dickson, William Heise (1890)
The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat dir. Auguste Lumiere, Louis Lumiere (1896)
A Trip to the Moon dir. Georges Melies (1902)
The Birth of a Nation dir. D.W. Griffith (1915)
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages dir. D.W. Griffith (1916)
Destiny dir. Fritz Lang (1921)
The Kid dir. Charlie Chaplin (1921)
Metropolis dir. Fritz Lang (1921)
Nanook of the North dir. Robert J. Flaherty (1922)
Nosferatu dir. F.W. Murnau (1922)
Safety Last! dir. Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor (1923)
The General dir. Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman (1926)
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans dir. F.W. Murnau (1927)
The Passion of Joan of Arc dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer (1928)
Un Chien Andalou dir. Luis Buñuel (1929)
L'Age d'Or dir. Luis Buñuel (1930)
M dir. Fritz Lang (1931)
Freaks dir. Tod Browning (1932)
Modern Times dir. Charlie Chaplin (1936)
La Grande Illusion dir. Jean Renoir (1937)
Stagecoach dir. John Ford (1939)
Citizen Kane dir. Orson Welles (1941)
Casablanca dir. Michael Curitz (1942)
Black Narcissus dir. Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger (1947)
Bicycle Thieves dir. Vittorio De Seca (1948)
The Red Shoes dir. Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger (1948)
Rashomon dir. Akira Kurosawa (1950)
Singin’ in the Rain dir. Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly (1952)
On the Waterfront dir. Elia Kazan (1954)
Seven Samurai dir. Akira Kurosawa (1954)
The Searchers dir. John Ford (1956)
The Seventh Seal dir. Ingmar Bergman (1957)
12 Angry Men dir. Sidney Lumet (1957)
Vertigo dir. Alfred Hitchcock (1958)
The 400 Blows dir. Francois Truffaut (1959)
Breathless dir. Jean-Luc Godard (1960)
La Dolce Vita dir. Federico Fellini (1960)
8 ½ dir. Frederico Fellini (1963)
A Fistful of Dollars dir. Sergio Leone (1964)
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly dir. Sergio Leone (1966)
Persona dir. Ingmar Bergman (1966)
The Graduate dir. Mike Nichols (1967)
2001: A Space Odyssey dir. Stanley Kubrick (1968)
The Godfather dir. Francis Ford Coppola (1972)
Solaris dir. Andrei Tarkovsky (1972)
The Godfather Pt. II dir. Francis Ford Coppola (1974)
Jaws dir. Steven Spielberg (1975)
Taxi Driver dir. Martin Scorsese (1976)
Apocalypse Now dir. Francis Ford Coppola (1979)
Do the Right Thing dir. Spike Lee (1989)

By Country
142 Films
This section includes subcategories of films specified by country of origin. It is not complete or exhaustive, again I'm pulling from the limited selection of stuff I've personally seen. There are films with esteemed reputations that I haven't seen, so I won't include for now. It's also a limited selection of countries: I've seen a lot of cinema from the United States, obviously, and enough to feel fairly comfortable compiling decent starting lists for Japan, the United Kingdom, and France. Some other countries, like India and South Korea, are also represented, but after that my limitations in the world cinema I've seen start to show. I opted against including a country like Taiwan, where I've seen the works of Edward Yang and some Tsai Ming-liang, among maybe a couple others, but feel like outside of those directors I'm not qualified to canonize the little else I've seen. This is probably where my list will be weakest. I debated organizing by movements: German Expressionism, the French New Wave, Italian Neo-Realism, etc, but looking at chronological lists of my selections and their origin countries, I feel comfortable grouping it by country, especially since narrowing it down by country and that country's film movement sometimes encroaches on other categories. Films grouped by country and listed chronologically.

France
The Rules of the Game dir. Jean Renoir (1939)
Shoot the Piano Player dir. Francois Truffaut (1960)
A Woman Is a Woman dir. Jean-Luc Godard (1961)
Jules and Jim dir. Francois Truffaut (1962)
La Jetee dir. Chris Marker (1962)
Contempt dir. Jean-Luc Godard (1963)
Band of Outsiders dir. Jean-Luc Godard (1964)
The Soft Skin dir. Francois Truffaut (1964)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg dir. Jacques Demy (1964)
Au Hasard Balthazar dir. Robert Bresson (1966)
Pierrot le Fou dir. Jean-Luc Godard (1966)
Two or Three Things I Know About Her dir. Jean-Luc Godard (1967)
The Young Girls of Rochefort dir. Jacques Demy (1967)
Day for Night dir. Francois Truffaut (1973)
The Last Metro dir. Francois Truffaut (1980)
Sans Soleil dir. Chris Marker (1983)
Mauvais Sang dir. Leos Carax (1986)
Beau Travail dir. Claire Denis (1999)
35 Shots of Rum dir. Claire Denis (2008)
Holy Motors dir. Leos Carax (2012)
Girlhood dir. Celine Sciamma (2014)
Portrait of a Lady on Fire dir. Celine Sciamma (2019)

India
Neecha Nagar dir. Chetan Anand (1946)
Awaara dir. Raj Kapoor (1951)
Pather Panchali dir. Satyajit Ray (1955)
Shree 420 dir Raj Kapoor (1955)
Aparajito dir. Satyajit Ray (1956)
The World of Apu dir. Satyajit Ray (1959)
The Big City dir. Satyajit Ray (1963)
Pratidwandi dir. Satyajit Ray (1970)

Japan
Osaka Elegy dir. Kenji Mizoguchi (1936)
Women of the Night dir. Kenji Mizoguchi (1948)
Late Spring dir. Yasujiro Ozu (1949)
Ikiru dir. Akira Kurosawa (1952)
The Life of Oharu dir. Kenji Mizoguchi (1952)
Tokyo Story dir. Yasujiro Ozu (1953)
Ugetsu dir. Kenji Mizoguchi (1953)
Godzilla dir. Ishiro Honda (1954)
Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto dir. Hiroshi Inagaki (1954)
Throne of Blood dir. Akira Kurosawa (1957)
Tokyo Twilight dir. Yasujiro Ozu (1957)
Good Morning dir. Yasujiro Ozu (1959)
Yojimbo dir. Akira Kurosawa (1961)
High and Low dir. Akira Kurosawa (1963)
Death by Hanging dir. Nagisa Oshima (1968)
Lady Snowblood dir. Toshiya Fujita (1973)
The Ballad of Narayama dir. Shohei Imamura (1983)
Black Rain dir. Shohei Imamura (1989)
Battle Royale dir. Kenji Fukasaku (2000)

South Korea
The Housemaid dir. Kim Ki-young (1960)
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance dir. Park Chan-wook (2002)
Memories of Murder dir. Bong Joon-ho (2003)
Oldboy dir. Park Chan-wook (2003)
The Host dir. Bong Joon-ho (2006)
The Handmaiden dir. Park Chan-wook (2016)
Train to Busan dir. Yeon Sang-ho (2016)
Burning dir. Chang-dong Lee (2018)
Parasite dir. Bong Joon-ho (2019)

United Kingdom
The Lady Vanishes dir. Alfred Hitchcock (1938)
The 39 Steps dir. Alfred Hitchcock (1939)
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp dir. Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger (1943)
Brief Encounter dir. David Lean (1945)
The Third Man dir. Carol Reed (1949)
Peeping Tom dir. Michael Powell (1960)
Goldfinger dir. Guy Hamilton (1964)
Women in Love dir. Ken Russell (1969)
A Clockwork Orange dir. Stanley Kubrick (1971)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail dir. Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones (1975)
Naked dir. Mike Leigh (1993)
Welcome II the Terrordome dir. Ngozi Onwurah (1995)
Secrets & Lies dir. Mike Leigh (1996)
Topsy-Turvy dir. Mike Leigh (1999)
Casino Royale dir. Martin Campbell (2006)

United States
Within Our Gates dir. Oscar Micheaux (1920)
City Lights dir. Charlie Chaplin (1931)
Scarface dir. Howard Hawks (1931)
Black Legion dir. Archie Mayo, Michael Curitz (1937)
Angels with Dirty Faces dir. Michael Curitz (1938)
Holiday dir. George Cukor (1938)
Gunga Din dir. George Stevens (1939)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington dir. Frank Capra (1939)
Only Angels Have Wings dir. Howard Hawks (1939)
The Great Dictator dir. Charlie Chaplin (1940)
The Philadelphia Story dir. George Cukor (1940)
The Magnificent Ambersons dir. Orson Welles (1942)
The Lost Weekend dir. Billy Wilder (1945)
It's a Wonderful Life dir. Frank Capra (1946)
All About Eve dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1950)
A Streetcar Named Desire dir. Elia Kazan (1951)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes dir. Howard Hawks (1953)
Breakfast at Tiffany's dir. Blake Edwards (1961)
Easy Rider dir. Dennis Hopper (1969)
Wanda dir. Barbara Loden (1970)
The Last Picture Show dir. Peter Bogdanovich (1971)
The Conversation dir. Francis Ford Coppola (1974)
Dog Day Afternoon dir. Sidney Lumet (1975)
Nashville dir. Robert Altman (1975)
All the President's Men dir. Alan J. Pakula (1976)
Rocky dir. John G. Avildsen (1976)
Blue Collar dir. Paul Schrader (1978)
Killer of Sheep dir. Charles Burnett (1978)
Raging Bull dir. Martin Scorsese (1980)
Blow Out dir. Brian De Palma (1981)
Smithereens dir. Susan Seidelman (1982)
Paris, Texas dir. Wim Wenders (1984)
Broadcast News dir. James L. Brooks (1987)
They Live dir. John Carpenter (1988)
Goodfellas dir. Martin Scorsese (1990)
King of New York dir. Abel Ferrara (1990)
Heat dir. Michael Mann (1995)
Friday dir. F. Gary Gray (1995)
Safe dir. Todd Haynes (1995)
Titanic dir. James Cameron (1997)
Saving Private Ryan dir. Steven Spielberg (1998)
Ocean's Eleven dir. Steven Soderbergh (2001)
Jackass: The Movie dir. Jeff Tremaine (2002)
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy dir. Adam McKay (2004)
Zodiac dir. David Fincher (2007)
Avatar dir. James Cameron (2009)
The Social Network dir. David Fincher (2010)
Margaret dir. Kenneth Lonergan (2011)
Weekend dir. Andrew Haigh (2011)
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty dir. Terence Nance (2012)
Frances Ha dir. Noah Baumbach (2012)
Spring Breakers dir. Harmony Korine (2012)
Her dir. Spike Jonze (2013)
Fruitvale Station dir. Ryan Coogler (2013)
Under the Skin dir. Jonathan Glazer (2013)
Selma dir. Ava DuVernay (2014)
Carol dir. Todd Haynes (2015)
Magic Mike XXL dir. Gregory Jacobs (2015)
Manchester by the Sea dir. Kenneth Lonergan (2016)
Moonlight dir. Barry Jenkins (2016)
Little Women dir. Greta Gerwig (2019)
First Cow dir. Kelly Reichardt (2020)
Never Rarely Sometimes Always dir. Eliza Hittman (2020)

Non-American Films
These are non-American films that I feel should be seen, but come from countries where I haven't seen enough to be able to list much more beyond them.
Ashes and Diamonds dir. Andrzej Wajda (1958)
Daisies dir. Vera Chytilova (1966)
Last Tango in Paris dir. Bernardo Bertolucci (1972)
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles dir. Chantal Akerman (1975)
A Dry White Season dir. Euzhan Palcy (1989)
Rebels of the Neon God dir. Tsai Ming-liang (1992)
Chungking Express dir. Wong Kar-wai (1994)
In the Mood for Love dir. Wong Kar-wai (2000)
The Wind that Shakes the Barley dir. Ken Loach (2006)
An Elephant Sitting Still dir. Hu Bo (2018)
Atantics dir. Mati Diop (2019)

By Genre
148 Films
Genre is a way to track the popular films of different eras of film throughout history, from the Western, Noir, and Screwball Comedies of the 30s-60s, to the Neo Noirs that followed and into Science Fiction/Fantasy/Superhero blockbusters that dominate today. When so much is invested into making so many films of a specific genre, there's plenty of forgettable stuff, but there are some classics and subversive masterpieces worth noting. I use the word "genre" loosely, sometimes maybe describing more a movement or trend, like the New Hollywood Blockbuster of the 1970s. This section again will draw mostly from American cinema.

Westerns
High Noon dir. Fred Zinnemann (1952)
3:10 to Yuma dir. Delmer Daves (1957)
One-Eyed Jacks dir. Marlon Brando (1961)
For a Few Dollars More dir. Sergio Leone (1965)
The Wild Bunch dir. Sam Peckinpah (1969)
El Topo dir. Alejandro Jodorowsky (1970)
The Unforgiven dir. Clint Eastwood (1992)
Brokeback Mountain dir. Ang Lee (2005)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford dir. Andrew Dominik (2007)
Meek's Cutoff dir. Kelly Reichardt (2010)

Horror
The Man Who Laughs dir. Paul Leni (1928)
Psycho dir. Alfred Hitchcock (1960)
Repulsion dir. Roman Polanski (1965)
Night of the Living Dead dir. George A. Romero (1968)
Rosemary's Baby dir. Roman Polanski (1968)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre dir. Tobe Hooper (1974)
Carrie dir. Brian De Palma (1976)
Eraserhead dir. David Lynch (1977)
Dawn of the Dead dir. George A. Romero (1978)
Halloween dir. John Carpenter (1978)
The Shining dir. Stanley Kubrick (1980)
The Thing dir. John Carpenter (1982)
A Nightmare on Elm Street dir. Wes Craven (1984)
Evil Dead II dir. Sam Raimi (1987)
The Silence of the Lambs dir. Jonathan Demme (1991)
Ring dir. Hideo Nakata (1998)
Audition dir. Takashi Miike (1999)
The Sixth Sense dir. M. Night Shyamalan (1999)
American Psycho dir. Mary Harron (2000)
The Devil's Backbone dir. Guillermo del Toro (2001)
The Babadook dir. Jennifer Kent (2014)
The Witch dir. Robert Eggers (2015)
Raw dir. Julia Ducournau (2016)
Get Out dir. Jordan Peele (2017)
Hereditary dir. Ari Aster (2018)
Midsommar dir. Ari Aster (2019)

Noir/Neo-Noir
The Maltese Falcon dir. John Huston (1941)
Double Indemnity dir. Billy Wilder (1944)
Mildred Pierce dir. Michael Curitz (1945)
Gilda dir. Charles Vidor (1946)
Body and Soul dir. Robert Rossen (1947)
Out of the Past dir. Jacques Tourneur (1947)
In a Lonely Place dir. Nicholas Ray (1950)
The Big Heat dir. Fritz Lang (1953)
Kiss Me Deadly dir. Robert Aldrich (1955)
The Night of the Hunter dir. Charles Laughton (1955)
The Long Goodbye dir. Robert Altman (1973)
Chinatown dir. Roman Polanski (1974)
Thief dir. Michael Mann (1981)
Out of Sight dir. Steven Soderbergh (1998)
Memento dir. Christopher Nolan (2000)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang dir. Shane Black (2005)
Drive dir. Nicolas Winding Refn (2011)

Screwball Comedy
It Happened One Night dir. Frank Capra (1934)
My Man Godfrey dir. Gregory La Cava (1936)
The Awful Truth dir. Leo McCarey (1937)
Bringing Up Baby dir. Howard Hawks (1938)
His Girl Friday dir. Howard Hawks (1940)
Some Like it Hot dir. Billy Wilder (1959)

New Hollywood Blockbusters (1970s-90s)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind dir. Steven Spielberg (1977)
Star Wars dir. George Lucas (1977)
Superman dir. Richard Donner (1978)
Alien dir. Ridley Scott (1979)
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Raiders of the Lost Ark dir. Steven Spielberg (1981)
Back to the Future dir. Robert Zemeckis (1985)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day dir. James Cameron (1991)

The Hollywood Coming of Age Film
Rebel Without a Cause dir. Nicholas Ray (1955)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High dir. Amy Heckerling (1982)
The Breakfast Club dir. John Hughes (1985)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off dir. John Hughes (1986)
Dazed and Confused dir. Richard Linklater (1993)
Kids dir. Larry Clark (1995)
Mean Girls dir. Mark Waters (2004)
Superbad dir. Greg Mottola (2007)
Lady Bird dir. Greta Gerwig (2017)

Hollywood Musicals
An American in Paris dir. Vincente Minnelli (1951)
Singin’ in the Rain dir. Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly (1952)
West Side Story dir. Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins (1961)

Hollywood Animation
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs dir. 5 people (1937)
Fantasia dir. 11 people (1940)
Duck Amuck dir. Chuck Jones (1953)
Robin Hood dir. Wolfgang Reitherman (1973)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? dir. Robert Zemeckis (1988)
The Nightmare Before Christmas dir. Henry Selick (1993)
The Lion King dir. Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff (1994)
Toy Story dir. John Lasseter (1995)
Up dir. Bob Peterson, Pete Docter (2009)
Inside Out dir. Pete Docter (2015)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse dir. Bob Perischetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman (2018)

Anime
Akira dir. Katsuhiro Otomo (1988)
Grave of the Fireflies dir. Isao Takahata (1988)
My Neighbor Totoro dir. Hayao Miyazaki (1988)
Princess Mononoke dir. Hayao Miyazaki (1997)
Spirited Away dir. Hayao Miyazaki (2001)
Summer Wars dir. Mamoru Hosada (2009)
Your Name dir. Makoto Shinkai (2016)

Parody/Satire
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb dir. Stanley Kubrick (1964)
This is Spinal Tap dir. Rob Reiner (1984)
Spaceballs dir. Mel Brooks (1987)
Showgirls dir. Paul Verhoeven (1995)
Josie and the Pussycats dir. Harry Elfont, Deborah Kaplan (2001)
Wet Hot American Summer dir. David Wain (2001)
Shaun of the Dead dir. Edgar Wright (2004)
Borat dir. Larry Charles (2006)
Hot Fuzz dir. Edgar Wright (2007)
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story dir. Jake Kasdan (2007)
MacGruber dir. Jorma Taccone (2010)
21 Jump Street dir. Christopher Miller, Phil Lord (2012)

Action/Adventure
Enter the Dragon dir. Robert Clouse (1973)
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior dir. George Miller (1981)
Robocop dir. Paul Verhoeven (1987)
Die Hard dir. John McTieman (1988)
Starship Troopers dir. Paul Verhoeven (1997)
Armageddon dir. Michael Bay (1998)
The Matrix dir. Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski (1999)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring dir. Peter Jackson (2001)
The Bourne Identity dir. Doug Liman (2002)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers dir. Peter Jackson (2002)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King dir. Peter Jackson (2003)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl dir. Gore Verbinsky (2003)
John Wick dir. Chad Stahelski, David Leitch (2014)
Mad Max: Fury Road dir. George Miller (2015)
Mission: Impossible - Fallout dir. Christopher McQuarrie (2018)

Superhero/Comic Book Cinema
Batman dir. Tim Burton (1989)
Batman & Robin dir. Joel Schumacher (1997)
Spider-Man 2 dir. Sam Raimi (2004)
The Dark Knight dir. Christopher Nolan (2008)
The Avengers dir. Joss Whedon (2012)
Logan dir. James Mangold (2017)
Black Panther dir. Ryan Coogler (2018)

Romantic Comedy
Roman Holiday dir. William Wyler (1953)
Sabrina dir. Billy Wilder (1954)
Annie Hall dir. Woody Allen (1977)
Say Anything... dir. Cameron Crowe (1989)
Notting Hill dir. Richard Curtis (1999)

Documentary
I have generally preferred narrative cinema to documentary, and that's led to documentaries being another one of the gaps in my film exploration.

Portrait of Jason dir. Shirley Clarke (1967)
The Last Waltz dir. Martin Scorsese (1978)
Paris is Burning dir. Jennie Livingston (1991)
From the East dir. Chantal Akerman (1993)
Hoop Dreams dir. Steve James (1994)
Black Is...Black Ain't dir. Marlon Riggs (1995)
When We Were Kings dir. Leon Gast (1996)
The Thin Blue Line dir. Errol Morris (1998)
The Act of Killing dir. Joshua Oppenheimer, Anonymous (2012)
The Look of Silence dir. Joshua Oppenheimer (2014)
Cameraperson dir. Kirsten Johnson (2016)
I Am Not Your Negro dir. Raoul Peck (2016)
Minding the Gap dir. Bing Liu (2018)

Experimental
I only really began dipping the tip of my toe in experimental cinema in the last year, maybe two. A couple pieces are worth including.
Blue dir. Derek Jarman (1993)
America dir. Garrett Bradley (2019)

Important Auteurs
110 Films
Filmmaking is collaborative, and takes teams of people all working on different aspects of cinema to bring a film to life. Auteur theory, however, has defined so much of how audiences view cinema that the voice of certain authors matters immensely in analysis and reception. The director usually has most of the input in how a film comes together, and while throughout history it has led to the lionization of mostly white men, and allowed a platform for many men to escape accountability for harm they've caused, it remains a useful lens through which to critique and analyze film. I understand and appreciate the Death of the Author, but feel like art must be viewed multiple ways if we're engaging with it seriously. I tried to limit to 5 films per director, though some have films mentioned in previous sections and I broke that rule for a handful more. Mostly selected those I felt familiar enough with to pick a few films for canonization, if they had 1-2 films I think that highly of, mostly they were included elsewhere. Alphabetized by last name, films listed chronologically.

Paul Thomas Anderson
Boogie Nights dir. Paul Thomas Anderson (1997)
Magnolia dir. Paul Thomas Anderson (1999)
There Will Be Blood dir. Paul Thomas Anderson (2007)
The Master dir. Paul Thomas Anderson (2012)
Phantom Thread dir. Paul Thomas Anderson (2017)

Wes Anderson
Bottle Rocket dir. Wes Anderson (1996)
Rushmore dir. Wes Anderson (1998)
The Royal Tenenbaums dir. Wes Anderson (2001)
Fantastic Mr. Fox dir. Wes Anderson (2009)
The Grand Budapest Hotel dir. Wes Anderson (2014)

Ingmar Bergman
Smiles of a Summer Night dir. Ingmar Bergman (1955)
Wild Strawberries dir. Ingmar Bergman (1957)
Cries and Whispers dir. Ingmar Bergman (1972)
Scenes from a Marriage dir. Ingmar Bergman (1973)
Fanny and Alexander dir. Ingmar Bergman (1982)

John Cassavetes
Shadows dir. John Cassavetes (1959)
Husbands dir. John Cassavetes (1970)
A Woman Under the Influence dir. John Cassavetes (1974)

Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Raising Arizona dir. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (1987)
Fargo dir. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (1996)
The Big Lebowski dir. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (1998)
No Country for Old Men dir. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (2007)
Inside Llewyn Davis dir. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (2013)

Sofia Coppola
The Virgin Suicides dir. Sofia Coppola (1999)
Lost in Translation dir. Sofia Coppola (2003)
Marie Antoinette dir. Sofia Coppola (2006)
Somewhere dir. Sofia Coppola (2010)

Pedro Costa
Ossos dir. Pedro Costa (1997)
In Vanda's Room dir. Pedro Costa (2000)
Vitalina Varela dir. Pedro Costa (2020)

Alfonso Cuaron
Y tu mama también dir. Alfonso Cuaron (2001)
Children of Men dir. Alfonso Cuaron (2006)
Gravity dir. Alfonso Cuaron (2013)
Roma dir. Alfonso Cuaron (2018)

Alfred Hitchcock
Shadow of a Doubt dir. Alfred Hitchcock (1943)
Notorious dir. Alfred Hitchcock (1946)
Rear Window dir. Alfred Hitchcock (1954)
The Man Who Knew Too Much dir. Alfred Hitchcock (1956)
North by Northwest dir. Alfred Hitchcock (1959)

Charlie Kaufman
Being John Malkovich dir. Spike Jonze (1999)
Adaptation dir. Spike Jonze (2002)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind dir. Michel Gondry (2004)
Synecdoche, New York dir. Charlie Kaufman (2008)

Krzystof Kieslowski
Dekalog dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski (1988)
Three Colors: Blue dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski (1993)
Three Colors: White dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski (1994)
Three Colors: Red dir. Kryzysztof Kieslowski (1994)

Stanley Kubrick
The Killing dir. Stanley Kubrick (1956)
Paths of Glory dir. Stanley Kubrick (1957)
Barry Lyndon dir. Stanley Kubrick (1975)
Eyes Wide Shut dir. Stanley Kubrick (1999)

Spike Lee
She's Gotta Have It dir. Spike Lee (1986)
Malcolm X dir. Spike Lee (1992)
Bamboozled dir. Spike Lee (2000)
25th Hour dir. Spike Lee (2002)
Inside Man dir. Spike Lee (2006)

Richard Linklater
Slacker dir. Richard Linklater (1990)
Before Sunrise dir. Richard Linklater (1995)
Waking Life dir. Richard Linklater (2001)
Before Sunset dir. Richard Linklater (2004)
Boyhood dir. Richard Linklater (2014)

Ernst Lubitsch
Design for Living dir. Ernst Lubitsch (1933)
Ninotchka dir. Ernst Lubitsch (1939)
The Shop Around the Corner dir. Ernst Lubitsch (1940)
To Be or Not to Be dir. Ernst Lubitsch (1942)
Cluny Brown dir. Ernst Lubitsch (1946)

Sidney Lumet
Fail Safe dir. Sidney Lumet (1964)
Serpico dir. Sidney Lumet (1973)
Network dir. Sidney Lumet (1976)

David Lynch
Blue Velvet dir. David Lynch (1986)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me dir. David Lynch (1992)
Lost Highway dir. David Lynch (1997)
Mulholland Drive dir. David Lynch (2001)
Inland Empire dir. David Lynch (2006)

Terrence Malick
Badlands dir. Terrence Malick (1973)
Days of Heaven dir. Terrence Malick (1978)
The Thin Red Line dir. Terrence Malick (1998)
The Tree of Life dir. Terrence Malick (2011)
A Hidden Life dir. Terrence Malick (2019)

Adam Sandler
Billy Madison dir. Tamra Davis (1995)
Happy Gilmore dir. Dennis Dugan (1996)
Punch-Drunk Love dir. Paul Thomas Anderson (2002)
Click dir. Frank Coraci (2006)
Uncut Gems dir. Benny Safdie, Joshua Safdie (2019)

Martin Scorsese
Who's That Knocking at My Door dir. Martin Scorsese (1967)
Mean Streets dir. Martin Scorsese (1973)
The King of Comedy dir. Martin Scorsese (1982)
The Last Temptation of Christ dir. Martin Scorsese (1988)
The Age of Innocence dir. Martin Scorsese (1993)
The Wolf of Wall Street dir. Martin Scorsese (2013)
The Irishman dir. Martin Scorsese (2019)

Steven Soderbergh
Sex, Lies, and Videotape dir. Steven Soderbergh (1989)
King of the Hill dir. Steven Soderbergh (1993)
Schizopolis dir. Steven Soderbergh (1996)
Solaris dir. Steven Soderbergh (2002)
Ocean's Twelve dir. Steven Soderbergh (2004)
High Flying Bird dir. Steven Soderbergh (2019)

Steven Spielberg
Jurassic Park dir. Steven Spielberg (1993)
Schindler's List dir. Steven Spielberg (1993)
Catch Me If You Can dir. Steven Spielberg (2002)
Munich dir. Steven Spielberg (2005)
War of the Worlds dir. Steven Spielberg (2005)

Quentin Tarantino
Reservoir Dogs dir. Quentin Tarantino (1992)
Pulp Fiction dir. Quentin Tarantino (1994)
Jackie Brown dir. Quentin Tarantino (1997)
Inglourious Basterds dir. Quentin Tarantino (2009)
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood Quentin Tarantino (2019)

Andrei Tarkovsky
Mirror dir. Andrei Tarkovsky (1972)
Stalker dir. Andrei Tarkovsky (1979)

Agnes Varda
Cleo from 5 to 7 dir. Agnes Varda (1962)
Le Bonheur dir. Agnes Varda (1965)
Black Panthers dir. Agnes Varda (1968)

Tommy Wiseau
The Room dir. Tommy Wiseau (2003)

Edward Yang
Terrorizers dir. Edward Yang (1986)
A Brighter Summer Day dir. Edward Yang (1991)
Yi Yi dir. Edward Yang (2000)

What sucks is I'm 100% sure I'm missing at least a dozen that when I remember, will be certain deserve to be listed. But for now I'm content.

Update #1 (1/20/21)
Scarface dir. Howard Hawks (1931)
The Magnificent Ambersons dir. Orson Welles (1942)
An American in Paris dir. Vincente Minnelli (1951)
Shree 420 dir. Raj Kapoor (1955)
La Jetee dir. Chris Marker (1962)
The Conversation dir. Francis Ford Coppola (1974)
Terrorizers dir. Edward Yang (1986)
Ossos dir. Pedro Costa (1997)
Solaris dir. Steven Soderbergh (2002)

Update #2 (2/28/21)
Ashes and Diamonds dir. Andrzej Wajda (1958)
Black Panthers dir. Agnes Varda (1968)
Wanda dir. Barbara Loden (1970)
Mauvais Sang dir. Leos Carax (1986)

I forgot about this thread until I searched the film title. This may be the most important post on the entire website.

OhTheWater · May 15, 2025

OhTheWater said:

I am watching Le Samourai

My blu ray must be fucked up, the sound started skipping after he got shot. I will finish on the Criterion Channel later

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