The 100 Greatest Movies I’ve Ever Seen

Long ago, I’ve been obsessed with making lists and memorizing them, whether it be knowing the capitals of every country in the world in first grade, or the name of every damn Best Picture Oscar winner in high school, I was nutty for lists. I don’t know why it is. I just love a good list. In my recent turn as a cinephile, I’ve come to appreciate a great many bloggers, film critics and historians, and artists, mostly by coming across their lists for greatest films ever. These lists have become my source for what films to go see in my annual movie list. Lists like the Sight and Sound Top 250 or the 1001 Movies You Need to See Before You Die or the AFI Top 100 American films are just the basic bread and butter of all beginner cinephiles, I think. But sprinkle in there lists by specific bloggers, like my personal favorites Nathaniel Rogers and Nick Davis, professional film critics I admire, like Guy Lodge or Mike d’Angelo and of course Roger Ebert, and then by random searches for Greatest (Insert region) films ever, and you get a wide range of films that will take years to find and tackle. So what’s a cinephile to do? Well start digging in.

This year, I’ve reached a personal milestone: I’ve watched 1,500 movies in my lifetime (according to my handy dandy letterboxd). A small fraction compared to my favorite people’s film count, but an accomplishment to myself nevertheless. And back when I was still reading through all of these Greatest-film lists and dreaming of just watching all these films, I’ve long made a promise to myself that I will make my own Greatest Movie List and put it out there.

Making a list of the greatest movies I’ve ever seen proved challenging. How on earth do I narrow down a list of some 190 films that I think are the absolutely best movies in history to just 100? What criteria do I set to compare one movie to another, especially when I think they’re both impressive? Most importantly, what do I want this film list to represent? I imagine many people who’ve done such an impossible task  have come across the same questions I had. Nonetheless, I want this list to represent me and my thoughts and my personal taste. When I finished the list, I was surprised by just how much the films I chose reflect my preoccupations, my worldview, and ultimately my life. Such is the nature of the beast.

Anyway, I’m going to be emulating my favorite film blogger’s method of disseminating his best-of list: by writing just 100 words about what I love about the movie and why I think it deserves to be on this list. But unlike Nick Davis, I want to add on similar films that my finalist reminds me of and that are worth watching.

Without further ado, my picks for the 100 Greatest Movies Ever:

100. Raise the Red Lantern, Zhang Yimou (1991)

99. Irma Vep, Olivier Assayas (1996)

98. Do the Right Thing, Spike Lee (1989)

97. The Terrorizers, Edward Yang (1986)

96. Breathless, Jean-Luc Godard (1960)

95. Sopyonje, Im Kwon-Taek (1993)

94. Talk to Her, Pedro Almodovar (2002)

93. Holiday, George Cukor (1938)

92. The Docks of New York, Josef von Sternberg (1928)

91. Insiang, Lino Brocka (1976)

90. The Red Shoes, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (1948)

89. Gun Crazy, Joseph H. Lewis (1950)

88. There Will Be Blood, Paul Thomas Anderson (2007)

87. The Housemaid, Kim Ki-young (1960)

86. Killer of Sheep, Charles Burnett (1978)

85. The Thin Blue Line, Errol Morris (1988)

84. Yi Yi, Edward Yang (2000)

83. A Star is Born, George Cukor (1954)

82. Rear Window, Alfred Hitchcock (1954)

81. Hiroshima mon Amour, Alain Resnais (1959)

80. Rome, Open City, Roberto Rossellini (1945)

79. A City of Sadness, Hou Hsiao Hsien (1989)

78. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Michel Gondry (2004)

77. Castle in the Sky, Hayao Miyazaki (1986)

76. The Battle of Algiers, Gillo Pontecorvo (1966)

75. Stop Making Sense, Jonathan Demme (1984)

74. The Big City, Satyajit Ray (1963)

73. Carol, Todd Haynes (2015)

72. The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola (1972)

71. White Material, Claire Denis (2009)

70. The Ballad of Narayama, Shohei Imamura (1983)

69. The Ascent, Larisa Shepitko (1977)

68. Viridiana, Luis Bunuel (1961)

67. City Lights, Charlie Chaplin (1931)

66. The Wages of Fear, Henri-Georges Clouzot (1953)

65. The Third Man, Carol Reed (1949)

64. Hyenas, Djibril Diop Mambety (1994)

63. The Lady Eve, Preston Sturges (1941)

62. Dog Day Afternoon, Sidney Lumet (1975)

61. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick (1968)

60. Sherlock, Jr., Buster Keaton (1924)

59. Chinatown, Roman Polanski (1974)

58. Close-Up, Abbas Kiarostami (1990)

57. My Darling Clementine, John Ford (1946)

56. Dodsworth, William Wyler (1936)

55. Shoah, Claude Lanzmann (1985)

54. Daisy Kenyon, Otto Preminger (1947)

53. Safe, Todd Haynes (1995)

52. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Jacques Demy (1964)

51. Bicycle Thieves, Vittorio de Sica (1948)

50. Shame, Ingmar Bergman (1968)

49. Belle de Jour, Luis Bunuel (1967)

48. The Night of the Hunter, Charles Laughton (1955)

47. Oasis, Lee Chang-dong (2002)

46. Days of Heaven, Terrence Malick (1978)

45. Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles, Chantal Akerman (1975)

44. All About Eve, Joseph Mankiewicz (1950)

43. The Green Ray, Eric Rohmer (1986)

42. Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese (1976)

41. The Earrings of Madame de…, Max Ophuls (1953)

40. Brief Encounter, David Lean (1945)

39. Cries and Whispers, Ingmar Bergman (1972)

38. Floating Weeds, Yasujiro Ozu (1959)

37. Casablanca, Michael Curtiz (1942)

36. Bonnie and Clyde, Arthur Penn (1967)

35. Imitation of Life, Douglas Sirk (1959)

34. Crimes and Misdemeanors, Woody Allen (1989)

33. A Moment of Innocence, Mohsen Makhmalbaf (1996)

32. Sans Soleil, Chris Marker (1983)

31. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum, Kenji Mizoguchi (1939)

30. Le Samourai, Jean-Pierre Melville (1967)

29. Himala, Ishmael Bernal (1982)

28. The Conversation, Francis Ford Coppola (1974)

27. The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick (2011)

26. Out of the Past, Jacques Tourneur (1947)

25. Harakiri, Masaki Kobayashi (1962)

24. Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock (1960)

23. His Girl Friday, Howard Hawks (1940)

22. Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola (1979)

21. The Crowd, King Vidor (1928)

20. High and Low, Akira Kurosawa (1963)

19. Citizen Kane, Orson Welles (1941)

18. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Luis Bunuel (1972)

17. Singin’ in the Rain, Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly (1952)

16. Sansho the Bailiff, Kenji Mizoguchi (1954)

15. Seven Chances, Buster Keaton (1925)

14. Only Angels Have Wings, Howard Hawks (1939)

13. Nashville, Robert Altman (1975)

12. La Dolce Vita, Frederico Fellini (1960)

11. Persona, Ingmar Bergman (1966)

10. Rocco and His Brothers, Luchino Visconti (1960)

9. Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Werner Herzog (1972)

8. The Travelling Players, Theo Angelopoulos (1975)

7. Woman in the Dunes, Hiroshi Teshigahara (1964)

6. The Passion of Joan of Arc, Carl Th. Dreyer (1928)

5. Diary of a Country Priest, Robert Bresson (1951)

4. A Brighter Summer Day, Edward Yang (1991)

3. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, F.W. Murnau (1927)

2. Mirror, Andrei Tarkovsky (1975)

1. In the Mood for Love, Wong Kar-wai (2000)