In Development

Go to the actual LIST.

I half-heartedly tried to keep the list to 50, but the interesting connections between the directors and actors across the list pushing into the next 30 were too interesting to pass up!

There are of course several films sitting near the top of other posted lists that I’ve not seen yet, in particular: Cache, Yi Yi, Dancer in the Dark, Oldboy, Requiem for a Dream, I’m not There, The Beat that My Heart Skipped, Control, Atanarjuat (Fast Runner), Encouters at the End of the World, The Fall, Flags of our Fathers, Le scaphandre et le papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Vals Im Bashir (Waltz with Bashir)…

Some others I missed that I still want to take in: Secretary, Grizzly Man, Être et Avoir, Gomorrah, The Gleaners and I, Fugitive Pieces, Ginger Snaps, The Kid Stays in the Picture, Murderball, Persepolis, Once, and several 2009 films.

But really, the list is finite — and rectifiable with another few months of diligent visits to the rental store!

Out of the 2400 potential films I tracked down, I had seen 490, or just over 20%. That works out to nearly one per week. (and I probably watch another couple non-recent films per month as I work my way through the Classics).

So how did I narrow it down to these? The list is made up of a mix of enjoyment experienced, impression made, images of beauty or anguish burned into my head, and awe at cinematic achievement, acting performance, and depth, vision and unique voice in story.

Some numbers for fun:

Breakdown by year:

2000      9
2001      6
2002      11
2003      9
2004      3
2005      8
2006      8
2007      9
2008      10
2009      8

Breakdown by Genre:
24 were action or what I would call drama/action (slow action?), plus 6 more action/sci-fi or action/fantasy
18 were drama/romance
4 dramas about historical events
4 documentaries plus one animation with interviews with philosophers
Only 2 comedies and 2 dramedies
And 20 straight-up dramas

Breakdown by country:

Bra/Fra – 1
Canada – 4
Can/UK/US – 1
Can/US – 2
Chi/Tai – 1
Chi/Tai/HK/US – 1
Den/Ger/Cze – 1
Fra – 1
Fra/Ita – 1
Fra/US/Mex – 1
Ger – 1
Ger/Tur/Ita – 1
HK – 2
Japan/UK/US – 1
Mex – 2
Multi-country – 1
NZ/Ger – 1
NZ/US – 2
Spa/Fra/US – 1
Swe – 1
UK – 4
UK/Fra – 1
UK/Fra/Can – 2
UK/Ger – 1
UK/USA – 1
US/Can/Fra – 1
US/UK – 3
US/Ger – 2
US/Ita – 1
US/Japan – 1

So a total of 45 out of the 80 had some non-American production element. 30 had no US involvement. 17 were in a language other than English, with several more including another language at some point in the film.

Only 33 were in the top 100 US box office for their year, and only 5 were in the top 10: (Dark Knight, Cast Away, Lord of the Rings, Ocean’s Eleven and the Bourne Ultimatum).

Several directors appeared multiple times in the list. Ang Lee and Christopher Nolan with three each, and Alfonso Cuarón, Anthony Minghella, David Cronenberg, Fernando Meirelles, Stepen Frears, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Martin Scorsese, Paul Greengrass, Paul Thomas Anderson, Richard Linklater, Steven Soderbergh and Thomas McCarthy with two each.

I didn’t notice a trend for writers but many of these are director-penned.

As for recurring actor appearances: Matt Damon and Viggo Mortensen appear in four of the films; Gael García Bernal, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, and Benicio Del Toro appear in three films each from the list, and Aaron Eckhart, , Bill Murray, Brad Pitt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Christian Bale, Clive Owen, Daniel Day-Lewis, Don Cheadle, Elijah Wood, Emilio Echevarría, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Jude Law, Leonardo DiCaprio, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Mullen, Ralph Fiennes, Ryan Gosling, Scarlett Johansson, Sigourney Weaver, Tom Hanks, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Michelle Rodriguez, and Will Ferrell appear in two each.

SO? Agree, disagree? Have a link to your own list? Let me know!