I have seen a lot of movies in 25 years. The first I can remember is The Wizard of Oz in my childhood living room, dressed as a tiny Glinda. The most recent, as of Halloween night 2023, is The Nightmare Before Christmas. My Letterboxd has the total number at 1,422, with 174 this year alone. Yet I am plagued by the overwhelming amount of films I have not seen: cult classics, underground gems, even blockbusters that have eluded me. Still, in the interest of reflection on my 25th birthday, I have compiled a list of what I believe to be the 25 greatest films I have ever seen, keeping in mind that I, a humble film lover, am totally unqualified to declare anything the “best” or "greatest”. While some of my personal favourites are included on this list, I tried to maintain a realistic level of objectivity. Of course, over time, this list will change, as it should. Tomorrow morning, I might wake up in a cold sweat, panicking that I forgot one title in particular. Hopefully this only encourages me to revisit such a list every year, as my cinematic education evolves and expands, and I continue to grow as a person.
Without further ado, here are the 25 best films I have seen in 25 years (in alphabetical order)
All That Heaven Allows (1955) dir. Douglas Sirk
Badlands (1973) dir. Terrence Malick
Battleship Potemkin (1925) dir. Sergei Eisenstein
Beau Travail (1999) dir. Claire Denis
Black Orpheus (1959) dir. Marcel Camus
Brief Encounter (1945) dir. David Lean
Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962) dir. Angès Varda
Closely Watched Trains (1966) dir. Jiří Menzel
The Cranes are Flying (1957) dir. Mikhail Kalatozov
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) Dir. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) dir. Orson Welles
Mulholland Drive (2001) dir. David Lynch
Paris, Texas (1984) dir. Werner Herzog
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) dir. Carl Theodor Dryer
Paths of Glory (1957) dir. Stanley Kubrick
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) dir. Céline Sciamma
Ran (1985) dir. Akira Kurosawa
The Red Balloon (1956) dir. Albert Lamorisse
The Red Shoes (1948) dir. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
Seven Samurai (1954) dir. Akira Kurosawa
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) dir. F.W. Murnau
Tokyo Story (1953) dir. Yasujirō Ozu
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) dir. Jacques Demy
The Virgin Spring (1960) dir. Ingmar Bergman
The Wizard of Oz (1939) dir. Victor Fleming
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