Over the years, numerous students have asked me to recommend a selection of films that, in my opinion, the well-informed film student should see at some point. So here it is, an obviously far from exhaustive compilation. Some of the films are quite influential, some are wholly idiosyncratic, some are one of a kind, some are the visual equivalent of comfort food, and some I like for purely subjective reasons. I have not listed here the directors or release dates to these films. Follow the hyperlinks I have provided to learn more about them.
Enjoy,
FEATURE-LENGTH FILMS
Rashômon Shichinin no samurai Sjunde inseglet, Det
Cet obscur objet du désir M 8 1/2
Metropolis Blade Runner Dr. Strangelove: or How I
Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
A Clockwork Orange Pulp Fiction She's Gotta Have It
Do the Right Thing Triumph des Willens Birth of a Nation
Modern Times The General Citizen Kane
The Searchers The Quiet Man Blechtrommel, Die
Sunna no onna Peeping Tom Repulsion
Double Indemnity The Manchurian Candidate High Noon
A Face in the Crowd A Touch of Evil On the Waterfront
Swimming to Cambodia Top Hat Gold Diggers of 1935
Adam's Rib McCabe and Mrs. Miller Bonnie and Clyde
The Graduate Casablanca Being John Malkovich
Grande illusion, La Blazing Saddles Fargo
His Girl Friday Chicken Run Mulan
The Man With a Movie Camera Fantasia Amarcord
Monty Python and the Holy Grail Raging Bull Annie Hall
An American in Paris The Purple Rose of Cairo Rear Window
Apocalypse Now The Godfather Vacances de M. Hulot, Les
A Night at the Opera Night of the Living Dead Down By Law
Travolti da un insolito destino nell'azzurro mare d'agosto Orlando
The Sands of Iwo Jima Prospero's Books Short Cuts The Steel Helmet
The Wizard of Oz The Truman Show Track 29
12 Angry Men High Plains Drifter À bout de souffle
Masculin, féminin: 15 faits précis Année dernière à Marienbad, L' Greed
Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes The Wild Bunch Soshun
Blowup Mitt liv som hund Some Like It Hot
Strada, La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc, La Blue Velvet
Kiss of the Spider Woman North By Northwest Network
Silence of the Lambs Vita è bella, La All That Jazz
When Harry Met Sally Ken Burn's The Civil War Trainspotting
Not a Love Story The Gold Rush Saving Private Ryan
2001, A Space Odyssey Bob Roberts Pink Flamingos
Koyaanisqatsi Lola rennt Frida Memento Garden State