Lists

Favorite Film by Release Year (Eligible Films Only)

Ryan Swen Lists

Main list.
Release year.

1913: The Last Days of Pompeii (Mario Caserini & Eleuterio Rodolfi)
1914: Fantômas (Louis Feuillade)
1915: The Birth of a Nation (D. W. Griffith)
1916: Les Vampires (Louis Feuillade)
1917:
1918: Mickey (F. Richard Jones & James Young)
1919:

1920: Tih-Minh (Louis Feuillade)
1921: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene)
1922: Nanook of the North (Robert J. Flaherty)
1923: Safety Last! (Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor)
1924: Greed (Erich von Stroheim)
1925: Seven Chances (Buster Keaton)
1926: Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein)
1927: The General (Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman)
1928: The Docks of New York (Josef von Sternberg)
1929: Spione (Fritz Lang)

1930: Morocco (Josef von Sternberg)
1931: Dishonored (Josef von Sternberg)
1932: Shanghai Express (Josef von Sternberg)
1933: M (Fritz Lang)
1934: Fantômas (Fejős Pál)
1935: Ruggles of Red Gap (Leo McCarey)
1936: Fury (Fritz Lang)
1937: The Awful Truth (Leo McCarey)
1938: The Story of a Cheat (Sacha Guitry)
1939: Only Angels Have Wings (Howard Hawks)

1940: His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks)
1941: Citizen Kane (Orson Welles)
1942: The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles)
1943: The Seventh Victim (Mark Robson)
1944: Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincente Minnelli)
1945: The Clock (Vincente Minnelli)
1946: Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock)
1947: Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur)
1948: Letter From an Unknown Woman (Max Ophuls)
1949: The Heiress (William Wyler)

1950: The Third Man (Carol Reed)
1951: Rashomon (Kurosawa Akira)
1952: The Quiet Man (John Ford)
1953: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks)
1954: Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray)
1955: The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton)
1956: Seven Samurai (Kurosawa Akira)
1957: A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson)
1958: Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock)
1959: Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks)

1960: Hiroshima mon amour (Alain Resnais)
1961: Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard)
1962: Last Year at Marienbad (Alain Resnais)
1963: Muriel, or the Time of Return (Alain Resnais)
1964: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy)
1965: The Love Eterne (Li Han-hsiang)
1966: Gertrud (Carl Th. Dreyer)
1967: The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo)
1968: The Young Girls of Rochefort (Jacques Demy)
1969: Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone)

1970: My Night at Maud’s (Éric Rohmer)
1971: A New Leaf (Elaine May)
1972: Two English Girls (François Truffaut)
1973: Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese)
1974: The Mother and the Whore (Jean Eustache)
1975: Moses and Aaron (Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet)
1976: The Marquise of O… (Éric Rohmer)
1977: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg)
1978: Perceval le Gallois (Éric Rohmer)
1979: The Marriage of Maria Braun (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)

1980: Kagemusha (Kurosawa Akira)
1981: The Aviator’s Wife (Éric Rohmer)
1982: Blade Runner (Ridley Scott)
1983: Sunless (Chris Marker)
1984: L’Argent (Robert Bresson)
1985: Ran (Kurosawa Akira)
1986: Blue Velvet (David Lynch)
1987: Ishtar (Elaine May)
1988: Die Hard (John McTiernan)
1989: Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee)

1990: The Unbelievable Truth (Hal Hartley)
1991: Trust (Hal Hartley)
1992: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (David Lynch)
1993: Hard-Boiled (John Woo)
1994: To Live (Zhang Yimou)
1995: Heat (Michael Mann)
1996: Chungking Express (Wong Kar-wai)
1997: Happy Together (Wong Kar-wai)
1998: Comrades: Almost a Love Story (Peter Chan)
1999: Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick)

2000: A One and a Two… (Edward Yang)
2001: Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch)
2002: Spirited Away (Miyazaki Hayao)
2003: Millennium Mambo (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
2004: Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-liang)
2005: Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
2006: Miami Vice (Michael Mann)
2007: Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
2008: Still Life (Jia Zhangke)
2009: Night and Day (Hong Sang-soo)

2010: The Ghost Writer (Roman Polański)
2011: Mysteries of Lisbon (Raúl Ruiz)
2012: The Day He Arrives (Hong Sang-soo)
2013: Like Someone in Love (Abbas Kiarostami)
2014: Stray Dogs (Tsai Ming-liang)
2015: The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
2016: Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke)
2017: Nocturama (Bertrand Bonello)
2018: The Day After (Hong Sang-soo)
2019: La Flor (Mariano Llinás)

2020: Martin Eden (Pietro Marcello)
2021: Drive My Car (Hamaguchi Ryusuke)
2022: The Novelist’s Film (Hong Sang-soo)
2023: Walk Up (Hong Sang-soo)
2024: The Beast (Bertrand Bonello)

Favorite Film by Release Year

Ryan Swen Lists

Main list.
Eligible films only.

1913: The Last Days of Pompeii (Mario Caserini & Eleuterio Rodolfi)
1914: Fantômas (Louis Feuillade)
1915: The Birth of a Nation (D. W. Griffith)
1916: Les Vampires (Louis Feuillade)
1917:
1918: Mickey (F. Richard Jones & James Young)
1919:

1920: Tih-Minh (Louis Feuillade)
1921: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene)
1922: Nanook of the North (Robert J. Flaherty)
1923: Safety Last! (Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor)
1924: Greed (Erich von Stroheim)
1925: Seven Chances (Buster Keaton)
1926: Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein)
1927: The General (Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman)
1928: The Docks of New York (Josef von Sternberg)
1929: Spione (Fritz Lang)

1930: Morocco (Josef von Sternberg)
1931: Dishonored (Josef von Sternberg)
1932: Shanghai Express (Josef von Sternberg)
1933: M (Fritz Lang)
1934: Fantômas (Fejős Pál)
1935: Ruggles of Red Gap (Leo McCarey)
1936: Fury (Fritz Lang)
1937: The Awful Truth (Leo McCarey)
1938: The Story of a Cheat (Sacha Guitry)
1939: Only Angels Have Wings (Howard Hawks)

1940: His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks)
1941: Citizen Kane (Orson Welles)
1942: The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles)
1943: The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (Fritz Lang)
1944: Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincente Minnelli)
1945: The Clock (Vincente Minnelli)
1946: Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock)
1947: Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur)
1948: Letter From an Unknown Woman (Max Ophuls)
1949: The Heiress (William Wyler)

1950: The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir)
1951: Rashomon (Kurosawa Akira)
1952: The Quiet Man (John Ford)
1953: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks)
1954: Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray)
1955: The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton)
1956: Seven Samurai (Kurosawa Akira)
1957: A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson)
1958: Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock)
1959: Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks)

1960: Hiroshima mon amour (Alain Resnais)
1961: Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard)
1962: Last Year at Marienbad (Alain Resnais)
1963: Muriel, or the Time of Return (Alain Resnais)
1964: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy)
1965: The Love Eterne (Li Han-hsiang)
1966: Gertrud (Carl Th. Dreyer)
1967: The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo)
1968: The Young Girls of Rochefort (Jacques Demy)
1969: Sansho the Bailiff (Mizoguchi Kenji)

1970: Au hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson)
1971: A New Leaf (Elaine May)
1972: Late Spring (Ozu Yasujiro)
1973: An Autumn Afternoon (Ozu Yasujiro)
1974: The Mother and the Whore (Jean Eustache)
1975: Moses and Aaron (Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet)
1976: The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
1977: F for Fake (Orson Welles)
1978: Céline and Julie Go Boating (Jacques Rivette)
1979: The Marriage of Maria Braun (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)

1980: Eraserhead (David Lynch)
1981: India Song (Marguerite Duras)
1982: Blade Runner (Ridley Scott)
1983: Sunless (Chris Marker)
1984: L’Argent (Robert Bresson)
1985: Ran (Kurosawa Akira)
1986: Blue Velvet (David Lynch)
1987: Ishtar (Elaine May)
1988: Les Rendez-vous d’Anna (Chantal Akerman)
1989: Peking Opera Blues (Tsui Hark)

1990: The Unbelievable Truth (Hal Hartley)
1991: Trust (Hal Hartley)
1992: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (David Lynch)
1993: My Neighbor Totoro (Miyazaki Hayao)
1994: The Devil, Probably (Robert Bresson)
1995: Heat (Michael Mann)
1996: Chungking Express (Wong Kar-wai)
1997: Happy Together (Wong Kar-wai)
1998: Comrades: Almost a Love Story (Peter Chan)
1999: Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami)

2000: A One and a Two… (Edward Yang)
2001: Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch)
2002: Spirited Away (Miyazaki Hayao)
2003: Platform (Jia Zhangke)
2004: Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-liang)
2005: Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
2006: Miami Vice (Michael Mann)
2007: Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
2008: Still Life (Jia Zhangke)
2009: Night and Day (Hong Sang-soo)

2010: World on a Wire (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
2011: A Brighter Summer Day (Edward Yang)
2012: The Day He Arrives (Hong Sang-soo)
2013: Like Someone in Love (Abbas Kiarostami)
2014: Stray Dogs (Tsai Ming-liang)
2015: Out 1: Noli me tangere (Jacques Rivette)
2016: A Touch of Zen (King Hu)
2017: Taipei Story (Edward Yang)
2018: Legend of the Mountain (King Hu)
2019: La Flor (Mariano Llinás)

2020: Yourself and Yours (Hong Sang-soo)
2021: Drive My Car (Hamaguchi Ryusuke)
2022: The Novelist’s Film (Hong Sang-soo)
2023: Walk Up (Hong Sang-soo)
2024: The End of Evangelion (Anno Hideaki)

2024 First Watches

Ryan Swen Lists Tags: ,

Renewed Appreciation: Kung Fu Hustle, Nocturama, Leviathan, There Will Be Blood, Zombi Child, Last Things

Shorts: Spacy, Thunder, This Action Lies, Train Again, We Don’t Talk Like We Used To, Grim, Ghost, Zone, Devil’s Circuit, Venus, Wall, NE CORRIDOR, (it’s not a prison if you never try the door), The Mummy’s Dream, Box, LUNA E SANTUR, (tourism studies), The United States of America, Dreams Under Confinement, Greetings From Crîngași!, Halimuhfack, BURNING STAR, Sunshine State (Extended Forecast), Laying Out, The Moon, 28.IV.81 (Descending Figures), Reckless Eyeballing, Speaking in Tongues: Take One, AGAINST LANDSCAPE

  1. Johnny Guitar (1954, Nicholas Ray) [March]
  2. La Région centrale (1971, Michael Snow) [March]
  3. The Beast (2023, Bertrand Bonello) [March]
  4. Le Trou (1960, Jacques Becker) [March]
  5. Evil Does Not Exist (2023, Hamaguchi Ryusuke) [May]
  6. The Human Surge 3 (2023, Eduardo Williams) [April]
  7. Drunken Master II (1994, Lau Kar-leung) [March]
  8. 11 x 14 (1977, James Benning) [April]
  9. One Way Boogie Woogie (1977, James Benning) [April]
  10. Waking Life (2001, Richard Linklater) [March]
  11. Boat People (1982, Ann Hui) [March]
  12. Landscape Suicide (1986, James Benning) [April]
  13. The Shadowless Tower (2023, Zhang Lu) [March]
  14. Eureka (2023, Lisandro Alonso) [April]
  15. Liverpool (2008, Lisandro Alonso) [April]
  16. Los muertos (2004, Lisandro Alonso) [April]
  17. El futuro (2013, Luis López Carrasco) [February]
  18. Drunken Master (1978, Yuen Woo-ping) [March]
  19. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (2023, Phạm Thiên Ân) [January]
  20. Man in Black (2023, Wang Bing) [January]
  21. Coma (2022, Bertrand Bonello) [March]
  22. The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed (2023, Joanna Arnow) [April]
  23. Sylvia Scarlett (1935, George Cukor) [March]
  24. Forty Guns (1957, Samuel Fuller) [March]
  25. Hit Man (2023, Richard Linklater) [January]
  26. Between the Temples (2024, Nathan Silver) [January]
  27. Nowhere Near (2023, Miko Revereza) [January]
  28. The Beast in the Jungle (2023, Patric Chiha) [April]
  29. The Sweet East (2023, Sean Price Williams) [January]
  30. Mambar Pierrette (2023, Rosine Mbakam) [February]
  31. AGGRO DR1FT (2023, Harmony Korine) [February]
  32. i hate myself 🙂 (2013, Joanna Arnow) [April]
  33. Dream Team (2024, Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn) [April]
  34. Challengers (2024, Luca Guadagnino) [May]
  35. Gasoline Rainbow (2023, Bill & Turner Ross) [April]
  36. Stinking Heaven (2015, Nathan Silver) [March]
  37. Mr. Nice Guy (1997, Sammo Hung) [March]
  38. Only the River Flows (2023, Wei Shujun) [February]
  39. Union (2024, Brett Story & Stephen Maing) [January]
  40. Europa Europa (1990, Agnieszka Holland) [January]
  41. Coconut Head Generation (2023, Alain Kassanda) [May]
  42. I Saw the TV Glow (2024, Jane Schoenbrun) [May]
  43. Dune: Part Two (2024, Denis Villeneuve) [March]
  44. Stress Positions (2024, Theda Hammel) [May]
  45. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021, Jane Schoenbrun) [January]
  46. Kneecap (2024, Rich Peppiatt) [January]
  47. Girls Will Be Girls (2024, Shuchi Talati) [January]
  48. Sujo (2024, Astrid Rondero & Fernanda Valadez) [January]
  49. Love Lies Bleeding (2024, Rose Glass) [March]
  50. American Fiction (2023, Cord Jefferson) [January]
  51. Good Bad Things (2024, Shane D. Stanger) [January]
  52. The People’s Joker (2022, Vera Drew) [March]
  53. Drive-Away Dykes (2024, Ethan Coen) [February]
  54. Dìdi (2024, Sean Wang) [January]
  55. Ibelin (2024, Benjamin Ree) [January]

Old

  1. Johnny Guitar (1954, Nicholas Ray)
  2. La Région centrale (1971, Michael Snow)
  3. Le Trou (1960, Jacques Becker)
  4. Drunken Master II (1994, Lau Kar-leung)
  5. 11 x 14 (1977, James Benning)
  6. One Way Boogie Woogie (1977, James Benning)
  7. Waking Life (2001, Richard Linklater)
  8. Boat People (1982, Ann Hui)
  9. Landscape Suicide (1986, James Benning)
  10. Liverpool (2008, Lisandro Alonso)
  11. Los muertos (2004, Lisandro Alonso)
  12. El futuro (2013, Luis López Carrasco)
  13. Drunken Master (1978, Yuen Woo-ping)
  14. Sylvia Scarlett (1935, George Cukor)
  15. Forty Guns (1957, Samuel Fuller)
  16. i hate myself 🙂 (2013, Joanna Arnow)
  17. Stinking Heaven (2015, Nathan Silver)
  18. Mr. Nice Guy (1997, Sammo Hung)
  19. Europa Europa (1990, Agnieszka Holland)
  20. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021, Jane Schoenbrun)

New

  1. The Beast (2023, Bertrand Bonello)
  2. Evil Does Not Exist (2023, Hamaguchi Ryusuke)
  3. The Human Surge 3 (2023, Eduardo Williams)
  4. The Shadowless Tower (2023, Zhang Lu)
  5. Eureka (2023, Lisandro Alonso)
  6. Hit Man (2023, Richard Linklater)
  7. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (2023, Phạm Thiên Ân)
  8. Man in Black (2023, Wang Bing)
  9. Coma (2022, Bertrand Bonello)
  10. The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed (2023, Joanna Arnow)
  11. Between the Temples (2024, Nathan Silver)
  12. Nowhere Near (2023, Miko Revereza)
  13. The Beast in the Jungle (2023, Patric Chiha)
  14. The Sweet East (2023, Sean Price Williams)
  15. Mambar Pierrette (2023, Rosine Mbakam)
  16. AGGRO DR1FT (2023, Harmony Korine)
  17. Dream Team (2024, Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn)
  18. Challengers (2024, Luca Guadagnino)
  19. Gasoline Rainbow (2023, Bill & Turner Ross)
  20. Only the River Flows (2023, Wei Shujun)
  21. Union (2024, Brett Story & Stephen Maing)
  22. Coconut Head Generation (2023, Alain Kassanda)
  23. I Saw the TV Glow (2024, Jane Schoenbrun)
  24. Dune: Part Two (2024, Denis Villeneuve)
  25. Stress Positions (2024, Theda Hammel)
  26. Kneecap (2024, Rich Peppiatt)
  27. Girls Will Be Girls (2024, Shuchi Talati)
  28. Sujo (2024, Astrid Rondero & Fernanda Valadez)
  29. Love Lies Bleeding (2024, Rose Glass)
  30. American Fiction (2023, Cord Jefferson)
  31. Good Bad Things (2024, Shane D. Stanger)
  32. The People’s Joker (2022, Vera Drew)
  33. Drive-Away Dykes (2024, Ethan Coen)
  34. Dìdi (2024, Sean Wang)
  35. Ibelin (2024, Benjamin Ree)

2024 Omnibus Log

Ryan Swen Lists Tags: ,

001. +Anatomy of a Fall (2023, Justine Triet) Television, File (Mother) 01 Jan – 9
002. +The Holdovers (2023, Alexander Payne) Television, File (Parents) 02 Jan – 7
003. Europa Europa (1990, Agnieszka Holland^) Television, File 08 Jan – 7
p001. The Secret Garden (1993, Agnieszka Holland) Television, File 08 Jan
004. Man in Black (2023, Wang Bing) 2220 Arts + Archives/Acropolis Cinema, File (Volunteer, Friend, Director Q&A) 13 Jan – 8
005. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021, Jane Schoenbrun^) Television, File 18 Jan – 6
006. Sujo (2024, Astrid Rondero^ & Fernanda Valadez^†) Metropolitan Holiday Village 4, DCP [Sundance] 19 Jan – 6 [slight]
s001. Dosh (2023, Radha Mehta) Yarrow Hotel, DCP [Slamdance] 20 Jan – 6
007. Good Bad Things (2024, Shane D. Stanger^) Yarrow Hotel, DCP [Slamdance] 20 Jan – 6
008. Between the Temples (2024, Nathan Silver†) Metropolitan Holiday Village 4, DCP [Sundance] 20 Jan – 8
009. Hit Man (2023, Richard Linklater†) Metropolitan Holiday Village 4, DCP [Sundance] 20 Jan – 8
010. American Fiction (2023, Cord Jefferson^) Television, DVD Screener 22 Jan – 6
011. Nowhere Near (2023, Miko Revereza^) REDCAT, DCP (Director Zoom Q&A) 22 Jan – 8
012. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (2023, Phạm Thiên Ân) Los Feliz 3, DCP (Friends) 25 Jan – 8
013. The Sweet East (2023, Sean Price Williams^) Landmark Nuart/Mezzanine, DCP (Director/Cast/Producers Q&A) 26 Jan – 8
014. Dìdi (2024, Sean Wang^) Monitor, Online Platform [Sundance] 27 Jan – 5
s002. Entrance Wounds (2023, Calum Walter) Monitor, Slamdance Channel [Slamdance] 27 Jan – 6
s003. Goddess of Speed (2023, Frédéric Moffet) Monitor, Slamdance Channel [Slamdance] 27 Jan – 6
s004. Light of Light (2023, Neritan Zinxhiria) Monitor, Slamdance Channel [Slamdance] 27 Jan – 7
s005. Lotus-Eyed Girl (2022, Rajee Samarasinghe) Monitor, Slamdance Channel [Slamdance] 27 Jan – 6
s006. Monolith (2023, Teresita Carson) Monitor, Slamdance Channel [Slamdance] 27 Jan – 6
s007. Nobody Wants to Fix Things Anymore (2023, Joseph Wilcox) Monitor, Slamdance Channel [Slamdance] 27 Jan – 5
s008. Nowhere Stream (2023, Luis Grane) Monitor, Slamdance Channel [Slamdance] 27 Jan – 5
s009. Welcome to the Enclave (2023, Sarah Lasley) Monitor, Slamdance Channel [Slamdance] 27 Jan – 4
015. +Je t’aime, je t’aime (1968, Alain Resnais¢) Television, Blu-ray 27 Jan – 9
016. Kneecap (2024, Rich Peppiatt^) Monitor, Online Platform [Sundance] 28 Jan – 6
017. Ibelin (2024, Benjamin Ree^) Monitor, Online Platform [Sundance] 28 Jan – 5
018. Girls Will Be Girls (2024, Shuchi Talati^) Monitor, Online Platform [Sundance] 28 Jan – 6
019. Union (2024, Brett Story^ & Stephen Maing^) Monitor, Online Platform [Sundance] 28 Jan – 7
s010. This Action Lies (2018, James N. Kienitz Wilkins) Television, File 04 Feb – 8
s011. Train Again (2021, Peter Tscherkassky) Television, File 07 Feb – 8
020. Only the River Flows (2023, Wei Shujun^) NeueHouse Venice Beach/Acropolis Cinema, File (Friends) 08 Feb – 7
021. +Last Things (2023, Deborah Stratman) Los Feliz 3, 35mm 08 Feb – 7 [slight]
s012. +(nostalgia) (1971, Hollis Frampton) Television, Blu-ray 09 Feb – 10
s013. +Rose Hobart (1936, Joseph Cornell) Television, File 09 Feb – 10 [up from 8]
022. AGGRO DR1FT (2023, Harmony Korine) Los Feliz 3, DCP (Friends, Director Q&A) 10 Feb – 7
p002. The Shadowless Tower (2023, Zhang Lu) NeueHouse Venice Beach/Acropolis Cinema, File (Friends) 12 Feb
023. El futuro (2013, Luis López Carrasco) Television, File 23 Feb – 8
s014. Reckless Eyeballing (2004, Christopher Harris) 2220 Arts + Archives/Los Angeles Filmforum, 16mm (Director Q&A) 25 Feb – 7
s015. 28.IV.81 (Bedouin Spark) (2009, Christopher Harris) 2220 Arts + Archives/Los Angeles Filmforum, 16mm (Director Q&A) 25 Feb – 6
s016. 28.IV.81 (Descending Figures) (2011, Christopher Harris) 2220 Arts + Archives/Los Angeles Filmforum, File (Director Q&A) 25 Feb – 7
s017. +28.IV.81 (Descending Figures) (2011, Christopher Harris) 2220 Arts + Archives/Los Angeles Filmforum, File (Director Q&A) 25 Feb – 7
s018. Halimuhfack (2016, Christopher Harris) 2220 Arts + Archives/Los Angeles Filmforum, File (Director Q&A) 25 Feb – 7
s019. Sunshine State (Extended Forecast) (2007, Christopher Harris) 2220 Arts + Archives/Los Angeles Filmforum, File (Director Q&A) 25 Feb – 7
s020. Distant Shores (2016, Christopher Harris) 2220 Arts + Archives/Los Angeles Filmforum, File (Director Q&A) 25 Feb – 6
s021. Dreams Under Confinement (2020, Christopher Harris) 2220 Arts + Archives/Los Angeles Filmforum, File (Director Q&A) 25 Feb – 8
s022. Speaking in Tongues: Take One (2024, Christopher Harris) 2220 Arts + Archives/Los Angeles Filmforum, File (Director Q&A) 25 Feb – 7
024. Drive-Away Dykes (2024, Ethan Coen) Regal L.A. Live, DCP 27 Feb – 5
025. +Kung Fu Hustle (2004, Stephen Chow) New Beverly, 35mm 27 Feb – 10 [up from 8]
026. +Shaolin Soccer (2001, Stephen Chow) New Beverly, 35mm (Friend) 27 Feb – 8
027. Mambar Pierrette (2023, Rosine Mbakam^) Laemmle Glendale/Acropolis Cinema, DCP (Friends) 28 Feb – 8
028. Dune: Part Two (2024, Denis Villeneuve) Regal Edwards South Gate, IMAX DCP 03 Mar – 6
029. Boat People (1982, Ann Hui^) Television, Blu-ray 05 Mar – 9
030. +There Will Be Blood (2007, Paul Thomas Anderson) New Beverly, 35mm 08 Mar – 9 [up from 8]
031. La Région centrale (1971, Michael Snow) Billy Wilder Theater, 16mm (Friends) 08 Mar – 10
032. Stinking Heaven (2015, Nathan Silver) Brain Dead Studios/Mezzanine, 35mm (Director Q&A) 12 Mar – 7
033. +Nocturama (2016, Bertrand Bonello) Television, Blu-ray 12 Mar – 10 [up from 9]
034. +Zombi Child (2019, Bertrand Bonello) Television, File 13 Mar – 8
035. Coma (2022, Bertrand Bonello) Television, File 13 Mar – 8
s023. Drip-Along Daffy (1951, Chuck Jones) New Beverly, 35mm (Friend) 13 Mar – 6
036. Johnny Guitar (1954, Nicholas Ray) New Beverly, 35mm (Friend) 13 Mar – 10
037. Forty Guns (1957, Samuel Fuller) New Beverly, 35mm (Friends, Relative Q&A) 13 Mar – 8
038. Drunken Master (1978, Yuen Woo-ping) Television, Blu-ray 14 Mar – 8
039. The People’s Joker (2022, Vera Drew^†) Vidiots, File (Friend) 14 Mar – 5
040. The Beast (2023, Bertrand Bonello†) Wilshire Screening Room, DCP 14 Mar – 10
041. Drunken Master II (1994, Lau Kar-leung) New Beverly, 35mm 15 Mar – 9
042. Mr. Nice Guy (1997, Sammo Hung) New Beverly, 35mm (Stuntman Q&A) 15 Mar – 7 [Cantonese dub]
043. The Shadowless Tower (2023, Zhang Lu^) 2220 Arts + Archives/Acropolis Cinema, File (Volunteer) 17 Mar – 8
044. Love Lies Bleeding (2024, Rose Glass^) Regal L.A. Live, DCP 19 Mar – 6
045. +The End of Evangelion (1997, Anno Hideaki) AMC Burbank, DCP (Friends) 20 Mar – 10
s024. Greetings From Crîngași! (2023, Radu Jude) Monitor, File 21 Mar – 7
046. Waking Life (2001, Richard Linklater) Los Feliz 3, 35mm 21 Mar – 9 [late]
s025. Videos With Mom: Breast (2007, Joshua Gen Solondz) Brain Dead Studios/Acropolis Cinema, DCP (Friends, Director Q&A) 26 Mar – 6
s026. BURNING STAR (2011, Joshua Gen Solondz) Brain Dead Studios/Acropolis Cinema, DCP (Friends, Director Q&A) 26 Mar – 7
s027. (it’s not a prison if you never try the doorm) (2013, Joshua Gen Solondz) Brain Dead Studios/Acropolis Cinema, DCP (Friends, Director Q&A) 26 Mar – 8
s028. AGAINST LANDSCAPE (2014, Joshua Gen Solondz) Brain Dead Studios/Acropolis Cinema, DCP (Friends, Director Q&A) 26 Mar – 7
s029. LUNA E SANTUR (2016, Joshua Gen Solondz) Brain Dead Studios/Acropolis Cinema, 35mm (Friends, Director Q&A) 26 Mar – 8
s030. (tourism studies) (2019, Joshua Gen Solondz) Brain Dead Studios/Acropolis Cinema, 35mm (Friends, Director Q&A) 26 Mar – 8
s031. NE CORRIDOR (2022, Joshua Gen Solondz) Brain Dead Studios/Acropolis Cinema, 35mm (Friends, Director Q&A) 26 Mar – 8
s032. We Don’t Talk Like We Used To (2023, Joshua Gen Solondz) Brain Dead Studios/Acropolis Cinema, 35mm (Friends, Director Q&A) 26 Mar – 8
047. Le Trou (1960, Jacques Becker^) Egyptian Theatre, DCP (Friend) 27 Mar – 10
048. Sylvia Scarlett (1935, George Cukor) Academy Museum, 35mm 29 Mar – 8
s033. +Screw (1982, Ito Takashi) Monitor, File 30 Mar – 6
s034. Spacy (1981, Ito Takashi) Academy Museum, 16mm (Friends) 30 Mar – 10
s035. Box (1982, Ito Takashi) Academy Museum, 16mm (Friends) 30 Mar – 8
s036. Thunder (1982, Ito Takashi) Academy Museum, 16mm (Friends) 30 Mar – 9
s037. Devil’s Circuit (1988, Ito Takashi) Academy Museum, 16mm (Friends) 30 Mar – 8
s038. The Mummy’s Dream (1989, Ito Takashi) Academy Museum, 16mm (Friends) 30 Mar – 8
s039. Wall (1987, Ito Takashi) Academy Museum, 16mm (Friends) 30 Mar – 8
s040. Apparatus M (1996, Ito Takashi) Academy Museum, 16mm (Friends) 30 Mar – 7
s041. Venus (1990, Ito Takashi) Academy Museum, 16mm (Friends) 30 Mar – 8
s042. Grim (1985, Ito Takashi) Academy Museum, 16mm (Friends) 30 Mar – 8
s043. The Moon (1994, Ito Takashi) Academy Museum, 16mm (Friends) 30 Mar – 7
s044. Zone (1995, Ito Takashi) Academy Museum, 16mm (Friends) 30 Mar – 8
s045. Ghost (1984, Ito Takashi) Monitor, File 30 Mar – 8
049. The Beast in the Jungle (2023, Patric Chiha^) Television, File 03 Apr – 8
050. Gasoline Rainbow (2023, Bill & Turner Ross) 2220 Arts + Archives, DCP (Friend, Directors Q&A) [Los Angeles Festival of Movies] 05 Apr – 7
051. The Human Surge 3 (2023, Eduardo Williams) 2220 Arts + Archives, DCP (Friends, Director Q&A) [Los Angeles Festival of Movies] 05 Apr – 9
052. Dream Team (2024, Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn) 2220 Arts + Archives, DCP (Friends, Directors Q&A) [Los Angeles Festival of Movies] 06 Apr – 8
053. +The Beast (2023, Bertrand Bonello) AMC Burbank, DCP (Friend, Director Q&A) 07 Apr – 10
054. +Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003, Thom Andersen) Aero Theatre, DCP (Friend, Director Q&A) 11 Apr – 10
s046. +Sarah Winchester: Ghost Opera (2016, Bertrand Bonello) Television, Blu-ray 12 Apr – 7 [up from 6]
055. +Leviathan (2012, Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Véréna Paravel) Aero Theatre, DCP (Friends, Directors Q&A) 13 Apr – 9 [slight; up from 8]
056. +Sweetgrass (2009, Ilisa Barbash & Lucien Castaing-Taylor) Aero Theatre, DCP (Friends, Directors Q&A) 13 Apr – 8 [slight]
s047. The United States of America (1975, James Benning & Bette Gordon) Television, File 18 Apr – 8
057. Landscape Suicide (1986, James Benning) Television, File 18 Apr – 9
058. i hate myself 🙂 (2013, Joanna Arnow^) Television, File 18 Apr – 8
s048. +Bad at Dancing (2015, Joanna Arnow) Television, File 18 Apr – 8
s049. Laying Out (2019, Joanna Arnow) Television, File 18 Apr – 7
059. One Way Boogie Woogie (1977, James Benning) Television, File 18 Apr – 9
060. The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed (2023, Joanna Arnow†) Soho House, DCP 18 Apr – 8 [late]
061. 11 x 14 (1977, James Benning) Television, File 18 Apr – 9
062. Eureka (2023, Lisandro Alonso) Egyptian Theatre, DCP (Friends, Director Q&A) 26 Apr – 9 [slight]
063. Los muertos (2004, Lisandro Alonso) Egyptian Theatre, 35mm (Friend, Director Q&A) 27 Apr – 9 [slight]
064. Liverpool (2008, Lisandro Alonso) Egyptian Theatre, 35mm (Friend, Director Q&A) 27 Apr – 9 [subtitles]
065. Challengers (2024, Luca Guadagnino) Regal L.A. Live, DCP 01 May – 8
066. Evil Does Not Exist (2023, Hamaguchi Ryusuke) AMC The Grove, DCP (Director Q&A) 05 May – 9
067. I Saw the TV Glow (2024, Jane Schoenbrun) AMC The Grove, DCP 07 May – 6 [late]
068. Coconut Head Generation (2023, Alain Kassanda^) Laemmle Monica Film Center, DCP 07 May – 7 [slight]
069. Stress Positions (2024, Theda Hammel^) Landmark Sunset, DCP 08 May – 6
070. +Red Sorghum (1988, Zhang Yimou) Television, File 08 May – 7
071. +Ju Dou (1990, Zhang Yimou & Yang Fengliang) Television, File 08 May – 7 [down from 8]

2024 Viewing Log

Ryan Swen Lists Tags: ,

January
+Anatomy of a Fall (2023, Justine Triet) – 9
+The Holdovers (2023, Alexander Payne) – 7
Europa Europa (1990, Agnieszka Holland) – 7
Man in Black (2023, Wang Bing) – 8
We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021, Jane Schoenbrun) – 6
Sujo (2024, Astrid Rondero & Fernanda Valadez) Sundance, DP – 6
Dosh (2023, Radha Mehta) Slamdance, DP
Good Bad Things (2024, Shane D. Stanger) Slamdance, DP – 6
Between the Temples (2024, Nathan Silver) Sundance, DP – 8
Hit Man (2023, Richard Linklater) Sundance, DP – 8
American Fiction (2023, Cord Jefferson) – 6
Nowhere Near (2023, Miko Revereza) DP – 8
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (2023, Phạm Thiên Ân) DP – 8
The Sweet East (2023, Sean Price Williams) DP – 8
Dìdi (2024, Sean Wang) Sundance – 5
Entrance Wounds (2023, Calum Walter) Slamdance
Goddess of Speed (2023, Frédéric Moffet) Slamdance
Light of Light (2023, Neritan Zinxhiria) Slamdance
Lotus-Eyed Girl (2022, Rajee Samarasinghe) Slamdance
Monolith (2023, Teresita Carson) Slamdance
Nobody Wants to Fix Things Anymore (2023, Joseph Wilcox) Slamdance
Nowhere Stream (2023, Luis Grane) Slamdance
Welcome to the Enclave (2023, Sarah Lasley) Slamdance
+Je t’aime, je t’aime (1968, Alain Resnais) – 9
Kneecap (2024, Rich Peppiatt) Sundance – 6
Ibelin (2024, Benjamin Ree) Sundance – 5
Girls Will Be Girls (2024, Shuchi Talati) Sundance – 6
Union (2024, Brett Story & Stephen Maing) Sundance – 7

February
This Action Lies (2018, James N. Kienitz Wilkins)
Train Again (2021, Peter Tscherkassky)
Only the River Flows (2023, Wei Shujun) DP – 7
+Last Things (2023, Deborah Stratman) 35mm – 7
+(nostalgia) (1971, Hollis Frampton)
+Rose Hobart (1936, Joseph Cornell)
AGGRO DR1FT (2023, Harmony Korine) DP – 7
El futuro (2013, Luis López Carrasco) – 8
Reckless Eyeballing (2004, Christopher Harris) 16mm
28.IV.81 (Bedouin Spark) (2009, Christopher Harris) 16mm
28.IV.81 (Descending Figures) (2011, Christopher Harris) DP
+28.IV.81 (Descending Figures) (2011, Christopher Harris) DP
Halimuhfack (2016, Christopher Harris) DP
Sunshine State (Extended Forecast) (2007, Christopher Harris) DP
Distant Shores (2016, Christopher Harris) DP
Dreams Under Confinement (2020, Christopher Harris) DP
Speaking in Tongues: Take One (2024, Christopher Harris) DP
Drive-Away Dykes (2024, Ethan Coen) DP – 5
+Kung Fu Hustle (2004, Stephen Chow) 35mm – 10 [up from 8]
+Shaolin Soccer (2001, Stephen Chow) 35mm – 8
Mambar Pierrette (2023, Rosine Mbakam) DP – 8

March
Dune: Part Two (2024, Denis Villeneuve) DP – 6
Boat People (1982, Ann Hui) – 9
+There Will Be Blood (2007, Paul Thomas Anderson) 35mm – 9 [up from 8]
La Région centrale (1971, Michael Snow) 16mm – 10
Stinking Heaven (2015, Nathan Silver) 35mm – 7
+Nocturama (2016, Bertrand Bonello) – 10 [up from 9]
+Zombi Child (2019, Bertrand Bonello) – 8
Coma (2022, Bertrand Bonello) – 8
Drip-Along Daffy (1951, Chuck Jones) 35mm
Johnny Guitar (1954, Nicholas Ray) 35mm – 10
Forty Guns (1957, Samuel Fuller) 35mm – 8
Drunken Master (1978, Yuen Woo-ping) – 8
The People’s Joker (2022, Vera Drew) DP – 5
The Beast (2023, Bertrand Bonello) DP – 10
Drunken Master II (1994, Lau Kar-leung) 35mm – 9
Mr. Nice Guy (1997, Sammo Hung) 35mm – 7
The Shadowless Tower (2023, Zhang Lu) DP – 8
Love Lies Bleeding (2024, Rose Glass) DP – 6
+The End of Evangelion (1997, Anno Hideaki) DP – 10
Greetings From Crîngași! (2023, Radu Jude)
Waking Life (2001, Richard Linklater) 35mm – 9
Videos With Mom: Breast (2007, Joshua Gen Solondz) DP
BURNING STAR (2011, Joshua Gen Solondz) DP
(it’s not a prison if you never try the door) (2013, Joshua Gen Solondz) DP
AGAINST LANDSCAPE (2014, Joshua Gen Solondz) DP
LUNA E SANTUR (2016, Joshua Gen Solondz) 35mm
(tourism studies) (2019, Joshua Gen Solondz) 35mm
NE CORRIDOR (2022, Joshua Gen Solondz) 35mm
We Don’t Talk Like We Used To (2023, Joshua Gen Solondz) 35mm
Le Trou (1960, Jacques Becker) DP – 10
Sylvia Scarlett (1935, George Cukor) 35mm – 8
+Screw (1982, Ito Takashi)
Spacy (1981, Ito Takashi) 16mm
Box (1982, Ito Takashi) 16mm
Thunder (1982, Ito Takashi) 16mm
Devil’s Circuit (1988, Ito Takashi) 16mm
The Mummy’s Dream (1989, Ito Takashi) 16mm
Wall (1987, Ito Takashi) 16mm
Apparatus M (1996, Ito Takashi) 16mm
Venus (1990, Ito Takashi) 16mm
Grim (1985, Ito Takashi) 16mm
The Moon (1994, Ito Takashi) 16mm
Zone (1995, Ito Takashi) 16mm
Ghost (1984, Ito Takashi)

April
The Beast in the Jungle (2023, Patric Chiha) – 8
Gasoline Rainbow (2023, Bill & Turner Ross) LAFM, DP – 7
The Human Surge 3 (2023, Eduardo Williams) LAFM, DP – 9
Dream Team (2024, Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn) LAFM, DP – 8
+The Beast (2023, Bertrand Bonello) DP – 10
+Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003, Thom Andersen) DP – 10
+Sarah Winchester: Ghost Opera (2016, Bertrand Bonello)
+Leviathan (2012, Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Véréna Paravel) DP – 9 [up from 8]
+Sweetgrass (2009, Ilisa Barbash & Lucien Castaing-Taylor) DP – 8
The United States of America (1975, James Benning & Bette Gordon)
Landscape Suicide (1986, James Benning) – 9
i hate myself 🙂 (2013, Joanna Arnow) – 8
+Bad at Dancing (2015, Joanna Arnow)
Laying Out (2019, Joanna Arnow)
One Way Boogie Woogie (1977, James Benning) – 9
The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed (2023, Joanna Arnow) DP – 8
11 x 14 (1977, James Benning) – 9
Eureka (2023, Lisandro Alonso) DP – 9
Los muertos (2004, Lisandro Alonso) 35mm – 9
Liverpool (2008, Lisandro Alonso) 35mm – 9

May
Challengers (2024, Luca Guadagnino) DP – 8
Evil Does Not Exist (2023, Hamaguchi Ryusuke) DP – 9
I Saw the TV Glow (2024, Jane Schoenbrun) DP – 6
Coconut Head Generation (2023, Alain Kassanda) DP – 7
Stress Positions (2024, Theda Hammel) DP – 6
+Red Sorghum (1988, Zhang Yimou) – 7
+Ju Dou (1990, Zhang Yimou & Yang Fengliang) – 7 [down from 8]

A Consensus Confusion [Top 10 of 2023]

Ryan Swen Lists Tags: , Leave a comment

I’ve made one of these wrap-up posts every year since 2016, which save for one or two cursory paragraphs merely acted as a repository for me to list all of the films that had a strong affection during that particular release year; over on The Film Stage I also wrote a few sentences that accompanied each film on my top 10 from 2017 to 2020. However, this year I felt like expanding this into a full-fledged feature. There are a number of reasons for this: first and foremost, I recently saw that Jonathan Rosenbaum reposted one of his yearly lists for the Chicago Reader on his website and decided it was another one of his great ideas that I could poach (cf. the titling system and rating blocks at the head of each review on here); Justin Chang’s Los Angeles Times roundups played a part as well. The fact that this exercise had started to feel de rigueur and needed spicing up for me to remain interested in it certainly helped matters.

But just as important is the quality of films this year, and how I and others have received them. By my estimation, this might be the very best year I’ve experienced for film (when taken by US theatrical release) since I started truly paying attention to it back in 2016. In terms of sheer number of truly great films, only 2016 and 2019 truly compare, and I generally feel a greater passion for this year’s selection that I can’t chalk up just to recency bias; this, despite the fact that I’ve gotten around too far fewer films than in those years. Part of this is simply canny prioritization, but part of it is a potentially worrying further step in my longstanding leniency—I avoided seeing a single film I flat-out didn’t like until the last few weeks.

And yet, despite this overall positivity, there’s been a whole spate of American films where my admiration is leagues more muted than the general consensus. I was rather sorely tempted to dedicate a large section of this post simply to Armond White-esque Better Thans, making comparisons just between these excellent but mildly-to-moderately overpraised works to films that I loved more and had a greater insight into a peculiar shared subject matter, yet didn’t make it onto my top 10, but I’ll just confine myself to listing and not explaining, some more readily explicable and commented upon than others: Priscilla > Killers of the Flower Moon; Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. > The Holdovers; Occupied City > The Zone of Interest; Nobody’s Hero > Passages; Ferrari > Oppenheimer.

With those juxtapositions in mind, it’s at least a little frustrating to see some observations that have risen up about the nature of consensus with regards to this particular year. It’s true that, to take just my list as an example, that every film—with the perennially hazy example of Hong Sang-soo—has and will continue to appear on many people’s top ten lists, though some are inevitably vastly more popular than others. But the aforementioned multitude of films that people have praised inevitably causes certain gaps in what some publication voting blocs focus on compared to others. To take just the Film Comment list—a fairly widespread group of people (which I am a part of), close to if not fully representative of a person well-versed in this year’s offerings—as an example: I could very easily put together a list of ten films that have gotten an overwhelming deal of praise in one sector or another but which did not even make the published top twenty: Oppenheimer, Barbie, The Holdovers, Past Lives, Poor Things, The Taste of Things, All of Us Strangers, The Killer, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret., Perfect Days. The fact that this list just on its own could be the entirety of a fairly average critic’s top 10 (not to imply that this is the case) speaks to the breadth of this year, as do the pointed exclusions from the above list of a moderately well-seen acclaimed work like The Delinquents or a more divisive effort like Maestro. Sure, there are still the ideas of over-generousness and conformity to contend with, and the lack of something like A New Old Play which got infinitely less recognition than anything on my list from last or this year (Locarno premiere notwithstanding).

But I would contend that this is nothing new, that listmaking when it comes to the best films of the year always risks the potential of repeating others (especially those with a marked influence on one’s own taste). Does the film culture landscape absolutely need yet another list with, say, the Todd Haynes on it? Absolutely not. But I know that my list would not be true to myself and what I love in film if it was absent, and that’s ultimately what these gratifying endeavors entail. So, from my vantage point enmeshed in far too many different areas of this cinematic landscape, to imply in such a year packed with brilliant films that it’s the same ten films over and over again is total nonsense.

As always, this list is merely meant to capture my feelings about the films I was able to see at this moment in time, strictly limited to the films that were theatrically released in New York City this year.

1. Walk Up. Admittedly, much of my total ardor likely rests in its synthesis of my favorite period of Hong Sang-soo, stretching roughly from Oki’s Movie to Yourself and Yours, and his current occupations with aging and mortality. Haunted is the word I’ve applied over and over again to it, and it also handily describes the way it hangs over my psyche; in truth it’s a hard film for me to write about, both because I saw it only once a year ago and because the emotions it stirs up within me are themselves elusive and unsettled. If it makes for an odder and less popular number one (and top-tier Hong) than, say, The Novelist’s Film or On the Beach at Night Alone, then maybe that’s for the better; when my favorite working director can shake and confound me, it’s all the more wondrous to behold.

2. Pacifiction. A film that, despite being resolutely atmospheric, seems to be filled with nothing but indelible moments. Still resoundingly the directorial achievement of the year, Albert Serra’s effort just looks and feels like nothing else I can recall seeing, fit for an examination of all things uncanny and defamiliarized. While it takes the ghosts of colonialism and militarism potentially resurrected as its subject, the settings and hazy glow are modern yet out of present time, as is Benoît Magimel’s still best-of-the-year performance. One in the great trilogy of white-suit outsider films from the past few years (alongside Joe Alwyn in Stars at Noon and Josh O’Connor in La chimera); I’ll never stop thinking about him fruitlessly searching for a submarine with a handheld flashlight at night, or surmounting a mammoth wave on the back of a jet ski, or standing in the rain at a stadium. The sights and sounds it offers can’t be encapsulated, only witnessed.

3. Showing Up. Such a forthrightly quiet and minor film, such that it’s become something of a deserved cause célèbre for those of us who adore “smallness.” I’d trade that quiet scene of sculpting arms for most anything this year, and Kelly Reichardt’s wry comedic sensibilities go hand-in-hand with the sense of negotiating one’s own way of life, one little action or word at a time. The corporeal weight of what in other hands might be caricature or heavy-handed metaphor grounds this in a way that represents a new apex for this American treasure: creativity struggles to free itself from drudgery for all of its characters with varying degrees of visibility, and its exhale offers such a sweet reprieve.

4. Anatomy of a Fall. The most misunderstood great film of the year. I must confess that it’s been a relief to see people actually familiar with Justine Triet’s interests broadly appreciate this more than those just seeing it as the prestige Palme d’Or winner/courtroom drama, but its virtues—a uniformly strong and cunning ensemble, a multivarious approach to various means of videography, a canny understanding of the limits of narrativity in both fiction and in ostensibly truth-finding endeavors—still feel undervalued to me, even apart from the more obvious virtues of Hüller’s performance and the engrossing screenplay. If only the average example of middlebrow filmmaking was even half as entertaining or intelligent as this.

5. May December. The word that keeps coming to mind with this unexpected consensus favorite is diabolical, which for me puts it in the same quality of emotional savagery as Orphan, which is a genuine compliment. Todd Haynes’s high-wire act straddling the nasty and the painful, the queasy and the tender—all often in the same scene—never yields its secrets or offers an easy explanation, and what emerges in its wake is a ferociously brilliant moment-by-moment interrogation of perception augmented by a great modulation of dramatic interrogations. Maybe it’s this mix of ruthlessness and generosity that is exciting so many people, maybe it’s the delicious sparring between two stars and the ingenue caught between them; whatever it is, I’m glad its place is secure.

6. Fallen Leaves. Admittedly, my general lack of firsthand familiarity with Aki Kaurismäki’s world might mean that I’m overvaluing this. But it’s also true that my ever-increasing passion for this film led me to overhaul the bottom half of this list just before I began writing this piece. More than anything it’s an elemental film, one that weirdly reminded me of nothing less than Letter From an Unknown Woman in terms of its sheer appeal towards me with respect to its purity of emotion and expression. The detail of work, the deployment of Ukraine-Russia war broadcasts and a future-dated calendar as counterpoint to the simple pleasures of a karaoke rendition or a postmodern zombie film, the sublime ease of a piece of paper blown into the gutter: such things are to be cherished, and that feeling has only strengthened.

7. Afire. Really a marvel of slow genre shift, from scabrous satire about the creative process and artist myopia to its rapprochement within the context of catastrophe. Even taking into account the protean nature of the films of Christian Petzold I have gotten around to, I wasn’t prepared for his willingness to dive into tragedy after making so many (deserved) jokes at his hapless protagonist’s expense, working on a series of quiet revelations with each character that more than earns its deliberate invocations of La Collectionneuse. That Sakamoto needle drop and sudden intrusion of voiceover herald a fraught relationship with fiction and swell of a blindsided, choked-up sensation that reminded me of nothing less than Romancing in Thin Air; I moved this up along with its predecessor and still might be underrating it.

8. De Humani Corporis Fabrica. Even allowing for my definite preference for the experiential documentary above all else, Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor’s latest project got to me immediately. It isn’t just the abstract interior views of fellow members of our species; the corridors of the hospital are treated as every bit an object of aesthetic fascination as its purported subject. Indeed, the film continually expands outwards by focusing inwards; as the bodies accumulate, I felt only more aware of how weird it is that we’re alive and breathing at all, able to experience the hopeful betterment of others. One of the best, most mystifying final scenes of the year too, full stop.

9. Youth (Spring). Like with #6, I don’t know exactly how much of my appreciation for Wang Bing’s film comes from my total lack of experience with his work, which stings doubly considering I had meant to watch a lot of his work this year. Hopefully that’ll happen in the next half month, but purely based on this, the experience of his cinema is more legitimately engaging and invested in the interactions of individuals than I expected. The sly construction of mini-narratives, the rough-and-tumble camerawork to capture the motion of its subjects, the abbreviated epilogue; there’s a degree to which surprise can form an outsized influence on this list, but this formed three and a half of the most shockingly engaging hours I experienced all year.

10. Asteroid City. This was the other big adjustment on the list, which I’m already reconsidering. By far my favorite Wes Anderson since his masterpiece The Grand Budapest Hotel nine years ago, it’s not that I’ve come to love it significantly less than signified by its prior place just outside the top five, just that these other films have since taken up more space in my brain. There’s something almost too assured about its conceit that has eluded Anderson in the past, a delicate interplay between two strands of fiction still capable of the outpourings of feeling, complex blocking, and surprising cast configurations that will always be absent from his imitators. And the bass clarinets swelling as the camera soars skywards as the green-bathed spectators stare in awe at the spaceship is a thing of immense beauty.

As I’ve repeatedly made clear, this was a tremendous year for film, and I’m still surprised I couldn’t make room for the labyrinthine Argentine triumphs of Laura Citarella’s Trenque Lauquen and Rodrigo Moreno’s The Delinquents, Hong’s genuinely radical in water, or Michael Mann’s exquisitely thorny Ferrari. Some other extraordinarily worthy releases: Frederick Wiseman’s Menus-Plaisirs—Les Troisgros (finally one of his I can fully embrace), Alice Rohrwacher’s La chimera (myth as all-consuming quest), Miyazaki Hayao’s How Do You Live? (the masterpiece-hailers and totally confounded are both probably right), Steve McQueen’s Occupied City (my favorite of his films, a thoroughly considered structural marvel), Dustin Guy Defa’s The Adults (utterly gutting sibling dynamics and self-loathing), James N. Kienitz Wilkins’s Still Film (image interrogation as hilariously logorrheic auto-crosstalk x4), Ashley McKenzie’s Queens of the Qing Dynasty (a miracle of face and eye acting), Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One (ludicrously fun in the spirit of Feuillade), Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla (curdled iconography as its own off-kilter glamor), Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers (surprisingly fascinating and moving in its adaptation choices), Alain Gomis’s Rewind & Play (scintillating archival footage, equal parts indignant questioning and genius performance), Huang Ji & Otsuka Ryuji’s Stonewalling (one of the definitive films about the gig economy *and* pandemic), Soi Cheang’s Mad Fate (wonderfully insane spirituality, even if it isn’t as singular as his Limbo which I thought was eligible for much of the year), and Kelly Fremon Craig’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (genuinely felt studio filmmaking that engages with its period). May 2024 bring both just as many strong films and better results in the things and places that matter.

Favorite Film by Year

Ryan Swen Lists

Favorite film per release year.
Favorite film per release year without films released more than two years after their premiere year.

1895: Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory in Lyon (Louis & Auguste Lumière)
1896: The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station (Louis & Auguste Lumière)
1897:
1898:
1899:

1900:
1901:
1902: A Trip to the Moon (Georges Méliès)
1903:
1904: The Mermaid (Georges Méliès)
1905: The Black Imp (Georges Méliès)
1906:
1907: Tunneling the English Channel (Georges Méliès)
1908:
1909:

1910: The Unchanging Sea (D. W. Griffith)
1911:
1912: The Musketeers of Pig Alley (D. W. Griffith)
1913: Fantômas (Louis Feuillade)
1914: Kid Auto Races at Venice (Henry Lehrman)
1915: Les Vampires (Louis Feuillade)
1916:
1917:
1918: Tih-Minh (Louis Feuillade)
1919:

1920:
1921:
1922: Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (Fritz Lang)
1923: Safety Last! (Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor)
1924: Greed (Erich von Stroheim)
1925: Seven Chances (Buster Keaton)
1926: The General (Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman)
1927: Napoléon (Abel Gance)
1928: Spione (Fritz Lang)
1929: Man With a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov)

1930: Morocco (Josef von Sternberg)
1931: M (Fritz Lang)
1932: Shanghai Express (Josef von Sternberg)
1933: The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (Fritz Lang)
1934: The Goddess (Wu Yonggang)
1935: Ruggles of Red Gap (Leo McCarey)
1936: Rose Hobart (Joseph Cornell)
1937: The Awful Truth (Leo McCarey)
1938: Holiday (George Cukor)
1939: Only Angels Have Wings (Howard Hawks)

1940: His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks)
1941: Citizen Kane (Orson Welles)
1942: The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles)
1943: Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren & Alexander Hammid)
1944: Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincente Minnelli)
1945: The Clock (Vincente Minnelli)
1946: Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock)
1947: Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur)
1948: Letter From an Unknown Woman (Max Ophuls)
1949: Late Spring (Ozu Yasujiro)

1950: La Ronde (Max Ophuls)
1951: Diary of a Country Priest (Robert Bresson)
1952: The Golden Coach (Jean Renoir)
1953: Duck Amuck (Chuck Jones)
1954: Seven Samurai (Kurosawa Akira)
1955: The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton)
1956: A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson)
1957: Pyaasa (Guru Dutt)
1958: Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock)
1959: Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks)

1960: Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard)
1961: Last Year at Marienbad (Alain Resnais)
1962: La Jetée (Chris Marker)
1963: Muriel, or the Time of Return (Alain Resnais)
1964: Gertrud (Carl Th. Dreyer)
1965: Pierrot le Fou (Jean-Luc Godard)
1966: All My Life (Bruce Baillie)
1967: The Young Girls of Rochefort (Jacques Demy)
1968: Death by Hanging (Oshima Nagisa)
1969: L’Amour fou (Jacques Rivette)

1970: Zorns Lemma (Hollis Frampton)
1971: A Touch of Zen (King Hu)
1972: Out 1: Spectre (Jacques Rivette)
1973: The Mother and the Whore (Jean Eustache)
1974: Céline and Julie Go Boating (Jacques Rivette)
1975: India Song (Marguerite Duras)
1976: News From Home (Chantal Akerman)
1977: Eraserhead (David Lynch)
1978: Perceval le Gallois (Éric Rohmer)
1979: Dirty Ho (Lau Kar-leung)

1980: Simone Barbès or Virtue (Marie-Claude Treilhou)
1981: Spacy (Ito Takashi)
1982: Blade Runner (Ridley Scott)
1983: Sunless (Chris Marker)
1984: Shanghai Blues (Tsui Hark)
1985: Taipei Story (Edward Yang)
1986: Peking Opera Blues (Tsui Hark)
1987: Eastern Condors (Sammo Hung)
1988: My Neighbor Totoro (Miyazaki Hayao)
1989: A City of Sadness (Hou Hsiao-hsien)

1990: Trust (Hal Hartley)
1991: A Brighter Summer Day (Edward Yang)
1992: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (David Lynch)
1993: Naked (Mike Leigh)
1994: Chungking Express (Wong Kar-wai)
1995: Heat (Michael Mann)
1996: Comrades: Almost a Love Story (Peter Chan)
1997: Cure (Kurosawa Kiyoshi)
1998: The Hole (Tsai Ming-liang)
1999: Beau Travail (Claire Denis)

2000: A One and a Two… (Edward Yang)
2001: Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch)
2002: Femme Fatale (Brian De Palma)
2003: Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-liang)
2004: Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
2005: L’Enfant (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)
2006: Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
2007: The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom (Adam Curtis)
2008: Sparrow (Johnnie To)
2009: Oxhide II (Liu Jiayin)

2010: Mysteries of Lisbon (Raúl Ruiz)
2011: The Day He Arrives (Hong Sang-soo)
2012: Like Someone in Love (Abbas Kiarostami)
2013: Stray Dogs (Tsai Ming-liang)
2014: Phoenix (Christian Petzold)
2015: Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke)
2016: Yourself and Yours (Hong Sang-soo)
2017: Twin Peaks: The Return (David Lynch)
2018: La Flor (Mariano Llinás)
2019: Martin Eden (Pietro Marcello)

2020: Days (Tsai Ming-liang)
2021: Drive My Car (Hamaguchi Ryusuke)
2022: Walk Up (Hong Sang-soo)
2023: The Beast (Bertrand Bonello)
2024: Between the Temples (Nathan Silver)

2023 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards Ballot

Ryan Swen Lists Tags: ,

Career Achievement
(3) Nathaniel Dorsky
(2) Sammo Hung
(1) Nakadai Tatsuya

The Douglas Edwards Experimental/Independent Film/Video Award
(3) in water
(2) Youth (Spring)
(1) Where

Best Cinematography
(3) Pacifiction
(2) Limbo
(1) in water

Best Music/Score
(3) Asteroid City
(2) May December
(1) Afire

Best Production Design
(3) Fallen Leaves
(2) Asteroid City
(1) La chimera

Best Editing
(3) Anatomy of a Fall
(2) The Delinquents
(1) Priscilla

Best Animation
(3) The Boy and the Heron

Best Lead Performance
(5) Benoît Magimel, Pacifiction
(4) Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall
(3) Michelle Williams, Showing Up
(2) Laura Paredes, Trenque Lauquen
(1) Michael Cera, The Adults

Best Supporting Performance
(5) Hong Chau, Showing Up
(4) Swann Arlaud, Anatomy of a Fall
(3) Rachel McAdams, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
(2) Pahoa Mahagafanau, Pacifiction
(1) Pom Klementieff, Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One

Best Screenplay
(3) Walk Up
(2) Anatomy of a Fall
(1) May December

Best Documentary/Non-Fiction Film
(3) Occupied City
(2) Menus-Plaisirs—Les Troisgros
(1) Rewind & Play

Best Director
(3) Albert Serra, Pacifiction
(2) Michael Mann, Ferrari
(1) Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall

Best Picture
(3) Walk Up
(2) Pacifiction
(1) Showing Up

Best Film Not in the English Language
(3) Fallen Leaves
(2) Afire
(1) Anatomy of a Fall

New Generation
(3) Ashley McKenzie, Queens of the Qing Dynasty
(2) Dustin Guy Defa, The Adults
(1) Huang Ji & Otsuka Ryuji, Stonewalling

Archival Top Ten Lists

Ryan Swen Lists

Premiere Year

2016

  1. Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan)
  2. Cameraperson (Kirsten Johnson)
  3. The Handmaiden (Park Chan-wook)
  4. O.J.: Made in America (Ezra Edelman)
  5. Elle (Paul Verhoeven)
  6. Kate Plays Christine (Robert Greene)
  7. Certain Women (Kelly Reichardt)
  8. Things to Come (Mia Hansen-Løve)
  9. Sully (Clint Eastwood)
  10. Creepy (Kurosawa Kiyoshi)

2017

  1. Twin Peaks: The Return (David Lynch)
  2. On the Beach at Night Alone (Hong Sang-soo)
  3. The Work (Jairus McLeary and Gethin Aldous)
  4. Faces Places (Agnès Varda & JR)
  5. Princess Cyd (Stephen Cone)
  6. Good Time (Josh & Benny Safdie)
  7. Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (S. S. Rajamouli)
  8. The Day After (Hong Sang-soo)
  9. The Post (Steven Spielberg)
  10. 120 BPM (Beats per Minute) (Robin Campillo)

2018

  1. Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Bi Gan)
  2. The Other Side of the Wind (Orson Welles)
  3. Ash Is Purest White (Jia Zhangke)
  4. The Grand Bizarre (Jodie Mack)
  5. Mission: Impossible — Fallout (Christopher McQuarrie)
  6. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Joel & Ethan Coen)
  7. Hotel by the River (Hong Sang-soo)
  8. Bisbee ’17 (Robert Greene)
  9. Burning (Lee Chang-dong)
  10. “I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians” (Radu Jude)

2019

  1. Martin Eden (Pietro Marcello)
  2. I Heard You Paint Houses (Martin Scorsese)
  3. To the Ends of the Earth (Kurosawa Kiyoshi)
  4. Parasite (Bong Joon-ho)
  5. Uncut Gems (Josh & Benny Safdie)
  6. I Was at Home, But… (Angela Schanelec)
  7. Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach)
  8. The Traitor (Marco Bellocchio)
  9. Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino)
  10. The Whistlers (Corneliu Porumboiu)

Decade

  1. La Flor (2018, Mariano Llinás)
  2. Stray Dogs (2013, Tsai Ming-liang)
  3. Twin Peaks: The Return (2017, David Lynch)
  4. Yourself and Yours (2016, Hong Sang-soo)
  5. Mysteries of Lisbon (2010, Raúl Ruiz)
  6. Like Someone in Love (2012, Abbas Kiarostami)
  7. Asako I & II (2018, Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
  8. Mountains May Depart (2015, Jia Zhangke)
  9. Carol (2015, Todd Haynes)
  10. The Assassin (2015, Hou Hsiao-hsien)

2020

  1. Days (Tsai Ming-liang)
  2. Beginning (Dea Kulumbegashvili)
  3. The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sang-soo)
  4. Malmkrog (Cristi Puiu)
  5. Lovers Rock (Steve McQueen)
  6. Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue (Jia Zhangke)
  7. The Disciple (Chaitanya Tamhane)
  8. Tesla (Michael Almereyda)
  9. Notturno (Gianfranco Rosi)
  10. City Hall (Frederick Wiseman)

2021

  1. Drive My Car (Hamaguchi Ryusuke)
  2. Can’t Get You Out of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World (Adam Curtis)
  3. Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
  4. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? (Alexandre Koberidze)
  5. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Hamaguchi Ryusuke)
  6. West Side Story (Steven Spielberg)
  7. A River Runs, Turns, Erases, Replaces (Zhu Shengze)
  8. Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (Anno Hideaki)
  9. In Front of Your Face (Hong Sang-soo)
  10. Annette (Leos Carax)

2022

  1. Walk Up (Hong Sang-soo)
  2. Pacifiction (Albert Serra)
  3. The Novelist’s Film (Hong Sang-soo)
  4. EO (Jerzy Skolimowski)
  5. The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg)
  6. Trenque Lauquen (Laura Citarella)
  7. Section 1 (Jon Bois)
  8. One Fine Morning (Mia Hansen-Løve)
  9. Diary of a Fleeting Affair (Emmanuel Mouret)
  10. Crimes of the Future (David Cronenberg)

2023

  1. Music (Angela Schanelec)
  2. Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World (Radu Jude)
  3. Close Your Eyes (Víctor Erice)
  4. Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet)
  5. May December (Todd Haynes)
  6. Fallen Leaves (Aki Kaurismäki)
  7. Afire (Christian Petzold)
  8. In Our Day (Hong Sang-soo)
  9. Youth (Spring) (Wang Bing)
  10. Asteroid City (Wes Anderson)

Release Year

2016

  1. Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan)
  2. Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke)
  3. Cameraperson (Kirsten Johnson)
  4. My Golden Days (Arnaud Desplechin)
  5. The Handmaiden (Park Chan-wook)
  6. Right Now, Wrong Then (Hong Sang-soo)
  7. Kate Plays Christine (Robert Greene)
  8. Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party (Stephen Cone)
  9. O.J.: Made in America (Ezra Edelman)
  10. Elle (Paul Verhoeven)

2017

  1. On the Beach at Night Alone (Hong Sang-soo)
  2. The Work (Jairus McLeary and Gethin Aldous)
  3. Faces Places (Agnès Varda & JR)
  4. Princess Cyd (Stephen Cone)
  5. Good Time (Josh & Benny Safdie)
  6. Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (S. S. Rajamouli)
  7. Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig)
  8. The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (Noah Baumbach)
  9. Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson)
  10. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (Paul W. S. Anderson)

2018

  1. First Reformed (Paul Schrader)
  2. The Other Side of the Wind (Orson Welles)
  3. The Day After (Hong Sang-soo)
  4. Mission: Impossible — Fallout (Christopher McQuarrie)
  5. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Joel & Ethan Coen)
  6. Bisbee ’17 (Robert Greene)
  7. Burning (Lee Chang-dong)
  8. Zama (Lucrecia Martel)
  9. Let the Sunshine In (Claire Denis)
  10. If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins)

2019

  1. La Flor (Mariano Llinás)
  2. Asako I & II (Hamaguchi Ryusuke)
  3. Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Bi Gan)
  4. I Heard You Paint Houses (Martin Scorsese)
  5. Transit (Christian Petzold)
  6. Ash Is Purest White (Jia Zhangke)
  7. Grass (Hong Sang-soo)
  8. Parasite (Bong Joon-ho)
  9. High Life (Claire Denis)
  10. Uncut Gems (Josh & Benny Safdie)

2020

  1. Martin Eden (Pietro Marcello)
  2. To the Ends of the Earth (Kurosawa Kiyoshi)
  3. Fourteen (Dan Sallitt)
  4. I Was at Home, But… (Angela Schanelec)
  5. The Grand Bizarre (Jodie Mack)
  6. The Traitor (Marco Bellocchio)
  7. Heimat Is a Space in Time (Thomas Heise)
  8. Vitalina Varela (Pedro Costa)
  9. First Cow (Kelly Reichardt)
  10. The Whistlers (Corneliu Porumboiu)

2021

  1. Drive My Car (Hamaguchi Ryusuke)
  2. Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
  3. Days (Tsai Ming-liang)
  4. The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin) (C.W. Winter & Anders Edström)
  5. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? (Alexandre Koberidze)
  6. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Hamaguchi Ryusuke)
  7. Beginning (Déa Kulumbegashvili)
  8. West Side Story (Steven Spielberg)
  9. The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sang-soo)
  10. Wife of a Spy (Kurosawa Kiyoshi)

2022

  1. The Novelist’s Film (Hong Sang-soo)
  2. EO (Jerzy Skolimowski)
  3. The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg)
  4. Il buco (Michelangelo Frammartino)
  5. A New Old Play (Qiu Jiongjiong)
  6. One Fine Morning (Mia Hansen-Løve)
  7. Crimes of the Future (David Cronenberg)
  8. RRR (S. S. Rajamouli)
  9. Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook)
  10. The Girl and the Spider (Ramon and Silvan Zürcher)

2023

  1. Walk Up (Hong Sang-soo)
  2. Pacifiction (Albert Serra)
  3. Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt)
  4. Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet)
  5. May December (Todd Haynes)
  6. Fallen Leaves (Aki Kaurismäki)
  7. Afire (Christian Petzold)
  8. De Humani Corporis Fabrica (Véréna Paravel & Lucien Castaing-Taylor)
  9. Youth (Spring) (Wang Bing)
  10. Asteroid City (Wes Anderson)

A Top 100 Films of All-Time (One-Per-Director)

Ryan Swen Lists

Main list.

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975, Chantal Akerman)
Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003, Thom Andersen)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014, Wes Anderson)
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Take care of yourself. (1996, Anno Hideaki)
Syndromes and a Century (2006, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
All My Life (1966, Bruce Baillie)
L’Argent (1983, Robert Bresson)
La Cérémonie (1995, Claude Chabrol)
Comrades: Almost a Love Story (1996, Peter Chan)
Rose Hobart (1936, Joseph Cornell)
The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom (2007, Adam Curtis)
L’Enfant (2005, Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)
Stop Making Sense (1984, Jonathan Demme)
The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967, Jacques Demy)
Beau Travail (1999, Claire Denis)
Gertrud (1964, Carl Th. Dreyer)
India Song (1975, Marguerite Duras)
Pyaasa (1957, Guru Dutt)
The Mother and the Whore (1973, Jean Eustache)
The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979, Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Spring in a Small Town (1948, Fei Mu)
Les Vampires (1915, Louis Feuillade)
Fort Apache (1948, John Ford)
(nostalgia) (1971, Hollis Frampton)
Napoléon (1927, Abel Gance)
Pierrot le Fou (1965, Jean-Luc Godard)
Asako I & II (2018, Hamaguchi Ryusuke)
Trust (1990, Hal Hartley)
Only Angels Have Wings (1939, Howard Hawks)
Carol (2015, Todd Haynes)
Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchcock)
Yourself and Yours (2016, Hong Sang-soo)
A City of Sadness (1989, Hou Hsiao-hsien)
A Touch of Zen (1971, King Hu)
Pedicab Driver (1989, Sammo Hung)
Platform (2000, Jia Zhangke)
Duck Amuck (1953, Chuck Jones)
The General (1926, Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman)
Like Someone in Love (2012, Abbas Kiarostami)
Eyes Wide Shut (1999, Stanley Kubrick)
Seven Samurai (1954, Kurosawa Akira)
Cure (1997, Kurosawa Kiyoshi)
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933, Fritz Lang)
Dirty Ho (1979, Lau Kar-leung)
The Night of the Hunter (1955, Charles Laughton)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Ang Lee)
Do the Right Thing (1989, Spike Lee)
Naked (1993, Mike Leigh)
The Love Eterne (1963, Li Han-hsiang)
Before Sunset (2004, Richard Linklater)
Oxhide II (2009, Liu Jiayin)
La Flor (2018, Mariano Llinás)
Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory in Lyon (1895, Louis & Auguste Lumière)
Mulholland Dr. (2001, David Lynch)
The Tree of Life (2011, Terrence Malick)
Heat (1995, Michael Mann)
Sunless (1983, Chris Marker)
A New Leaf (1971, Elaine May)
Ruggles of Red Gap (1935, Leo McCarey)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1945, Vincente Minnelli)
Spirited Away (2001, Miyazaki Hayao)
Sansho the Bailiff (1954, Mizoguchi Kenji)
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927, F. W. Murnau)
Yearning (1964, Naruse Mikio)
Beijing Watermelon (1989, Obayashi Nobuhiko)
Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948, Max Ophuls)
Death by Hanging (1968, Oshima Nagisa)
Late Spring (1949, Ozu Yasujiro)
The Gospel According to Matthew (1964, Pier Paolo Pasolini)
Transit (2018, Christian Petzold)
The Battle of Algiers (1966, Gillo Pontecorvo)
Johnny Guitar (1954, Nicholas Ray)
Meek’s Cutoff (2010, Kelly Reichardt)
The Rules of the Game (1939, Jean Renoir)
Muriel, or the Time of Return (1963, Alain Resnais)
Céline and Julie Go Boating (1974, Jacques Rivette)
Perceval le Gallois (1978, Éric Rohmer)
Mysteries of Lisbon (2010, Raúl Ruiz)
Silence (2016, Martin Scorsese)
Blade Runner (1982, Ridley Scott)
Imitation of Life (1959, Douglas Sirk)
Wavelength (1967, Michael Snow)
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001, Steven Spielberg)
Manakamana (2013, Stephanie Spray & Pacho Velez)
Shanghai Express (1932, Josef von Sternberg)
Moses and Aaron (1975, Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet)
PlayTime (1967, Jacques Tati)
Woman in the Dunes (1964, Teshigahara Hiroshi)
Two English Girls (1971, François Truffaut)
Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003, Tsai Ming-liang)
Peking Opera Blues (1986, Tsui Hark)
Sparrow (2008, Johnnie To)
Canyon Passage (1946, Jacques Tourneur)
Femmes Femmes (1974, Paul Vecchiali)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942, Orson Welles)
Paris, Texas (1984, Wim Wenders)
In the Mood for Love (2000, Wong Kar-wai)
The Killer (1989, John Woo)
The Heiress (1949, William Wyler)
A One and a Two… (2000, Edward Yang)