1001 Movies
This is a list of movies I love and recommend to whatever singular person lands on this page (hi, you!). It’s my way of getting back into cinema—watching it, thinking about it …
(Long story short: I used to watch a ton of great films, obsessively moving through my favorite auteurs’ filmographies; then endless streamings of television interrupted that noble pursuit.)
The list begins modestly, on account of the following very strict rule: I need to have seen the movie at least three times or, if only twice, the most recent viewing should have occured in the last seven or eight years (oh indeed, I note such things down) and I still think the movie is great.
These rules force me away from the terrible flixes in order to rewatch a ton of movies I saw in my early twenties (most of Bresson, for example) or I can’t include them in my list of greats and how embarrassing would that be.
Robert Altman. Gosford Park. USA/UK, 2001.
Dario Argento. Suspiria. Italy, 1977.
Andrea Arnold. Fish Tank. UK, 2009.
Andrea Arnold. Wuthering Heights. UK, 2011.
Hal Ashby. Harold and Maude. USA, 1971.
Bong Joon-ho. Memories of Murder. South Korean, 2003.
Robert Bresson. Pickpocket. France, 1959.
Catherine Breillat. À ma sœur! (Fat Girl). France, 2001.
Alain Courneau. Série noire. France, 1979.
David Cronenberg. The Brood. Canada, 1979.
David Cronenberg. Dead Ringers. Canada, 1988.
David Cronenberg. Crash. Canada, 1996.
David Cronenberg. Eastern Promises. UK, 2007.
Brian De Palma. Carrie. USA, 1976.
Brian De Palma. Blow Out. USA, 1981.
Atom Egoyan. Exotica. Canada, 1994.
Alain Giraudie. L’inconnu du lac (Stranger by the Lake). France, 2013.
Jonathan Glazer. Birth. USA, 2004.
Michael Haneke. La pianiste (The Piano Teacher). France, 2001.
Todd Haynes. Safe. USA, 1991.
Todd Haynes. Far from Heaven. USA, 2002.
James Ivory. Maurice. UK, 1987.
Peter Jackson. Heavenly Creatures. New Zealand, 1994.
Abbas Kiarostami. Close-up. Iran, 1990.
Michael Lehmann. Heathers. USA, 1988.
Jennie Livingston. Paris Is Burning. USA, 1990. (documentary)
David Lynch. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. USA, 1992.
Terence Malick. Days of Heaven. USA, 1978.
Yvon Marciano. Le cri de la soie. France, 1996.
Ruben Östlund. The Square. Sweden, 2017.
Jordan Peele. Get Out. USA, 1993.
Ridley Scott. Thelma & Louise. USA, 1991.
Kirill Serebrennikov. Yuri’s Day. Russia, 2008.
Agnès Varda. Sans toit ni loi (Vagabond). France, 1985.
Paul Verhoeven. Showgirls. USA, 1995.
Paul Verhoeven. Elle. France, 2016.
Denis Villeneuve. Prisoners. USA, 2013.
Yeah, I’ve got a lot to do …
updated August 2025