Over the years my interest in the list-making rituals so beloved by the cinephile community has waned, and my Personal Canon list is intended to acknowledge the impossibility of trying to and whittle down a list of “favorites” to a specific number of titles.
At the same time I also realize there is something to be said about going through the process of assembling a “favorites films” list. Most important to me is how it creates a kind of “time capsule” capturing the sensibilities, tastes, and interests of a particular moment in one’s life. It is in the spirit of such documentation that the following list of 101 titles was compiled. [Last updated: December 2019]
01) BEFORE SUNSET (Richard Linklater, USA, 2004)
02) L’ANNÉE DERNIÈRE À MARIENBAD (Alain Resnais, France, 1961)
03) HOLIDAY (George Cukor, USA, 1938)
04) LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT (Jacques Demy, France, 1967)
05) GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (Howard Hawks, USA, 1953)
06) HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR (Alain Resnais, France/Japan, 1959)
07) MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (Vincente Minnelli, USA, 1944)
08) IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (Wong Kar-Wai, Hong Kong, 2000)
09) LE BONHEUR (Agnès Varda, France, 1965)
10) JUDEX (Georges Franju, France, 1963)
11) VAMPYR (Carl Th. Dreyer, Germany/France, 1932)
12) VENDREDI SOIR [FRIDAY NIGHT] (Claire Denis, France, 2002)
13) SHANGHAI EXPRESS (Josef von Sternberg, USA, 1932)
14) NASHVILLE (Robert Altman, USA, 1975)
15) LOOKING FOR LANGSTON (Isaac Julien, UK, 1989)
16) PAPAGENO (Lotte Reiniger, Germany, 1935)
17) MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON (Maya Deren, USA, 1943)
18) THE BIG SLEEP (Howard Hawks, USA, 1946)
19) THE SEVENTH VICTIM (Mark Robson, USA, 1943)
20) INDIA SONG (Marguerite Duras, France, 1975)
21) GILDA (Charles Vidor, USA, 1946)
22) LA CHARM DISCRET DE LA BOURGEOISIE (Luis Buñuel, France, 1972)
23) THE NEW WORLD (Terence Malick, USA, 2005)
24) 2046 (Wong Kar-Wai, Hong Kong, 2004)
25) THE BIRDS (Alfred Hitchcock, USA, 1961)
26) L’AVVENTURA (Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy, 1960)
27) CÉLINE ET JULIE VONT EN BATEAU (Jacques Rivette, France, 1974)
28) HAPPY TOGETHER (Wong Kar-Wai, Hong Kong, 1997)
29) LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN (Max Ophüls, USA, 1948)
30) FIREWORKS (Kenneth Anger, USA, 1947)
31) GIRLFRIENDS (Claudia Weill, USA, 1978)
32) LES CHANSONS D’AMOUR (Christophe Honoré, France, 2007)
33) THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE (Robert Wise, USA, 1944)
34) L’HEURE D’ÉTÉ [SUMMER HOURS] (Olivier Assayas, France, 2008)
35) ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS (Howard Hawks, USA, 1939)
36) ONE HOUR WITH YOU (Ernst Lubitsch, USA, 1932)
37) LE TEMPS RETROUVÉ [TIME REGAINED] (Raul Ruiz, France, 1999)
38) LE SANG D’UN POÈTE [BLOOD OF A POET] (Jean Cocteau, France, 1930)
39) MODEL SHOP (Jacques Demy, USA, 1969)
40) MACAO (Josef von Sternberg, USA, 1952)
At a certain point rankings become meaningless, so the rest are presented in alphabetical order:
THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED (Lotte Reiniger, Germany, 1926)
ALONE. LIFE WASTES ANDY HARDY (Martin Arnold, Austria, 1998)
ANIKI BÓBÓ (Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal, 1942)
AUGUST AND AFTER (Nathaniel Dorsky, USA, 2012)
BOB & TED & CAROL & ALICE (Paul Mazursky, USA, 1969)
BONJOUR TRISTESSE (Otto Preminger, USA, 1958)
BRUMES D’AUTOMNE [AUTUMN MIST] (Dimitri Kirsanoff, France, 1929)
CARNIVAL OF SOULS (Herk Harvey, USA, 1962)
CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (Richard Brooks, USA, 1958)
UN CHANT D’AMOUR (Jean Genet, France, 1950)
THE CHASE (Arthur Ripley, USA, 1946)
CHRISTOPHER STRONG (Dorothy Arzner, USA, 1933)
THE CLOCK (Vincente Minnelli, USA, 1945)
DAISIES (Vera Chytilová, Czechoslovakia, 1966)
THE DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS (Delbert Mann, USA, 1960)
DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (Harry Kümel, Belgium/France, 1971)
THE DEATH OF MARIA MALIBRAN (Werner Schroeter, West Germany, 1972)
L’ECLISSE (Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy, 1963)
ÉLOGE DE L’AMOUR [IN PRAISE OF LOVE] (Jean-Luc Godard, France, 2001)
EYES WIDE SHUT (Stanley Kubrick, USA, 1999)
THE FAVOURITE (Yorgos Lanthimos, Ireland/UK/USA, 2018)
FREAKS (Tod Browning, USA, 1932)
THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS (Lech Majewski, UK/Italy/Poland, 2004)
THE GARDEN OF THE FINZI-CONTINI (Vittorio de Sica, Italy, 1970)
GERTRUD (Carl Th. Dreyer, Denmark, 1964)
LES GLANEURS ET LA GLANEUSE (Agnès Varda, France, 2000)
HEARTBEATS [LES AMOURS IMAGINAIRES] (Xavier Dolan, Canada, 2010)
HOUSE OF TOLERANCE [L’APOLLONIDE] (Bertrand Bonello, France, 2011)
L’IMMORTELLE (Alain Robbe-Grillet, France, 1963)
INNOCENCE (Lucile Hadzihalilovic, Belgium/France, 2004)
JEANNE DIELMAN, 23, QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES (Chantal Akerman, Belgium, 1975)
LOADS (Curt McDowell, USA, 1985)
THE MAGIC FLUTE (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1975)
A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, UK, 1946)
MEETING OF TWO QUEENS (Cecilia Barriga, Spain, 1991)
MISTÉRIOS DE LISBOA [THE MYSTERIES OF LISBON] (Raul Ruiz, Portugal/France, 2011)
MUSEUM HOURS (Jem Cohen, Austria/USA, 2012)
NICK AND NORAH’S INFINITE PLAYLIST (Peter Sollett, USA, 2008)
NO SKIN OFF MY ASS (Bruce LaBruce, Canada, 1993)
ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE (Jim Jarmusch, Germany/France, 2013)
OUTER SPACE (Peter Tscherkassky, Austria, 2000)
PATHER PANCHALI (Satyajit Ray, India, 1955)
LA PEAU DOUCE [THE SOFT SKIN] (François Truffaut, France, 1964)
PHANTOM LOVE (Nina Menkes, USA, 2007)
PINK NARCISSUS (James Bidgood, USA, 1972)
THE PLACE BETWEEN OUR BODIES (Michael Wallin, USA, 1975)
PORTRAIT OF JASON (Shirley Clarke, USA, 1967)
POTO AND CABENGO (Jean-Pierre Gorin, USA, 1980)
QUERELLE (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, West Germany/France, 1982)
THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS (Wes Anderson, USA, 2001)
ROSE HOBART (Joseph Cornell, USA, 1936)
SOMEWHERE (Sofia Coppola, USA, 2010)
STAGE DOOR (Gregory La Cava, USA,1937)
TEOREMA (Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy, 1968)
THEY LIVE BY NIGHT (Nicholas Ray, USA, 1948)
THE TREE OF LIFE (Terence Malick, USA, 2011)
VIAGGO A ITALIA [JOURNEY TO ITALY] (Roberto Rossellini, Italy/France, 1954)
LES VAMPIRES (Louis Feuillade, France, 1915)
VERTIGO (Alfred Hitchcock, USA, 1958)
WEEKEND (Andrew Haigh, UK, 2011)
MEMORIES OF THE FUTURE 