My Top 5 Films Of All Time

I'm a filmmaker and cinephile, so the most obvious question I get all the time is "what's your favorite movie?" It's a hard question to answer. I've seen so many movies over the years that it's impossible to narrow it down to just one film. So I've compiled a list of my five favorite films of all time with a short snippet of why I like it so much. Enjoy!

These are not in any kind of order. 

1. Vivre Sa Vie (1962) by Jean-Luc Godard

It's almost cliche at this point to say that you love Godard. He is one of the most important figures in the French New Wave. His film Breathless is hailed as a very notable film (especially since it was his first film). Vivre Sa Vie (My Life to Live) starts one of my favorite actresses of all time: Anna Karina. She's a blend of the femme-fatale idea of the film noir age and the 60's girl pop that trended across the world. 

The film follows Anna Karina as she tries to become an actress, but eventually fails and goes into prostitution. The film is structured as 12 short chapters of Anna Karina's life as she sells her body, adopts a pimp, and is eventually sold to another pimp. 

Godard implements camera techniques that I'd rather not spoil. So go check this out.

2. Letter Never Sent (1959) by Mikhail Kalatozov

Kalatozov is a very interesting director, to say the least. He implements techniques that were revolutionary at the time. For example, in his film I am Cuba, the final shot is a sequence shot that goes along a wire from building to building following a funeral. It is so insane how he even got the shot, and even more so that it is such a successful ending shot.

Letter Never Sent follows a crew of geologists looking for gold in the Russian mountains. A forest fire breaks out and destroys their gear. They have to find a way to civilization or perish. 

This film is rather heartbreaking. The 3rd act really has some of the more tear-inducing dialogue. You should only watch this if you don't want to be happy for a little bit. That does not mean that this film is bad, though. The successful conveyance of emotion (especially romantic longing and suffering) is enlightening. 

3. The Turin Horse (2011) by Bela Tarr

This was my first taste of Bela Tarr, and it left me craving more. It's really unfortunate that his films are so hard to find without paying ridiculous shipping prices. 

The Turin Horse has less of a plot and more of a collection of visual vignettes. It's hard to describe what this film is about. A word of warning: every shot in this film is about ten minutes long.

I have never seen a filmmaker be so ambitious with a single camera. This expressive piece really dives into emotions of dread and pity while commenting on the beauty and wrath of nature.

Sure it's "boring," but it is so evocative. I can't wait to see more from this filmmaker. 

4. L'Atalante (1934) by Jean Vigo

Jean Vigo died too early. He actually died while making this film. Vigo only had three short films under his belt before he took on this endeavor, and to me, L'Atalante is one of the best romance films of all time. 

The story of the film is a man who works as a captain on a canal barge marries a woman from a small farming village. They take off on the barge towards Paris to spend their honeymoon. Work gets in the way of the man's honeymoon and conflict takes place there.

There is one sequence in this film that is one of the best depictions of sexual longing. The film cuts from the woman in her hotel bed sexually gazing right into the lens to the man doing the same thing. These images are dissolved in and out of each other until the sequence ends. 

If you thought The Notebook was good, this will blow you away.

5. Robocop (1987) by Paul Verhoeven 

This movie is misunderstood. It has a Criterion release, so maybe that is not the right choice of words. Most people think this film is a dumb action flick. It's not! Well it is and isn't. Verhoeven is a master of not-so-subtle satire in his films (Starship Troopers, Total Recall) and the fact that no one reads them as satire is even more hilarious. 

I should not have to explain what Robocop is about, but it follows Officer Murphy (played by Peter Weller) as he is killed on duty. He is rebuilt as a robot police officer that is the ultimate law enforcement. 

It's a satire based on the American "security state." We are more concerned with security than safety. It sounds like these two go hand in hand, but Verhoeven demonstrates in Robocop that even the most secure state puts safety at risk. Officer Murphy enforces all laws. He has no conscience to really discern lawfully wrong from morally wrong and enforces it his own way: through violence.

This is a film that can be read two ways depending on how you're feeling. It can be seen as a campy sci-fi with social commentary or it can be seen as a humorous critique of the American security state. Either way works for me. It's a good film.