Must Great Be Bleak?

Every ten years, the British Film Institute (BFI) revises its list of the greatest 100 movies ever. A month ago, the BFI published its latest list.

As a film appreciator, film devourer, and (for a few classes) film student, I was appalled that I hadn’t seen 49 of them. Not only that, but I hadn’t even heard of number one! (More on that later.)

Of the 51 films I had seen, I’d say roughly 90 percent are characterized by bleakness, opacity, and tragedy. Very few were pleasurable experiences. Devoting 2-3 hours of your life to one of these movies feels like something you have to do but don’t want to do, like going to the dentist. Even if you think such a movie is great, you’ll probably never go out of your way to watch it again. (I liked Moonlight, but one watch was enough.)

I moan, but I like these lists. These movies are mostly slogs and the critics who vote for them are pretentious, but I’m glad there are a few pretentious lists out there, full of movies that have managed to escape my notice.

Say what you want about In the Mood for Love or Late Spring, but, by the time I flick the lights on and shut off my Blu-Ray player, these slogs always make me feel more cultured. A film from the 1920s (Sunrise) might seem dated and simple, and something from 1970s Russia (Mirror) might seem impenetrably bizarre, but they nevertheless always make me feel better connected to humanity.

These movies may not comfort or uplift, but they almost always make you think and feel. They’re good at creating an atmosphere that you’ll waft through well after the movie is over. Bleakness leads you down a new psychic crevasse. Opacity requires interpretation. Tragedy follows you up to bed.

But do great movies need to be bleak?

The BFI says nothing about bleakness when they talk about the criteria presented to voters: “The voters were asked to interpret ‘Greatest’ as they chose: to reflect the film’s importance in cinematic history, its aesthetic achievement, or perhaps its personal impact in their own life and their view of cinema.”

All of the above sounds well and good, but why not also consider cultural relevance, timelessness, rewatchability, and the evocation of joy as factors? Shouldn’t the un-rewatchability of a film be considered a flaw? You’d have to be a masochist to endure more than one sitting of Killer of Sheep, Au Hasard Balthazar, or L’Atalante. Why can’t universally loved and rewatchable movies — such as Wall-E, Avatar, and Terminator 2 — be part of the conversation?

After all, these popular movies are not only well-loved and rewatchable, but culturally relevant, impactful on the history of cinema, and more wide-reaching in their social critiquing than ::bleh:: Beau Travail. These movies have important things to say — whether it’s about environmental degradation, colonialism, or the threat of powerful technology — and they manage to convey these messages, not to thousands, but billions.

Again, I like these pretentious lists, but that doesn’t mean I can’t nit-pick them to death. Some of these choices are baffling, partly because the list suffers from recency bias.

- I really liked Get Out (2017), but is it a Top-100 movie? During its final act, the film’s IQ dropped from 130 to 80 when it became little more than a dumb slasher.

- I admired the visuals in the 2019 A Portrait of a Lady on Fire (I’m referring to the, uh, lighting), but it would be insane to call it a Top-30 movie of all time.

- I enjoyed Parasite (2019), but if giving it Best Picture was a stretch, then putting it on this list is a dislocated shoulder.

- Shouldn’t the critics consider, in their voting, a “great” movie from a child’s or a teen’s point of view, and not just the point of view of an eggheaded cosmopolitan adult? Why not include an E.T., a Wizard of Oz, or a Coco?

Anywho… I felt compelled to watch the supposed greatest movie ever—a 1975 Belgian/French picture called Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.

It was 3.5 hours and felt like 3.5 days (probably because, to get through it, it took me 3.5 days). I’m not making things up when I tell you that there are scenes — 5-10 minutes in length — of the protagonist, Jeanne, doing something as mundane as peeling potatoes, eating potato soup, making coffee, or just quietly sitting in a room.

Throughout, I let out caustic guffaws and rolled my eyes, but, by the end, I had to grudgingly admit that the monotony was not a pretension, but a necessary device. The scenes in which nothing happens show the contours of this person’s life. They showed that this mundane (and comforting) routine was her life. The potatoes were necessary.

I thought it totally deserved to be on this list, but nowhere near #1.

I think I’ll make it a goal of mine to watch the other 48 movies in 2023, so this may not be the last time you hear of this pretentious list.

How to build your own to-watch list of films

It’s best to mix the popular with the pretentious. I have about 500 movies on my to-watch list, which I’ve built using other critics’ and film organizations’ lists. Here are a few helpful lists:

BFI’s Top-100 list - As pretentious as it gets, but it is eclectic, international, and diverse in every way possible.

IMDB Top 250 - A really good middlebrow list of fan favorites.

The Rewatchables - This is my favorite movie podcast. These critics aren’t afraid to suggest films that are embarrassing to like, and they often dig up forgotten movies from the 80s and 90s. As the podcast name suggests, they value, above anything, the rewatchability of a film.

AFI Top-100 - I was 14 when their 1997 top-100 list came out. This list, for me, was pre-Internet and therefore a treasured cultural resource, picked up at my local Blockbuster. I still have my crumpled copy in a drawer somewhere. Here’s the updated 2007 list of the best American movies.

Bruce Jackson & Diane Christian Film Seminars - I took their film course during my undergrad years at University at Buffalo, where they’ve been teaching for years. The link to their archives — which features hundreds of interesting films — is down, but I’m told they'll publish their list again soon. I’ll update this newsletter on my website when those changes are made.

The New Yorker’s top 27 movies of the 2000s - Richard Brody has a lot of suggestions you’ve probably never heard of. I’ve found a few gems on this list.

Uncle Ken’s Favorite 175 - My 16-year-old nephew is a budding cinephile, and after asking me for recommendations, I went overboard and made a list of my favorite 175 films.

Where to watch

The usual streaming services are not helpful in building a good to-watch list because their stock is limited and changes monthly. I’d find an old-fashioned DVD-by-post subscription.

- For US readers, I believe Netflix still has a DVD/Blu-Ray option. For UK readers, I subscribe to Cinema Paradiso for £10/month. They have about 95% of the movies I want to watch.

- UK readers can subscribe to BFI’s streaming service for a mere £50/year.

- I don’t have a MUBI subscription, but I’ve heard only good things. $13/month for a carefully curated list of movies.

Uncle Ken’s Top 175 Movie Recommendations

My 16-year-old nephew is a budding cinephile, and after asking me for film recommendations, I went overboard and made a list of — not the greatest — but my favorite 175 films.

It's a list that is unashamedly middlebrow, with a few surprises mixed in. As I review my list, I wonder if, in some cases, I've been over-influenced by the usual honors bestowed on some movies. (Are Bicycle Thieves and The Godfather truly "favorites," or am I merely trying to conform with the critical herd?) I chose to keep these films in because I made this list with my nephew in mind. I was probably inclined to include movies he had to see even if they don't align with the personal theme of this list.

I tried to respect the not-so-bad tastes of my teenage self, so films like The Crow and Braveheart retain the positions of prominence I might not have otherwise granted them in middle age.

Bold=Top twenty

28 Days Later (2002, UK)

1917 (2019, UK US)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, USA)

Adaptation (2002, USA)

Alien (1979, USA)

Aliens (1986, USA)

Apocalypto (2006, USA)

Avatar (2009, USA)

American Graffiti (1973, USA)

American History X (1998, USA)

Amélie (2001, France)

Amores Perros (2000, Mexico)

Annie Hall (1977, USA)

Another Round (2020, Denmark)

Apocalypse Now (1979, USA)

Back to the Future (1985, USA)

Barry Lyndon (1975, USA)

Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012, USA)

Before Sunset (2004, USA)

Being John Malkovich (1999, USA)

Bicycle Thieves (1948, Italy)

Big (1988, USA)

The Big Lebowski (1998, USA)

Big Night (1997, USA)

The Biggest Little Farm (2018, USA)

Blade Runner (1982, USA)

Blade Runner 2049 (2017, USA)

Boogie Nights (1997, USA)

Borat (2006, USA)

Boyhood (2014, USA)

Boys N the Hood (1991, USA)

Braveheart (1995, USA)

Brokeback Mountain (2005, USA)

Bruno (2009, USA)

Bull Durham (1988, USA)

The Cakemaker (2017, Germany & Israel)

Captain Fantastic (2016, USA)

Cast Away (2000, USA)

Che (2008, USA)

Children of Men (2006, USA)

Cinema Paradiso (1989, Italy)

City of God (2002, Brazil)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977, USA)

Coco (2017, USA)

Contagion (2011, USA)

The Crow (1994, USA)

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, China).

Dances with Wolves (1990, USA)

Dave (1993, USA)

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007, France)

Dogtooth (2010, Greece)

Donnie Darko (2001, USA)

Dunkirk (2017, US, UK)

Edge of Tomorrow (2014, USA)

The English Patient (1996, US, UK)

E.T. – The Extra Terrestrial (1982, USA)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004, USA)

Ex Machina (2014, USA)

Fanny and Alexander (1982, Swedish)

Fargo (1996, USA)

Fatal Attraction (1987, USA)

The Father (2020, UK)

Forrest Gump (1994, USA)

The Full Monty (1997, UK)

Gattaca (1997, USA)

Glory (1989, USA)

Godfather I (1972, USA)

Godfather II (1974, USA)

Gone Girl (2014, USA)

Goodfellas (1990, USA)

Good Will Hunting (1997, USA)

Goonies (1985, USA)

Gravity (2013, USA).

Grizzly Man (2005, USA)

Groundhog Day (1993, USA)

Heat (1995, USA)

High Fidelity (2000, USA)

Honeyland (2019, Macedonia)

Holy Motors (2012, France)

Hunger Games Part I (2014, USA)

The Hunt (2012, Denmark)

I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020, USA)

Incendies (2010, Canada)

Inception (2010, US)

Inglorious Bastards (2009, USA)

Interstellar (2014, US)

Inside Out (2015, USA)

Into the Wild (2007, USA)

It's a Wonderful Life (1946, USA)

Joker (2019, USA)

Junebug (2005, USA)

Jurassic Park (1993, USA)

Kill Bill 1&2 (2003, USA)

Kramer vs. Kramer (1979, USA)

Lady Bird (2017, USA)

Last of the Mohicans (199, USA)

Let the Right One In (2008, Swedish)

The Life Aquatic (2004, USA)

Life Is Beautiful (1997, Italy)

The Lives of Others (2006, Germany)

(3) Lord of the Rings (2001, US, NZ)

Magnolia (1999, USA)

Manchester by the Sea (2016, USA)

Margaret (2011, USA)

The Master (2012, USA)

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003, USA)

The Matrix (1999, USA)

Meek's Cutoff (2010, USA)

Melancholia (2011, Danish)

Monos (2019, Columbia, various)

Moon (2009, USA)

The Motorcycle Diaries (2003, various)

Napolean Dynamite (2004, USA)

Nebraska (2013, USA)

Never Cry Wolf (1983, USA)

Night Moves (2013, USA)

Nomadland (2020, USA)

O Brother Where Art Thou (2000, USA)

An Officer and a Gentleman (1982, USA)

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019, USA)

Paradise Trilogy (2012-13, Austria)

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928, France)

Pathfinder (1987, Norway)

Phantom Thread (2017, USA)

Pi (1998, USA)

Predator (1987, USA)

Un Prophete (2009, France)

Pulp Fiction (1994, USA)

Punch Drunk Love (2002, USA)

Quest for Fire (1981, Canada, France)

Raging bull (1980, USA)

Requiem for a dream (2000, USA)

Revanche (2008, Austria)

The Rider (2017, USA)

The Road (2009, USA)

Rocky (1976, USA)

Roma (2018, Mexico)

Romeo and Juliet (1968, various)

Rudy (1993, USA)

Rushmore (1998, USA)

Saving Private Ryan (1998, USA)

Schindler’s List (1993, USA)

Searching for Sugar Man (2012, USA)

A Separation (2011, Iran)

Shakespeare in Love (1998, US, UK)

Shawshank Redemption (1994, USA)

The Shining (1980, USA)

Sicario (2015, USA)

Sideways (2004, USA)

The Silence of the Lambs (1991, USA)

Slumdog Millionaire (2008, USA)

The Squid and the Whale (2005, USA)

Star Wars Ep. 4-6 (1975-) , USA

A Star is Born (2018, USA)

The Sweet Hereafter (1997, Canada)

Talk to Her (2002, Spain)

Taxi Driver (1976, USA)

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991, USA)

There Will Be Blood (2007, USA)

The Thin Red Line (1998, USA)

This is Spinal Tap (1984, USA)

The Truman Show (1998, USA)

Uncut Gems (2019, USA)

Under the Skin (2013, UK)

Warrior (2011, USA)

What We Do in the Shadows (2014, New Zealand)

Whiplash (2014)

You Can Count on Me (2000, USA)

Zero Dark Thirty (2012, USA)

Zodiac (2007, USA)

Zoolander (2001, USA)

My favorite films, books, and shows - 2022

Movies The White Ribbon (Germany, 2009) - Director Michael Haneke may be making the case that Germany’s descent into 20th Century madness had deeper roots than mere top-down psychopathy. We see, in a pre-WWI village, authoritarian parents, overbearing religion, and inexplicable moral monstrosities—the diseases supposedly rotting Germany’s core. It’s bleak, but more watchable than it sounds. An innocent courtship at the heart of the movie adds sweetness to what may have otherwise tasted like medicine. Paradise Trilogy (Austria, 2012-13) - All three Paradise films (Love, Faith, Hope) are terrific, though you’ll never forget the first, in which an Austrian lady goes to Africa on a misadventurous sex holiday. Top Gun: Maverick - I try to culture myself by picking movies from pretentious top-100 lists. But I am also happy to turn my brain off to enjoy an audio-visual spectacle. A few hot takes: 1. Could Tom Cruise — with his stunt work in movies that largely scorn CGI — be doing more than anyone to bring back live action and wean us off of CGI? 2. Could Tom Cruise — dancer, actor, bartender, pool player, rock climber, helicopter pilot, and twenty other things — be the most skilled person alive? 3. Is Tom Cruise the world’s best learner? Moonfall (multiple countries, 2022) - A critical failure and box office bomb, Moonfall was nevertheless one of my most enjoyable watches of 2022. I watched this movie with two savagely-critical friends, and the experience of Moonfall gave me my biggest bellylaugh in ten years. Moonfall may have been “the worst movie I’ve ever seen!” (hysterically exclaimed as early as the 30-minute mark), but if something’s objectionable, it doesn’t always follow that it’s unenjoyable. Project X (USA, 2012) - I didn’t say these were the best films. I said they were my favorite films. Watch this one when you’re depressed, and with alcohol. As the movie suggests, hangovers are sometimes worth it. Stillwater (USA, 2021) - I feel like this unnoticed and unprofitable movie didn’t get the acclaim it deserved. It’s loosely based on the father from the real-life Amanda Knox story. I was expecting a rehashing of that whole ordeal, but Stillwater turned out to be something completely different. In a very sly and light-handed way, Matt Damon’s character’s reluctant embrace of European culture is an indictment of American culture’s empty core. The Act of Killing (Indonesia & other countries, 2012) - A documentary about a genocide will never be an easy watch, but could this be the most fascinatingly structured film ever? The filmmaker tells the story of the genocide by having the executioners act as themselves in a movie inside the documentary. Honorable Mentions: Jesus of Montreal (Canada, 1989), The Turin Horse (Hungary 2011), The Souvenir (UK, 2019), Capernaum (Lebanon, 2018), Little Children (USA, 2006), The Assassination of Jesse James… (USA, 2007), Avatar 2: The Way of Water (USA, 2022), Maria Chapdelaine (Canada, 2021)

Best movies in 2021

TV The Beatles: Get Back (2022) - Earlier in the year, my two-year-old daughter started to cry upon hearing the song “Yesterday.” (Could there be a greater testament to the timelessness of a song than the primal tears of a toddler?) When my daughter exhibited the same emotions the next time the album whirled back to “Yesterday,” it was confirmed that the first cry wasn’t a fluke. So began my “Beatles Year,” in which I tried to learn about the origins of timelessness. I watched three Beatles documentaries and read a giant biography (which I’ll get to later). Get Back — Peter Jackson’s 8-hour cut from one of the Beatles’ final studio sessions — was a terrific introduction to the band. I have plenty of praise for the series, but I’ll merely share my strangest reaction. Early on, we see footage of Paul McCartney strumming the potential beginnings of a song (which would later become the hit single “Get Back”). There was something mesmerizingly repulsive about seeing a song in its nascent state. In McCartney’s violent strumming, in his incoherent mumbling, in his hunched back-and-forth rocking, we see a song in its embryonic state— a coiled and sodden chick not yet ready to crack through its vibrating shell. It’s ugly but real. Earthy but gross. Unformed but forming. We must first get beyond the messiness of conception and gestation — fornicational fluids, squishy placentas, and all — before we can enjoy creation's fluffy perfection. Andor (2022) - While the Internet debated whether to give the new “Game of Thrones” or “Lord of the Rings” series the championship belt for top TV series, the Star Wars spin-off Andor (by far the best from the three juggernauts) sneakily slipped it around its waist when no one was looking. Wolf Hall (2015) - I put this series off for seven years because I was irritated by the endless glut of cliche English costume dramas, but I gave Wolf Hall a shot after the many memorials to the late Hilary Mantel, whose books inspired the miniseries. I will defend Wolf Hall — which pays no heed to cliche — as one of the greatest TV series ever. Alone (seasons 8 and 9) - They haven’t tweaked the formula because they haven’t had to. As nature rubs raw ten (oftentimes stoic) people, facades fade, personas evaporate, and egos are chastened. The individual unadorned is exposed, revealing a human with existential clarity, a spirit renewed, and words that crackle next to a spitting fire with earthly poetry and homespun philosophy. The show knows that you don’t elicit the best human drama by putting a bunch of loud people in a room. No, just send them off alone to the Canadian wilderness and watch them become their most human. Honorable Mentions: The Bear (2022)

Books We Know Nothing and I Wrote This Because I Love You (2012, 2018) by Tim Kreider. When I read, I read mostly out of a sense of obligation—to do the work of being a worldly citizen, to be suitably informed/cultured, etc. It’s rare to find a book that I struggle to put down, that makes me want to stay up beyond my usual falling-asleep hour, or that makes me want to prioritize *reading that book* over everything else in my life. I experienced all of the above when reading Kreiders’ books, where the crude and blunt blend naturally with the literary and enlightened. There is knowledge and wisdom baked into every page. There are a few big, smart words, yet the style is always colloquial, always friendly, always down-to-earth. We men so rarely write about our romantic relationships (something that is always on our minds yet rarely to be found on page), so I couldn’t help but cherish this rare glimpse into the male psyche. Good writing is easy enough to find. But good writing that is also relevant to our lives is nothing short of a gift. Tune In (2013) by Mark Lewisohn. Because there are so many Beatles biographies, picking one was hard. But I had specific questions that this book —which covers the Beatles’ childhoods up to their first hit song — seemed ideally suited to answer. 1. Was it a freak accident to have John and Paul and George grow up next to each other? 2. Was there something special about Liverpool? 3. Was their superstardom a result of innate creativity, natural talent, or hard work? I got these answers and more. Tune In is a slow-burn rags-to-riches story, which is my favorite sort of story. It is so much fun reading about teenagers who have no idea what success awaits them. Abbott Awaits (2011) by Chris Bachelder. This is a funny and sometimes moving series of vignettes about the banality of parenting. Each paragraph is meticulously crafted and whittled down to the bare essentials. Bachelder plays with form (we see the father character through the eyes of a repairman in one chapter), and there’s a chapter that talks about Charles Darwin’s children which may be one of the most intelligently structured pieces of writing I’ve seen—not only that, but it gave me a much-needed slap on the forehead. Of Boys and Men: Why the modern male is struggling, why it matters, and what to do about it (2022) by Richard Reeves. A very compelling data- and research-driven book that proposes sensible policy solutions. Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art (2021) I give it four out of five stars because any book that makes you want to alter your life (I wish to improve my health via better breathing) deserves a spot on your best books list. But I remove one star because Nestor adds too many novelistic details about the breathing experts he brings into the book, embloating the book beyond its natural dimensions. I want to know what they’re researching, not what they’re wearing. Wolf Hall (2009) by Hilary Mantel. When you read about Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell, you become Thomas Cromwell. You’re the smartest, savviest person at court. You see people’s weaknesses, understand their motivations, and quietly plot your revenge. That’s why the book is so fun to read or, in my case, listen to. It’s interesting how the book's characters view Cromwell (always as a ruffian, a striver, a bully) and how Mantel, herself, views him (a genius, a kind father, a loyal servant, a lover, even a forward-thinking progressive). I don’t know what Cromwell was like in real life, or how historians think of him, but, as a literary character, I love and admire and wish I could be as wise as Mantel’s Cromwell. Honorable Mentions: The Power of Geography (2021) by Tim Marshall, Why the Germans Do it Better (2020) by John Kampfner, The Splendid and the Vile (2020) by Erik Larson

Best books read in 2021

Best books read in 2020

Best books read in 2019

Best books read in 2018

Best books read in 2017

Best books read in 2016

Best books read in 2015

Best books read in 2014

What should I consume in 2023? Please help broaden my horizons by recommending something good to me—perhaps from a medium I’m less familiar with. A PC game? An album? A graphic novel? Works of art?