Top 100, writeups linked as they're written

[mchgtp]

100. The Virgin Suicides (1999, Sofia Coppola)
99. Bright Future (2003, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
98. Babe: Pig in the City (1998, George Miller)
97. A Face in the Crowd (1957, Elia Kazan)
96. The Godfather: Part II (1974, Francis Ford Coppola)
95. Map of the Human Heart (1993, Vincent Ward)
94. Code 46 (2003, Michael Winterbottom)
93. Heathers (1988, Michael Lehmann)
92. Birdy (1984, Alan Parker)
91. Another Girl, Another Planet (1992, Michael Almereyda)
90. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988, Philip Kaufman)
89. The Thing (1982, John Carpenter)
88. Life of Brian (1979, Terry Jones)
87. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992, David Lynch)
86. Nosferatu: Phantom Der Nacht (1979, Werner Herzog)
85. Eraserhead (1977, David Lynch)
84. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985, Tim Burton)
83. Buffalo '66 (1998, Vincent Gallo)
82. Blade Runner (1982, Ridley Scott)
81. Vampire's Kiss (1988, Robert Bierman)
80. Stop Making Sense (1984, Jonathan Demme)
79. Mauvais Sang (1986, Leos Carax)
78. Sonatine (1993, Takeshi Kitano)
77. Badlands (1973, Terrence Malick)
76. A Woman Under the Influence (1974, John Cassavettes)
75. High and Low (1963, Akira Kurosawa)
74. Full Metal Jacket (1987, Stanley Kubrick)
73. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002, Park Chan-Wook)
72. Inland Empire (2006, David Lynch)
71. Down by Law (1986, Jim Jarmusch)
70. Princess Mononoke (1997, Hayao Miyazaki)
69. Mulholland Drive (2001, David Lynch)
68. A Bittersweet Life (2005, Kim Ji-woon)
67. Memories of Murder (2003, Bong Joon-ho)
66. There Will Be Blood (2007, Paul Thomas Anderson)
65. Head-On (2004, Fatih Akin)
64. Blue Valentine (2010, Derek Cianfrance)
63. Kairo (2001, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
62. Farval Falkenberg (2006, Jesper Ganslandt)
61. Akira (1988, Katsuhiro Otomo)
60. Before Sunset (2004, Richard Linklater)
59. Before Sunrise (1995, Richard Linklater)
58. What Time Is It There? (2001, Tsai Ming-Liang)
57. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004, Wes Anderson)
56. Up (2009, Bob Peterson and Pete Docter)
55. Trust (1990, Hal Hartley)
54. Hard Boiled (1992, John Woo)
53. Vertigo (1957, Alfred Hitchcock)
52. Beau Travail (1999, Claire Denis)
51. Rebecca (1940, Alfred Hitchcock)
50. Troll 2 (1990, Claudio Fragasso)

49. The Squid and the Whale (2005, Noah Baumbach)

48. Manic (2001, Jordan Melamed)

47. The Go-Getter (2007, Martin Hynes)

46. Funny Ha Ha (2002, Andrew Bujalski)

45. Harold and Maude (1971, Hal Ashby)

44. The Tree of Life (2011, Terrence Malick)

43. Cyclo (1995, Anh Hung Tran)

42. Su-ki-da (2006, Hiroshi Ishikawa)

41. Drive (2011, Nicolas Winding Refn)

40. 2046 (2004, Wong Kar-Wai)

39. Stolen Kisses (1968, Francois Truffaut)

38. After the Wedding (2006, Susanne Bier)

37. Solaris (2002, Steven Soderbergh)

36. No Country for Old Men (2007, Joel and Ethan Coen)

35. City Lights (1931, Charlie Chaplin)

34. Take Care of My Cat (2001, Jae-eun Jeong)

33. Swallowtail Butterfly (1996, Shunji Iwai)

32. Repo Man (1984, Alex Cox)

31. Millennium Mambo (2001, Hsiao-hsien Hou)

30. 35 Shots of Rum (2008, Claire Denis)

29. The Lovers on the Bridge (1991, Leos Carax)

28. Rumble Fish (1983, Francis Ford Coppola)

27. Miller’s Crossing (1990, Joel and Ethan Coen)

26. Surviving Desire (1993, Hal Hartley)

25. Bright Star (2009, Jane Campion)

24. Birth (2004, Jonathan Glazer)

23. The Exploding Girl (2009, Bradley Rust Gray)

22. Fallen Angels (1995, Wong Kar-Wai)

21. All the Real Girls (2002, David Gordon Green)

20. Dead or Alive 2: Birds (2000, Takashi Miike)

19. The New World (2005, Terrence Malick)

18. To Live (1994, Zhang Yimou)

17. Hana and Alice (2004, Shunji Iwai)

16. Lost in Translation (2003, Sofia Coppola)

15. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004, Michel Gondry)

14. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948, John Huston)

13. Everything Will Be Ok (2006, Don Hertzfeldt)

12. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007, Andrew Dominik)

11. Synecdoche, New York (2008, Charlie Kaufman)

10. The Dreamlife of Angels (1998, Erick Zonca)

9. Chain (2004, Jem Cohen)

8. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985, Paul Schrader)

7. Rushmore (1998, Wes Anderson)

6. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988, Robert Zemeckis)

5. George Washington (2000, David Gordon Green)

4. The Science of Sleep (2006, Michel Gondry)

3. All About Lily Chou Chou (2001, Shunji Iwai)

2. Blue Velvet (1986, David Lynch)

1. Love Letter (1995, Shunji Iwai)

[dustin]

Great list. Still haven't seen a single Shunji Iwai movie. I gotta get to it!

[Ben]

I'm in the same boat as Dustin. And just ten feet away a DVD copy of Lily sits...

And I can see you were absolutely taken with ToL and Drive. Any reason you feel like you can share on why those films struck you so?

[cosmic_cowboy]

too many great movies to comment on hereo so i'll list my favorites from your list

bright future
last life in the universe
sonatine
badlands
sympathy for mr vengeance
princess mononoke
a bittersweet life
what time is it there?
kairo
harold and maude
cyclo
su-ki-da
city lights
take care of my cat
repo man
millennium mambo
fallen angels
to live
hana and alice
treasure of the sierra madre
george washington
all about lily chou-chou

[mchgtp]

Well just knowing of Iwai is worth appreciating.

And I can see you were absolutely taken with ToL and Drive. Any reason you feel like you can share on why those films struck you so?

I get that those are particularly divisive films, but it should seem a given I'd love them given some films on my list. Drive isn't too far off from the stylistic yet existential asian action films I dig, nor is Tree of Life too far gone from other freeform expressions of youth.

I did a writeup of Drive but to summarize: in a world where cool is such a commodity that people are up in arms about "hipsters" and making sure they're in the social right to be cool, it was refreshing to see Refn be so effortlessly rad without directly addressing modern style and yet do so in a story that's more humanist than its genre usually dictates. Furthermore for what many consider to be a slow-burn of a film, I found it to overall be some of the most direct and striking storytelling I've seen in the theaters in a long time.

Tree of Life is obviously what one takes from it, and not every moment works even if I understand the insight, but when it hits that groove of almost solely being about growing up as a young boy, it nearly exemplifies what I love about the subject of coming-of-age. I do appreciate it more when such experiential moments are still combined with an insightful story (hence why its not quite as high as other stories of youth on my list) but for what it is I couldn't help but feel a deep connection to a large amount of its moments.

[Holymanm]

take care of my cat hits me right in the ovaries, it is great

[johnnyutah]

take care of my cat hits me right in the ovaries, it is great

2-5 more years and i'll get lazer eye surgery

and then i'll become an astronaut.

i really like your list..... i didn't love drive but i'd like a jacket like his