My favorite 25 films, redrafted 12/31/11. In chronological order, identified by country of origin rather than director because of my growing ambivalence toward the "auteur theory." (It should be noted, however, that Ozu Yasujiro directed two of the films on this list, while no other director has more than one film on this list.)
Sherlock, Jr. (USA, 1924)
M (Germany, 1931)
Duck Soup (USA, 1933)
The Grapes of Wrath (USA, 1940)
The Oxbow Incident (USA, 1942)
The Third Man (England, 1949)
Tōkyō monogatari (Japan, 1953)
Sanshō daiyū (Japan, 1954)
Un condamné à mort s’est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (France, 1956)
12 Angry Men (USA, 1957)
Ningen no jōken [trilogy] (Japan, 1959-1961)
Sanma no aji (Japan, 1962)
Suna no onna (Japan, 1964)
Andrei Rublev (Russia, 1966)
Play Time (France, 1967)
Killer of Sheep (USA, 1977)
Days of Heaven (USA, 1978)
Ran (Japan, 1985)
Koker trilogy: Where Is the Friend’s Home?/And Life Goes On/Through the Olive Trees (Iran, 1987-1994)
Mononoke-hime (Japan, 1997)
After Life (Japan, 1998)
Werckmeister harmóniák (Hungary, 2000)
The Man without a Past (Finland, 2002)
Café Lumière (Taiwan/Japan, 2003)
The World (China, 2004)
Films in common with 2010 list: 12
Japan: 8.5
USA: 7
France: 2
