And You Call Yourself a Cinephile?!

There's definitely a direct correlation between how deep you get into the study of film as an art and the overbearing pride and pretentiousness of the critics involved. Everyone loves to believe that they know it all. I'm no different.

Therefore I found it extremely interesting when I happened upon cinephile Andy Horbal's interesting little exercise over at his blog. Using the list of the 1000 Greatest Films Ever Made (from They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?) he compiled a list of the top 50 films he had not yet seen. Not a bad idea at all. This subculture could sure use a reality check with a bit of humility on the side.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had at least seen the top 15 films on the list. This spurred me to compile my own list. Only upon doing this did I realize how exponentially worse things got as I progressed past the 50's or 60's. Long streaks of unseen films. Oh well. This is the whole point of the exercise isn't it?

Final count was somewhat disappointing: 39 unseen films out of the top 100. That said, lists are lists and the attempt to mathematically compile them to produce any sort of master is always bound to fail. But enough of my own disclaimers, here it is in all of its anti-glory (preceding number indicates its ranking):

16) L'Atlante
24)
Les Enfants du Paradis

28) Sunset Blvd.
34) Persona
38) Andrei Rublev
41) Ordet
47) Ugetsu Monogotari
48)
400 Blows

49) Contempt
52) Night of the Hunter
55) The Wild Bunch
58) The Conformist
59) La Strada
61) The Mirror
62) Fanny and Alexander
64) Greed
67) Rio Bravo
69) Sherlock, Jr.
71) Playtime
72) L'Age d'Or
73) Ikiru
74) All About Eve
75) Voyage in Italy
76) The Apartment
77) Viridiana
78)
Aguirre: The Wrath of God

81)
Pierrot le Fou

82) Man with a Movie Camera
83) Blue Velvet
84) Nosferatu
85) The Leopard
87) Once Upon a Time in the West
89) Sansho Dayu
91) Last Year at Marienbad
95) Letter from an Unknown Woman
96) King Kong
97) Amarcord
99) Stagecoach
100) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance