Akira Mizuta Lippit

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Tokyo Story

A film brimming with restrained emotion, unleashed through a level of unparalleled film craftsmanship. The model on which many of the world's greatest films are based.

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

Has any film ever captured so brilliantly the nuances of love, distance, ennui and sadness? Who knew cinema was capable of this? A level of detail and perfection unseen before or since.

Stalker

A masterwork of pacing, elemental precision and breathtaking patience. One of the most beautiful films ever made.

Ordet

A genuine film miracle.

The Incredible Shrinking Man

Darker than any noir, more philosophical than the French, perhaps the most existentialist film ever made. Truly one of American cinema's greatest achievements.

Killer of Sheep

Neglected for too long, Killer of Sheep is a subtle masterpiece at the intersections of American independent, neorealist and Third cinemas. Taut and emotional, it may be the most resourceful film ever made.

Daisies

Who could have known that a cinema like this was possible in 1960s Czechoslovakia? Revolutionary in every sense of the term.

BARA NO SORETSU

Avant-garde, documentary, performance art, every possibility of cinema in a single film. Like a memory of cinema.

Blowjob

The most erotic film ever made, a tribute to the irreducible pornographies of the unseen.

News from Home

Powerful in everything that is neither said nor seen, the cinematic power of the unrevealed. Could easily be at the top of this list. A film that reveals the incomparable power of cinema to conceal.

Further remarks

Off the cuff, will undoubtedly regret omitted films and perhaps even the order, but the films here ought to be among any list of the world's greatest films.