Of course there are no perfect films. But there are films that are excellent on a number of levels with one additional virtue which I use to qualify them as “perfect”: that is, in addition to all the other elements of a great film, they possess an incandescent feeling of balance and equanimity, as if all the pieces fit together just perfectly, and no single element is displaced or diminished by the dominance of another element.
A better film might have one or two deeply flawed scenes in them, but a perfect film does not have a single false or dishonest moment. Well, maybe one or two, but they are more than counter-balanced by several exquisite moments.
10 Perfect Films
- The Apartment
- City Lights
- The Third Man
- Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
- The Seventh Seal
- Topsy Turvey
- The Godfather
- Junebug
- Late Spring
- Ran
- Do the Right Thing
- The General
- Rashomon
- Manhattan
Honorable Mentions
- The White Ribbon
- Blade Runner (The original)
- Crimes and Misdemeanors
- The Great Beauty
The Most Subversive Film Ever Made
- Monsieur Verdoux