5. Seven Samurai
Kurosawa's finest. Spectacular action, powerful storytelling, amazing on a technical and artistic level
4. L'Atalante
A minimalist masterpiece about romance, marriage, and compromise. Largely plotless, L'Atalante is all about capturing those fleeting moments that burn into our memories
3. Bicycle Thieves
A brilliant and sometimes devastating story about the strength of family and the desperation of life in post-war Europe. Filmed mostly with amateur actors and shot entirely on location, Bicycle Thieves stands as a shining jewel in the neorealist movement
2. Vertigo
Hitchcock is responsible for a dozen great movies, but none is as complicated, mesmerizing, or powerful as Vertigo. Cerebral, layered, and dreamlike, Vertigo is a difficult, haunting movie, one that shows a master at his creative peak
1. Citizen Kane
Forget about the technical breakthroughs, the inventive camera movements and angles, the masterful use of light, shadow, and perspective. Forget about the influential narrative style, moving forward and backward in time arriving at a perfect ending. At its core, stripped of all the achievements in set design, make-up, cinematography, and editing, Citizen Kane tells a moving, meaningful story about idealism, ambition, greed, friendship, betrayal, and, ultimately, loneliness. A monumental achievement in cinema, on every front.
