It’s impossible to create a list on the internet, especially when it comes to movies, without starting a hotly contested debate. And while CineFix‘s “Top 10 Most Beautiful Movies of All-Time” will certainly stir some arguments, they shy away from making it a definitive ranking, instead breaking things down into ten different categories.
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Some of the categories include: European cinema, black-and-white in the modern era, Asian cinema, sweeping Hollywood epics, etc. Altogether, the aim is to pick a movie that’s purely a representation of cinematic beauty, whether it’s the striking 70mm desert imagery of “Lawrence of Arabia,” the deep focus cinematography of “Citizen Kane,” or the decadent use of color in “Hero.” It’s not so much about how the cinematography services the movie. They’re instead picking movies that would look like a masterful painting if you pressed the pause button.
You can go ahead and check out the list below. Any movies not mentioned that you’d include? Let us know.
Great list, great video. My own list would have to include:
Blade Runner
Apocalypse Now
Mad Max Fury Road
The Red Shoes
The Master
Persona
In the Mood for Love
Seven Samurai
Assassination of Jesse James
Great list, but a bit like picking your favorite child.
I\’d add another, sometimes overlooked film to Storaro\’s body of work– Little Buddha. Beautifully shot throughout, but he chose to switch from 35mm to 65mm for all the flashback sequences of Buddha\’s life.
Gorgeous to begin with, it\’s amazing when we travel back in time.
Thank you for your work & the list!
A remarkably good list! I completely agree with Samsara as the number 1 — a mesmerizingly beautiful film. Also great to see Tree of Life and The Fall in the list. Although Bergman had a couple of mentions, I would have actually included Fanny and Alexander . The use of colour and near-greyscale to present tone and mood is second to none. I may also have included Winter Light, which takes place mostly in a church over a full day, and the stunning B&W photography captures the changing light throughout the day — and it was all done on a set! A glimpse at the end of the list reminded me, too, of how beautifully shot The Assassination of Jesse James… was. The train robbery at the beginning is surely up there with the most beautifully shot scenes in film history.
I still think about the grocery bag flitting around in "American Beauty", still a favorite.
Ex Machina (2015)
How on Earth does BARRY LYNDON get only an honorable mention? 2001 might be the best ever made (period,) but you could\’ve thrown out MANHATTAN easily. If your list indeed shows "masterful painting if you pressed the pause button," it is clear LYNDON is the greatest. And I mean number one.
I\’d add Cinema Paridiso to that list.
"Mishima" is not an Asian film; Paul Schrader directed it and co-wrote it with his brother Leonard and Leonard\’s wife Chieko.
"Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters" was directed by Paul Schraeder and photographed by John Bailey and produced by Zoetrope and Lucasfilm, so I\’m not sure it fits the criteria of the Asian films you grouped it in with.
Soviet classic The Cranes are Flying is so beautiful i think it deserved a special mention in the Russian Ark segment
I liked your list, and was so glad to see The Fall and Tree of Life on it, as they top my list of visually stunning films… may have to add the new Mad Max film. I always think of Down By Law when I think of cinematically memorable Black and White films…
Wow, I really like this list! Only thing is… India is in Asia, no?