In 2008, I participated in a meme asking one to reveal a dozen unseen films a true film buff should have seen by then; I came up with the twelve below in chronological order (all of them pre-2000).

Happily, 17 years later, I’ve seen all but two! What follows is my original text, plus updates in italics.

1. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939, director: Victor Fleming)
Arguably the most popular film of all time, I feel like I’ve seen it without ever having actually seen it–think of all the quotable lines and parodies throughout history unto infinity–and besides, who has four hours to kill? I missed it during its last theatrical release ten years ago; perhaps I’ll soon get another chance to see it on the big screen during its 70th (or 75th) anniversary.

Not Seen! I obviously haven’t found the four hours to kill, although I will soon in my effort to see every Best Picture Oscar winner before the 100^th edition in 2028. The recent backlash against this film’s celebration of slavery hasn’t exactly encouraged me to make time for it, either.

2. WILD STRAWBERRIES (1957, dir: Ingmar Bergman)
I’ve always admired rather than adored Bergman; I see the greatness in PERSONA and SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE and respect at least a half-dozen other Bergman classics, but I find so much of his work too cold and austere. However, many people I know consider this film about a teacher looking back at his life in existential dread as essential, so it sits waiting patiently for me to move it out of Netflix queue limbo.

Seen at the Brattle Theater in 2015. I’ve since concluded I love nearly all of Bergman’s work starting with PERSONA and everything after but I’m unmoved by most of what came before, this film included.

3. IMITATION OF LIFE (1959, dir: Douglas Sirk) 
I went on a mini-Sirk kick two years ago, watching WRITTEN ON THE WIND and ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS in quick succession after a viewing of Todd Haynes’ loving, bold homage FAR FROM HEAVEN. I think Rock Hudson’s absence has kept me from making the time to check this one out–after seeing the other two films, Sirk w/out Hudson is in my mind unthinkable.

Seen on DVD in 2009. Hudson’s not missed! Would love to revisit after having viewed the pleasant but inferior 1934 version earlier this year.

4. HIGH AND LOW (1963, dir: Akira Kurosawa)
I almost saw this as part of the Friday Night Screening/Speaker series I worked on at BU a decade ago, but it was replaced at the very last minute by a work-in-progress-screening of Errol Morris’ MR. DEATH: THE RISE AND FALL OF FRED A. LEUTCHER, JR. with the director in person. Kurosawa is another auteur I never really “got” until I saw his somewhat atypical IKIRU a few years ago, and I’m ready to sit down and take in this kidnapping thriller.

Seen on Criterion Channel in 2020. One of my most illuminating pandemic watches. Gave it 5 stars on Letterboxd, noting how that late bravura sequence in the nightclub/flophouse was one of the most meticulous and thrilling I’d ever witnessed..

5. THE GODFATHER, PART II (1974, dir: Francis Ford Coppola)
During my first year in Boston, I rented on average four movies a week from the now-shuttered Allston Videosmith. “Film Club” members were entitled to two-for-one rentals on Tuesdays, provided you rented from a specific genre chosen every month. That October, it was “widescreen” film (funny to think that was a genre in the pre-DVD age), so that’s how I ended up watching THE GODFATHER for the first (and to date only) time. I liked it well enough, so I don’t know why I never got around to its highly regarded sequel.

Seen on Paramount Plus in 2022. I still like the original more (and have now seen it on the big screen as well), but as sequels go, not too shabby. Still have no desire to see Part III, however.

6. FINGERS (1978, dir: James Toback) 
The premise intrigues: A young man (Harvey Keitel) is torn between loyalties to the mob and dreams of becoming a famous concert pianist. I probably would have made more of an effort to see Toback’s film by now if not for the very good 2005 French remake, THE BEAT MY HEART SKIPPED with Romain Duris in the Keitel role.

Seen at home in 2011. An underseen classic and surely Keitel’s best performance. 

7. THE RIGHT STUFF (1983, dir: Philip Kaufman)
I read Tom Wolfe’s account of the U.S. space program’s early years back in 2002. This film adaptation, underrated and a flop at the time of release, has a great cast (Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, Barbara Hershey) and a three hour running time. Oh, how I used to have a higher tolerance for lengthy flicks–ten years I ago, I remember seeing LA DOLCE VITA, ULYSSES’ GAZE and Tarkovsky’s SOLARIS (all 3 hour flicks) over the course of one Columbus Day weekend!

Seen on TCM in 2023. Gave it 4.5 stars on Letterboxd and wrote, “Maybe the best film about space travel after 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY? Apart from sections of the score, it might’ve been made yesterday.”

8. LOCAL HERO (1983, dir: Bill Forsyth) 
I never heard of Forsyth’s comedy before I moved to Boston to study film, but since then, I’ve heard nothing but great things about it. And given that I loved his neat 1987 adaptation of Marilynne Robinson’s novel HOUSEKEEPING (why isn’t that one on DVD?), I have to make time for it soon.

Seen at the Brattle Theater in 2013; rewatched on my own Criterion Collection Blu-Ray in 2019. Now one of my favorite movies, it nearly became an entry in 24 Frames. Every subsequent movie with a similar fish-out-of-water, city-to-rural scenario owes something to it, and none of them have bested it.

9. SCHINDLER’S LIST (1993, dir: Steven Spielberg)
I don’t care if it’s his mature masterpiece–I’d rather sit through the horror of CRASH again (Haggis, not Cronenberg even!) than have to watch another film about the holocaust.

Not Seen! As with #1, this will soon be part of my Best Picture Oscar winner watch; the best I can offer is that I’m looking forward to seeing it more than, say, BRAVEHEART, but honestly not by much. Happy I never have to rewatch Haggis’ CRASH, by the way.

10. WHITE (1994, dir: Krzysztof Kieslowski)
On the list because I saw BLUE and RED a decade ago but for some reason, I never got around to this one–and it even has the lovely Julie Delpy in it! At this point, I might as well watch all three in order.

Seen on HBO Max in 2021 when I watched the entire THREE COLOURS Trilogy. Easy my least favorite of that trio (Delpy’s barely in it!), but it grew on me, particularly once the narrative mutated into something unexpected.

11. PRINCESS MONONOKE (1997, dir: Hayao Miyazaki)
Out of all these unseen films, there’s absolutely no excuse for this one, given how much I love SPIRITED AWAY. Maybe the film’s action/adventure slant has kept me at bay, or maybe I don’t have too strong of a jones for anime and Miyazaki’s an anomaly.

Seen on HBO Max in 2021 a month before the previous entry (I was unemployed and had so much time for movies); a dark, beautiful epic that was pretty much what I expected; maybe it would’ve hit a little harder had I seen it before SPIRITED AWAY.

12. BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB (1999, dir: Wim Wenders)
As I repeatedly discovered throughout grad school, Wenders is wildly uneven. For every WINGS OF DESIRE or little-seen masterwork like the epic, demented KINGS OF THE ROAD (another three hour film!), there’s crap like TOKYO-GA or THE END OF VIOLENCE. But this doc about Cuban musicians frequently pops up on best-docs-of-all-time lists.

Seen at home in 2013, weeks after my own trip to Cuba. Good movie, great music but at the time of this watch, Wenders was still a decade away from rehabilitating his career with his out-of-nowhere masterpiece PERFECT DAYS.