Must see films.

[PeterM]

I note that when PeterM said:

Pretty much all the Coen Bros stuff

...there were a couple of notable omissions from his list. Presumably deliberate. (He should have mentioned The Hudsucker Proxy though.)

Yes, the omissions were deliberate. I didn't mention The Big Lebowski because it had been cited earlier. I remember enjoying The Hudsucker Proxy years ago, but it seems to have vanished from all platforms, so I omitted it on the precautionary principle.

I've got a soft spot for Hail Caesar, but I'd not describe it as a must-see film.

[citoyen]

I've got a soft spot for Hail Caesar, but I'd not describe it as a must-see film.

Would that it were.

I still have the Hudsucker Proxy on DVD.

[Deano]

Summer of Soul. There may be a better concert movie out there, but I've not seen it.

Deliberately didn't put that in, to see if it would flush you out!  Colleague at work asked if I'd seen it the other day.  Huge brownie point!

I was waiting for you to mention it! I don't think I know another film that makes me laugh and cry so much, and at different points every time.

[fd3]

"must see" is not the same as "culturally significant" or "favourite" surely.

[hubner]

Breathless (À bout de souffle) (1960).

I'm not sure what "must see" means exactly.

The above is certainly a landmark film and "culturally significant" but one doesn't have to like it.

To me a favourite could be an obscure film I like but can see it's not going to appeal to a lot of people so I would not call it a "must see" film.

[hubner]

Peeping Tom (1960)

Apparently ended Michael Powell's career.

[Gaston Lagaffe]

There's loads really  I'm very fond of much of the output of the US in the late 60s and 70s. The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy etc.

Seems like a period of introspection, before the triumphalist era of the late 80s and 90s.

I’d agree. Both of those films could easily have been on my list.

I’m not sure why I didn’t put The Sorrow and the Pity on my list. Probably because it’s a documentary.

I’d like to say I was inspired to watch it because it’s referenced as a ´must watch’ at the beginning and end of Annie Hall by Woody Allen, but I’d be lying. I discovered it much later in life.

[T42]

Virtually anything by Claude Lelouch or Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

[Tim Hall]

The Wages of Fear. 

[Mr Larrington]

The Wages of Fear.

William Friedkin's not-a-remake-honest "Sorcerer" is quite OK* too but suffered from being released at more or less the time as "Star Wars".  At least, that's Friedkin's story.

Also, The Fear Of Wages ["Please leave" - Ed.]

* Except for the bit where Roy Scheider goes:

• from the jungle of the Dominican Republic to the New Mexico desert in a hundred yards, and
• bonkers

[T42]

One called The Old Gun in English, with Philippe Noiret and Roy Scheider Romy Schneider.

[mattc]

The Death of Stalin

Excellent pick. As are many many others here, but I've picked on this as you've dared to go pretty recent. Inspiring me to risk:

JoJo Rabbit

And while I'm here:
Toy Story 2

[Nuncio]

Talking of JoJo Rabbit and Ianucci. We saw a very strong sequence of films in succession at the cinema in early 2020, two being JoJo Rabbit and The Personal History of David Copperfield, and the third being 1917. I'm not sure if they are 'must see' films but they would all come close to to the top of my personal list of favourites.

Since then the Netflix All Quiet on the Western Front was very good, and would probably have been even better if - like 1917 - I'd seen it on the big screen.

Going back further, having proposed The Graduate and The Third Man in 'the best ending' thread, I would say that the rest of those films are pretty damn fine also.

One film that really affected me at the time was The Unbearable Feeling of Lightness -  one of those cinema experiences where it felt as if the whole of the audience was left stunned into silence and immobility throughout the closing credits and unable to break the magic by getting up and walking out. I have no memory now of what it was about, except that there were plenty of naughty bits, but I haven't sought it out since in case it turns out to have been a bit crap. It also sounds very wanky to say that a film with that title is a favourite when friends are suggesting Gladiator or The Matrix, so I've kept quiet about until now.

[Hot Flatus]

Virtually anything by Claude Lelouch or Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

Jeunet and Caro films are wonderful.

I think the last of their output I watched was Micmacs. My favourite is probably City of Lost Children. Deeply flawed and overcomplicated...but what imagery!

[mrcharly-YHT]

Kelly's Heroes

[Ham]

I'm surprised nobody else has listed l'Atalante (1934) - the "must see" film where you could print each frame as a B&W image.

(Jean Vigo's only other output approaching a film was Zero de Conduit)

[citoyen]

One film that really affected me at the time was The Unbearable Feeling of Lightness -  one of those cinema experiences where it felt as if the whole of the audience was left stunned into silence and immobility throughout the closing credits and unable to break the magic by getting up and walking out. I have no memory now of what it was about, except that there were plenty of naughty bits, but I haven't sought it out since in case it turns out to have been a bit crap. It also sounds very wanky to say that a film with that title is a favourite when friends are suggesting Gladiator or The Matrix, so I've kept quiet about until now.

Presume you mean The Unbearable Lightness of Being? With Daniel Day Lewis and Juliette Binoche?

I remember when it came out and a lot of my fiends felt much the same as you about it but for some reason it did nothing for me. I couldn’t tell you why now though. Maybe I should revisit it.

Doesn’t sound wanky at all to mention it, btw.

[Nuncio]

Yes. I evidently find the name so pretentious I can't get it right.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

One Life

Anthony Hopkins at his best.  And very timely.

[T42]

Kelly's Heroes

First saw that in Eindhoven, in English with Dutch subtitles.  At one point one of the characters said "shit", at which we anglophones laughed (it was 1971) but the Dutch audience stayed silent. Then about 15 seconds later the subtitle "Barst!" came up and the Dutch all cackled.  Later looked it up but couldn't find anything on the level of shit.

And now you know who I worked for in 1971.

[Tim Hall]

Kelly's Heroes

First saw that in Eindhoven, in English with Dutch subtitles.  At one point one of the characters said "shit", at which we anglophones laughed (it was 1971) but the Dutch audience stayed silent. Then about 15 seconds later the subtitle "Barst!" came up and the Dutch all cackled.  Later looked it up but couldn't find anything on the level of shit.

And now you know who I worked for in 1971.

My dad worked for them (in the UK) from 1955, starting off at Mullard Research Lab, Salfords, then Mitcham then Crawley.

[T42]

Kelly's Heroes

First saw that in Eindhoven, in English with Dutch subtitles.  At one point one of the characters said "shit", at which we anglophones laughed (it was 1971) but the Dutch audience stayed silent. Then about 15 seconds later the subtitle "Barst!" came up and the Dutch all cackled.  Later looked it up but couldn't find anything on the level of shit.

And now you know who I worked for in 1971.

My dad worked for them (in the UK) from 1955, starting off at Mullard Research Lab, Salfords, then Mitcham then Crawley.

I was based in Glasgow but in Eindhoven on a course, a quarter of which was devoted to corporate "ain't we great?"

[citoyen]

I only know of one company that is famously based in Eindhoven, and I only know that because of its moderately successful football team. Is it that one?

[Cudzoziemiec]

I only know of one company that is famously based in Eindhoven, and I only know that because of its moderately successful football team. Is it that one?

Well there's something I've learned. Never realized they were an ex-works club.

[Tim Hall]

I only know of one company that is famously based in Eindhoven, and I only know that because of its moderately successful football team. Is it that one?

Well there's something I've learned. Never realized they were an ex-works club.

It's what put the P in PSV.