The Twenty Most Underrated Films I've Seen

By: Judicia​l Joe

The criteria for being on this list are:

1) The film must not have been nominated for an Academy Award.
2) The film must not have shown up in Roger Ebert’s Great Movies or in the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.
3) The film must not have had a release from The Criterion Collection.
4) I have to have viewed this film on or after January 1st, 2011, and given it a rating of A+ or A. Films seen for the first time before then qualify if they have been revisited on or after that date and given an A+ or A.
5) The film has to have been out for at least a year to qualify. Sorry, new classics like The Expendables 2, All the Light in the Sky, Looper, Walker, Killer Joe and Bernie haven’t had enough time to congeal in the cinephilic public’s mind to determine whether they will be seen as underrated or properly appreciated.

Last updated: Tuesday, May 14th, 2013.

• 01
  Out 1
  Jacques Rivette
• 02
  The Whole Shootin' Match
  Eagle Pennell
• 03
  Autoerotic
  Joe Swanberg
• 04
  8 Women
  François Ozon
• 05
  At Land
  Maya Deren
• 06
  Histoire(s) du cinéma
  Jean-Luc Godard
• 07
  Mean Girls
  Mark Waters
• 08
  2084
  Chris Marker
• 09
  Where Soldiers Come From
  Heather Courtney
• 10
  M. Butterfly
  David Cronenberg
• 11
  Schwechater
  Peter Kubelka
• 12
  Boxing Gym
  Frederick Wiseman
• 13
  The Age of the Earth
  Glauber Rocha
• 14
  Nights and Weekends
  Greta Gerwig
• 15
  Wittgenstein
  Derek Jarman
• 16
  Duelle
  Jacques Rivette
• 17
  Filmic Sculpture, Num. 3
  Alberto Cabrera Bernal
• 18
  The Boxing Cats (Prof. Welton's)
  William K.L. Dickson
• 19
  Conversation Piece
  Luchino Visconti
• 20
  À tout de suite
  Benoît Jacquot