Without this book, I would have watched Stranger Things season four for the third time. Instead, I discovered that a movie shot in 28 countries with no CGI exists, and it looks like a dream you had after eating too much cheese.
Have you tackled this book? Are you a purist who has seen all 1001? Or did you quit at the silent German expressionist phase like I did? Let me know in the comments—I need validation.
I realized I was treating cinema like a checklist. I was watching Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080 Brussels (a 3.5-hour film of a woman doing chores) not to experience it, but to beat it. I had become a film accountant, not a film fan. Here is where the book redeems itself. 1001 movies you must see before you die book
That was three years ago. I have since accepted that I will likely die having seen only 600 of them. And you know what? I’m happier for it.
I tried the "completist" approach. I tried to start at the beginning. Do you know how many silent films are in that book? A lot. Do you know how long it took me to watch The Birth of a Nation (a technically brilliant, morally repugnant film that the book rightly includes but struggles to contextualize)? Too long. Without this book, I would have watched Stranger
The book doesn't care if you have a job, children, or a need for sleep. It simply sits on your coffee table, judging your Netflix queue.
When I first picked up the hefty, glossy tome of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die , edited by Steven Jay Schneider, I felt a rush of adrenaline. This was it. The roadmap. The holy grail of cinematic homework. I imagined myself in twenty years, sitting by a fireplace, stroking a white beard I don’t yet have, muttering, “Ah yes, the chiaroscuro in ‘The Conformist’ was revolutionary.” Are you a purist who has seen all 1001
You will watch bad movies. You will watch boring movies. But three or four times a year, you will watch a movie that changes the way light looks to you.