my top 5 (6) favorite films.
rather than jumping directly into film theory, let’s begin with a bit of personal context – my favorite films!
not the full list of 10, just the top 5. my cherished possessions. this list will give you insight into what i like about what i like when it comes to film – what i’m drawn to, what i’m paying attention to, and what makes me feel the most satisfied, narratively and technically, when i leave the theater or finish a movie in my apartment.
it’s important to know i don’t care about recency bias. i firmly believe if a particular film speaks to you, whether you’re a) someone who loves movies, watches a ton of movies, and maintains a high level of curiosity about filmmaking, or b) someone who’s casually into movies and will watch whatever’s on, or c) somewhere in between, i trust your intuition. i trust your gut. and i absolutely trust mine. when i see something and feel something, i trust that. a release date of yesterday or decades ago doesn’t matter to me. any moment can change your life. any piece of art can as well.
here are my top 5 favorite films in all their glory:
SINNERS (2025; written and directed by ryan coogler)
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE (2022; written and directed by the daniels aka daniel kwan and daniel scheinert)
tie: INTERSTELLAR (2014; directed by christopher nolan, written by christopher nolan and jonathan nolan) and SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (2023; directed by joaquim dos santos, kemp powers, and justin k. thompson, written by phil lord, chris miller, and dave callaham)
THE GODFATHER PART II (1974; written by francis ford coppola and mario puzo, directed by francis ford coppola)
JURASSIC PARK (1993; directed by steven spielberg, written by michael crichton and david koepp)
this list spans decades, crosses genres, and explores mediums, but more than that, it speaks to who i am as a person – a Black woman, a daughter of immigrants, a deeply introspective lover of stories, a human being – and it speaks to who i am as a lover of film. because the most important thing these films all do is accomplish a movie’s #1 job – make me believe and make me feel. each one of these films makes me believe and makes me feel. brings me to tears. every time i see them. i am immediately drawn into their worlds and i stay there until all the credits roll.
as you’re thinking about your favorite movies or just movies in general, ask yourself:
did i feel swept away into the world onscreen?
did i believe the story being told in this world and was that story capable of making me feel something?
while i wouldn’t dare spoil the plots of my favorite films – because if you haven’t seen them, you must – i will divulge technical and thematic highlights to help you get a sense of what sticks with me in a movie. it is very difficult for people to watch my top 5 films (and especially my top 3!) and not come out with a better understanding of who i am, what i believe, AND what i like about movies, because none of these films are ashamed of who they are, from a technical perspective but also from a narrative perspective – they are all telling very clear stories intentionally designed to leave you feeling a myriad of emotions and instantly wanting to have a conversation about them. feeling a lot of feelings and yapping for hours? that’s ME.
technical themes that stretch across the films:
4 out of 6 have writer-directors at the helm (we’ll talk about auteur theory and why i find it particularly compelling very soon!)
5 out of 6 use nonlinear storytelling in their screenplays/final edits (i am OBSESSED with nonlinear storytelling and its ability to suck you into a story)
all have unforgettable characters – reflecting a symbiotic relationship between screenplay, acting performances, wardrobe & costume design, and production design
all have an impactful original score (music is very much part of who i am, and there’s no film i love where i don’t also love its ORIGINAL music – in the near future, we’ll discuss the differences between the types of music we hear during a movie to help you better understand the nuances and determine what’s most important to you)
all look and feel like an intense journey, whether its internal introspection or travelling across the cosmos (or both) because of stunning cinematography and/or shrewd editing
all earnestly tackle their narrative with a subtext that is both personal and broad. in other words, they feel small and big in a fulfilling way. for example, using a strained mother-daughter relationship as a way to explore generational trauma and nihilism, or using twin brothers as a way to explore divergent life paths.
narrative themes that stretch across the films:
generational trauma
immigration
nihilism
absurdism
shift into horror
depression
neurodivergence
alienation
cultural appropriation
loss of identity
intuition
dreams
choices
america
capitalism
love
humanity
community
crime
charting your own path
possessing a special gift or talent
autonomy
colonization
assimilation
art and creativity
music
space
time
making deals (including the faustian bargain, or making a deal w/ the devil)
family (especially parent-child relationships and sibling relationships)
movies move me and it starts with my top 5. each film has its meaning and each films gives me meaning. they remind me why i’m passionate about movies, specifically and generally. even though i know them like i know myself, i revisit them, interrogate them, research their inspirations, sit with their original scores for weeks and weeks, talk about them incessantly, and i learn NEW things. constantly. merely reviewing these films in my mind for this piece revealed resonant connections and differences among them i hadn’t yet discovered.
and that’s what it’s all about, really. knowing art more deeply and knowing ourselves more deeply through art. curiosity, research, discovery.
what’s on your top 5? what overarching themes have you noticed among the films on your list?
