Carlos Reviriego

For me, these are not just films, they are epiphanies, or spiritual and intellectual revelations. They represent cinema as a deep experience. I have seen all of these ten films at least five times (some of them 15 times) and they always affected me as they did the first time (well, maybe not as much, but pretty close to). Their power remains untouchable over the years. Even if I watched them when I was 12, 25 or 37 years old (my age in 2012), I could relate to them every single time. And I believe they will still have the most impact on me when I reach my elder years. Of course, I lament the absence of film directors that should be considered among the greatest of all time –Hitchcock, Ford, Bresson, Rossellini, Ozu, Eastwood, Kubrick, Buñuel, Marker, Tarkovsky, Resnais, Antonioni, Scorsese – but none of their films have touched me as much as these ones did. I would have voted for Godard’s Histoire(s) du cinéma if I could have take the eight chapters as a group, but rules are rules, and anyway Godard’s pieces were intentionally made for television, not cinema. My only concession to a ‘minor’ filmmaker goes to Pennebakers’ Dont Look Back, which is my concesion to Bob Dylan, the greatest living artist on earth. And, as I said, this is a list of personal epiphanies, ten films that are treasure mementos of unbelievable joy and/or wonderment.