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The Top-Rated Movie of Every Year by Letterboxd Users

Starting with 1915 because it gets dicey before then. I've omitted shorts (anything less than 45 minutes), TV shows, and serials. I've also made judgements in a few places about number of views (typically limiting to >5k, especially for recent years, although the new weights have largely taken care of this issue) and type of film (for example, DQing films that are directly connected to series, which always inflates ratings). See the notes for instances where films were disqualified.

This is updated monthly, but if something has overtaken one of the films here please let me know.

Block or Report Read notes
  • Filibus
  • Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
  • A Man There Was
  • The Outlaw and His Wife
  • J'accuse
  • The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
  • The Kid
  • Häxan
  • Safety Last!
  • Sherlock Jr.
  • The Gold Rush
  • The General
  • Metropolis
  • The Passion of Joan of Arc
  • Man with a Movie Camera
  • All Quiet on the Western Front
  • City Lights
  • Trouble in Paradise
  • The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
  • It Happened One Night
  • Tange Sazen and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo
  • Modern Times
  • Make Way for Tomorrow
  • Bringing Up Baby
  • The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum
  • The Great Dictator
  • Citizen Kane
  • To Be or Not to Be
  • The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
  • Double Indemnity
  • Brief Encounter
  • It's a Wonderful Life
  • Out of the Past
  • The Red Shoes
  • Late Spring
  • Sunset Boulevard
  • Ace in the Hole
  • Ikiru
  • Tokyo Story
  • Seven Samurai
  • Ordet
  • A Man Escaped
  • 12 Angry Men
  • Vertigo
  • The Human Condition I: No Greater Love
  • Le Trou
  • The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer
  • Harakiri
  • High and Low
  • Woman in the Dunes
  • Red Beard
  • The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
  • War and Peace
  • Once Upon a Time in the West
  • Army of Shadows
  • Le Cercle Rouge
  • The Devils
  • The Godfather
  • Paper Moon
  • The Godfather Part II
  • Barry Lyndon
  • Harlan County U.S.A.
  • The Ascent
  • Autumn Sonata
  • Apocalypse Now
  • The Empire Strikes Back
  • Das Boot
  • The Thing
  • Nostalgia
  • Stop Making Sense
  • Come and See
  • The Sacrifice
  • Where Is the Friend's House?
  • Cinema Paradiso
  • Do the Right Thing
  • Paris Is Burning
  • A Brighter Summer Day
  • Baraka
  • Schindler's List
  • The Shawshank Redemption
  • La Haine
  • Secrets & Lies
  • Perfect Blue
  • Eternity and a Day
  • Fight Club
  • Yi Yi
  • Spirited Away
  • City of God
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
  • Nobody Knows
  • Grizzly Man
  • The Departed
  • There Will Be Blood
  • The Dark Knight
  • Inglourious Basterds
  • Incendies
  • A Separation
  • The Act of Killing
  • Prisoners
  • Whiplash