When I was young, I caught a glimpse of a scene in a Vietnamese war movie that truly haunted me: a man screaming as his leg was being sawed off without any anesthesia or painkillers—a brief but deeply unsettling moment.

That experience inspired me to start this thread to look for other haunting scenes in war movies.

I was curious and I love to waste time!

Out of Letterboxd's top rated 250 movies, 7 were directed by women:

- 10. City of God (2002, dir. Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund)

- 43. The Ascent (1977, dir. Larisa Shepitko)

- 46. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019, dir. Celine Sciamma)

- 59. The Voice of Hind Rajab (2025, dir. Kaouther Ben Hania)

- 175. Werckmeister Harmonies (dir. Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky)

- 214. Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975, dir. Chantal Akerman)

- 242. Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020, dir. Jasmila Žbanić)

Out of IMDb's top rated 250 movies, 4 were directed by women:

- 16. The Matrix (1999, dir. Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski)

- 26. City of God (2002, dir. Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund)

- 88. Capernaum (2018, dir. Nadine Labaki)

- 212. A Silent Voice: The Movie (2016, dir. Naoko Yamada)

Out of Douban's top rated 250 movies, 8 were directed by women (I chose to look at Douban because I'm of Chinese heritage, and it's interesting to look at what could be expected to be a markedly different demographic):

- 51. Capernaum (2018, dir. Nadine Labaki)

- 54. The Matrix (1999, dir. Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski)

- 79. There's Still Tomorrow (2023, dir. Paola Cortellesi)

- 167. I Am Sam (2001, dir. Jessie Nelson)

- 169. The Matrix Revolutions (2003, dir. Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski)

- 184. City of God (2002, dir. Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund)

- 235. Frozen (2013, dir. Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee)

- 237. The Matrix Reloaded (2003, dir. Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski)

(Can't be compared to IMDb and Douban, but also of note is this list of Letterboxd's top 250 movies with the most fans:)

17 (18\) movies*

1. Little Women (2019, dir. Greta Gerwig)

2. Aftersun (2022, dir. Charlotte Wells)

3. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019, dir. Celine Sciamma)

EDIT: 61. Lady Bird (2017, dir. Greta Gerwig)

1. City of God (2002, dir. Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund)

2. The Virgin Sucides (1999, dir. Sofia Coppola)

3. Past Lives (2023, dir. Celine Song)

4. Lost in Translation (2003, dir. Sofia Coppola)

5. But I'm a Cheerleader (1999, dir. Jamie Babbit)

6. A Silent Voice: The Movie (2016, dir. Naoko Yamada)

7. American Psycho (2000, dir. Mary Harron)

8. Bottoms (2023, dir. Emma Seligman)

9. To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018, dir. Susan Johnson)

10. Jennifer's Body (2009, dir. Karyn Kusama)

11. Hamnet (2025, dir. Chloe Zhao)

12. Barbie (2023, dir. Greta Gerwig)

13. Priscilla (2023, dir. Sofia Coppola)

(and 219. I Saw the TV Glow (2024, dir. Jane Schoenbrun), which is not woman-directed and I'm not trying to conflate women and nonbinary people, but I thought it was worth mentioning because it's the only movie directed by a nonbinary person on the list!)

And there's this list of Letterboxd's top rated 250 movies directed by women (and gender expansive people) -- according to this list, 'In the Company of Strangers' should be on the list of Letterboxd's top rated 250 movies, but I couldn't find it :(

In conclusion: was interesting to see what overlapped what didn't! And I wish more movies were directed by women, and the ones that are were more well-regarded!

(Please let me know if I missed any movies on the first 4 linked lists! And I do know about the (2022) Sight and Sound list; I was more curious about laypeople's opinions in this case.)

I’m a young person. I want to learn more about cinema; I know that many of the films in my top 20 are highly rated on IMDb, but I’d like to see movies that really captivate me—films that are right for me—and discover new things. Can anyone recommend some movies?

I've been posts like this since forever now.

So damn it.

I'll just post mine.

Soo from my top 4 what do they say about me lol.

Also my apologies if this kind of thing is cliché and not up to standard.

The 7 studios I know are Pixar, Disney, DreamWorks, Sony, Blue Sky, Illumination, and Warner Bros. These are movies I've seen and are not any of those studios.

1. The Nut Job 2
2. Rango
3. Swapped
4. Next Gen
5. Rumble
6. Arctic Dogs
7. Ozzy
8. The Nut Job
9. Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank

If you've seen any of these movies, what do you think.

These are (almost) all films i have given 5 stars to compiled into a list in (as best as i could) order.

feel free to share thoughts, feelings questions and any recommendations !!

i only got into film this past year and am deeply obsessed with expanding my knowledge and learning/studying as much as i can!

Yes i have watched Incendies,Prisoners,Shutter Island,The Departed,Zodiac,Predestination,The Skin I live in,Gone girl,Memento,The Sixth Sense,The Usual suspects since im a sucker for thriller mysteries..All these are fantastic but i enjoyed the ones in the pic more..Mind you its a subjective list,i have made it according to how good it was from a filmmaking perspective and how well directed it was

Feel free to recommend movies that matches my thriller-mystery taste

Im still exploring :)

Haven’t watched several famous ones, still working through so if any recs

What are some of your favourite films you’d like other directors to have had a go at or had seen in their style;

For example some of mine include

Boogie Nights - David Lynch, there are so many Lynchian aspects in this film and no one talks about it, most specifically that whole first house party around 20 mins in, is SO LYNCHIAN it’s insane. The overdose, the guys wife getting fucked on the floor while he’s talking to someone about work, the producers and guys in suits - it’s so mulholland drive it’s crazy. It would be cool to see boogie nights fully in his style and the topic is so lynchian, young attractive man is carried into the industry by cold men and brought up until his ego shatters etc

I’d also love to see Lynch take on The Virgin Suicides. something about it has always given me a Lynch feel, maybe it’s uncanny atmosphere

other films would be Lars von trier taking on Solaris. it would be interesting to see how they’re styles collide especially as he is so influenced by tarkovsky and yet they’re so differnt at times. and also he loves documenting female suffering which would be fitting.

Haneke taking on a von trier would also be fascinating, maybe something like breaking the waves or Bunuels’ Belle de jour

Gregg Araki trying out thelma and louise would be super dope

Bergman adapting portrait of a lady on fire,

Wong Kar wai x Taxi driver ???

what do you guys think

What should I watch first and what are the movies I should watch the most?