Cinemascope

Infinite Playlists

Dominic Corry

Life is hard, but here’s one thing we can make easier: how to choose what you watch next. Dominic Corry dives into Letterboxd’s lists to find the highest-rated films that are streaming right now, and shares recommendations from award-winning filmmakers.

So. Many. Lists. Among the many benign side effects of the current global crisis is the abundance of lists of films to watch. These were always a thing as anyone on Letterboxd knows, but with many of us suddenly having a lot more time on our hands, recommendation lists are coming out of the woodwork left, right and center.

Alongside the explosion in lists is another side effect: lack of a film-watching agenda. Without a regular cinema release schedule to follow, and with the weird attention-span issues brought on by the psychic heaviness of the times, we’re hearing from many of you that you just want to be told what to watch. So we’re here to highlight some specific lists that you could work your way through.

The best of the best: our highest-rated films

There are certain key Letterboxd lists that must be acknowledged, such as our Parasite, a film Letterboxd were rabid about loooong before it become fashionable.

And there’s our Joel as a film that “at times … feels like the most important documentary ever made”.

Stephen Chow’s Shaolin Soccer (2001) appears on both Edgar Wright’s and the Pixar directors’ recommendation lists.
Stephen Chow’s Shaolin Soccer (2001) appears on both Edgar Wright’s and the Pixar directors’ recommendation lists.

Filmmaker favorites

We recently invited some of our favorite filmmakers to send us their lists. Writer and director Edgar Wright, the genius behind such classics as this stellar list of one hundred of his favorite comedies, spanning nine decades of mirthsome cinema.

It’s a bountiful list that gives considerable insight into Wright’s creative mind. In addition to featuring a bevy of bona-fide classics, it shines a light on some mildly under-appreciated recent comedies—films that are loved by everyone who sees them, but that perhaps haven’t been seen by quite enough people: Stephen Chow’s insanely charming Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.

Phantom of the Paradise (1974).
Phantom of the Paradise (1974).

After we published Wright’s list on his behalf, he challenged fellow filmmaker Rian Johnson (Phantom of the Paradise—he is holding off doing so until he can watch it in a cinema. Bless.

Johnson ed the baton to Natasha Lyonne, the actress, writer and director behind last year’s break out Netflix series a list of films guaranteed to mess with your head. These are movies most assuredly not for the faint of heart. (If you’re in a sexier mood, Lyonne’s spicy 1999 rom-com But I’m a Cheerleader appears on film writer Justine Peres Smith’s list of best horny movies for quarantine.)

For families, a raft of award-winning Pixar filmmakers gave us some very helpful lists for families seeking lockdown entertainment, separated into three categories: Adventures in Babysitting in their recommendations), and you can see which individual filmmaker(s) nominated each film (and in some cases, why) by reading the notes. We have some background about the Pixar lists, along with a chat about how films can help kids process their feelings in the time of coronavirus here.

Elisabeth Shue and team in Adventures in Babysitting (1987).
Elisabeth Shue and team in Adventures in Babysitting (1987).

Art house at home: virtual screenings

There’s a fantastic initiative afoot to help keep art house theaters solvent during this period of non-cinema going. We’ve partnered with a range of distributors and theatrical agents to create this constantly updating ‘Art House Online’ list—featuring recent or re-released independent films that you can rent to financially a specific theater.

These are films that aren’t available on regular streaming services, and include some of the highest-rated films on Letterboxd in the past twelve months, such as the singular Brazilian mystery-thriller, list notes.

Sorting through the streamers

First things first: Letterboxd can use the JustWatch-powered ‘Service’ filter/menu on our website and apps to see which films from any list are available on a short list of streaming services—and if you a Pro or Patron hip, you can superpower this feature by selecting your own list of streaming providers (from hundreds of monitored services in over 40 countries) and check them all in one go. All in ed territories can view the complete list of available services for a single film, in their country, from our website (or via a link to JustWatch’s website from our apps).

And if you don’t have a paid , but would like to browse the streaming or cable service you’re signed up to for inspiration, we have creating lists tied to specific streaming services, all of which are no doubt getting a major workout during lockdown.

Patron member huge number of lists delivering Netflix recommendations.

Claude Barras’s My Life as a Zucchini (2016) is on Netflix US.
Claude Barras’s My Life as a Zucchini (2016) is on Netflix US.

Netflix famously invests heavily in its original titles, and there are plenty of lists highlighting the best of these, like What Did Jack Do? to the best original offering on the service.

Hulu is the current streaming home for Letterboxd favorites this list of films thematically aligned with Céline Sciamma’s masterwork.

Hulu’s Into the Dark anthology horror series has been quietly churning out some of the more interesting fright films of late, with a new one debuting every month. In here.

Amazon Prime has one of the largest offerings of streaming titles, and has also made big strides in building up its original slate. Letterboxd member Celine Brown keeps up to date.

Disney+ is the newest major player in streaming movies, and this list.

Mixing with Letterboxd

Those are some of our more high-profile entries, but once you delve into the world of Letterboxd lists, things can get super weird and specific. Want to discover some “elevated” genre films? Check out This list has you covered.

There are infinitely more lists on Letterboxd to help guide you through this strange time, and it’s ridiculously easy to create and share your own. There’s never been more demand for movie recommendations, so have at it!

Dominic Corry

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