Benny Safdie names the 10 greatest movies of all time
Arthouse cinema is in a transitionary phase in the 2020s as masters like Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott, and Martin Scorsese slowly ebb away from the limelight to make room for a new class of contemporary cinematic aficionados. Whilst directors like Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve have taken to creating a number of glossy big-budget movies, others such as Greta Gerwig and Josh and Benny Safdie have stepped in to fill the shoes of the small-scale indie filmmakers.
Suffusing modern cinema with electric energy, the Safdie brothers have emerged as two of America’s most important filmmakers, creating a small collection of movies that work to define the contemporary nation. After a number of short film successes, their feature film journey began back in 2009 with Daddy Longlegs, a Cannes Film Festival nominee that allowed them to go on to make documentaries Buttons and Lenny Cooke in 2011 and 2013, respectively.
Still, the pair wouldn’t reach true cinematic achievement until the release of the crime drama Heaven Knows What in 2014, a stylistic precursor to 2017s Good Time starring Robert Pattinson that would take them to new heights of industry stardom. Two years later and they once again set themselves a new benchmark, releasing the modern masterpiece Uncut Gems with Netflix.
Students of cinema, both Josh and Benny Safdie have talked extensively about their all-time favourite movies, and in 2023 the latter sat down with the BFI to name his picks for the decennial vote of the 100 best movies of all time.
Choosing a range of iconic filmmakers, Benny’s list includes American directors such as John Cassavetes, Ralph Nelson and William Friedkin, alongside a number of other world cinema names like Wim Wenders, Robert Bresson and Jacques Tati, creating a rich mosaic of classic cinema. His respective choices from such filmmakers include Alice in the Cities, The French Connection, Husbands, Les Vacances de M. Hulot, A Man Escaped and Requiem for a Heavyweight.
Elsewhere, Safdie picks the Martin Scorsese classic Taxi Driver as one of the greatest movies of all time, with the 1976 film starring Robert De Niro having a profound effect on the director’s own career. Telling the story of a disgruntled war veteran who drives cabs around New York for a living, the Palme d’Or winning film is considered a classic of 20th-century cinema and one of Scorsese’s all-time bests.
Safdie is also incredibly fond of the Frank Capra Christmas flick It’s a Wonderful Life with James Stewart, which takes creative license from the classic Charles Dickens tale A Christmas Carol. Nominated for five Academy Awards, including ‘Best Picture’, the film narrowly missed out on Hollywood’s greatest prize to William Wyler’s war romance The Best Years of Our Lives, starring Myrna Loy and Dana Andrews.
Take a look at the full list of Benny Safdie’s top ten movies of all time below.
Benny Safdie names the 10 greatest movies:
- Alice in the Cities (Wim Wenders, 1974)
- Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)
- The French Connection (William Friedkin, 1971)
- High School (Frederick Wiseman, 1968)
- Husbands A Comedy about Life Death and Freedom (John Cassavetes, 1970)
- It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1947)
- Les Vacances de M. Hulot (Jacques Tati, 1953)
- A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson, 1956)
- Requiem for a Heavyweight (Ralph Nelson, 1962)
- Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
