The most underappreciated movie of the 20th century, according to science
There are many films that find their audience many years after being released, with films like Love, Actually, Fight Club and The Big Lebowski (and hopefully Babylon) initially performing poorly at the box office and later finding huge cult followings that have elevated their status to ‘one of the greats’. It can be disappointing but hugely satisfying to hear the humble beginnings of a project you admire, learning that greatness does not always come immediately, and sometimes it takes a while for people to discover it.
But with a number of films that have had this journey, is there one that sticks out the most? And how could one determine the most under-appreciated movie of all time? Well, if there’s anyone with the gumption to make a definitive statement like this, it’s a scientist, which is exactly what Daniel Parris did earlier this year.
After watching the infamous scene from Dead Poet Society in which Robin Williams’ character rips up a textbook that teaches how to quantify the emotional impact of a poem, we can all agree that the world of art and science does not mix well together (besides the art installation that optimistically reminds us how much time we have left before the climate crisis kills everyone). However, in a string of recent surveys conducted by Parris, he found that when pooling together certain data, he could make huge statements about the entertainment industry and uncover the most under-appreciated film of all time.
But how on earth does someone do this? Can you quantify underappreciation? In order to do so, Parris looked at the relationship between gross box office and online reviews, charting them both against each other to track and unprecedented spurts, with the two usually moving in tandem. According to this, a film is underappreciated when the projected sales outdo the actual sales, especially when this doesn’t happen immediately after being released.
Typically, movies go under the radar for a few reasons: they don’t stick to an easily marketable or specific genre, the director is an auteur and makes something that isn’t commercially successful, or it is an independent film. From this information and the data Parris collected, he created a list of the most underappreciated films.
Films like Requiem for a Dream, It Follows, The Lobster and The Lighthouse were all included on this list, confirming his previous statements about how auteurs can sometimes struggle to have immediately successful theatrical release periods of their work, or films like It Follows that add a new twist to a classic genre, with the film going against the conventions of typical horror tropes, making it difficult to define.
But the number one film on the list that steals the title of being most underappreciated is Donnie Darko, directed by Richard Kelly in 2001. It is now seen as one of the most iconic films of the decade and has a huge cult following, but it was not immediately successful. While I’m not sure if this would be the unanimous choice for the top spot, it is apparently accurate (according to science). Thanks, science!
