by Tina Kakdelis, Staff Writer

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (dir. Celine Sciamma, 2019)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (dir. Don Siegel, 1956)
In the Mood for Love (dir. Wong Kar-wai, 2000)
Beginners (dir. Mike Mills, 2010)
Before Sunset (dir. Richard Linklater, 2004)
Lady Bird (dir. Greta Gerwig, 2017)
Joe Versus the Volcano (dir. John Patrick Shanley, 1990)
Roma (dir. Alfonso Cuarón, 2018)
Gone Girl (dir. David Fincher, 2014)
Moonlight (dir. Barry Jenkins, 2016)

It feels strange to quantify movies in this way. Not only because of the sheer number of movies I’ve seen (and those I haven’t), but because this list will change every day. On a day when I’m sad or I’m sick, this Best Of list morphs into something different, more soothing. Nora Ephron will usually make an appearance…or two…or three. Hercules, the comfort movie from my childhood, could potentially top off my sick day list, but it didn’t make an appearance here.

I tried to be as neutral as possible. A mix of movies that mean something to me, some that may not have “worth” in the larger picture of what other people would consider Cinema. But isn’t that then the entire point of filmmaking? Are we not all watching movies to not only make sense of our own lives, but to learn about the lives of others? It doesn’t matter sometimes if a movie is technically outstanding or visually stunning. What does matter is how it makes you feel. Does it reach into your heart and burrow itself there? Does it make you laugh despite yourself? Does it make you cry on a good day? Does it matter to you?

The majority of this list is made up of movies that remind me how beautiful it is to love someone else in this lifetime. What a fleeting, wonderful gift love can be and how it’s even more beautiful when the feeling does not fade. Some of these movies I’ve seen with people I loved, some of them I’ve watched only by myself, and one, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, I watched over and over again as I mourned the end of a relationship and the beginning of COVID shutdowns.

Despite not being number one, Joe Versus the Volcano is a special movie to me. It’s a film that’s often forgotten when talking about the dynamic duo of 90s Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Hot off his Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay for Moonstruck, John Patrick Shanley wrote and directed Joe Versus the Volcano. Joe (Hanks) is diagnosed with a rare, terminal disease and agrees to jump into a volcano to help the islanders of Waponi Woo. Along the way, he falls in love with Patricia (Ryan), the woman who sails him to the island.

On its surface, Joe Versus the Volcano is wacky. It’s the kind of eccentric, overly-personal project that could only be greenlit after an Oscar win. Joe Versus the Volcano is not just a strange, pseudo-roadtrip flick, it’s a call to action to figure out what is meaningful in your life. Is your job in the basement of American Panascope, Home of the Rectal Probe, worth selling your life away for $300 a week? More than that, do you have the courage to take control of your life to make it better?

There is no one right answer to the ten best movies of all time and there never will be. No two people will ever create the same list unless they are making the list they think they should make. My list is mine, for better and for worse. If anyone were to watch these movies, I think they would understand me a little better. They would see what makes me laugh, what tugs at my heartstrings, and what makes me feel connected to this spinning rock we inhabit.

When I think of my favorite movies, whichever list it is today, I think of what loving film has brought into my life. The giggly hours spent at theatres across the country with friends and family, the international trips to work at film festivals, and the comfort these darkened cinemas have provided me through the years. Movies have always been about more than what’s playing on the silver screen.