These are the 100 highest-rated films* when considering only the ratings of those members who’ve logged and rated a film at least five times.
*Special shout-out to the following non-narrative, highly rated, obsessively rewatched music specials: Stop Making Sense, Hamilton, and Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé, plus Don Hertzfeldt’s short World of Tomorrow, and comedy specials Bo Burnham: Make Happy and John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City.
For our methodology and statistical insights, read on. For a deeper dive into why we love these 100 films so much (and which of them have the highest number of rewatches on average), read Ella Kemp’s thoughts on obsession and rewatchability.
Methodology:
To be included in the list, films had to be…
These are the 100 highest-rated films* when considering only the ratings of those members who’ve logged and rated a film at least five times.
*Special shout-out to the following non-narrative, highly rated, obsessively rewatched music specials: Stop Making Sense, Hamilton, and Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé, plus Don Hertzfeldt’s short World of Tomorrow, and comedy specials Bo Burnham: Make Happy and John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City.
For our methodology and statistical insights, read on. For a deeper dive into why we love these 100 films so much (and which of them have the highest number of rewatches on average), read Ella Kemp’s thoughts on obsession and rewatchability.
Methodology:
To be included in the list, films had to be narrative, feature-length and have five or more logged ratings from at least 150 different Letterboxd members.
Statistics of note:
Comparing the results against the first time we did this in 2017, the most notable change in the top ten is Portrait of a Lady on Fire sailing into the top spot, while only Carol and Jaws remain from the 2017 top ten.
Directors: In 2017, Christopher Nolan was the highest-rated, most obsessively rewatched director, with five films in the top 100. In 2020 Quentin Tarantino jumps to the top with six films; Nolan in second place with four films, Edgar Wright, Peter Jackson and the Russo Bros third equal with three apiece.
Directed by women: In 2017 the top 100 had only one film by a female director. In 2020 there are eight films by seven women directors, with the number one spot held by Céline Sciamma. (As co-writer of co-wrote Frances Ha, Greta Gerwig has creative credits on three films; she directed two.)
Languages: In 2017, the list had no subtitled/international films. In 2020, it has two (both in the top ten)—Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Parasite, plus several more films with portions of non-English dialogue (including Moana and Suspiria).
Lowest-rated obsessively rewatched: We also looked up Tom Hooper’s Cats, after anecdotal evidence suggested it’s a rewatchable outlier. We found two stats of note:
1. Cats has the largest ‘ratings bump’ between its average Letterboxd rating (1.5 out of 5), and its average rating amongst obsessive members (3.7 out of 5). This bump officially makes it the lowest-rated, most obsessively rewatched film on Letterboxd in 2020.
2. Obsessive Cats fans have seen the film an average of 7.8 times each. 😹
A final note: this is not about “the most obsessively rewatched films overall”. We already calculate that every year, for our Year in Review. In 2019 it was, of course, Avengers: Endgame. Stay tuned for the 2020 results in early January.