Film is, fundamentally, built to make us feel. At its best, its a sensory experience that allows us a greater understanding of ourselves, the world around us, and our fellow man. One of the ways we can best feel through film, or any art, is with the presence of beauty. Beauty, particularly in filmmaking, can serve a number of purposes. Beauty is most frequently associated with whatever is visually pleasing or striking on the surface – perhaps with a nice looking shot or an attractive looking actor. But the function of beauty in film goes far deeper than that.
Beauty in cinema is found when a film reveals a deeper truth about the world; when the images and sounds on screen open a new appreciation of reality. Beauty in film should, ultimately, make the viewer feel more deliberately and more fully. The following list focuses on underappreciated or overlooked films with this sort of cinematic beauty at their core.
