GREAT CINEMAMASTER LIST
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great film.

Search 713 spoiler-free recommendations from 1916 to 2026. Filter by the night you want—not the list you’re supposed to finish.

Direct film viewShowing master rank #537 on its own—not above the ranking.
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Artwork
DirectorAll directors

Most represented · 6+ films

More recurring directors · 3–5 films54
All directors · surname A–Z438
ActorAll actors

Most represented actors

Big Three membership
Major award winners

1 selected film

Master Rank balances Greatness, Engagement, and Ease. Sort by Greatness for the artistic-canon view.

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View Requiem for a Dream film page
Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master List

Spoiler-free premise

Harry, Marion, Tyrone, and Harry's mother Sara chase different visions of happiness as their drug use becomes consuming.

Read expanded premiseLonger, still spoiler-free

Brooklyn friends Harry Goldfarb, Marion Silver, and Tyrone C. Love imagine heroin profits will fund independence and art. Harry's lonely mother Sara begins taking amphetamines prescribed for weight loss while awaiting a possible television appearance.

Why it belongs

Requiem for a Dream makes addiction mechanically repetitive through split screens, bodily inserts, accelerated montage, and Mansell's inescapable musical pattern.

Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case

Ellen Burstyn gives Sara's loneliness devastating specificity. Pupil dilation, lighters, pills, refrigerator sound, split-screen intimacy, seasonal titles, SnorriCam movement, and Clint Mansell's score frame habit as form.

Major award wins

No verified wins in this six-institution crosswalk.

Awards are reference metadata only · zero points in 40/40/20
Good for
Film Club
Descriptive guidance derived from rating, genre, runtime, mood, and GCML scores.

Institutional reference ranks

Sight & Sound—IMDb Top 25095AFI 100—
Reference metadata only · not part of the 40/40/20 score

Great Cinema Master List scores

Greatness8.6
Engagement9.2
Ease5.8

English · R
Narrative Feature
Mood: Tense & Absorbing