Urbanist Movies: A list! And how!

Look: Curbed put out a ridiculously comprehensive list of movies about cities in 2014. I have some thoughts.

I love movies. I’m 7 years into my other project (I have lots of time on my hands?) and have lots of thoughts about which movies make great urbanist statements. While doing research, I found Curbed’s list of “101 Movies About Cities.”

I have a different understanding of what makes a movie “good” as a mediation on the city, so I thought I’d share 11 favorites and a little about why, below. Six of them are on Criterion, too. Seems worth looking into?

Here we go!

1. Playtime (1967)

Dir. Jacques Tati | France-Italy

If a city is nothing more than a collection of competitive economic interests, Playtime is the spitball the local pitcher threw three years ago. It’s an absurdist movie that hits waaaaaaay too close to home in diagnosing how we’ve normalized, well, normality. The little things we take for granted as rote activities—commuting, looking for work, wandering around the city—become scenes of self reflection. It’s a movie set in the city, about the city, but very much keeping the absurdit…