Of course there are no perfect films. But there are films that are
excellent on a number of levels with one additional virtue which I use to
qualify them as "perfect": that is, in addition to all the other elements of
a great film, they possess an incandescent feeling of balance and
equanamity, as if all the pieces fit together just perfectly, and no single
element is displaced or diminished by the dominance of another element.
A better film might have one or two deeply flawed scenes in
them, but a perfect film does not have a single false or dishonest
moment.
Here they are:
The Apartment
City Lights
The Third Man
Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
The Seventh Seal
Topsy Turvey
Godfather
Late Spring
Ran
Do the Right Thing
The General
Rashomon
Manhattan
Honorable Mentions
The White Ribbon
Blade Runner (The original)