Parasite is Letterboxd’s first movie to hit 1 million 5-star ratings

Parasite, Bong Joon-ho’s electrifying 2019 thriller, picked up the Oscar for Best Picture in 2020, but more importantly, was named one of Polygon’s top films of the year. And now it’s earned yet another honor. On Tuesday, Letterboxd, the social networking service dedicated to watchlists, ratings, and micro-movie-blogging, announced that Parasite was the first film in the service’s 11-year history to reach 1 million five-star reviews.

The milestone feels notable: With more than 4.4 million monthly visitors as of 2022, Letterboxd has become an influential cultural pillar — the producers of the 2023 Oscars even teamed up with the service to raise awareness of the telecast (and siphon the site’s cred with the younger generation). A movie like ParasiteThe film’s success on YouTube, which attracted so much attention, has helped to create a canon for future cinematic direction. It’s a grand tradition.

There’s always been A Big List for budding cinephiles to hold up as a Bible. In the pre-internet age, the British Film Institute’s Sight & Sound top 100 films of all time list played that role for many — and with updates occuring every 10 years, it remains a source of inspiration for film-watchers. In 2022, a new cabal of film critics cast votes to name Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles the greatest film of all time, with Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, Yasujirō Ozu’s Tokyo Story, and Wong Kar-wai’s Love is in the moodThese are the top five. Currently, none of those films crack Letterboxd’s current top-rated list.

In the 1990s, the American Film Institute’s “100 Years… 100 Movies” may have been that monolith of must-watch homework. This list, which was last updated in 2007, confirms that the U.S. is still the most popular source of all-time movies. Citizen Kane: The Godfather Casablanca, Raging BullPlease see the following: Singin’ in the RainHere are the top 5. This being the ’90s, the list was printed in tons of magazines so it could be easily ripped out and taken to Blockbuster. Simpler times.

However, moviegoers turned to the internet for entertainment and a new list was born: IMDb’s top 250. This list, which is volatile and driven by the commenter-brain today stands as an ode of rewatchable cable TV classics. Along with the Godfather movies, both are ranked in the top tier. Shawshank Redemption; The Dark Knight; The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King; Pulp Fiction; The Good, Bad and Ugly; Fight Club; Inception The Empire Strikes Back. While critics didn’t go for Avengers: EndgameOder Joker in the 2022 Sight & Sound poll, IMDb’s user-generated list remains dedicated to #fans. The Disney Plus recording even of HamiltonIt is included in the list.

The Letterboxd top-rated lists are now available. They alternate between Euro highlights and basic dramas. It is a shame, even though Parasite has hit a million five-star reviews, it’s still only the second highest-rated film on that list — the top honor goes to Elem Klimov’s legendary war film Visit and Take Note. Why did the Soviet drama of 1985 become so famous? It is believed that the perfect timing and a Criterion release helped it to be rereleased by Letterboxd enthusiasts.

The entire list contains pop and high-art hits. Guel Arraes’ 2000 Portuguese comedy O Auto da Compadecida Sits right next to The Godfather and Masaki Kobayashi’s 1962 samurai drama Harakiri. Peak Dad Movie Shawshank Redemption just boxes out Hayao Miyazaki’s Take a Spirited TripIn the Top 10. Akira Kurosawa’s Both high and lowIt is followed by The Dark KnightAnd Spider-Man: The Spider-verse.

Although the list is long and voluminous, it feels genuine. Although objectively global, the list has an inexplicable flavor. Unlike the IMDb’s top 250 list, Letterboxd’s audience seems to vote with heart and mind, thanks to the platform’s structure of encouraging a few words of explanation to go with the star ratings. And at this point, the site’s top-movies ranking feels as essential as all the lists that came before it — even if a million five-star reviews still means Parasitemust accept second place.