In recent years, Letterboxd has emerged as one of the film communities’ most interactive and popular platforms to record and rate moviegoers’ recent watches. In its community-based atmosphere, each film is given a number for how many members have seen it.
As a result, Letterboxd enables you to organise the films you’ve seen by how popular they are. I decided a fun challenge would be to take a look at my own Letterboxd account and see which of the films on my list are the least seen by the community.
Here I’ve compiled a list of some of my least-seen films and what I thought about their placement:
Sunshine on Leith (2013) – watched by 9.4k members
As someone who grew up on the Proclaimers, this film meant a lot to me as a ten year old which is when I first saw it. This is a little hidden gem of Dexter Fletcher’s, now known for his work on ‘Eddie the Eagle’ and ‘Rocketman.’ Here, he creates a homage to the incredible musicality of the proclaimers, and in my mind creates a beautiful little musical. I’ve always loved the actors of ‘Sunshine on Leith’ so much and will watch anything with them involved.
Boys on the Side (1995) – watched by 11k members
In some ways I love this film, and in some ways it’s so heavily 90s that it’s difficult to watch. It urges so heavily to be accepting and aware of queerness and while some aspects of that are beautiful (I will always cry at Whoppi Goldberg singing ‘You Got It’) others are awkward and stunted. The friendship of this film, however, transcends most and it holds a special place in my (and I hope 11k others’) heart.
Reign of Assassins (2010) – watched by 2.9k members
I’m not overly surprised by the low numbers of this film, but I gained a bit of a Michelle Yeoh obsession in my first year of university and ended up watching every film and interview she’s ever been a part of. This one was wacky though.
Set it Off (1996) – watched by 25k members
This number is criminally low for how excellent this film is. This is one of my favourite films from the 90s and I probably think about the scene of them making fun of the Godfather honestly every week. This is an incredible heist buddy film that bends and breaks rules we have constructed for these genres and these four actresses (Jada Pickett Smith, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox and Kimberley Elise) are so emotionally in tune with their characters that it’s practically impossible not to tear up at this beautiful story.
Illusions (1982) – watched by 4.6k members
Another addition to Julie Dash’s incredible filmography, this short film demonstrates the absolute creator and visionary that is Julie Dash. If you haven’t yet, I implore you to watch this it’s 40 minutes of your life you’ll remember forever.
