Explore Film History
One Week at a Time
With Other Movie-Lovers
For Free

Nope. This is really free. I wrote these devotions, and I want them to be as useful and impactful as possible. Think of this as a kind of literary art project. Once-a-week, with others is, I think, a more holistic way to watch these films and interact with this material.

No. It is not. I will never sell this list of subscribers to anyone.

Come & See is also a book. I will let subscribers know about that book. But purchasing the book is not necessary for receiving this subscription. These devotions will show up in your inbox week by week no matter what.

If this subscription list grows beyond what I can personally afford to maintain, and book sales alone don’t mitigate the cost, then I’ll need to figure out a way to support this project. That point would be when Come & See has over 2K subscribers. That would be a great problem to have. In that case, I would invite subscribers to weigh in on what they would prefer, be it ads, the occasional sponsored email, or some sort of patronage.

No. Come and See models a devotional response to cinema. I am a Christian, so the spiritual resources I draw from in my responses are common amongst members of the Christian faith. No matter its source, spirituality is a way of responding to the world. I hope that these devotions will inspire you to respond spiritually to these great movies in a way that is consistent with your own beliefs.

I am Elijah Davidson, a writer living in Pasadena, CA, with his family. My wife is an elementary school teacher. My son is a creator and destroyer of worlds, i.e. a toddler. My dog is an eternal puppy. In my day job, I work as the Director of Content Strategy for Fuller Seminary, and this, along with the support of my wife, makes it possible for me to pursue my vocation as a writer and as a champion of artists and the arts.

I co-direct Fuller Seminary's faith and film institute, Brehm Film, where I help plan our ongoing screening series and serve as the managing editor and senior critic for our website, Deep Focus. I am the author of How to Talk to a Movie: Movie-Watching as a Spiritual Exercise; the co-editor of the Reel Spirituality Monograph Series; and I was a key contributor to God in the Movies: A Guide for Exploring Four Decades of Film.

You can learn all these same things about be plus a little more on my website, elijahdavidson.com.

Are you sure you want to know ahead of time? It is kind of fun to not know what recommendation you are going to receive every week and to just be surprised when it arrives in your inbox.

This collection of films includes all the greatest films ever made from across history and around the world. It covers every major film genre and aesthetic movement. It includes films from every influential filmmaker. It is a thorough survey of film history.

I created this list by compiling and cross-referencing a bunch of lists of "the greatest films of all time," lists made by a variety of groups at a variety of times. I then paired that list down to get to the core group of films and filmmakers common to all lists, paying special attention to make sure I was including all major genres and movements within cinema history.

Then, I took a step back, looked at the list, and asked what was missing. The problem with a canon is that over time it tends to encourage future canonizers to repeat the biases of the past. Unsurprisingly, I noted that films made by women and films made by black filmmakers were underrepresented.

So, I did more research and found more lists of great films made by women and by black filmmakers. I compiled and cross referenced those lists and added them into my Come & See list to arrive at my final list of 250 films.

Of course, it is not totally comprehensive. No list can be. Cinema is too vast. But it is, I think, among the most comprehensive and yet approachable collections of "great films to watch" that exists. It is certainly the most comprehensive collection of interactions on great films from a Christian perspective.

You're sure you want to see the complete list? Okay. You can read it here.

No. First of all, this isn't a collection of my favorite films or even of the films I think are most worth spiritual reflection. It is a list of the movie generally regarded as important, influential, and "great" by the global community of movie-lovers—both film scholars and filmmakers—across time. In a few cases, I personally abhor what the movie supports, but that does not change how influential it has been.

It is also worth noting that the films themselves do not necessarily endorse the things they depict. Most of the time, they absolutely do not. The depiction of evil is necessary to campaign for and demonstrate its defeat. That being said, there are movies like The Birth of a Nation which champion detestable things. We will be clear-eyed about that in our devotions and respond accordingly.