Collider has published a ranking of the ten most demanding films ever made, focusing on movies that are difficult to watch not simply because of their length but due to their pacing, tone, ambition or emotional bleakness. Written by film critic Jeremy Urquhart, the piece distinguishes these titles from lengthy but accessible epics such as The Lord of the Rings, arguing that true "challenging" cinema tests viewers through disorientation, despair or a lack of conventional narrative structure rather than mere runtime.

Two entries detailed at the lower end of the list illustrate the criteria: Michael Cimino's 1980 Western Heaven's Gate, a critically maligned epic (since reassessed more favourably) about a violent land conflict in Wyoming, and Jacques Rivette's 1974 French arthouse film Céline and Julie Go Boating, a three-hour, largely plotless work blending genres and defying easy interpretation. The full list continues up to a top pick, spanning decades and styles of famously difficult filmmaking.