One year ago, today, Robin Williams passed away at the age of 63. He was one of my favorite actors and the news of his death were extremely upsetting to me. I took the picture above last year in Times Square, a few days after he died. But instead of talking about his death, I thought it would be better to celebrate his life and his work! I had a really hard time narrowing down my favorite of his movies to only 10 (believe me, I know that I left out some pretty good ones), but here is my list! Do you agree?     

1. Aladdin (1992)

 

This movie would have been completely different if Robin Williams hadn’t been cast as Genie. The directors and animators would observe Robin recording the lines, with different voices every time and making a lot of jokes. Then they decided, wisely, to incorporate that to the movie (lucky us!). A friend of mine still hasn’t watched Aladdin, so he doesn’t share the joy of hearing “Friend Like Me” performed by Robin. So I’ll make it easer for my friend and for anyone who hasn’t seen that scene!

 

2. Dead Poets Society (1989)

I’m a huge fan of Friends and I’ve watched every episode more than once. There is one scene, however, that I hated the first time I watched it, because it makes fun of two movies I love at the same time. As you can see in the clip, they claim that Dead Poets Society is a waste of time (below). Having watched the episode for a second time, I realized that the message of the movie is adopted by the “Fake Monica”: seize the day; make your lives extraordinary. It’s such a beautiful and powerful film, with a great performance by Robin Williams and it should be watched by everyone (besides, it’s fun to see so many now-famous actors so young!).

 

3. Awakenings (1990)

This touching movie tells the story of patients in a clinic who have been catatonic for years until Dr. Malcolm (Robin Williams) decides to dedicate himself to study their condition. He picks one particular patient (Robert DeNiro) and starts the treatment. The result is one beautiful film where we learn about “the joy of life”, with great performances by both Williams and DeNiro.

 

 

4. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)

I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this movie in my life. I would rent it and watch it over and over again. His transformation into a woman is just as brilliant as Dustin Hoffman’s in Tootsie. And until this day I have trouble watching the scene in the restaurant, when he has to keep changing clothes back and forth. I know what’s going to happen, but I’m always nervous for him. I like this movie so much that when I went to San Francisco in 2014, I passed by the house that was used for the movie (photo below, taken by my friend who was with me)! I’m leaving you with a scene made for everyone who just loved when he did different accents!

 

5. Good Will Hunting (1997)

Robin Williams plays a psychologist who helps Will Hunting (Matt Damon) to cope with the fact that he has a gift for mathematics but can’t solve the problems in his own life. Robin (finally!) won an Academy Awards for best supporting actor. My favorite scene from this film is the conversation between them in a park. I liked that scene so much that when I went to Boston (last November) I looked for the bench and I found it with a lot of messages to Robin on it. The pictures are not so great, but it was really dark and my phone was almost dying (and it was really cold!).

 

 

6. The Birdcage (1996)

I like everything about this movie! The storyline is so crazy that I just laugh every time I watch it! And the entire cast is extremely good (we talked about actors dressing as women above, so here we have Nathan Lane doing that during the dinner scene!). In case you haven’t seen it, Armand (Robin Williams) and Albert (Nathan Lane) are a gay couple who own a cabaret and they learn that Armand’s son (Dan Futterman) is engaged to the daughter of a very conservative Senator! So they have to figure out how to meet her family without ruining everything. I’ll leave you with a scene where Robin nails it, even though Nathan Lane is the main character in the scene (“Madonna! Madonna!”).

 

7. Noel (2004)

This is a Holiday Season movie, where we see the lives of five New Yorkers during Christmas. Rosie Collins (Susan Sarandon) visits her mother constantly in the hospital and is intrigued that the patient next door never gets any visitors. Until one day, when she meets one (Robin Williams). His role on the movie is supposed to be so mysterious that he doesn’t even show up in the trailer or in the main credits. The cast also has the late Paul Walker, Penelope Cruz and Alan Arkin. It’s a drama, but with a strong message and worth watching.

8. Insomnia (2002)

I’m not a huge fan of thrillers in general, but there are some actors that easily convince me to watch any kind of movie and Robin Williams was one of them. Directed by Christopher Nolan, Insomnia takes place in Alaska (where the sun doesn’t set), where a detective (Al Pacino) arrives specially to investigate a murder. There is also a local detective (Hilary Swank), who helps with the investigation. Believe when I say I shouldn’t tell much about the plot. It is a mystery film, after all. So I’ll leave you with the trailer.

 

 

9. Jumanji (1995)

This is a classic from my childhood. I also don’t know how many times I’ve watched it and I still get nervous when they roll the dice! Alan (Adam Hann-Byrd/Robin Williams) and Sarah (Laura Bell Bundy/Bonnie Hunt) start playing a magic board game, but Alan gets trapped in it for 26 years, until the game is played again. This movie is 20 years-old, so probably it won’t have the same effect on children now as it had on me back then, because the special effects we see in films currently playing are obviously more advanced. But it scared me a lot!

 

10.  Jack (1996)

Jack (Robin Williams) has an aging disorder: he ages 4 times faster than normal. Afraid of how other children will treat him, his parents home schooled him until he’s 10 (and looks 40). But Jack finally goes to school and has to face his fears. This is basically the opposite of Big, where Tom Hanks’ character is still a boy with a gown man’s body. Both are extremely entertaining but Jack has a few more dramatic moments, since children are not particularly nice to another one who is different from them.