Officially the Best Reloaded Redux

A couple years ago, I watched all the movies on the Sight & Sound 2012 Director’s Poll Top 100, and that was a lot of fun — lots of great movies I hadn’t seen before, and lots of stuff I hadn’t seen in a long time.

But then there was a new poll in 2022, so I had to watch all the new movies, right?

Right.

So project completed, and here’s the new list, and I’ll continue nattering on in a random way after the list.

Pos		Year	Title		Prev
#1		1968	2001: A Space Odyssey	⚅	#2
#2		1941	Citizen Kane	⚂	#2
#3		1972	The Godfather	⚄	#7
#4		1975	Jeanne Dielman 23, Quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles	⚅	New
#4		1953	Tokyo Story	⚄	#1
#6		1958	Vertigo	⚅	#7
#6		1963	8½	⚅	#4
#8		1975	Mirror	⚅	#9
#9		2000	In the Mood for Love	⚄	#67
#9		1989	Close-up	⚄	#37
#9		1966	Persona	⚅	#13
#12		1976	Taxi Driver	⚅	#5
#12		1975	Barry Lyndon	⚁	#19
#14		1998	Beau travail	⚅	#91
#14		1954	Seven Samurai	⚂	#17
#14		1960	À bout de souffle	⚄	#11
#14		1979	Stalker	⚅	#30
#18		1979	Apocalypse Now	⚃	#6
#19		1974	A Woman under the Influence	⚅	#59
#20		1948	Bicycle Thieves	⚅	#10
#20		1950	Rashomon	⚃	#18
#22		2001	Mulholland Dr.	⚅	#75
#22		1955	Pather Panchali	⚄	#48
#22		1966	The Battle of Algiers	⚃	#26
#22		1980	Raging Bull	⚁	#12
#26		1966	Andrei Rublev	⚂	#13
#26		1974	The Godfather Part II	⚄	#30
#28		1990	GoodFellas	⚂	#48
#29		1989	Do the Right Thing	⚃	New
#30		1929	Man with a Movie Camera	⚅	#48
#30		1927	The Passion of Joan of Arc	⚅	#37
#30		1955	Ordet	⚄	#19
#33		1927	Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans	⚅	#22
#34		1959	The 400 Blows	⚅	#13
#34		1960	La dolce vita	⚅	#37
#34		1962	La Jetée	⚄	New
#37		1966	Au hasard Balthazar	⚃	#21
#38		1939	La Règle du jeu	⚃	#22
#38		1960	L’avventura	⚅	#30
#38		1954	La strada	⚄	#26
#41		1967	Playtime	⚅	#37
#41		1955	The Night of the Hunter	⚅	#26
#41		1956	A Man Escaped	⚄	#37
#41		1985	Sans toit ni loi	⚄	New
#41		1985	Come and See	⚂	#30
#46		1960	Psycho	⚅	#48
#46		1934	L’Atalante	⚄	#22
#46		1931	City Lights	⚃	#30
#46		1963	Le Mépris	⚂	#44
#46		1968	Once upon a Time in the West	⚃	#44
#46		1973	Don’t Look Now	⚄	#91
#46		1963	Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying	⚄	New
#53		1976	Eraserhead	⚅	New
#53		1951	Singin’ in the Rain	⚅	#67
#53		1974	Fear Eats the Soul	⚄	#75
#53		1973	La Maman et la Putain	⚄	#91
#53		1961	La notte	⚅	New
#53		1982	Fanny and Alexander	⚅	#16
#53		1962	Cléo from 5 to 7	⚅	New
#53		1992	The Piano	⚃	New
#53		1961	Viridiana	⚄	#37
#62		1959	Some Like It Hot	⚄	#37
#62		1982	Blade Runner	⚃	#67
#62		1950	Sunset Blvd.	⚄	#67
#62		2004	Tropical Malady	⚅	New
#62		1994	Sátántangó	⚂	New
#62		1943	Meshes of the Afternoon	⚅	New
#62		1949	Late Spring	⚃	New
#62		1975	Jaws	⚂	#75
#62		1962	Lawrence of Arabia	⚁	#48
#62		2001	La ciénaga	⚂	New
#72		1976	News from Home	⚅	New
#72		1991	A Brighter Summer Day	⚃	New
#72		1956	The Searchers	⚃	#48
#72		1985	Shoah	⚂	#48
#72		1982	Sans Soleil	⚃	#91
#72		1987	Where Is the Friend’s House?	⚂	New
#72		1973	Touki Bouki	⚄	New
#72		1936	Modern Times	⚄	#22
#72		1957	The Seventh Seal	⚅	#75
#72		1948	The Red Shoes	⚃	New
#72		1973	The Spirit of the Beehive	⚃	New
#72		1986	Blue Velvet	⚅	#59
#72		1976	The Ascent	⚃	New
#72		1974	Chinatown	⚄	#91
#72		1952	Ikiru	⚁	New
#72		1983	L’Argent	⚅	#91
#72		1974	The Conversation	⚂	New
#72		1957	Wild Strawberries	⚅	New
#72		1975	Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom	⚁	#75
#72		2011	A Separation	⚄	New
#72		1969	Kes	⚃	#75
#93		1970	Wanda	⚅	New
#93		1925	Battleship Potemkin	⚅	#75
#93		2019	Parasite	⚃	New
#93		2016	Moonlight	⚂	New
#93		1970	The Conformist	☐	#59
#93		1968	The Colour of Pomegranates	⚄	New
#93		1959	Pickpocket	⚅	#48
#93		1997	Taste of Cherry	⚃	New
#93		2004	Hidden	⚃	#75
#93		2004	Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind	⚄	New
#93		1999	Yi Yi	⚃	New

As you can see, almost all of the new movies are on #29 and down — just one of the top 28 are new. And that’s natural, of course — the films on the bottom of the list are pretty random, and come and go from decade to decade. (Because there aren’t that many people voting, and people can vote for whichever movie they want to (i.e., there’s no “nomination process”), it’s not a very stable list.)

And another thing: Should they rename the list “the Criterion list”? While buying these 30 films, I found that the majority of them are carried by Criterion. And Criterion are great at curating stuff: They produce excellent Blurays and DVDs with interesting booklets, and they put the movies they carry on their own on-demand channel. I wonder whether they’ve become the gatekeepers to which art films are remembered: If it’s on Criterion, it’s available to a huge number of people. If it’s not on Criterion, does it even exist?

So I was excited to go to the Criteron web page and see this:

Criterion is doing Mai Zetterling! I was absolutely flabbergasted by her film The Girls when I watched it the other year, but it was a largely forgotten movie then — only available on a Swedish box set. Now that Criterion is carrying it, will it make an appearance on the 2032 Sight & Sound poll?

Misunderstand me correctly — I’m not saying this is a bad thing, but I think it’s a thing: What’s being remembered is, of course, a matter of what’s possible to watch. And Criterion has turned into a gatekeeper: If an older art movie isn’t on Criterion (and the Criterion Channel, and therefore HBO), it doesn’t exist.

Anyway, the following films that were on the 2012 list are gone from the 2022 list:

Pos		Year	Title
#26		1958	Touch of Evil	⚄
#30		1964	Il Vangelo secondo Matteo	⚅
#30		1973	Amarcord	⚂
#44		1968	Hour of the Wolf	⚃
#44		1960	The Apartment	⚂
#48		1954	Rear Window	⚅
#48		1962	L’eclisse	⚅
#48		1975	One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest	⚄
#59		1937	La grande illusion	⚄
#59		1966	The Good, the Bad and the Ugly	⚄
#59		1972	Aguirre, Wrath of God	⚅
#59		1964	Gertrud	⚅
#59		1966	Blow Up	⚄
#67		1954	Journey to Italy	⚅
#67		1962	Vivre sa vie	⚅
#67		1973	Badlands	⚄
#67		1953	Ugetsu Monogatari	⚂
#75		1950	Los Olvidados	⚄
#75		1969	The Wild Bunch	⚂
#75		1970	Husbands	⚀
#75		1980	The Shining	⚄
#75		1971	A Clockwork Orange	⚂
#75		2007	There Will Be Blood	⚂
#75		1926	The General	⚃
#75		1931	M	⚃
#91		1967	Le Samouraï	⚃
#91		1961	L’Année dernière à Marienbad	⚅
#91		1964	Soy Cuba	⚅
#91		1976	The Killing of a Chinese Bookie	⚂
#91		1933	Zéro de Conduite	⚃
#91		1978	The Deer Hunter	⚂
#91		1925	The Gold Rush	⚄
#91		1977	Opening Night	⚅
#91		1929	Un chien andalou	⚄
#91		1965	Pierrot le Fou	⚅

Here’s the list of the new movies:

Pos		Year	Title
#4		1975	Jeanne Dielman 23, Quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles	⚅
#29		1989	Do the Right Thing	⚃
#34		1962	La Jetée	⚄
#41		1985	Sans toit ni loi	⚄
#46		1963	Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying	⚄
#53		1976	Eraserhead	⚅
#53		1961	La notte	⚅
#53		1962	Cléo from 5 to 7	⚅
#53		1992	The Piano	⚃
#62		2004	Tropical Malady	⚅
#62		1994	Sátántangó	⚂
#62		1943	Meshes of the Afternoon	⚅
#62		1949	Late Spring	⚃
#62		2001	La ciénaga	⚂
#72		1976	News from Home	⚅
#72		1991	A Brighter Summer Day	⚃
#72		1987	Where Is the Friend’s House?	⚂
#72		1973	Touki Bouki	⚄
#72		1948	The Red Shoes	⚃
#72		1973	The Spirit of the Beehive	⚃
#72		1976	The Ascent	⚃
#72		1952	Ikiru	⚁
#72		1974	The Conversation	⚂
#72		1957	Wild Strawberries	⚅
#72		2011	A Separation	⚄
#93		1970	Wanda	⚅
#93		2019	Parasite	⚃
#93		2016	Moonlight	⚂
#93		1968	The Colour of Pomegranates	⚄
#93		1997	Taste of Cherry	⚃
#93		2004	Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind	⚄
#93		1999	Yi Yi	⚃

This movies that are gone are ⚄⚅⚂⚃⚂⚅⚅⚄⚄⚄⚅⚅⚄⚅⚅⚄⚂⚄⚂⚀⚄⚂⚂⚃⚃⚃⚅⚅⚂⚃⚂⚄⚅⚄⚅, 35 films with a mean rating (from me) of 4.6.

The new movies are ⚅⚃⚄⚄⚄⚅⚄⚅⚅⚃⚅⚂⚅⚃⚂⚅⚃⚂⚃⚃⚃⚁⚂⚅⚄⚅⚃⚂⚄⚃⚄⚃, 32 films with a mean rating (from me) of… 4.6.

OK, we need more decimals. 4.60 vs 4.58! The 2022 list is so much worse than the 2012 list! Scandalo!!!

So there you go. It’s fun watching films this way — I don’t have to decide myself what to watch, which makes things more efficient. But (like I probably said last time around) there’s a certain sameyness to the films on this list: We’re talking “serious dramas” for the most part, and that can become oppressive when watching so many of them in a row.

My list of “best 100 films” would look quite different. It’d have, like, Liquid Sky at #71, Polyester at #72 and India Song at #73. (What would your #71-73 look like?) And Bringing Up Baby at #7 or something. But there’s a certain genre — the “film club films” — that invariably have hegemony over these lists.

I’m not complaining or anything — it is what it is, and it’s a list of very good films.

Just kinda one note.