Sight and Sound (and your) Top Ten Films of All Time - 2022 • Page 4

I think an aspiring film buff who will be turned off by Jeanne Dielman will probably be using Letterboxd's top list, which is the equivalent to today's IMDB Top 250, over Sight and Sound. As an aspiring film buff, I had no idea about the S&S poll in high school.

 

Jeanne Dielman is challenging, but really only if you’re unwillingly to engage with it in good faith. I think anyone that wants to tackle this list will already be in the headspace necessary. If someone wants more pop they can do the IMDB 250 or even the AFI 100. I don’t think it’s a secret that the BFI is more academic and challenging (as art can be!)

 

I get that but also it's not like people are going to forget Raging Bull exists haha. This list seems to be for people who really care about cinema anyway and those people are going to view older versions of the list and explore beyond it. I do think it's interesting and worthwhile discussing what people think should and shouldn't have made the list but it's never going to nail a perfect 100.

As someone who very much did not enjoy watching Jeanne Dielman I can still appreciate the film and what it was going for. More than any other film it probably opened my eyes to the concept of some films not necessarily trying to be entertaining in the usual way. I do think it's probably going to attract a bunch of new viewers who don't like it though and start making tweets about how it shouldn't be number one haha. I think most would still push past it and explore further though.

 

Hmm. I found Solaris really challenging, but part of that I think was the frustration of being letdown and unable to connect with it. Which stemmed from having basically an out of body experience while watching Stalker, another challenging film that I was enthralled by.

 

Solaris is Star Wars compared to Tarkovsky's Mirror.

 

Mirror is definitely one I struggled with that I'm compelled to revisit.

 

Raging Bull will be fine, it was just the example of the highest film from last time not making it at all. There are a lot of films (older, foreign language) that depend on champions in these lists or things like it to be remembered. The more films that exist, the harder it is to be remembered.

 

I love Mirror though!

 

My personal take is Goodfellas is the Scorsese that should have dropped off the list, not Raging Bull, but just one man’s opinion. Obviously not a popular one.

 

Raging Bull is Scorsese's best film.

The Irishman is something I might add to my list one day but I am holding out due to recency bias. I made my mother sit down and watch it over two nights during the Thanksgiving week and it is still mesmerizing.

 

It might still be dangerous to say this, but Parasite isn't even Bong Joon-ho's best film.

 

I've seen a few people saying that today. For me Parasite is easily his best but I didn't love Memories of Murder or Mother like a lot of people seem to.

 

I think it’s Parasite and Memories of Murder 1 and 1a.

Very curious to see what other contemporary films crack the top 250. Id love to see The Tree of Life (wouldnt be surprised if it’s 101), There Will Be Blood/The Master/Phantom Thread, Burning, Memories of Murder, Oldboy, Certified Copy, The White Ribbon, Zodiac, Y Tu Mama Tambien all in there somewhere.

No Touch of Evil in the Top 100 hurts me though.

 

I do like seeing the individual lists.

 

Honestly I’m impressed Tsai Ming-Liang only listed one of his movies, if I had his filmography I don’t know if I’d manage the same restraint

 

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2022/12/8ac360v6wlga1zf2dfozjfs5r7oihc

Some Director lists.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul has Fury Road

 

Really surprised that Aster didn’t have Rosemary’s Baby.

 

What should I watch tonight?

Sans Soleil
The Spirit of the Beehive
L’Avventura
Touki Bouki

 

Let’s post our own! I’ll do mine tomorrow

 

L'Avventura is basically the father of every European moody art film that came after it. A must watch.

 

I’ve been avoiding it because…..I can’t stand Antonioni.

 

My list:

A Brighter Summer Day (Yang, 1991)
Goodfellas (Scorsese, 1990)
An Elephant Sitting Still (Bo, 2018)
Miami Vice (Mann, 2006)
The Iron Giant (Bird, 1999)
The Conversation (Coppola, 1974)
Heat (Mann, 1995)
The Big Lebowski (Coens, 1998)
Sorcerer (Friedkin, 1977)
Mulholland Drive (Lynch, 2001)

 

for me it was The Color of Pomegranates. I didn't (still don't) have the cultural context to fully understand it which probably didn't help but that one was tough

 

If enough people post their ten maybe we can tally it and get a forum official top ten.