2022 Sight & Sound Poll

[mclellandj]

Anyone using the word "woke" regarding this list doesn't have an opinion worth considering.

[Cremildo]

Originally Posted by mclellandj

Anyone using the word "woke" regarding this list doesn't have an opinion worth considering.

Why not? Voters clearly strived to be more inclusive and diverse. Some people snarkily call that "woke".

[DVD Phreak]

Jeanne Dielman voted #1 is a clear indication the post-Me Too era is making its presence known. I guess that's what "art imitates life" means. And sometimes art *is* life.

[Poya]

Originally Posted by DVD Phreak

Jeanne Dielman voted #1 is a clear indication the post-Me Too era is making its presence known. I guess that's what "art imitates life" means. And sometimes art *is* life.

Then what did Vertigo reflect back then?

[mclellandj]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

Why not? Voters clearly strived to be more inclusive and diverse. Some people snarkily call that "woke".

It's a dogwhistle

[HorrorBlu]

[Poya]

I'm just wondering why we're putting in much stock over the list made by people who watch movies as opposed to the list made by people who actually make them?

[DVD Phreak]

Originally Posted by Poya

Then what did Vertigo reflect back then?

Vertigo had been on the list and moving up steadily, so it wasn't a huge deal that it became #1 in 2012. But Jeanne Dielman went from 34 critics votes in 2012 (screenshot) to possibly 300 votes this time (that is my estimation of what it took to achieve #1 rank from 1600+ voters). If Me Too didn't play a part I don't know what did. There are tons of "feminist" films that could've made the list too, such as Silence of the Lambs, which didn't make the list but also has a decidedly feminist tone and whose statue has also risen since it was made.

[Johnny Blu]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Do you like watching a woman do chores for 3 hours?

This reminds me of a joke from the Inside the NBA show:

Kenny Smith: "Why don't you ever buy a woman a watch"
Charles Barkley: "Because there's a clock on the stove"

[Scottie]

I watched Jeanne Dielman a few years ago and I was blown away by it.

It’s definitely a deserving film, but I don’t think of it as a number one pick.

[zen007]

Originally Posted by Scottie

I watched Jeanne Dielman a few years ago and I was blown away by it.

It’s definitely a deserving film, but I don’t think of it as a number one pick.

Yeah, it is a good experimental film, which probably works better when you are in the mood to watch “such” a film (esp. when you want to watch something different) … People would not mind if it is somewhere in the top 100 but questionable in top 10, esp. at #1.

[format916]

It’s on hbomax. I’ve never heard of this movie until today. I watched about twenty minutes of its 3 plus hours. Challenging is definitely an understatement.

[dkelly26666]

Originally Posted by Scottie

I watched Jeanne Dielman a few years ago and I was blown away by it.

It’s definitely a deserving film, but I don’t think of it as a number one pick.

That was my thoughts, exactly.

It's a great film, but definitely not for everyone.

And I would never even consider it the number one movie of all time.

[Rayjg]

I was honestly expecting Do the Right Thing to make the a giant leap to No. 1. Similar to What’s Going On topping the Rolling Stone album list over The Beatles and Dylan. I’ve been aware of Jeanne ever since it placed in Rosenbaum’s top 1000 list but never expected it to become the consensus favorite among critics.

[Lutz]

Originally Posted by DVD Phreak

Vertigo had been on the list and moving up steadily, so it wasn't a huge deal that it became #1 in 2012. But Jeanne Dielman went from 34 critics votes in 2012 (screenshot) to possibly 300 votes this time (that is my estimation of what it took to achieve #1 rank from 1600+ voters). If Me Too didn't play a part I don't know what did. There are tons of "feminist" films that could've made the list too, such as Silence of the Lambs, which didn't make the list but also has a decidedly feminist tone and whose statue has also risen since it was made.

You can also just track this from JEANNE DIELMAN not being widely available until recently.

It wasn’t available on DVD until 2008 when it was released in Belgium (and as far as I can tell this was the first home video release having not been available on previous formats). It’s next release was the Criterion DVD in 2009 then the Criterion blu-ray in 2017. I personally saw it at a screening the Melbourne Cinematheque did in 2013 where they introduced it as the only surviving 35mm print in the world.

Films get rehabilitated from obscurity. JEANNE DIELMAN had been out of circulation for over 30 years before becoming widely available again just before the previous S&S in 2012. Unlike VERTIGO which had numerous restorations and had been in constant circulation via rep screenings, Betamax, VHS, Laserdisc, DVD, and blu-ray for 50 years before making the S&S #1 in 2012.

So there’s your “what did”.

[dkelly26666]

My own personal Top Ten (or Eleven) changes around and alters a little every so often, but my personal favorite Ten (not saying ten best ever, objectively, just my personal ten favorites), more or less, are:

10. To Kill a Mockingbird
9. Taxi Driver
8. (TIE) Persona / 8 1/2
7. Ran
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey
5. Citizen Kane
4. The Godfather
3. Jaws
2. Psycho
1. GoodFellas

Again, not a claim as objectively greatest, but just my personal favorites. And I do think most all of these are objectively at least AMONG the greatest films ever made.

[DVD Phreak]

Here is a list of directors sorted by the number of their films that received votes. Sight & Sound used to give us a list like that, but has stopped. The caveat of this list is that some directors may have lots of films that rank lowly in the top 100, whereas some may have only 1-2, but highly-ranked films.

A total of 86 directors and 134 films made the top 100 of either list.

This list only includes titles in both top 100 lists only. Sight & Sound has not published the list of films that didn't make the top 100 but also received votes.


Directors with 4 films in 2022 Sight & Sound Top 100:
Akira Kurosawa:
Ikiru (1952) - voted #72 by directors
Rashomon (1950) - voted #41 by critics, #20 by directors
Seven Samurai (1954) - voted #20 by critics, #14 by directors
Throne of Blood (1957) - voted #93 by directors

Alfred Hitchcock:
North by Northwest (1959) - voted #45 by critics
Psycho (1960) - voted #31 by critics, #46 by directors
Rear Window (1954) - voted #38 by critics
Vertigo (1958) - voted #2 by critics, #6 by directors

Francis Ford Coppola:
Apocalypse Now (1979) - voted #19 by critics, #18 by directors
The Conversation (1974) - voted #72 by directors
The Godfather (1972) - voted #12 by critics, #3 by directors
The Godfather Part II (1974) - voted #26 by directors

Ingmar Bergman:
Fanny and Alexander (1982) - voted #53 by directors
Persona (1966) - voted #18 by critics, #9 by directors
The Seventh Seal (1957) - voted #72 by directors
Wild Strawberries (1957) - voted #72 by directors

Jean-Luc Godard:
À bout de souffle (1960) - voted #38 by critics, #14 by directors
Histoire(s) du cinéma (1988) - voted #84 by critics
Le Mépris (1963) - voted #54 by critics, #46 by directors
Pierrot le fou (1965) - voted #84 by critics

Robert Bresson:
A Man Escaped (1956) - voted #95 by critics, #41 by directors
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) - voted #25 by critics, #37 by directors
L'Argent (1983) - voted #72 by directors
Pickpocket (1959) - voted #93 by directors

Stanley Kubrick:
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - voted #6 by critics, #1 by directors
Barry Lyndon (1975) - voted #45 by critics, #12 by directors
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1963) - voted #46 by directors
The Shining (1980) - voted #88 by critics


Directors with 3 films in 2022 Sight & Sound Top 100:
Abbas Kiarostami:
Close-Up (1989) - voted #17 by critics, #9 by directors
Taste of Cherry (1997) - voted #93 by directors
Where is the Friend's House? (1987) - voted #72 by directors

Agnès Varda:
Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962) - voted #14 by critics, #53 by directors
The Gleaners and I (2000) - voted #67 by critics
Vagabond (1985) - voted #41 by directors

Andrei Tarkovsky:
Andrei Rublev (1966) - voted #67 by critics, #26 by directors
Mirror (1975) - voted #31 by critics, #8 by directors
Stalker (1979) - voted #43 by critics, #14 by directors

Billy Wilder:
Some Like It Hot (1959) - voted #38 by critics, #62 by directors
Sunset Blvd. (1950) - voted #78 by critics, #62 by directors
The Apartment (1960) - voted #54 by critics

David Lynch:
Blue Velvet (1986) - voted #84 by critics, #72 by directors
Eraserhead (1976) - voted #53 by directors
Mulholland Dr. (2001) - voted #8 by critics, #22 by directors

Federico Fellini:
8½ (1963) - voted #31 by critics, #6 by directors
La dolce vita (1960) - voted #60 by critics, #34 by directors
La strada (1954) - voted #38 by directors

Martin Scorsese:
GoodFellas (1990) - voted #63 by critics, #28 by directors
Raging Bull (1980) - voted #22 by directors
Taxi Driver (1976) - voted #29 by critics, #12 by directors


Directors with 2 films in 2022 Sight & Sound Top 100:
Buster Keaton:
Sherlock Jr. (1924) - voted #54 by critics
The General (1926) - voted #95 by critics

Carl Th. Dreyer:
Ordet (1955) - voted #48 by critics, #30 by directors
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1927) - voted #21 by critics, #30 by directors

Chantal Akerman:
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) - voted #1 by critics, #4 by directors
News from Home (1976) - voted #52 by critics, #72 by directors

Charlie Chaplin:
City Lights (1931) - voted #36 by critics, #46 by directors
Modern Times (1936) - voted #78 by critics, #72 by directors

Chris Marker:
La Jetée (1962) - voted #67 by critics, #34 by directors
Sans soleil (1982) - voted #59 by critics, #72 by directors

Edward Yang:
A Brighter Summer Day (1991) - voted #78 by critics, #72 by directors
Yi Yi (1999) - voted #90 by critics, #93 by directors

Fritz Lang:
M (1931) - voted #36 by critics
Metropolis (1927) - voted #67 by critics

Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger:
A Matter of Life and Death (1946) - voted #78 by critics
The Red Shoes (1948) - voted #67 by critics, #72 by directors

Michelangelo Antonioni:
L’avventura (1960) - voted #72 by critics, #38 by directors
La notte (1961) - voted #53 by directors

Miyazaki Hayao:
My Neighbour Totoro (1988) - voted #72 by critics
Spirited Away (2001) - voted #75 by critics

Mizoguchi Kenji:
Sansho the Bailiff (1954) - voted #75 by critics
Ugetsu (1953) - voted #90 by critics

Ozu Yasujiro:
Late Spring (1949) - voted #21 by critics, #62 by directors
Tokyo Story (1953) - voted #4 by critics, #4 by directors

Wong Kar-wai:
Chungking Express (1994) - voted #88 by critics
In the Mood for Love (2001) - voted #5 by critics, #9 by directors


Directors with 1 film in 2022 Sight & Sound Top 100:
Apichatpong Weerasethakul: Tropical Malady (2004) - voted #95 by critics, #62 by directors
Asghar Farhadi: A Separation (2011) - voted #72 by directors
Barbara Loden: Wanda (1970) - voted #48 by critics, #93 by directors
Barry Jenkins: Moonlight (2016) - voted #60 by critics, #93 by directors
Béla Tarr: Sátántangó (1994) - voted #78 by critics, #62 by directors
Bernardo Bertolucci: The Conformist (1970) - voted #93 by directors
Bong Joon-ho: Parasite (2019) - voted #90 by critics, #93 by directors
Carol Reed: The Third Man (1949) - voted #63 by critics
Céline Sciamma: Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) - voted #30 by critics
Charles Burnett: Killer of Sheep (1977) - voted #43 by critics
Charles Laughton: The Night of the Hunter (1955) - voted #25 by critics, #41 by directors
Claire Denis: Beau travail (1998) - voted #7 by critics, #14 by directors
Claude Lanzmann: Shoah (1985) - voted #27 by critics, #72 by directors
David Lean: Lawrence of Arabia (1962) - voted #62 by directors
Djibril Diop Mambéty: Touki Bouki (1973) - voted #66 by critics, #72 by directors
Douglas Sirk: Imitation of Life (1959) - voted #75 by critics
Dziga Vertov: Man with a Movie Camera (1929) - voted #9 by critics, #30 by directors
Elem Klimov: Come and See (1985) - voted #41 by directors
F.W. Murnau: Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) - voted #11 by critics, #33 by directors
François Truffaut: The 400 Blows (1959) - voted #50 by critics, #34 by directors
Gillo Pontecorvo: The Battle of Algiers (1966) - voted #45 by critics, #22 by directors
Jacques Rivette: Céline and Julie Go Boating (1974) - voted #78 by critics
Jacques Tati: Playtime (1967) - voted #23 by critics, #41 by directors
Jane Campion: The Piano (1992) - voted #50 by critics, #53 by directors
Jean Eustache: La Maman et la Putain (1973) - voted #53 by directors
Jean Renoir: La Règle du Jeu (1939) - voted #13 by critics, #38 by directors
Jean Vigo: L’Atalante (1934) - voted #34 by critics, #46 by directors
John Cassavetes: A Woman under the Influence (1974) - voted #19 by directors
John Ford: The Searchers (1956) - voted #15 by critics, #72 by directors
Jordan Peele: Get Out (2017) - voted #95 by critics
Julie Dash: Daughters of the Dust (1991) - voted #60 by critics
Ken Loach: Kes (1969) - voted #72 by directors
Larissa Shepitko: The Ascent (1976) - voted #72 by directors
Luchino Visconti: The Leopard (1962) - voted #90 by critics
Lucrecia Martel: La ciénaga (2001) - voted #62 by directors
Luis Buñuel: Viridiana (1961) - voted #53 by directors
Max Ophüls: Madame de… (1953) - voted #90 by critics
Maya Deren, Alexandr Hackenschmied: Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) - voted #16 by critics, #62 by directors
Michael Curtiz: Casablanca (1942) - voted #63 by critics
Michael Haneke: Hidden (2004) - voted #93 by directors
Michel Gondry: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) - voted #93 by directors
Nicolas Roeg: Don't Look Now (1973) - voted #46 by directors
Orson Welles: Citizen Kane (1941) - voted #3 by critics, #2 by directors
Ousmane Sembène: Black Girl (1965) - voted #95 by critics
Pier Paolo Pasolini: Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) - voted #72 by directors
Rainer Werner Fassbinder: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) - voted #52 by critics, #53 by directors
Ridley Scott: Blade Runner (1982) - voted #54 by critics, #62 by directors
Roberto Rossellini: Journey to Italy (1954) - voted #72 by critics
Roman Polanski: Chinatown (1974) - voted #72 by directors
Satyajit Ray: Pather Panchali (1955) - voted #35 by critics, #22 by directors
Sergei Eisenstein: Battleship Potemkin (1925) - voted #54 by critics, #93 by directors
Sergei Paradjanov: The Colour of Pomegranates (1968) - voted #93 by directors
Sergio Leone: Once upon a Time in the West (1968) - voted #95 by critics, #46 by directors
Spike Lee: Do the Right Thing (1989) - voted #24 by critics, #29 by directors
Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly: Singin’ in the Rain (1951) - voted #10 by critics, #53 by directors
Steven Spielberg: Jaws (1975) - voted #62 by directors
Vera Chytilová: Daisies (1966) - voted #28 by critics
Víctor Erice: The Spirit of the Beehive (1973) - voted #84 by critics, #72 by directors
Vittorio De Sica: Bicycle Thieves (1948) - voted #41 by critics, #20 by directors

[DVD Phreak]

Originally Posted by Lutz

You can also just track this from JEANNE DIELMAN not being widely available until recently.

It wasn’t available on DVD until 2008 when it was released in Belgium (and as far as I can tell this was the first home video release having not been available on previous formats). It’s next release was the Criterion DVD in 2009 then the Criterion blu-ray in 2017. I personally saw it at a screening the Melbourne Cinematheque did in 2013 where they introduced it as the only surviving 35mm print in the world.

Films get rehabilitated from obscurity. JEANNE DIELMAN had been out of circulation for over 30 years before becoming widely available again just before the previous S&S in 2012. Unlike VERTIGO which had numerous restorations and had been in constant circulation via rep screenings, Betamax, VHS, Laserdisc, DVD, and blu-ray for 50 years before making the S&S #1 in 2012.

So there’s your “what did”.

TONS of films are more available now than before. Also, widely seen films may not get noticed, while under-seen films may get disproportionately more notice than more widely seen films. Films not just need to be seen; they need *catalyst*, especially the kind that occurs once in a lifetime/generation. What happened in the last 5-10 years that could possibly qualify, other than you-know-what? This poll has A LOT MORE indications other than "Jeanne Dielman" that show that you-know-what definitely made its presence known in this poll.

[Lutz]

Originally Posted by DVD Phreak

TONS of films are more available now than before. Also, widely seen films may not get noticed, while under-seen films may get disproportionately more notice than more widely seen films. Films not just need to be seen; they need *catalyst*, especially the kind that occurs once in a lifetime/generation. What happened in the last 5-10 years that could possibly qualify, other than you-know-what? This poll has A LOT MORE indications other than "Jeanne Dielman" that show that you-know-what definitely made its presence known in this poll.

Yeah, but for that argument to hold any water you’d also have to pretend VERTIGO didn’t make the #1 spot ten years ago because at that time the Hitchcock had wide reappraisal by feminists as being critical of women’s treatment by men and by Hollywood.

JEANNE DIELMAN making #1 is the natural progression that that critical response arrives at a decade later: with a movie which features not just a feminist dialogue but one also directed by a woman who is a lesbian and starring a woman who was a renowned political activist.

[Poya]

Originally Posted by Lutz

Yeah, but for that argument to hold any water you’d also have to pretend VERTIGO didn’t make the #1 spot ten years ago because at that time the Hitchcock had wide reappraisal by feminists as being critical of women’s treatment by men and by Hollywood.

JEANNE DIELMAN making #1 is the natural progression that that critical response arrives at a decade later: with a movie which features not just a feminist dialogue but one also directed by a woman who is a lesbian and starring a woman who was a renowned political activist.

Well, we'll know the real reason why people hate the movie, and not for its length.