"Chinatown" was on the list for a few decades and fell off this year. I agree, it should have remained on, and maybe would have if the director wasn't who he was (and did what he did).
I like your Top 10 list better, although I'd swap Tokyo Story for Late Spring. All the intellectual justification for what Jeanne Dielmann is, does, how it works, etc. doesn't make up for the fact that it's one dull slog. And if I were setting the rules, I'd create a 10-year waiting period before a film becomes eligible. I liked Moonlight, too, and Phantom Thread, but over Godfather II in the pantheon? Cooler heads might think otherwise. (But I do agree with Parasite and probably Get Out. And I'd add Under the Skin for good measure.)
I hear you. I think it actually may be a better movie watched alone, so that you're not self-conscious about what the other person's thinking or whether they're having a "good time" (not the issue with this movie, but you know what I mean).
Thanks for sharing your list! I have seen—and love—most Kiorastami but I haven’t seen Where is the Friend’s House. I need to get on that. (The other one from your list I haven’t seen is the Rivette—I keep waiting for a theatrical showing that I can make, but might just need to cue it up on the teevee.)
I very much appreciate your thoughts on Jeanne Dielman. It blew me away when I saw it, and yes it is a very difficult movie. But I think you make an excellent case for why it makes sense that it tops the list.
While I can't argue about films I haven't seen like Jeanne Dielmann, I would have to put a hand up for Rules of the Game, which was included and Les Enfants du Paradis which was not. A strong second to your choice of Sherlock Jr or perhaps The General. These lists are somewhat arbitrary and perhaps better done by genre or decade. It feels remiss to exclude Rashomon, The Bicycle Thief or Belle Du Jour but no list will ever be complete. I do appreciate the updates because they propel me to see films I haven't seen like Beau Travail and I ones I am reminded to revisit like Tokyo Story. A small shoutout for A Clockwork Orange and Once Upon A Time in the West. They never fail to captivate me. Happy Holidays and a Cinematic New Year to all.
“Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles”--in the theater--is a mesmerizing film. People in cities with strong art houses should keep an eye out to see if it will make a visit to a nearby big screen because that's the way too see it. I find slow cinema to try my patience on my tv screen. But I didn't find "Jeannie Dielman" a slog I saw it ten years ago at the Cleveland Cinematheque. I look forward to seeing it again at the Cleveland Cinematheque's newer theater on January 28.
PS: Any top ten list that doesn't include Renoir's "The Rules of the Game" is seriously flawed.
I don't think it's possible to defend the notion that the S&S list reflects or has determined the greatest films ever, or the best films -- even if those were meaningful concepts (and they're not).*
What is actually true is that Jeane Dielman is at this moment *the film most recommended by experts*. And that's a real thing, and a very valuable one. (It's been in my DVD.Netflix queue forever and will now get a big bump up.)
*One can of course construct ranked lists of the films most most worthy of seeing, by consensus. But a film's quality of greatness has many components, and each one of us treats each component differently. The quality or greatness of a film thus inheres *in the mind of each viewer and nowhere else.* And the mind includes "the heart" where our individual differences are even greater.
A confession: I once captured the Metacritic page of every available film I had seen and then measured the correlation of every critics' scores with my own. (This is by no means the most time-consuming such study I've done). The critic whose taste most aligned with mine was ... Ty Burr. I took this to mean that Ty and I had the best taste in the world, but what is actually happening, I think, is that our tastes most aligns with the consensus -- not at a fine level, but in rarely rejecting a film that the consensus values, because in some sense we didn't "get it."
And I am therefore delighted to note that the only classic film I have had a serious problem with is in Ty's top 10 list! I came away from _Au hasard Batlhazar_ convinced that Bresson has mistaken, for human nature, the consequences of believing in Christian theology (whose take on human nature I would argue is demonstrably incorrect). I was angry on behalf of the characters, whom I saw as victims of indoctrination ... which I would guess was not Bresson's intent. Of course I need to see it again.
My 8-best list: The Lord of the Rings (extended editions), Fanny and Alexander (original 5 hour+ cut), Memento, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Separation (Farhardi), The Rules of the Game, Vertigo, The Great Beauty (Sorrentino). After that I have trouble discriminating between favorites ( Donnie Darko, Upstream Color, The Prestige, Eraserhead, O Lucky Man!) and films I love nearly as much that I think are probably "better," whatever that means (Man With a Movie Camera, In the Mood For Love, The Passion of Joan of Arc, The Conformist).
What a great comment, Eric, and I'm flattered that we align in having the best taste in the world. Yes, give "Balthazar" a second go, and maybe see Jerzy Skolimowski's new film, "EO," made as a conscious homage to the Bresson film. Between that and "Banshees of Inisherin," 2022 has been a good movie year for donkeys.
Well this is an entry to keep as I work my way through each of them. I've known of your affection for Celine and Julie for a while, now I have another three-and-a-half hour French film for my to-do list. But seriously, I so appreciate all the different gems you uncover for us - last night my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed 'Remember the Night.' And I finally got around to seeing King Vidor's 'The Crowd' - pairing it with 'Ingrid Goes West' gave it an interesting perspective. I chuckled as I watched the newlyweds arrange and rearrange poses in front of Niagara Falls like it was an Instagram post, then I marveled at how this must have been before they invented viewing platforms, or guardrails, or even stairs, and then I wondered how many marriages ended in that spot before they ever got started, and then I wondered if there was a true crime series examining this question. Then I decided to switch to an indica.
"Chinatown" was on the list for a few decades and fell off this year. I agree, it should have remained on, and maybe would have if the director wasn't who he was (and did what he did).
It's French-language, but the film is Belgian. Akerman was Belgian. Brussels is in Belgium.
I knew that! Duly noted and fixed. Merci.
I like your Top 10 list better, although I'd swap Tokyo Story for Late Spring. All the intellectual justification for what Jeanne Dielmann is, does, how it works, etc. doesn't make up for the fact that it's one dull slog. And if I were setting the rules, I'd create a 10-year waiting period before a film becomes eligible. I liked Moonlight, too, and Phantom Thread, but over Godfather II in the pantheon? Cooler heads might think otherwise. (But I do agree with Parasite and probably Get Out. And I'd add Under the Skin for good measure.)
Under the Skin! In my Top 25 for the New Millennium, maybe Top 10. Hi Ropes!
So appreciate you taking "Jeanne Dielman" seriously, on its own terms, in contrast to the derisive snorts I'm reading elsewhere.
Hey Ty, my wife and I tried....really tried, but after 1 hour we both looked at each other decided to give up.
I hear you. I think it actually may be a better movie watched alone, so that you're not self-conscious about what the other person's thinking or whether they're having a "good time" (not the issue with this movie, but you know what I mean).
Thanks for sharing your list! I have seen—and love—most Kiorastami but I haven’t seen Where is the Friend’s House. I need to get on that. (The other one from your list I haven’t seen is the Rivette—I keep waiting for a theatrical showing that I can make, but might just need to cue it up on the teevee.)
I very much appreciate your thoughts on Jeanne Dielman. It blew me away when I saw it, and yes it is a very difficult movie. But I think you make an excellent case for why it makes sense that it tops the list.
While I can't argue about films I haven't seen like Jeanne Dielmann, I would have to put a hand up for Rules of the Game, which was included and Les Enfants du Paradis which was not. A strong second to your choice of Sherlock Jr or perhaps The General. These lists are somewhat arbitrary and perhaps better done by genre or decade. It feels remiss to exclude Rashomon, The Bicycle Thief or Belle Du Jour but no list will ever be complete. I do appreciate the updates because they propel me to see films I haven't seen like Beau Travail and I ones I am reminded to revisit like Tokyo Story. A small shoutout for A Clockwork Orange and Once Upon A Time in the West. They never fail to captivate me. Happy Holidays and a Cinematic New Year to all.
“Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles”--in the theater--is a mesmerizing film. People in cities with strong art houses should keep an eye out to see if it will make a visit to a nearby big screen because that's the way too see it. I find slow cinema to try my patience on my tv screen. But I didn't find "Jeannie Dielman" a slog I saw it ten years ago at the Cleveland Cinematheque. I look forward to seeing it again at the Cleveland Cinematheque's newer theater on January 28.
PS: Any top ten list that doesn't include Renoir's "The Rules of the Game" is seriously flawed.
I don't think it's possible to defend the notion that the S&S list reflects or has determined the greatest films ever, or the best films -- even if those were meaningful concepts (and they're not).*
What is actually true is that Jeane Dielman is at this moment *the film most recommended by experts*. And that's a real thing, and a very valuable one. (It's been in my DVD.Netflix queue forever and will now get a big bump up.)
*One can of course construct ranked lists of the films most most worthy of seeing, by consensus. But a film's quality of greatness has many components, and each one of us treats each component differently. The quality or greatness of a film thus inheres *in the mind of each viewer and nowhere else.* And the mind includes "the heart" where our individual differences are even greater.
A confession: I once captured the Metacritic page of every available film I had seen and then measured the correlation of every critics' scores with my own. (This is by no means the most time-consuming such study I've done). The critic whose taste most aligned with mine was ... Ty Burr. I took this to mean that Ty and I had the best taste in the world, but what is actually happening, I think, is that our tastes most aligns with the consensus -- not at a fine level, but in rarely rejecting a film that the consensus values, because in some sense we didn't "get it."
And I am therefore delighted to note that the only classic film I have had a serious problem with is in Ty's top 10 list! I came away from _Au hasard Batlhazar_ convinced that Bresson has mistaken, for human nature, the consequences of believing in Christian theology (whose take on human nature I would argue is demonstrably incorrect). I was angry on behalf of the characters, whom I saw as victims of indoctrination ... which I would guess was not Bresson's intent. Of course I need to see it again.
My 8-best list: The Lord of the Rings (extended editions), Fanny and Alexander (original 5 hour+ cut), Memento, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Separation (Farhardi), The Rules of the Game, Vertigo, The Great Beauty (Sorrentino). After that I have trouble discriminating between favorites ( Donnie Darko, Upstream Color, The Prestige, Eraserhead, O Lucky Man!) and films I love nearly as much that I think are probably "better," whatever that means (Man With a Movie Camera, In the Mood For Love, The Passion of Joan of Arc, The Conformist).
What a great comment, Eric, and I'm flattered that we align in having the best taste in the world. Yes, give "Balthazar" a second go, and maybe see Jerzy Skolimowski's new film, "EO," made as a conscious homage to the Bresson film. Between that and "Banshees of Inisherin," 2022 has been a good movie year for donkeys.
Well this is an entry to keep as I work my way through each of them. I've known of your affection for Celine and Julie for a while, now I have another three-and-a-half hour French film for my to-do list. But seriously, I so appreciate all the different gems you uncover for us - last night my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed 'Remember the Night.' And I finally got around to seeing King Vidor's 'The Crowd' - pairing it with 'Ingrid Goes West' gave it an interesting perspective. I chuckled as I watched the newlyweds arrange and rearrange poses in front of Niagara Falls like it was an Instagram post, then I marveled at how this must have been before they invented viewing platforms, or guardrails, or even stairs, and then I wondered how many marriages ended in that spot before they ever got started, and then I wondered if there was a true crime series examining this question. Then I decided to switch to an indica.