Sight and Sound Poll 2022

[greennui]

It's coming out later this year, how about some predictions?

What films/directors do we reckon have come into/gone out of fashion in the last 10 years?

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Oh wow, that's exciting, but also I feel old. It's already been a decade since Vertigo supplanted Citizen Kane? Phew!

I expect the poll might have some notable changes. Attempts to redefine the canon in light of identity politics and contemporary internet discoveries have caught on among the younger critics, and I predict S&S will want to invite the right critics there to not seem too out of touch. I expect, say, Jeanne Dielman will jump up to the top 25, and Varda's Cleo and Sembene's Black Girl might crack the 100. On a similar theme, I feel like Fellini might be losing love, so if I'd have to bet on a fall out of the top 10, it would be 8&1/2.

I also expect the share of silent films, and more generally, films pre-1950s, will continue to dwindle, as per a complaint I already made in a different sub-forum. Mad Max: Fury Road and stuff like that will be passing the 3 or more votes bar.

It'll be interesting to see if Vertigo stays at the top, whether Kane resurges, or whether something else (2001?) takes over the throne. I'd place my money on 2001, which I say begrudgingly.

I usually have strong disagreements with the list that results, but I do enjoy the fun of complaining about it, which is half the point of the list. And as a metric for graphing the development of popular understandings of the film canon over the decades, it plays a certain Janus-faced service.

[Searchlike]

What?! Is that time already? I completely forgot about this thing, but yeah, this is the year. I personally don't care about the main list, but I'm really looking forward to the individual ballots, those will be a lot of fun to check out. That said, I do hope there's a place on the big list for a work belonging to the experimental or short film genre, and I mean some new films not just Meshes of the Afternoon (we love you, Maya Deren), maybe something by Makino, yeah right who am I kidding...

[St. Gloede]

I'm also predicting that the biggest riser into the top 100 will be Cleo from 5 to 7, and I think the two other Vardas on the list, The Gleaners & I (#589) and Le bonheur (#763) will also enjoy notable jumps of at least 200 spots. I'm also expecting a couple of other Vardas to make it on. The most obvious is Vagabond, which should be guaranteed, but we might also see The Beaches of Agnes and Faces, Places.

Of new releases (after the last poll) I'm guessing Parasite, Holy Motors, First Cow, Get Out, Burning and Moonlight will do particularly well, with the first two possibly even making it into the top 250.

The most interesting riser(?) will be Tree of Life, as it made it almost made it into the 100 in the last edition despite having been released the previous year. A top 100 position is therefore very likely, possibly even top 50, but it is also possibly a question of peaking too early and losing some steam since. Its inclusion as the highest film from the 2010s in the past edition may on the other hand make people wishing to promote new films prioritise it when they trim down their lists.

[RenaultR]

I love this game.

The Tree of Life will probably be at around the 50 mark. There Will Be Blood will likely be at around 75. A Brighter Summer Day will enter the top 50. If a new film joins the top 10 it'll be Breathless. Weerasethakul will have a film enter the top 100. Agnes Varda seems to be on the rise.

As for Fellini, he seemed to be falling out of favor for a while, but the centennial set from Criterion seemed to resurrect substantial interest in him I think, so it's hard to tell. Frankly, I think 8 1/2 will still hover around the 10 mark. I think the filmographies of Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer, Antonioni, and Buñuel will more or less fare the same as last time.

Perhaps some of the WCP films that have gotten exposure through Criterion's and Scorsese's efforts will sneak into the top 250, like Pixote or Manila in the Claws of Light. Lucia would be great too. We'll see. Memories of Underdevelopment already made the list last time.

I'm not sure about films that have been released since the last list came out entering the top 250. Perhaps Holy Motors? Or The Master? Parasite? Drive My Car?

[rischka]

ty greennui

[Zulawski]

Rosenbaum's list:

Greed

Spione

Ivan

I Was Born, But…

Rear Window

Cuadecuc-Vampir

Sátántangó

Histoire(s) du cinéma

The Wind Will Carry Us

The World

[nrh]

this poll should be more interesting than usual if only because the last decade was such an odd one. the only netflix exclusive in 2012 was lilyhamer! there was only one avengers movie! it seems inevitable in hindsight but i do not think i would have predicted the degree to which streaming would become the dominant way that most people i know engage with movies and television (or that something like youtube or twitch would become what they've become).

not sure how much any of that will impact the actual list. the numbers game part of it still strongly favors canon directors with a single Dedicated Masterpiece, so i have a feeling we may get a more diverse overall set of ballots and a fairly similar main list. if i had guesses about what will rise i'd probably pick in the mood for love and mulholland drive, maybe yi yi.

would love to believe the list would get more geographically diverse but that seems unlikely. maybe kiarostami does alright if everyone settles on a single favorite? but don't really expect anything indian except pather panchali again, nothing japanese outside of ozu/mizoguchi/kurosawa, maybe goodbye dragon inn or something makes a showing? apichatpong but not sure what the consensus movie would be...sadly probably uncle boonmee...

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

I expect Naruse might be able to break the top 250 now, since one of the most notable features of the past ten years is that Naruse has become far more commercially available (or 'other means' available) in English translation. Ukigumo was #257 last time, and I hope it cracks the top 250.

(Of course, this in no way takes away from your more general point about the limitations on its geographic diversity.)

[nrh]

naruse is another director who i think suffers from lack of a Designated Masterpiece. like most ozu fans i know wouldn't rate tokyo story in their top 5 but it has stuck around so long as the ozu you vote for in this sort of thing that it has gained a lot of weight. not sure if naruse has one...woman ascends the stairs i guess has been commercially available for the longest in english and i guess might be closest to that arbitrary point?

just realized that the best chance of getting a post-1960 japanese director in the top 250 is probably kore-eda

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

A post-1960 Japanese director in the top 250 already happened: Miyazaki made the top 250 last time with Spirited Away and with My Neighbour Totoro. Also, Kiarostami's Close-Up made the top 50 last time, so I think he should do fine again this time.

All that said, I strongly agree with you specifically about the underrepresentation of Indian cinema, which I think is the most glaring hole in the list, and—no coincidence—in my own film education. Did *any* Bollywood movies make even the long list last time? If memory serves, Satyajit Ray was the only Indian director who made a showing

[nrh]

totally missed the kiarostami and miyazaki...not the films i'd pick but glad something is there at least.

i could be missing something from skimming the list but unless you count the river ray is the only indian director represented in the list, with pather panchali in the 40s and (the much more interesting) music room and apur sansur around the 200s.

could maybe see a pyaasa or a dhuvida getting a small push, maybe ghatak would get a bump from river called titash getting the world cinema project treatment, but i seriously doubt it.

[RenaultR]

I also prefer Apur Sansar to Pather Panchali. As for my predictions regarding this poll, I feel A Brighter Summer Day could be a dark horse for cracking the top 50. Weerasethakul will likely have a film at around the 100 mark. I also wonder if some of the more obscure WCP films could crack the top 250, due to increased exposure subsequent to the Criterion releases. I'm thinking of titles like Pixote and Manila in the Claws of Light.

[Angel]

... Manila in the Claws of Light.

Last time Lino Brocka got in total... 1 vote. God save us from critics!

[...]

There's so much talk about "strategizing" voting that the poll will likely see some influence in that direction, which should be simple enough if those involved weren't so squirrelly. Just need to coordinate some voting blocks to push a select list of films to get them higher rankings, but most of those I see are too tied up in their elite standing as those who've made the grade of being asked to participate to give up too much to the crowd. I suspect the anti-moralists, Paychotronicists, Bordwellians, and the other neo-formalists will make a strong showing, getting a few movies from their faves some showing. They've seemingly have become a vocal part of the critical establishment, which is what the list really measures.

Tokyo Story is a kind of weird representation for Ozu. It's an outlier film for him in some ways, at least amongst his mature works. It's got the strongest emotional hook, but I'm not sure it fits his method as well as many of his other later films do. The balance between order/history of social expectation and change being somewhat reversed in the dynamic, but it's the one that seems to first grab a lot of people for the clear emotional throughline.

The desire to shake up the list though does seem likely to make a difference in the results with the interest in continuity being weaker than ever and viewing histories being more scattered, but that probably won't be enough to completely overturn the top of the list, just alter some placements and bring in some new choices for the awareness of being purposeful about representation. More voters will likely be wanting to demonstrate their breadth of appreciation. That's all just guessing though as I have no idea where all the voters will be coming from, but those are some noticeable trends in other rankings lately.