Dennis Dorney

Brotherdeacon

I appreciate the attempt to modify the rather stodgy and oh-so-usual list and placements within that list of Sight & Sound's 100 Best Film List for 2012.  The average critic/director polled seemed stuck in an American Film bias, an almost strict male gender bias, and has forgotten, or are unaware of entire continents of film resources (Africa having one film mentioned).  Certainly it's not a blanket condemnation, since many who sent lists to Sight & Sound included a vital, well-versed knowledge of film's history and seemed to have a vision for the art form's continuum.  However, far too many seemed to be filling in the blanks with work they studied back in film school, not even bothering to dust off the cobwebs from the last time they sent a roster of their ten best.  Noticeably absent are experimental films except for the sacred cows of the distant past, as if no-one has had a new idea since Chris Marker in 1962, or the 1940's films of Maya Deren (who's not even included in the top 100).  In addition, with all the global resources being invested into film archives, the S & S list shows a definite paucity in re-discovering lost directors and lost masterworks.  It seems it takes an imprimatur from the likes of Francis Coppola or Martin Scorsese before many of these rediscovered and archived voices can find distribution, let alone critical acknowledgment in glossy film publications.

This venture has me excited to see a re-ordering of that S& S list, hopefully with some noticeable changes in regard to today's canon.  However, I'm even more interested to see the alternative lists of the  submitters' 100 best, purely as a selfish way to become introduced to films I've never seen, or hopefully, never even heard of.

  1. Andrei Rublev | Andrei TARKOVSKY | 1966
  2. The Colour of Pomegranates | Sergei PARAJANOV | 1968
  3. Touch of Evil | Orson WELLES | 1958
  4. La Règle du Jeu | Jean RENOIR | 1939
  5. Ugetsu Monogatari | MIZOGUCHI Kenji | 1953
  6. Pather Panchali | Satyajit RAY | 1955
  7. Persona | Ingmar BERGMAN | 1966
  8. Jeanne Dielman | Chantal AKERMAN | 1975
  9. Close-Up | Abbas KIAROSTAMI | 1990
  10. Touki-Bouki | Djibril DIOP MAMBÉTY | 1973
  11. Sátántangó | TARR Béla | 1994
  12. Rashomon | KUROSAWA Akira | 1950
  13. Metropolis | Fritz LANG | 1927
  14. A One and a Two | Edward YANG | 2000
  15. The General | Clyde BRUCKMAN & Buster KEATON | 1927
  16. Man with a Movie Camera | Dziga VERTOV | 1929
  17. Pierrot le Fou | Jean-Luc GODARD | 1965
  18. Late Spring | OZU Yasujirō | 1949
  19. La Jetée | Chris MARKER | 1962
  20. L'Eclisse | Michelangelo ANTONIONI | 1962
  21. The Wild Bunch | Sam PECKINPAH | 1969
  22. In the Mood for Love | WONG Kar-wai | 2000
  23. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans | F.W. MURNAU | 1927
  24. Psycho | Alfred HITCHCOCK | 1960
  25. L'Atalante | Jean VIGO | 1934
  26. Blue Velvet | David LYNCH | 1986
  27. Sansho Dayu | MIZOGUCHI Kenji | 1954
  28. The Night of the Hunter | Charles LAUGHTON | 1955
  29. Un Chien Andalou | Luis BUÑUEL | 1929
  30. Citizen Kane | Orson WELLES | 1941
  31. Histoire(s) du Cinéma | Jean-Luc GODARD | 1998
  32. La Grande Illusion | Jean RENOIR | 1937
  33. Intolerance | D.W. GRIFFITH | 1916
  34. Tokyo Story | OZU Yasujirō | 1953
  35. Gertrud | Carl Th. DREYER | 1964
  36. Seven Samurai | KUROSAWA Akira | 1954
  37. Stalker | Andrei TARKOVSKY | 1979
  38. City Lights | Charles CHAPLIN | 1931
  39. La Dolce Vita | Federico FELLINI | 1960
  40. Les Enfants du Paradis | Marcel CARNÉ | 1945
  41. Greed | Erich VON STROHEIM | 1924
  42. Blade Runner | Ridley SCOTT | 1982
  43. The Seventh Seal | Ingmar BERGMAN | 1957
  44. Apocalypse Now | Francis Ford COPPOLA | 1979
  45. Vertigo | Alfred HITCHCOCK | 1958
  46. Play Time | Jacques TATI | 1967
  47. Battleship Potemkin | Sergei EISENSTEIN | 1925
  48. L'Avventura | Michelangelo ANTONIONI | 1960
  49. The Spirit of the Beehive | Víctor ERICE | 1973
  50. Mirror | Andrei TARKOVSKY | 1975
  51. M | Fritz LANG | 1931
  52. The Battle of Algiers | Gillo PONTECORVO | 1966
  53. Lawrence of Arabia | David LEAN | 1962
  54. Casablanca | Michael CURTIZ | 1942
  55. Taxi Driver | Martin SCORSESE | 1976
  56. The 400 Blows | François TRUFFAUT | 1959
  57. Rear Window | Alfred HITCHCOCK | 1954
  58. Aguirre, Wrath of God | Werner HERZOG | 1972
  59. Sunset Blvd. | Billy WILDER | 1950
  60. Fanny & Alexander | Ingmar BERGMAN | 1982
  61. Partie de Campagne | Jean RENOIR | 1936
  62. Au Hasard Balthazar | Robert BRESSON | 1966
  63. Mulholland Dr. | David LYNCH | 2001
  64. Shoah | Claude LANZMANN | 1985
  65. Sherlock Jr. | Buster KEATON | 1924
  66. Rio Bravo | Howard HAWKS | 1959
  67. Wild Strawberries | Ingmar BERGMAN | 1957
  68.  | Federico FELLINI | 1963
  69. The Passion of Joan of Arc | Carl Th. DREYER | 1928
  70. Some Like It Hot | Billy WILDER | 1959
  71. Pickpocket | Robert BRESSON | 1959
  72. Madame de… | Max OPHÜLS | 1953
  73. A Brighter Summer Day | Edward YANG | 1991
  74. La Maman et la Putain | Jean EUSTACHE | 1973
  75. Chinatown | Roman POLANSKI | 1974
  76. The Third Man | Carol REED | 1949
  77. Le Mépris | Jean-Luc GODARD | 1963
  78. The Searchers | John FORD | 1956
  79. Modern Times | Charles CHAPLIN | 1936
  80. A Man Escaped | Robert BRESSON | 1956
  81. Ordet | Carl Th. DREYER | 1955
  82. Sans Soleil | Chris MARKER | 1983
  83. The Leopard | Luchino VISCONTI | 1963
  84. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp | POWELL & PRESSBURGER | 1943
  85. Journey to Italy | Roberto ROSSELLINI | 1954
  86. Beau Travail | Claire DENIS | 1999
  87. A Matter of Life and Death | POWELL & PRESSBURGER | 1946
  88. The Godfather | Francis Ford COPPOLA | 1972
  89. Nashville | Robert ALTMAN | 1975
  90. Raging Bull | Martin SCORSESE | 1980
  91. Singin' in the Rain | Stanley DONEN & Gene KELLY | 1952
  92. The Godfather: Part II | Francis Ford COPPOLA | 1974
  93. Bicycle Thieves | Vittorio DE SICA | 1948
  94. Breathless | Jean-Luc GODARD | 1960
  95. Once upon a Time in the West | Sergio LEONE | 1968
  96. The Magnificent Ambersons | Orson WELLES | 1942
  97. North by Northwest | Alfred HITCHCOCK | 1959
  98. 2001: A Space Odyssey | Stanley KUBRICK | 1968
  99. Imitation of Life | Douglas SIRK | 1959
  100. Barry Lyndon | Stanley KUBRICK | 1975 


Alternative 100

No order implied or desired:
  1. Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life | Merian C. COOPER & Ernest B. SCHOEDSACK | 1925
  2. Marketa Lazarová | Frantisek VLÁCIL | 1967
  3. Twenty-Four Eyes | KINOSHITA Keisuke | 1954
  4. The Wishing Tree | Tengiz ABULADZE | 1976
  5. Stray Bullet | YU Hyun-mok | 1961
  6. Les Bons Débarras | Francis MANKIEWICZ | 1980
  7. Big Deal on Madonna Street | Mario MONICELLI | 1958
  8. Street of Crocodiles | Brothers QUAY | 1986
  9. Tange Sazen and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo | YAMANAKA Sadao | 1935
  10. Sambizanga | Sarah MALDOROR | 1972
  11. The Forty-First | Grigori CHUKHRAI | 1956
  12. Great Expectations | David LEAN | 1946
  13. Vampyr | Carl Th. DREYER | 1932
  14. Kukuli | Luis FIGUEROA & Eulogio NISHIYAMA | 1961
  15. Palms | Artour ARISTAKISIAN | 1993
  16. That Hamilton Woman | Alexander KORDA | 1941
  17. Poto and Cabengo | Jean-Pierre GORIN | 1980
  18. Mother Joan of the Angels | Jerzy KAWALEROWICZ | 1961
  19. The Dupes | Tewfik SALEH | 1973
  20. The Ox-Bow Incident | William A. WELLMAN | 1943
  21. Quilombo | Carlos DIEGUES | 1984
  22. Port of Call | Ingmar BERGMAN | 1948
  23. Syndromes and a Century | Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL | 2006
  24. The Man Who Laughs | Paul LENI | 1928
  25. The Sealed Soil | Marva NABILI | 1977
  26. Extraordinary Stories | Mariano LLINÁS | 2008
  27. Eureka | AOYAMA Shinji | 2000
  28. Zero Focus | NOMURA Yoshitaro | 1961
  29. Illusion Travels by Streetcar | Luis BUÑUEL | 1954
  30. The Terrorisers | Edward YANG | 1986
  31. Violence at Noon | ŌSHIMA Nagisa | 1966
  32. Bandini | Bimal ROY | 1963
  33. A Touch of Zen | King HU | 1969
  34. Crash | David CRONENBERG | 1996
  35. Drowning by Numbers | Peter GREENAWAY | 1988
  36. Pictures of the Old World | Dušan HANÁK | 1972
  37. Love | MAKK Károly | 1971
  38. L'Argent | Marcel L'HERBIER | 1928
  39. Napoleon | Abel GANCE | 1927
  40. Genesis | Cheick Oumar SISSOKO | 1999
  41. Bandits of Orgosolo | Vittorio DE SETA | 1960
  42. Flowers of Shanghai | HOU Hsiao-hsien | 1998
  43. The Reckless Moment | Max OPHÜLS | 1949
  44. The Battle of San Pietro | John HUSTON | 1945
  45. Leap Year | Michael ROWE | 2010
  46. Germany, Pale Mother | Helma SANDERS-BRAHMS | 1980
  47. Despair | Rainer Werner FASSBINDER | 1978
  48. Devils on the Doorstep | JIANG Wen | 2000
  49. The Isle | KIM Ki-duk | 2000
  50. Paris, Texas | Wim WENDERS | 1984
  51. La Belle et la Bête | Jean COCTEAU | 1946
  52. A Taste of Honey | Tony RICHARDSON | 1961
  53. Time of the Gypsies | Emir KUSTURICA | 1988
  54. A River Called Titas | Ritwik GHATAK | 1973
  55. A Woman's Tale | Paul COX | 1991
  56. Francis, God's Jester | Roberto ROSSELLINI | 1950
  57. Oedipus Rex | Pier Paolo PASOLINI | 1967
  58. Pyaasa | Guru DUTT | 1957
  59. The Piano Teacher | Michael HANEKE | 2001
  60. Safe | Todd HAYNES | 1995
  61. A Woman Under the Influence | John CASSAVETES | 1974
  62. La Reine Margot | Patrice CHÉREAU | 1994
  63. The Last Laugh | F.W. MURNAU | 1924
  64. Maskerade | Willi FORST | 1934
  65. Mouchette | Robert BRESSON | 1967
  66. The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice | OZU Yasujirō | 1952
  67. Conflagration | ICHIKAWA Kon | 1958
  68. Le Feu Follet | Louis MALLE | 1963
  69. Maborosi | KORE-EDA Hirokazu | 1995
  70. Werckmeister Harmonies | TARR Béla | 2000
  71. The Lusty Men | Nicholas RAY | 1952
  72. The Docks of New York | Josef VON STERNBERG | 1928
  73. Story of a Prostitute | SUZUKI Seijun | 1965
  74. My Man Godfrey | Gregory LA CAVA | 1936
  75. The Commissar | Aleksandr ASKOLDOV | 1967
  76. Storm Over Asia | Vsevolod PUFOVKIN | 1928
  77. Stroszek | Werner HERZOG | 1977
  78. Vendredi Soir | Claire DENIS | 2002
  79. Water-Mirror of Granada | José VAL DEL OMAR | 1955
  80. The Hes Case | Orlow SEUNKE | 1982
  81. Silent Light | Carlos REYGADAS | 2007
  82. Naked Island | SHINDŌ Kaneto | 1960
  83. Siberiade | Andrei KONCHALOVSKY | 1979
  84. Sergeant Rutledge | John FORD | 1960
  85. The Ascent | Larissa SHEPITKO | 1976
  86. The Tree of Wooden Clogs | Ermanno OLMI | 1978
  87. The Crowd | King VIDOR | 1928
  88. To Live | ZHANG Yimou | 1994
  89. Fährmann Maria | Frank WISBAR | 1936
  90. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums | MIZOGUCHI Kenji | 1939
  91. La Niña Santa | Lucrecia MARTEL | 2004
  92. The Birth of a Nation | D.W. GRIFFITH | 1915
  93. Orlando | Sally POTTER | 1992
  94. The Young Girl | Souleymane CISSÉ | 1975
  95. The Apartment | Billy WILDER | 1960
  96. Memories of Underdevelopment | Tomás GUTIÉRREZ ALEA | 1968
  97. Scarface | Howard HAWKS | 1932
  98. Electra, My Love | JANCSÓ Miklós | 1974
  99. The Crime of Monsieur Lange | Jean RENOIR | 1936
  100. Ossessione | Luchino VISCONTI | 1943

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