Iain Stott

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

Alternative 100

One thing that has become evident to me from drawing up this list is that the most significant films of the silent and early sound periods were generally fun and accessible, whilst the best of today’s cinema is earnest and esoteric. Or perhaps it’s just an indicator of my taste. But as I scan down my chronologically ordered list—from my first selection, from 1896, to my last, from 2012—I can’t help but infer a steady and definite rise in solemnity. Whilst contemporary art house cinema in general is in rude health, with seemingly more great films being produced each year than ever before, there are very few film-makers active today who can actually put a smile on my face, and even fewer that are capable of sustaining it. But perhaps I'm just not watching the right films.

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