He's 84 so the only film that predates him on his list is The General. I have to admit, on my own list, I probably have at least as many films older than me than not, so I can't point fingers about being out of touch with film culture.
― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 31 May 2021 14:58 (three years ago) link
I kind of want to defend him too, although "weird" in my original post may suggest otherwise. I found it weird he would publically lobby for a ballot. I hope he gets one, though. "Hey, I founded Film Heritage"--I guess only someone as stuck in that moment (when it comes to film critics) as I am would find that touching. I also wonder if Andrew Sarris's ballot, if he were alive, would be appreciably different.
― clemenza, Monday, 31 May 2021 15:22 (three years ago) link
Here's the Agee piece on Griffith. Only the first two pages are on Birth of a Nation. Their final paragraph:
(Today, The Birth of it Nation is boycotted or shown piecemeal; too many more or less well-meaning people still accuse Griffith of having made it an anti-Negro movie. At best, this is nonsense, and at worst, it is vicious nonsense. Even if it were an anti-Negro movie, a work of such quality should be shown, and shown whole. But the accusation is unjust. Griffith went to almost preposterous lengths to be fair to the Negroes as he understood them, and he understood them as a good type of Southerner does. I don’t entirely agree with him; nor can I be sure that the film wouldn’t cause trouble and misunderstanding, especially as advertised and exacerbated by contemporary abolitionists; but Griffith’s absolute desire to be fair, and understandable, is written all over the picture; so are degrees of understanding, honesty, and compassion far beyond the capacity of his accusers. So, of course, are the salient facts of the so-called Reconstruction years.)
― wasdnuos (abanana), Monday, 31 May 2021 15:32 (three years ago) link
My final film for the 2022 Sight & Sound top ten is Philadelphia. A movie that opens with music by Springsteen and closes with music by Neil Young is a keeper.― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, May 31, 2021 9:53 AM (forty-eight minutes ago)
"Who could ask for anything more? It's a film for a Philly guy -- and a human being."
I can read between those lines, old man.
― i carry the torch for disco inauthenticity (Eric H.), Monday, 31 May 2021 15:42 (three years ago) link
Having watched the full, unexpurgated version of Birth of a Nation last year, can I just say fuck DW Griffith, fuck Jim Agee and fuck Tony Macklin.
― A viking of frowns, (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 31 May 2021 15:43 (three years ago) link
D. W. Griffith - "Accidental Racist"
― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 31 May 2021 16:01 (three years ago) link
What's o_O about BOAN defenders is that it was widely perceived as provocatively racist in *1915*. To be fair, I didn't know that when first getting into film history in the 90s, but it's a fact that has been broadly established by now (even something as popular-history as Longworth's You Must Remember This mentioned it briefly in the most recent series)
― rob, Monday, 31 May 2021 16:02 (three years ago) link
The most amazing leap in that Agee piece is that it's supposedly "contemporary abolitionists" who would "cause trouble and misunderstanding" around the film.
― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 31 May 2021 16:03 (three years ago) link
To be fair to Agee, they're still doing it to this day, to hear some tell it.
― i carry the torch for disco inauthenticity (Eric H.), Monday, 31 May 2021 16:18 (three years ago) link
(Disclaimer: I am being facetious there. It's definitely revisionist history to paint Birth of a Nation as some sort of guiltless artifact that in only the last 40 or 50 years or so has been unpacked for its racism.)
― i carry the torch for disco inauthenticity (Eric H.), Monday, 31 May 2021 16:27 (three years ago) link
Clicked a few of the reviews on the homepage and got a kick out of his two-star assessment of the PBS Hemingway.
The Old Man and the Sea is a profound, personal vision.
But there's little recognition in the documentary of the importance of going beyond the surface into the art.
Androgyny and suicide are more important in the documentary.
Glibness trumps credibility. It is as though the film was made by the tourists on the shore.
Such is Ernest Hemingway in 2021.
― i carry the torch for disco inauthenticity (Eric H.), Monday, 31 May 2021 16:31 (three years ago) link
The Old Man and The Old Man and the Sea
― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 31 May 2021 16:47 (three years ago) link
Happy New “we get a new S&S fill poll this year” Year!
― Max Hamburgers (Eric H.), Saturday, 1 January 2022 19:01 (two years ago) link
Went to a screening of City Lights this afternoon and was wondering when exactly this thing comes out.
― clemenza, Sunday, 12 June 2022 21:37 (one year ago) link
Starting to feel like later than last time, maybe even December
― Eggs Benedick (Eric H.), Sunday, 12 June 2022 22:09 (one year ago) link
Obviously, please post here when it does; I never check magazines anymore, and--at least where I am--getting one won't be easy.
― clemenza, Sunday, 12 June 2022 22:10 (one year ago) link
I mean, some of us might not have to pretend after all:
https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/poll-position-kaned
We invited more than a thousand people last time; the ambition is to at least double that number in 2022.
― Bait Kush (Eric H.), Friday, 15 July 2022 12:25 (one year ago) link
Gonna go on the record in saying 2001 will win this time around.
― Bait Kush (Eric H.), Friday, 15 July 2022 12:27 (one year ago) link
The callout for ballots dropped today
― Bait Kush (Eric H.), Wednesday, 20 July 2022 20:29 (one year ago) link
hope you will be able to get and submit one, we should have someone to represent us here
― Dan S, Thursday, 21 July 2022 01:01 (one year ago) link
Eric, I think your and our collective posts in the last two all-time poll threads (directors, films) have been a significant contribution to the discourse about great films, more than any individual reviews I've read in highbrow publications
S&S voters should read them, and you should vote in this poll
You too Alfred
― Dan S, Thursday, 21 July 2022 01:42 (one year ago) link
besos
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 21 July 2022 01:48 (one year ago) link
oh lol I think I misread you. I thought I had contributed.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 21 July 2022 01:54 (one year ago) link
if you haven't already, you should lobby for a S&S ballot! I mean, you have to qualify
― Dan S, Thursday, 21 July 2022 01:58 (one year ago) link
as long as you don't make your top ten all Buñuel films, I mean one is enough
― Dan S, Thursday, 21 July 2022 02:05 (one year ago) link
2001: A Space Odyssey has ascended over time in the rankings, and was #6 on the 2012 list. It would be surprising for it to suddenly jump to #1, I don't expect it but I would love it if it did.
― Dan S, Thursday, 21 July 2022 02:38 (one year ago) link
It seems like the critics only come around to agreeing what the best films of all time are 50 or more years after they are released. I don't see any other films above or below 2001 on that S&S list that are likely to rise in prominence at this point
― Dan S, Thursday, 21 July 2022 02:49 (one year ago) link
The window's less than 50 years, I think. 2001 came out in '68, was tied for 11th 24 years later. Mulholland Drive was 28th in 2012, 11 years after release, probably higher this time. If you really go back, L'Avventura was #2 a year after it was released. Obviously, something like that isn't going to happen anymore, but I'd say the window for ranking high today is more like 20-30 years.
― clemenza, Thursday, 21 July 2022 02:57 (one year ago) link
What I'm saying is, School of Rock could be really high this time.
― clemenza, Thursday, 21 July 2022 02:58 (one year ago) link
I predict Mulholland Drive is gonna crack the top 10.
― Chris L, Thursday, 21 July 2022 03:21 (one year ago) link
air budair bud 2michael jackson thriller videodavid at the dentistfield of dreamsbarely legal #15citizen kanebringing up babyesteban buttez: the first ten postsgoonies
― ice cr?m, Sunday, 12 September 2010 02:47 bookmarkflaglink
― cajunsunday, Thursday, 21 July 2022 07:47 (one year ago) link
I predict Mulholland Drive is gonna crack the top 10
― Alba, Thursday, 21 July 2022 09:59 (one year ago) link
lol we had someone representing us before = me
and look how that turned out
― mark s, Thursday, 21 July 2022 10:02 (one year ago) link
zizek only placed second as troll but i no longer write for S&S
(this isn't actually official and is mainly a consequence of my indolence and detainment elsewhere)
― mark s, Thursday, 21 July 2022 10:03 (one year ago) link
lol we had someone representing us before = me and look how that turned out
― Bait Kush (Eric H.), Thursday, 21 July 2022 13:45 (one year ago) link
Agreed.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 21 July 2022 13:58 (one year ago) link
https://www.facebook.com/1631212662/posts/pfbid02exzLDGsJPE6poE1yLMmgxwYQX3Bwh8izRiPGwDCUTrKHPRRvEyhds3jLWx6K4Tpjl/?d=nPaul Schrader denied a ballot?!
― Bait Kush (Eric H.), Tuesday, 26 July 2022 17:13 (one year ago) link
they told him they would contact him when they were ready for the directors' poll
Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s 2012 votes (ten ghosts)
A Brighter Summer Day 1991 Edward YangThe Conversation 1974 Francis Ford CoppolaLa Captive 1983 Chantal AkermanEmpire 1964 Andy WarholFull Metal Jacket 1987 Stanley KubrickThe General 1926 Buster KeatonGoodbye, Dragon Inn 2003 Tsai Ming LiangRain 1929 Joris IvensSátántangó 1994 Béla TarrValentin de las Sierras 1967 Bruce Baillie
― Dan S, Friday, 5 August 2022 02:47 (one year ago) link
This site is a treasure trove and, if S&S achieve their goal of better representation among women, LGBT, and international voters, Jeanne Dielman in particular has a shot at the top 10.
http://www.phi-phenomenon.org/essay/S&S2012/
― Bait Kush (Eric H.), Thursday, 1 September 2022 18:42 (one year ago) link
it's just an old kazoo with some sparkles
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 1 September 2022 19:06 (one year ago) link
What a body, what a voice!
― Bait Kush (Eric H.), Thursday, 1 September 2022 19:21 (one year ago) link
Interesting appetizer ... a poll of about 120 critics/scholars (mostly from Spain): https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiODhiOWQwMzUtNTVhYy00ZWYxLTk0MDEtNDRmNTQ1YWJjODk3IiwidCI6ImFmM2E0NDRiLTcwMWItNGVkNi05YzhlLTg0ZGE5MmQ0Zjk2OSIsImMiOjl9
― Bait Kush (Eric H.), Monday, 5 September 2022 18:14 (one year ago) link
When Satyajit Ray died in 1992, I think it was just before the S&S voting took place; Pather Panchali moved into the Top 10 that year. I don't think Godard has ever had a film in the Top 10; much harder, because the votes would be more diffuse, but I could see that happening this year (voting still to take place, I think). (Yes, I realize this is a trivial concern on the day of his death.)
― clemenza, Tuesday, 13 September 2022 14:58 (one year ago) link
The Queen (Frears, 2006) to displace Vertigo at #1.
― Alba, Tuesday, 13 September 2022 15:14 (one year ago) link
Godard could certainly make gains this poll, but fwiw the bulk of ballots were due in August.
― Bait Kush (Eric H.), Tuesday, 13 September 2022 15:33 (one year ago) link
(Tho I understand they're being distributed in waves, likely to achieve the intended gender/geographic/LGBTQ representation.)
― Bait Kush (Eric H.), Tuesday, 13 September 2022 15:34 (one year ago) link
I saw The Bicycle Thief some 30 years ago and thought it was one of the most profound films I'd ever seen. It seems to have largely disappeared from the conversation.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Tuesday, 13 September 2022 15:38 (one year ago) link
I thought something was posted on one of the other threads last week that ballots had just been sent out...If August was the deadline, then no, obviously his death won't figure in. (Alba's joke crossed my mind right after I posted.)
― clemenza, Tuesday, 13 September 2022 15:48 (one year ago) link
Has Kiarostami's reputation been serious damaged by the accusations around Ten?
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 13 September 2022 15:50 (one year ago) link
I don't think so
― Bait Kush (Eric H.), Tuesday, 13 September 2022 16:14 (one year ago) link