Sight and Sound (and your) Top Ten Films of All Time - 2022

For those who don't know, every ten years Sight and Sound does an extensive poll of critics around the world to determine the top ten films of all time. Lists come and go but this poll has an air of authority and importance because of how rare the poll is conducted and the range of responses it receives. For reference, this was the 2012 list:

1. Vertigo
2. Citizen Kane
3. Tokyo Story
4. The Rules of the Game
5. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey
7. The Searchers
8. Man With a Movie Camera
9. The Passion of Joan of Arc
10. 8 1/2

The result was a shock since Citizen Kane had held the title since the 1962 poll. 2001 is seen as a dark horse to take it this year; it is the newest film on the list (The Godfather made it in 2002) but as the generational shift of critics continues it has a better chance.

Do you have any predictions? Could something after the Beatles make it? What is your own top ten? It looks like Ian is about to give me a lot of free time so I might do a top ten for the first time in a while.

 

1. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
2. Hot Rod
3. MacGruber
4. They Came Together
5. Toy Story 2
6. Mad Max: Fury Road
7. The Sparks Brothers
8. The Big Sick
9. About Time
10. The Worst Person in the World

 

1. Dazed & Confused (Richard Linklater, 1993)
2. Toy Story 2 (John Lassetter, 1999)
3. Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)
4. The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
5. The Matrix (The Wachowskis, 1999)
6. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)
7. Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1997)
8. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Robert Zemeckis, 1988)
9. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
10. Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)

 

Pretty pumped to see the new list tbh.

The director's list is pretty cool too. Tokyo Story is number 1 on that list

 

Au Hasard Balthazar has been my default number one for so long that I haven't really interrogated it. Godard's recent death makes me think I've taken him for granted.

 

Not sure if I should list my favorites or films that I think are objectively "the best." I think there's a difference.

 

The list is coming in the next month.

 

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2. Braveheart
3. Before Sunset
4. Punch-Drunk Love
5. The Holy Mountain
6. Her
7. Possession
8. A Clockwork Orange
9. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
10. Come and See

 

Excited for the new list. I’ll post my top ten next week

 

My Top Ten, my top 2 are the most recent in my top 10, it is what it is, they’re undeniable.

1. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Sciamma, 2019)
2. The Tree of Life (Malick, 2011)
3. The Shining (Kubrick, 1980)
4. Alien (Scott, 1979)
5. The Thing (Carpenter, 1982)
6. Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick, 1999)
7. The Red Shoes (The Archers, 1948)
8. The Night of the Hunter (Laughton, 1955)
9. Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942)
10. Bicycle Thieves (De Sica, 1948)

 

1. Masculin feminin
2. La Dolce Vita
3. Au Hasard Balthazar
4. The Godfather Part II
5. 2001: A Space Odyssey
6. Late Spring
7. The Tree of Life
8. Citizen Kane
9. Raging Bull
10. The Wild Bunch

 

Is Spring Breakers 11? Gummo 12?

 

I don't like Gummo or most of his earlier stuff. I actually thought that Mister Lonely should have been his breakout.

 

I still need to see that. KIDS cannot be viewed without nostalgia for me (not of the kids, but of the experience of seeing it for the first time), but you should revisit Gummo

 

Gummo is a 10

 

Pretty great list

 

The countdown starts this afternoon. The rumor is that 2001: A Space Odyssey is taking the top spot, and either There Will Be Blood or The Tree of Life cracked the list. They point out that 2012's top ten films were either too old to do even better with a younger slate of critics (The Rules of the Game, Tokyo Story, Man With a Movie Camera, Sunrise, Citizen Kane, The Passion of Joan of Arc), while The Searchers and Vertigo could be hurt by modern feelings about behavior by John Wayne and Alfred Hitchcock. That leaves 2001 and 8/12 as the newest films from last time. Weirdly, The Godfather made it back in 2002, but that was when they combined votes for the first and second films.

2001 is a great pick if it is true. It has obviously stood the test of time yet still feels relatively modern. It is an icon of film and is referenced constantly. One of the things about Vertigo being on top that always bothered me is that it was maybe Hitchock's fifth most famous movie. Vertigo might win the critics' picks, but general audiences would have said Psycho or the Birds or Rear Window or North by Northwest.

 

Yea I saw some other rumored spoilers as well for some more modern films. They seem likely considering the widening of the voting pool. All I know is id like to see Tree of Life in the top 50 and Portrait of a Lady on Fire crack the 250.

 

I gasped at #30. I mean, clearly I believe it deserves that spot (it’s my favorite film), but people are gonna have opinions about it.

and an absolute great pick for #1

 

Hell yeah Beau Travail in the top 10

 

https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-time

Some wild stuff in here. Beau Travail in the top 10 I did not expect

 

I thought people were joking about Jeanne Dielman. An interesting choice. An incredible film, but it is going to be really alienating for people who are just getting into "serious" cinema. I feel that the "best" film should be something easier to digest.

 

I hate number one haha.