The 2022 Sight and Sound Poll Looms (1 Viewer)

[Beckford]

The prestigious Sight and Sound movie poll that emerges once every ten years is due again in a few months. Critics and directors from all over the world submit their choices for ten best films ever made. Results are tabulated to form a comprehensive master list spotlighting the top 100 choices.

The all-round critics’ Top 10 for 2012 were
1. Vertigo
2. Citizen Kane
3. Tokyo Story
4. The Rules of the Game
5. Sunrise
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey
7. The Searchers
8. The Man with the Movie Camera
9. The Passion of Joan of Arc
10. 8 ½

“Citizen Kane” held onto top spot through five consecutive polls, ultimately being dethroned in 2012 by “Vertigo”.
My gut feeling is that “Vertigo” will take a bit of a tumble this time. And that “Citizen Kane” will hold steady at #2. I see “2001: A Space Odyssey” as a strong contender not just to rise from its most recent position (#6) but to sail all the way to the summit of the list.
Inevitably a number of movies made since the last poll will soar into its upper reaches in 2022. I’d expect especially big impacts from “Parasite” (over-rated in my opinion; I much prefer the somewhat similar “Shoplifters” from Japan) and “Mad Max: Fury Road”, George Miller’s instant classic from 2015.
Would also expect “Roma”, “Get Out” and “Moonlight’ to each make its presence felt.

And just to indulge myself, I offer a personal top 40 of what I’d consider the best films ever made. It's chronological

Intolerance(1916-Griffith)
The Passion of Joan of Arc(1928-Dreyer)
Pandora’s Box(1929-Pabst)
Gold-diggers of 1935(1935-Berkeley)
Gone with the Wind(1939-Fleming)
Citizen Kane(1941-Welles)
Sullivan’s Travels(1941-Sturges)
The Magnificent Ambersons(1942-Welles)
Ossessione(1943-Visconti)
Meet Me in St. Louis(1944-Minnelli)
Beauty and the Beast(1946-Cocteau)
Germany Year Zero(1948-Rossellini)
The Red Shoes(1948-Powell & Pressburger)
Bicycle Thieves(1949-De Sica)
The Third Man(1949-Reed)
The Asphalt Jungle(1950-Huston)
Gun Crazy(1950-Lewis)
An American in Paris(1951-Minnelli)
Umberto D(1952-De Sica)
The Band Wagon(1953-Minnelli)
Shane(1953-Stevens)
Ugetsu Monogatari(1953-Mizoguchi)
La Strada(1954-Fellini)
The Night of the Hunter(1955-Laughton)
Pather Panchali(1955-Ray)
The Searchers(1956-Ford)
La Dolce Vita(1960-Fellini)
The Misfits(1961-Huston)
The Miracle Worker(1962-Penn)
2001: A Space Odyssey(1968-Kubrick)
Andrei Rublev(1969-Tarkovsky)
Annie Hall(1977-Allen)
Days of Heaven(1978-Malick)
Apocalypse Now(1979-Coppola)
Raging Bull(1980-Scorsese)
Blade Runner(1982-Scott)
The Thin Red Line(1998-Malick)
The Tree of Life(2011-Malick)
Mad Max: Fury Road(2015-Miller)
The Florida Project(2017-Baker)

 

[cinemiracle]

SIGHT AND SOUND my all time favourite film magazine and the only one that I subscribe to.
My 25 favourite films of all time have been listed elsewhere on HTF so no need to list here again. Only one English speaking film appears on my 10 favourite films seen and that was LAWRENCE OF ARABIA at number 10.

 

[Beckford]

Thought I'd give this thread a bump since the unveiling of the 2022 Sight and Sound Poll is getting much closer now (sometime next month). If I understand correctly, participants can rank their ten films in order of preference should they choose but for tabulation purposes the poll gives each title equal weight.

If the Sight and Sound crew had sent me a ballot here's a chronological list of the ten I'd have picked.

INTOLERANCE(1916-D.W. Griffith)
CITIZEN KANE(1941-Orson Welles)
THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS(1942-Orson Welles)
LA BELLE ET LA BETE(1946-Jean Cocteau)
GUN CRAZY(1950-Joseph H. Lewis)
SHANE(1953-George Stevens)
LA STRADA(1954-Federico Fellini)
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER(1955-Charles Laughton)
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY(1968-Stanley Kubrick)
ANDREI RUBLEV(1969-Andrei Tarkovsky)

Would have loved to include a Vincente Minnelli musical. But that would have meant removing one of the above from the list. And I just couldn't do it.

 

[Brian W.]

It's here! Jeanne Dielman is #1 in the critics poll and 2001 is #1 in the directors poll:

https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...ne-dielman-23-quai-du-commerce-1080-bruxelles

 

[Beckford]

Jeanne Dielman came right out of left field for me. Genuinely expected Kubrick's 2001 to top the critics' poll this time (it was #6).
Surprised by the absence of both The Magnificent Ambersons and Touch of Evil from the top 100. Ambersons was once in the top 10, I think. And I figured Touch of Evil had gained a lot of critical support over the last decade or so. But Kane was the only Welles-directed title on the list.
Happy to see Blade Runner and Apocalypse Now represented. Also Night of the Hunter and The Red Shoes. But Intolerance seems to have vanished, perhaps forever. Too bad - surely one of the most ambitious and influential films ever made.

 

[TonyD]

I never heard of most of those movies.


It’s not like I’m not a knowledgeable movie person.