The Spy in the Sandwich

Sunday, September 23, 2007

12:53 AM | How's Your Film Education? Part Two

Perhaps spurred by the earlier American Film Institute's list of the 100 Best American Films poll, critic Edward Copeland earlier sent out a poll to filmmakers and other critics to compile a list of the 100 best films of all time, and a few days ago, he unveiled the results in his blog.* As with the nature of all "best" lists, this one is bound to provoke heated arguments by cinephiles -- and of course, already I'm savagely thinking: What? No The White Balloon by Jafar Panahi? No The Red Balloon by Albert Lamorisse? No Manila sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag by Lino Brocka? No Himala by Ishmael Bernal? No Kisapmata by Mike de Leon? No The Scent of Green Papaya by Tranh Anh Hung? No Farewell, My Concubine by Chen Kaige? No Grave of the Fireflies by Isao Takahata? No Antonia's Line by Marleen Gorris? No The Killers by John Woo? No The Battleship Potemkin or Strike by Sergei Eisenstein? Not a single Korean film? Satyajit Ray is not even there! Of course, Copeland notes of the arbitrary nature of such endeavor by calling the list The Ray Memorial 100.

So, here's the list (in reverse order), with the 'x' to mark the ones I have seen...

[_] 100. The Cranes are Flying (Mikhail Kalatozov)
[_] 99. Day of Wrath (Carl Theodor Dreyer)
[_] 98. The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Pier Paolo Pasolini)
[_] 97. Satantango (Bela Tarr)
[x] 96. The Exterminating Angel (Luis Bunuel)
[_] 95. Run Lola Run (Tom Tykwer)
[_] 94. Orpheus (Jean Cocteau)
[_] 93. The Blue Angel (Josef Von Sternberg)
[x] 92. Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
[_] 91. Forbidden Games (Rene Clement)
[x] 90. The Double Life of Veronique (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
[_] 89. Cleo From 5 to 7 (Agnes Varda)
[x] 88. Shoot the Piano Player (François Truffaut)
[_] 87. Pierrot le Fou (Jean-Luc Godard)
[x] 86. Amores Perros (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
[_] 85. Viridiana (Luis Bunuel)
[_] 84. Masculin/Feminin (Jean-Luc Godard)
[x] 83. Woman in the Dunes (Hiroshi Teshigahara)
[_] 82. Z (Costa-Gavras)
[_] 81. Come and See (Elem Klimov)
[_] 80. Smiles of a Summer Night (Ingmar Bergman)
[x] 79. Suspiria (Dario Argento)
[_] 78. Open City (Roberto Rossellini)
[_] 77. Scenes From a Marriage (Ingmar Bergman)
[x] 76. All About My Mother (Pedro Almodovar)
[x] 75. My Night at Maud’s (Eric Rohmer)
[_] 74. Eyes Without a Face (Georges Franju)
[x] 73. Day For Night (François Truffaut)
[_] 72. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
[x] 71. Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alain Resnais)
[x] 70. Last Year at Marienbad (Alain Resnais)
[_] 69. Amarcord (Federico Fellini)
[_] 68. Army of Shadows (Jean-Pierre Melville)
[_] 67. Das Boot (Wolfgang Peterson)
[_] 66. Celine and Julie Go Boating (Jacques Rivette)
[x] 65. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy)
[_] 64. Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa)
[x] 63. Chungking Express (Wong Kar-Wai)
[x] 62. Blue (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
[x] 61. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee)
[_] 60. Band of Outsiders (Jean-Luc Godard)
[_] 59. Rififi (Jules Dassin)
[x] 58. Talk To Her (Pedro Almodovar)
[x] 57. L’eclisse (Michelangelo Antonioni)
[x] 56. Yi Yi: A One and a Two... (Edward Yang)
[x] 55. Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore)
[_] 54. Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer)
[x] 53. Y Tu Mama Tambien (Alfonso Cuaron)
[_] 52. Umberto D (Vittorio De Sica)
[_] 51. High and Low (Akira Kurosawa)
[x] 50. Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou)
[x] 49. Madame De... (Max Ophuls)
[x] 48. Late Spring (Yasujiro Ozu)
[_] 47. La Strada (Federico Fellini)
[_] 46. Sansho the Bailiff (Kenji Mizoguchi)
[_] 45. Pickpocket (Robert Bresson)
[x] 44. Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa)
[x] 43. The Decalogue (Krysztof Kieslowski)
[x] 42. Cries and Whispers (Ingmar Bergman)
[x] 41. Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders)
[_] 40. The Wages of Fear (Henri-Georges Clouzot)
[x] 39. Red (Krysztof Kieslowski)
[x] 38. Nights of Cabiria (Federico Fellini)
[_] 37. L’Atalante (Jean Vigo)
[x] 36. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Bunuel)
[_] 35. Beauty and the Beast (Jean Cocteau)
[_] 34. Children of Paradise (Marcel Carne)
[x] 33. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki)
[x] 32. Belle de Jour (Luis Bunuel)
[x] 31. Le Samourai (Jean-Pierre Melville)
[_] 30. Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman)
[x] 29. L’Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni)
[x] 28. The Leopard (Luchino Visconti)
[x] 27. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai)
[x] 26. City of God (Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund)
[x] 25. Andrei Rublev (Andrei Tarkovsky)
[_] 24. Au Hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson)
[_] 23. Playtime (Jacques Tati)
[_] 22. Ugetsu Monogatari (Kenji Mizoguchi)
[x] 21. Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard)
[_] 20. Contempt (Jean-Luc Godard)
[x] 19. La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini)
[_] 18. The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci)
[_] 17. Jules et Jim (François Truffaut)
[x] 16. Ran (Akira Kurosawa)
[_] 15. The Seventh Seal (Bergman)
[_] 14. Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa)
[x] 13. Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa)
[x] 12. Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu)
[x] 11. Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman)
[x] 10. The 400 Blows (Francois Truffaut)
[x] 9. The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo)
[x] 8. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Werner Herzog)
[x] 7. Grand Illusion (Jean Renoir)
[x] 6. Persona (Ingmar Bergman)
[x] 5. Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica)
[x] 4. 8½ (Federico Fellini)
[_] 3. M (Fritz Lang)
[x] 2. The Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa)
[x] 1. The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir)

I scored a terrible score of 54 out of a hundred. I guess it's time to amp up that DVD player (and download more from BitTorrent). How's your film education?

*Curiously, both lists technically erases the existence of British films. The poor Brits.

Labels: film