Loose Canon: The Sight & Sound Poll

Since the dawn of the Stone Age, magazine editors have asked themselves: how do you make a series of lists interesting? Clearly, there are several ways of approaching the Sight & Sound poll results—as a way to discover new films, organizing an ever-growing sea of media, getting insight into how your favorite critics think, or just a pissing contest to assure you have better taste than “the professionals.” For better and worse, lists are ultimately distilled, undefended opinions. But lists do say something about the people who made them, especially when the instructions given by Nick James were so flexible:

“As for what we mean by ‘Greatest’, we leave that open to your interpretation. You might choose the ten films you feel are most important to film history, or the ten that represent the aesthetic pinnacles of achievement, or indeed the ten films that have had the biggest impact on your own view of cinema.”

So what do the responses of Film Comment’s editors and contributing editors say about our magazine? Not surprisingly, there doesn’t seem to be a clear consensus. We have no “Top Ten of the Sight & Sound Top Ten” to offer you. While Vertigo appeared on six lists out of 15, other films that topped the Sight & Sound’s top ten (Sunrise, The Searchers, Man with a Movie Camera) only garnered one or two votes apiece. Shoah, the second-most frequently voted for film by our editors, ranked 29th in the critics’ poll; other popular outliers Afrique 50 ranked 588th, Fear Eats the Soul ranked 93rd, and Crash (which only Nathan Lee voted for) ranked 849th. When looking at responses in terms of directors, the picture becomes a little clearer: 11 listed films by Alfred Hitchcock, eight listed films by Jean-Luc Godard, and seven listed films by Robert Bresson. Everything beyond that is the muddle and diversity of our opinions.

Based on the point values our editors assigned, here’s Film Comment’s SUPERBALLOT:

1.     Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)

2.     The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939)

3.     Shoah (Claude Lanzmann, 1985)

4.     In a Lonely Place  (Nicholas Ray, 1950)

5.     Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)

6.     Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967)

7.     Diary of a Country Priest (Robert Bresson, 1951)

8.     (Tie) Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)

9.     (Tie) 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968) Au Hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson, 1966) L’Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960) 10. 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967)

The complete ballots of our editors and contributing editors:

Sherlock Jr. (Buster Keaton)

Nico Baumbach

(chronological)

Sherlock Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1924)

Man With a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929)

I Was Born, But… (Yasujiro Ozu, 1932)

Land Without Bread (Luis Buñuel, 1933)

In a Lonely Place (Nicolas Ray, 1950)

A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson, 1956)

Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)

Black Girl (Ousmane Sembene, 1966)

Grin Without a Cat (Chris Marker, 1977)

Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami, 1989)

Birth (Jonathan Glazer)

Chris Chang

(alphabetical)

Birth (Jonathan Glazer, 2004)

Cold Water (Olivier Assayas, 1994)

Deliverance (John Boorman, 1972)

Enter the Dragon (Robert Clouse, 1973)

The Lovers on the Bridge (Leos Carax, 1991)

Minority Report (Steven Spielberg, 2002)

Now, Voyager (Irving Rapper, 1942)

Performance (Donald Cammell/Nicolas Roeg, 1970)

The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille, 1923)

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)

The Wind Will Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami)

Scott Foundas

1.     Diary of a Country Priest (Robert Bresson, 1951)

2.     The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch, 1940)

3.     Pierrot le fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965)

4.     Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)

5.     The Godfather Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)

6.     Celine and Julie Go Boating (Jacques Rivette, 1974)

7.     The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928)

8.     Night of the Living Dead (George Romero, 1968)

9.     In a Lonely Place (Nicolas Ray, 1950)

10. The Wind Will Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami, 1999)

The Girl from Chicago (Oscar Micheaux)

Jim Hoberman

(alphabetical)

Au Hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson, 1966)

Flaming Creatures (Jack Smith, 1963)

The Girl from Chicago (Oscar Micheaux, 1932)

Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929)

Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955)

Rose Hobart (Joseph Cornell, 1936)

The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939)

Shoah (Claude Lanzmann, 1985)

2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967)

Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)

The Musketeers of Pig Alley (D.W. Griffith)

Kent Jones

1.     The Musketeers of Pig Alley (D.W. Griffith, 1912)

2.     The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles, 1942)

3.     Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946)

4.     Pickpocket (Robert Bresson, 1959)

5.     Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959)

6.     Wavelength (Michael Snow, 1967)

7.     Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)

8.     Fanny and Alexander – complete version (Ingmar Bergman, 1983)

9.     Shoah (Claude Lanzmann, 1985)

10. The Puppetmaster (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1993)

The Docks of New York (Josef von Sternberg)

Dave Kehr

1.     Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)

2.     The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)

3.     Contempt (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963)

4.     Voyage to Italy (Roberto Rossellini, 1954)

5.     The Big Trail (Raoul Walsh, 1930)

6.     Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967)

7.     Make Way for Tomorrow (Leo McCarey, 1937)

8.     Sansho the Bailiff (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954)

9.     Intolerance (D.W. Griffith, 1916)

10. The Docks of New York (Josef von Sternberg, 1928)

Splendor in the Grass (Elia Kazan)

Laura Kern

1.     Splendor in the Grass (Elia Kazan, 1961)

2.     Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

3.     The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940)

4.     Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly, 1952)

5.     Sullivan’s Travels (Preston Sturges, 1941)

6.     Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)

7.     The 400 Blows (Francois Truffaut, 1959)

8.     Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick, 1957)

9.     Witness (Peter Weir, 1985)

10. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Stephen Spielberg, 1977)

Crash (David Cronenberg)

Nathan Lee

(alphabetical)

Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

Dawn of the Dead (George Romero, 1978)

The Docks of New York (Josef von Sternberg, 1928)

Flowers of Shanghai (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1998)

Four Nights of a Dreamer (Robert Bresson, 1971)

From the Notebook of… (Robert Beavers, 1971/1998)

Histoire(s) du Cinema (Jean-Luc Godard, 1988-1998)

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles (Chantal Akerman, 1975)

North By Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)

Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1958)

Touki Bouki (Djibril Diop Mambéty)

Violet Lucca

(alphabetical)

L’Avventura   (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960)

The Dupes (Tawfik Saleh, 1972)

Entranced Earth (Glauber Rocha, 1967)

The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel, 2008)

I Only Want You To Love Me (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1976)

Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962)

Memories of Underdevelopment (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, 1968)

Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967)

Touki Bouki (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1973)

Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1983)

Afrique 50 (René Vautier)

Olaf Möller

1.     Afrique 50 (René Vautier, 1949)

2.     Outrage (Ida Lupino, 1950)

3.     The Year Long Road (Giuseppe De Santis, 1957)

4.     Sentries Under Neon Lights (Wáng Píng & Xe Gin, 1964)

5.     Workers’ Quarters (Vladimir Vengerov, 1965)

6.     Introduction to Arnold Schönberg’s Accompaniment to a Cinematrographic Scene (Danièle Huillet & Jean-Marie Straub, 1972)

7.     Gebet für die Linke (Reni Mertens & Walter Marti, 1974)

8.     Dialogue with a Woman Departed (Leo Hurwitz, 1980)

9.     Jom ou L’Histoire d’un peuple (Ababacar Samb-Makharam, 1981)

10.  The Ditch (Wáng Bìng, 2010)

In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar Wai)

Mark Olsen

1.     Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)

2.     The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939)

3.     2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

4.     Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)

5.     L’Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960)

6.     Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)

7.     Sunrise (F.W. Murnau, 1927)

8.     Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)

9.     Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)

10.   In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar Wai, 2000)

Duck Soup (Leo McCarey)

Nicolas Rapold

1.     In a Lonely Place
 (Nicholas Ray, 1950)

2.     Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)

3.     Pickpocket (Jean Renoir, 1959)

4.     The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (Preston Sturges, 1944)

5.     Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967)

6.     The 400 Blows (François Truffaut, 1959)

7.     Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)

8.     Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1976)

9.     Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1983)

10. Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933)

Platform (Jia Zhang-ke)

Gavin Smith

(alphabetical)

Diary of a Country Priest (Robert Bresson, 1951)

The films of Nathaniel Dorsky (Nathaniel Dorsky)

Nouvelle Vague (Jean-Luc Godard, 1990)

Platform (Jia Zhang-ke, 2000)

Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (John Ford, 1949)

Shoah (Claude Lanzmann, 1985)

Sunrise (F.W. Murnau, 1927)

2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

Performance (Donald Cammell & Nicolas Roeg)

Chuck Stephens

1.     Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1974)

2.     Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)

3.     Quixote (Bruce Baillie, 1965)

4.     The Insect Woman (Shohei Imamura, 1963)

5.     Un Chien Andalou (Luis Bunuel & Salvador Dali, 1929)

6.     Shanghai Express (Josef von Sternberg, 1932)

7.     Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958)

8.     Performance (Donald Cammell & Nicolas Roeg, 1970)

9.     L’Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960)

10. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (Russ Meyer, 1970)

Cosmopolis (David Cronenberg)

Amy Taubin

1.     The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939)

2.     Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)

3.     Au Hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson, 1966)

4.     Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov)

5.     2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967)

6.     Shoah (Claude Lanzmann, 1985)

7.     Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles (Chantal Akerman, 1975)

8.     ScreenTests (Andy Warhol, 1965)

9.     Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa, 1952)

10.  Cosmopolis (David Cronenberg, 2012)