The All-Time List Discussion Thread (Decade Project Vol. 3)

[bdsweeney]

Keep it a century.

[swo17]

I'll just leave it at 100 but if you really want to know what the top 250 would be, it will be easy to tell.

[Rayon Vert]

I'd vote 150.

[swo17]

Well that's just insane.

[Rayon Vert]

I’ve seen 53% of the master list, and I’ll take that number to represent where I’m at in my cinematic education.

My way of discovering films, for the most part, is to select directors and watch most of what they’ve done, depending on what’s available. That means for a given notable film director, I’ve either seen all/most of their works or zilch. So lots of big gaping holes.

The 53% doesn’t include the films on the list by the following directors - most of which I’ve seen, but that being at least 25 years ago so that I didn’t count them:

Spoiler

Keaton, Kurosawa, Chaplin, Tati, Jarmusch, Wenders, Eisenstein, Leone + Badlands, Manchurian Candidate.

I’ll watch them again when « their turn » comes up.

Here’s the rest of what I’m still missing. Hopefully, at the current rate I’m going anyway, in 8 years or so I’ll have righted most of these wrongs…

Spoiler

Every single Asian film director except Ozu (just started Naruse), Kechiche, Force of Evil (next up on my noir list), Last Year at Marienbad, Modern Romance, They Made Me a Fugitive, Dovzhenko, Sokhurov, Dominik, Egoyan, Tarr, Christensen, Bertolucci, Bird, Dumont, Burnett, Laughton, Marker, Denis, Lanzmann, Porumboiu, Costa-Gavras, Mungiu, Chazelle, Aronofsky, Lynch except Blue Velvet, D. Russell, Villeneuve, D. Bertrand, Kirsanoff, Vertov, Reitz, Klimov, Kazan, Kusturica, Akin, Amarcord (currently doing Fellini, I’m up to Roma), Donnersmarck, Tashlin, Vlacil, Newmayer, Back, Sluizer, Franju, Pastrone, Hartley, Schwarz, Shaw, Kautner, Jennings, Pichel, Dawley, Demy, Algar, Gray, Svankmajer, Jires, Epstein, Eustache, the Dardennes, Livingston, Skolimowski, Trnka, The Man Who Wasn’t There & Inside Llewyn, Brahm, Love Streams (soon to see this one to complete Cassavetes, but I want to thank domino for absolutely destroying my enthusiasm...), Glazer, Mankiewicz, Kachyna, Anger, Lonergan, Muratova, Kieslowski, Von Trier except Dogville, Sagan, Carax, Weber, Feuillade, Malle except Au Revoir, Martel, Berger, Moodysson, Drygas, Oliveira, Achbar, Pialat, M. Tourneur, Liebelei, Deren, Cooper, Heaven’s Gate, Haneke, Kalatozov, Jancso, Veroiu, Slaboshpytskiy, Fischinger, Sembene, Fejos, Schrader, Almodovar, Bogdanovich except The Last Picture Show (I might have seen They All Laughed around the time it came out, but don’t remember it – I’ll get to Bog one day, sooner rather than later), Greenaway, Fassbinder (started him but not gotten to these 3 films yet), Regeneration, Ruiz, Aldrich, McElwee, R. Andersson, Mitchell, Peckinpah, Loznitsa, Parajanov, Carruth, Jonze, Friedrich, Days of Heaven & The Tree of Life, Browning, Ottinger, Sjostrom except The Outlaw and His Wife, Minnelli, Harris, W. Anderson except Rushmore, Forst, Dieterle, Hart, McKay, Starewicz, Bauer.

[Shrew]

I've started to compile the Blind Spot lists made public (there are 9 so far). There are three films shared by 8 out of the 9: Days and Nights of the Forest, Heimat, and Irreversible, which represent the holy trinity of Unavailable, Long, and I Just Don't Want to Do That to Myself.

The following films were Blind Spots for 7 people:

Spoiler

Blind Justice
Inferno of First Love
Taipei Story
The Asthenic Syndrome
Through the Olive Trees
Underground
Drole de drame
The Wonderful Lies of Nina Petrowna

And 6:

Spoiler

Flowers of Shanghai
Head-On
Hear My Cry
Maskerade
My Joy
The Cow
The Human Condition
The Stone Wedding
Unter den Brücken
Finis terræ

The point here is to highlight some of the most overlooked films and maybe guide further discussion. If anyone else wants to contribute to this Blind Spot list, feel free to PM me your list. If possible, please stick to the versions of titles given in Swo's Master List (mostly English, with some mostly French and German exceptions).

[bdsweeney]

Sorry to put your calculations out, Shrew

When glancing at the text list from which I compiled my blind spots, I didn't recognise the German title Gegen die Wand as being Head On (which I have seen).

While I was careful to avoid errors when developing my watch list, no doubt some snuck through with those in the blind spots.

(I didn't use a process to compile the blind spots; I just removed them manually from a text list as I identified them. There are probably a couple more. I can only apologise ... ](*,) )

[Rayon Vert]

I've started to compile the Blind Spot lists made public (there are 9 so far). .

Count me in for all of those blind spots. Except Irréversible. I Have Done That to Myself.

[Rayon Vert]

Not actually suggesting this, but I'm just curious as to what an alternative all-time list would look like that allowed any film but forbade anything from the master list.

[swo17]

An orphanage

[Minkin]

Well, seeing some of your totals - I feel better about the number I've seen (55%). So I'll submit a list tonight. This wasn't made any easier, as I got to have all of the orphans + "no votes" eliminated - thus about 12 or so choices (current orphans that I would have saved & "no votes") + 75 films I'd seen were instantly eliminated. So apologies for whoever voted for these orphans - as they would've made my list:

Ikiru
Safety Last!
Tabu
The Man who Planted Trees
Nibelungen
Ugetsu
Fitzcarraldo
Cranes are Flying

I separated what I hadn't seen by decade, and rather unsurprisingly - my three worst decades were the 1990s, 1980s and 2000s. Best was 1950s, 1920s, and pre-20s (I'd seen far more than I realized).

As for the trend of the five worst films I've seen from the list:

Spoiler

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
Fight Club
It's a Wonderful Life
Russian Ark
Memento

I'm somewhat surprised so few of you have seen The Cow. Despite the high number of Iranian films on the list - you really have to thank The Cow for all Iranian cinema - as the Ayatollah liked the film enough to allow films to continue to be made in the country.

[knives]

It didn't make my list, but I love The Cow and generally consider it one of the major formative films for me.

[TMDaines]

Keep it 100

[swo17]

Now that I see that again it actually looks like he was pushing for 700? There aren't even that many eligible titles domino!

[domino harvey]

As for the trend of the five worst films I've seen from the list:

Spoiler

It's a Wonderful Life

[movielocke]

Not actually suggesting this, but I'm just curious as to what an alternative all-time list would look like that allowed any film but forbade anything from the master list.

im not interested in that but I would be curious at a "all time " project similar to this one that used the criterion collection as the base set.

[A man stayed-put]

Got to 328 (56%) in the end. My list of shame is below but the major gaps for me are a lot of Kurosawa and Ozu, the Mabuse films and, possible most egregiously; La Dolce Vita and Stalker.

I won’t say worst but 6 I’m not fond of from the list-

Spoiler

O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Suspiria
Elephant
Holy Motors
American Hustle
Twentieth Century (I generally like Hawks and everyone in it, but I find it exhausting to the point of annoyance)

Blind spots-

Spoiler

Frankenstein, The Cameraman's Revenge, The Land Beyond the Sunset, Fantômas, Cabiria, After Death, Hypocrites, Regeneration, Les Vampires, Il fuoco, Hell's Hinges, Blind Justice, Intolerance, Easy Street, A Man There Was, The Dying Swan, The Sinking of the Lusitania, The Blue Bird, The Outlaw and His Wife, The Doll, Præsidenten, When the Clouds Roll By, Broken Blossoms, Blind Husbands, Sir Arne's Treasure, J'accuse, Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler, Our Hospitality, La Roue,Sherlock Jr., Greed, Die Nibelungen, The Gold Rush, The General, A Page of Madness, Walking from Munich to Berlin, The Unknown, 7th Heaven, Napoléon, Lonesome. The Docks of New York, The Wind, The Crowd, Maldone, The Wedding March, Finis terræ, A Cottage on Dartmoor, The Wonderful Lies of Nina Petrowna, Days of Youth, The Love Parade, L'Âge d'or, Earth, La petite Lise, Au bonheur des dames, Study No. 7, The Last Flight, City Lights, Mädchen in Uniform, À nous la liberté, The Most Dangerous Game, Ich bei Tag und du bei Nacht, I Was Born, But…, Love Me Tonight, The Bitter Tea of General Yen, Liebelei, Design for Living, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, Rapt, The Goddess, Maskerade, The Good Fairy, Morning's Tree-Lined Street, Le Crime de Monsieur Lange, The Only Son, My Man Godfrey, Gueule d'amour, Drôle de drame, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums, The Shanghai Gesture, The Palm Beach Story, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, Opfergang, Hail the Conquering Hero, Ritual in Transfigured Time, Unter den Brücken, Paisan, Germany, Year Zero, La terra trema, Blood of the Beasts, I Was a Male War Bride, Stray Dog, Diary of a Country Priest, Early Summer, Ikiru, Eaux d'artifice, The Wages of Fear, Night and Fog, All That Heaven Allows, Rebel Without a Cause, Written on the Wind, The Girl Can't Help It, Flowing, The Cranes Are Flying, Throne of Blood, Le notti di Cabiria, A Face in the Crowd, Tokyo Twilight, Some Came Running, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Imitation of Life, Eyes Without a Face, Zazie dans le metro, Le Trou, La dolce vita, Viridiana, The Exterminating Angel, An Autumn Afternoon, L'eclisse, The Fire Within, High and Low, Yearning, Red Desert, Woman in the Dunes, Kwaidan, Red Beard, Daisies, Au hasard Balthazar, The Red and the White, PlayTime, Marketa Lazarová, Inferno of First Love, Death by Hanging, Porcile, The Cow, Medea, Days and Nights in the Forest, Little Big Man, Carnal Knowledge, Walkabout, The Stone Wedding, Du côté d'Orouët, The Mother and the Whore, Phantom of the Paradise, The Phantom of Liberty, A Woman Under the Influence, Celine and Julie Go Boating, At Long Last Love, The Passenger, Fox and His Friends, Nashville, Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, The Man Who Fell to Earth, That Obscure Object of Desire, Stalker, The Elephant Man, The Falls, Berlin Alexanderplatz, Modern Romance, They All Laughed, Possession, Le Pont du Nord, Veronika Voss, Fitzcarraldo, Fanny and Alexander, Sans soleil, City of Pirates, The Right Stuff, Stranger Than Paradise, Yellow Earth, Love Streams, Dorian Gray as Represented in the Popular Press, Manoël on the Island of Marvels, Amadeus, Heimat, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, After Hours, Hail Mary, Taipei Story, Brazil, Come and See, Sherman's March, Ran, Shoah, The Green Ray, Terrorizers, Mauvais sang, The Sacrifice, The Man Who Planted Trees,where is the friends house, Au revoir les enfants, My Neighbour Totoro, Alice, Grave of the Fireflies, Chocolat Dead Ringers, Chameleon Street, Kiki's Delivery Service, The Seventh Continent, Mystery Train, Black Rain, A City of Sadness, Dekalog, Sink or Swim, Paris Is Burning, To Sleep with Anger, The Asthenic Syndrome, Hear My Cry, Manufacturing Consent, Farewell My Concubine, Through the Olive Trees, Exotica, Sátántangó, The Convent, Safe, Underground, A Moment of Innocence, Nénette et Boni, Taste of Cherry, Happy Together, Henry Fool, Fucking Åmål, The Hole, Flowers of Shanghai, Rosetta, The Wind Will Carry Us, L'Humanité, Songs from the Second Floor, Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Dancer in the Dark, Werckmeister Harmonies, La ciénaga, Ten, Russian Ark, Lilja 4-ever, Goodbye, Dragon Inn, Histoire de Marie et Julien, Dogville, Notre musique, Moolaadé, L'Annulaire, Syndromes and a Century, Inland Empire, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, 35 Shots of Rum, Police, adj., About Elly, Black Swan, My Joy, The Turin Horse, We Are the Best!, Blue Is the Warmest Color, Goodbye to Language, The Tribe, Mommy, Ivan the Terrible, The Human Condition.

[Noiradelic]

I'm somewhat surprised so few of you have seen The Cow. Despite the high number of Iranian films on the list - you really have to thank The Cow for all Iranian cinema - as the Ayatollah liked the film enough to allow films to continue to be made in the country.

Think availability is one of the main issues. Also it was on the list of Masterlist films that didn't get enough votes to make it onto their respective Decades lists, and I prioritized those less because I figured if they couldn't make their Decade list, how were they going to make an All-Time list, even a circumscribed one?

[matrixschmatrix]

Damn, I felt too embarrassed by my number of films watched (312) to submit first round, but it sounds like that's actually not too far off the norm- is it too late now?

[domino harvey]

I believe swo will let you submit a list but your titles can only be pulled from the new qualifying list of films that received at least two votes

[matrixschmatrix]

Fair enough- I'll put one together, and if it doesn't count, that's on me.

Regarding the orphans- if it helps whoever submitted The Big Sleep, Kind Hearts and Coronets, A Cottage on Dartmoor, The Man Who Planted Trees, and I Was a Male War Bride feel better, they're all only orphans because I'm so lazy.

[swo17]

Just make it snappy. I was probably going to publish results soon.

[mfunk9786]

01. The Matrix (The Wachowskis, 1999) 211/11(6)/1(x2)/+3

[domino harvey]

Matrix is actually named after his favorite printer

[matrixschmatrix]

Ah, don't worry about it, then- I though the deadline was originally going to be essentially midnight tonight, I'd rather not submit a list than submit a rushed one.

(Also, CLEARLY I'm named after the protagonist of Commando, the exclusion of which invalidates this whole project anyway)