I love lists. Most of the time lists are just a bunch of middle brow stuff voted on by committee which is usually not particularly interesting except for those that put the list together.
But thanks to an email from our own Kurt Halfyard I got to look at a list that I’m reprinting here for three reasons: One, it’s thought provoking and stretches the limits of art and dumps most of the Hollywood garbage that is out there for actually good titles. Two, I haven’t even heard of a lot of these titles and can’t wait to dive into more. And three, the site it was originally posted on doesn’t allow commenting unless you’re a registered member and I wanna discuss!
I couldn’t find the info as to who or how this list was put together other than the original post’s opening paragraph which simply states, “60 film historians, festival programmers and archivists from around the world.” So here is the best 30 films TIFF has offered up in its existence. It’s actually more like 50 with ties but who cares? I think this list is more about discovery than it is about the rankings.
Film titles and countries of origin are followed by the number of votes each film received.
1. Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand) – 53 votes
2. Platform (Jia Zhang-ke, Hong Kong, China/China/Japan/France) – 49 votes
3. Still Life (Jia Zhang-ke, China) – 48 votes
4. Beau travail (Claire Denis, France) – 46 votes
5. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, China) – 43 votes
6. Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, France/Thailand/Germany/Italy) – 38 votes
7. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu, Romania) – 35 votes
Werckmeister Harmonies (Bela Tarr, Hungary) – 35 votes
8. Éloge de l’amour ( In Praise of Love ) (Jean-Luc Godard, Switzerland/ France) – 34 votes
9. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, Romania) – 33 votes
10. Silent Light (Carlos Reygadas, Mexico/France/Netherlands) – 32 votes
11. Russian Ark (Alexander Sokurov, Russia/Germany) – 31 votes
12. The New World (Terrence Malick, USA) – 30 votes
13. Blissfully Yours (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, France/Thailand) – 29 votes
14. Le Fils ( The Son ) (Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, Belgium/France) – 27 votes
15. Colossal Youth (Pedro Costa, Portugal/France/Switzerland) – 25 votes
16. Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse ( The Cleaners and I ) (Agnès Varda, France) – 24 votes
In Vanda’s Room (Pedro Costa, Portugal/Germany/Italy/Switzerland) – 24 votes
Songs from the Second Floor (Roy Andersson, Sweden/Denmark/Norway) – 24 votes
17 . Caché ( Hidden ) (Michael Haneke, France/Austria/Germany/Italy) – 23 votes
A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, USA) – 23 votes
Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, France/USA) – 23 votes
Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan) – 23 votes
18. Rois et reine ( Kings & Queen ) (Arnaud Desplechin, France) – 21 votes
19. Elephant (Gus Van Sant, USA) – 20 votes
20. Talk to Her (Pedro Almodovar, Spain) – 19 votes
21. The Wind Will Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami, Iran/France) 18 votes
YI YI (A One and a Two) (Edward Yang, Taiwan/Japan) – 18 votes
22. Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, Spain) – 17 votes
23. L’Enfant (The Child) (Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, Belgium/France) – 16 votes
The Heart of the World (Guy Maddin, Canada) – 16 votes
I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone (Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan/France/Austria) – 16 votes
Star Spangled to Death (Ken Jacobs, USA) – 16 votes
24. The World (Jia Zhang-ke, China/Japan/France) – 14 votes
25. Café Lumière (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Japan) – 13 votes
The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/Spain/France/Italy) – 13 votes
L’Intrus (The Intruder) (Claire Denis, France) – 13 votes
Millennium Mambo (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan/France) – 13 votes
My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin, Canada) – 13 votes
Saraband (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden) – 13 votes
Spirited Away (Hiyao Miyazaki, Japan) – 13 votes
I’m Not There (Todd Haynes, USA) – 13 votes
26. Gerry (Gus Van Sant, USA) – 12 votes
27. Distant (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey) – 11 votes
Dogville (Lars von Trier, Denmark/Sweden/UK/France/Germany) – 11 votes
The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, USA) – 11 votes
28. Alexandra (Alexander Sokurov, Russia/France) – 9 votes
Demonlover (Olivier Assayas, France) – 9 votes
29. Atanarjuat, The Fast Runner (Zacharias Kunuk, Canada) – 8 votes
Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan) – 8 votes
30. Longing (Valeska Grisebach, Germany) – 7 votes
Secret Sunshine (Lee Chang-dong, South Korea) – 7 votes
Vai e Vem (Come and Go) Joao Cesar Monteiro, Portugal) – 7 votes
Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes, USA/France) – 7 votes
If you want to watch it onl1ne for free,...
Comment by Kurt Halfyard — November 24, 2009
Not only have I seen most of the films on this list, I was at TIFF screenings for them.
Comment by Kurt Halfyard — November 24, 2009
Comment by Andrew James — November 24, 2009
Comment by Jandy Stone — November 24, 2009
Actually, I have seen every HHH movie on the list. I really like Millenium Mambo for it’s strange tone and beautiful imagery but can’t recommend Three Times or Cafe Lumierre. Two films that seem to exist only to try my patience.
Also, I don’t like people who think that JLG (not to be confused with JGL) is a still a relevent film maker. That guy is the definition of over the hill.
Comment by Rusty James — November 24, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4JmeXXRmZg
Comment by leeny — November 24, 2009
Comment by Kurt Halfyard — November 24, 2009
Goodbye Dragon Inn and Colossal Youth.
Otherwise very happy to see Silent Light so high.
Comment by rot — November 24, 2009
Comment by Jandy Stone — November 24, 2009
spoiler! He degenerates into a joyless pedantic windbag.
Comment by Rusty James — November 24, 2009
Comment by Jandy Stone — November 24, 2009
Comment by Me — November 24, 2009
I don’t get the love for “demonlover” though. Great idea, but poorly executed if my memory serves. My least favourite Assayas.
Comment by Bob Turnbull — November 25, 2009
Comment by Marina Antunes — November 25, 2009
Comment by Kurt — November 25, 2009
Comment by CD — November 29, 2009