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
What struck me initially upon reading this list is that Asia really dominates it. There are two Jia Zhang-ke films in the top 3, and 3 in total in the 54. There are also 3 Apichatpong Weerasethakul films, 3 Hou Hsiao-hsien films, 2 Tsai Ming-liang, and others from Wong Kar Wai, Lee Chang-Dong, Edward Yang and Hiyao Miyazaki. That is a lot of love, considering Asia if often underrepresented at TIFF compared to the USA or Europe (or even Australia).
Nice to see Gerry, Far From Heaven, Dogville, Royal Tenenbaums, The New World (did this play at TIFF? I don’t think so!), Mulholland Dr. and Cache and the two Guy Maddin’s on there.
Not only have I seen most of the films on this list, I was at TIFF screenings for them.
I’m actually a little bit surprised as to how many I have seen on here. Only seen 3 of the top ten though. And I would say that #9 and #10 are two of the best and most memorable films I’ve seen in the past ten years. Can’t wait to get through the rest of the top ten if they’re anything close to as great as those two – and of course “In the Mood for Love” being in there has me pretty excited for the others as well. Wow.
Yay, another list for me to add to my queue! I love lists, too, unapologetically. I’ve only seen 17 of these – probably because Asian cinema is another of my major blind spots, and as Kurt says, it’s highly represented on this list.
It’s almost like someone managed to make a list of top movies Rusty James keeps saying he’s going to watch but always manages to find an excuse not to (ooh! A repeat of my favorite episode of Million Dollar Listing!)
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.
Yaa for the Guy Maddin Love! Heart of the world is my favortie Maddin film. Wi a run time of less than 10 minutes… whats not to love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4JmeXXRmZg
I found a lot of interest in IN PRAISE OF LOVE. Not going on any top list anytime soon, but there was some great stuff in there.
Two of the dullest films I have ever seen are on this list:
Goodbye Dragon Inn and Colossal Youth.
Otherwise very happy to see Silent Light so high.
I haven’t seen any of JLG’s post-1968 stuff at all – a situation I’m hoping to rectify soon. I kind of want to marathon everything he’s done (that I can actually get my hands on; the Dziga Vertov stuff is hard to find, but I hear it’s pretty boring anyway) in order. Might make an interesting series, and give lots of chances for rot and me to disagree.
@ I haven’t seen any of JLG’s post-1968 stuff at all
spoiler! He degenerates into a joyless pedantic windbag.
Rusty, so I’ve heard. But I still want to see them.
Of course, I don’t think they could really be anywhere near as good as his ’60s stuff, just due to the lack of Anna Karina-ness. Even the earlier ones without her aren’t as good. Except maybe Breathless, and Contempt.
Whats TIFF explanation? Basic story principles.
Really happy to see “Songs From The Second Floor” there…I love his followup “You, The Living” which I caught a couple of years ago (and is coming out on DVD in R1 early next year!). “Werckmeister Harmonies” is gorgeous and has left a few images distinctly stowed away in my brain. A beautiful soundtrack as well. Lots of other great stuff and I’ve managed to see just over half of them.
I don’t get the love for “demonlover” though. Great idea, but poorly executed if my memory serves. My least favourite Assayas.
Don’t listen to rot – he doesn’t know WHAT he’s talking about. The one title on that entire list that impressed me is COLOSSAL YOUTH. It’s about time Costa got some more critical attention. Yay TIFF for that!
Yes Bob. I’d have had Irma Vep or Summer Hours up there myself. But I do have a soft spot for demonLover. I still watch it occasionally.
I found a lot of interest in IN PRAISE OF LOVE. Not going on any top list anytime soon, but there was some great stuff in there.