Expanded List: The 101 Greatest Movies (June 2005)
Written ca. February 2004, with Oct. '04 and August '05 updates
Let's say, 200 years from now, future earthlings look back on the cinematic achievements of the now-completed 20th century, the way that current generations look back upon the great artistic and cultural achievements of centuries past. In the young history of the cinema, spanning roughly 80 years now from the time it really began to mature into a form resembling what we now know today, there have been tens of thousands of feature films made, out of which maybe 1,000 qualify as noteworthy achievements, and out of which 150 to 200 will be considered "must viewing" for any and all serious film enthusiasts -- those major achievements that in some form or other represent the mastery of film. It means that about 20 directors merit and receive huge acclaim.
Now, think about the way that we, now, look back on the great masters and pieces of classical music, or painting. Hard for us normal folk to think of 30 much less 200 masterworks of classical music or painting, or 20 acclaimed classical composers or painters. Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Chopin -- those are names that stand out today from 200 or more years ago, even though there must have been dozens that were well-known in their time but mostly forgotten today other than by music historians. Some figures, giants in their time, end up as footnotes, relatively speaking. (It's been said that amongst intellectual figures, Herbert Spencer was a giant in his time, but you wouldn't know it glancing at books covering intellectual history.)
And so, with the cinema. Hundreds upon hundreds of films that experienced film buffs know about, and plenty still that are well-known generally. But do we seriously expect that many of these will be standout works centuries from now? Let's say that we had to pick a mere half dozen or director-auteurs that would be known a few centuries from now. They may include figures currently regarded as giants, or perhaps some that aren't currently well-known. If I had to name them, the following made a body of work that was more or less consistently great: Orson Welles; Andrei Tarkovsky; Stanley Kubrick; Carl Theodor Dreyer; Robert Bresson; Ingmar Bergman.
And so, the subject of this sidenote: which films I might place on a top-10 "greatest" film list of the 20th century. Such a list isn't coincident with my list of personal favorites. There are lots of directors and movies out there considered "great" that don't do a whole lot for me. On the other hand, there are lots of great directors and works out that that may or may not do a whole lot for me, but still have qualities about them that are recognizably great, and ones for which I could imagine such films being considered great, standout masterworks many generations hence.
It's my feeling at this point in time that Andrei Tarkovsky's Mirror (Zerkalo) is more likely than any other film to end up being considered the standout masterwork of the 20th century. It is more an advancement in the language of film than any other I've seen to date. The reasons for my saying so may be readily discernable or understandable to experienced veterans of film-watching. Below is a list of the 10 films from the past century that, for one reason or another, I could see being considered by the greatest number of film enthusiasts many years hence to be the most essential expressions of or advancements in the language of film. Some of them even coincide with picks in my own top 10.
Mirror (Tarkovsky, 1975)
Ordet (Dreyer, 1955)
2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968) [Alternate: Barry Lyndon (1975)]
Au hasard, Balthazar (Bresson, 1966)
Persona (Bergman, 1966)
Touch of Evil (Welles, 1958) [Alternate: The Trial (1962)]
Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
8 � (Fellini, 1963)
Don't Look Now (Roeg, 1973)
Aguirre, The Wrath of God (Herzog, 1973)
As it happens, 5 of these show up in my list of 10 personal favorites, and 3 show up in the top 10 at the They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? list of 1000 most acclaimed films. (It really is about as definitive a list of most acclaimed films as currently exists.) I may be mistaken in leaving out a work like Ozu's Tokyo Story, although that is, in part, an expression of my current level of familiarity with this work, which remains inadequate. Perhaps someday I'll be ready to acknowledge Kurosawa and a representative film of his amongst these greatest. Scorsese's Taxi Driver may actually live up to all its hype when all is said and done. The weight of current opinion may consider mistaken my inclusion of Don't Look Now and Aguirre, considering their ranking on the aforementioned website, though how they rank so low on the consensus list is a little mysterious to me, considering the kinds of films that rank ahead of them there; that's why it's a consensus list, and not the best list possible. All the foregoing implies, of course, that in time, my own list of personal favorites will converge with the Objectively Best list.
Others on the current consensus list, I could imagine not being especially prominent or influential after coming generations. Many film enthusiasts have experienced Kane overload, for instance, and often opt for one of Welles' other works, often Touch of Evil or The Trial or Chimes at Midnight. Even a list built based on the preferences of more advanced film enthusiasts can have a "watering down" effect: a film places high on the list in virtue of its broad appeal and influence; a more meritorious film may have idiosyncratic qualities (Mirror being a prime example of such) that limit their appeal to those of more particular tastes. They are more meritorious, nonetheless, and as such, have greater growth potential long-term. Or so some theories would say....
Addendum October 2004:
Would the "Top 10" list be somewhat different today than that listed above? Yes, I'd say so. Without alternates this time, a simple "Top 10" list reflecting some combination of personal preference and widespread acclaim:
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer, 1928)
The Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, 1954)
Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
The Trial (Welles, 1962)
8 � (Fellini, 1963)
Persona (Bergman, 1966)
2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)
Andrei Rublev (Tarkovsky, 1969)
The Godfather I & II (Coppola, 1972-74)
Taxi Driver (Scorsese, 1976)
Just missing the cut: Woman in the Dunes (Teshigahara, 1964); Come and See (Klimov, 1985); Au hasard, Balthazar (Bresson, 1966); Decalogue (Kieslowski, 1987); Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953)
Addendum August 2005:
Alas, things change as time goes on. Having in the past year become less Tarkovsky-obsessed and more Americentric (roughly speaking, the idea that entertainment is just as important to great film as spiritual enlightenment), and less understanding of the idea of "objective" Great Films list that include films I'm not big on, I present a list of those films that represent great directors' best work and vision according to my own standards rather than those of the consensus. Well, at list of eight movies I'm sure would belong on a Top Ten list, anyway:
Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
The Trial (Welles, 1962)
8 � (Fellini, 1963)
Persona (Bergman, 1966)
The Godfather I & II (Coppola, 1972-74)
Barry Lyndon (Kubrick, 1975)
Taxi Driver (Scorsese, 1976)
Nostalghia (Tarkovsky, 1983)
Filling out a Top Ten with two more is a bit tough. Playing personal current favorites, I could just as easily add in two more Kubrick films, most likely Eyes Wide Shut and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Or perhaps very well The Big Lebowski or a recent masterwork of innovation, Team America. That would remove the 1958-1983 time-period "bias" in my list, anyway. Maybe Carl Dreyer merits inclusion in the list as a master visionary director, though I prefer Day of Wrath or Gertrud over Ordet or Passion of Joan of Arc. Such works as Woman in the Dunes and Picnic at Hanging Rock at the very least could be on the list, and if the ambiguities of Mulholland Drive are too much, David Lynch's other, humanistic masterwork The Elephant Man is worthy of consideration. I'd want to see Playtime on DVD before I know if it also belongs in this discussion.
As to what movies have managed to stick around the most so far through each of these lists, they are:
Vertigo
The Trial
8 �
Persona
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Godfather I and II
Barry Lyndon
Taxi Driver
[some film or other by Tarkovsky]
Back to my Top 50 list