TONY RAYNS' FAVOURITE FILMS

By: Kenji

Selections submitted by the distinguished critic (who specialises in East Asian cinema) to Sight and Sound international polls in 2012, 2002, 1992, 1982, a Time Out Film Guide poll in 1995 and also John Kobal’s poll in 1987. The 2012 top 10 are first here- with the exception of Birth of the Nation/ Die Geburt der Nation (Wyborny) and Textism (Hirabayashi), not on Mubi. Also missing from Mubi: The New Morning of Billy the Kid (Yamakawa Naoto), Prachachon Nork (Udomdej)

The film chosen most often by him is Mizoguchi’s hidden treasure Straits of Love and Hate.

Textism

• 01
  The Straits of Love and Hate
  Kenji Mizoguchi
• 02
  Scenes of City Life
  Yuan Muzhi
• 03
  Taipei Story
  Edward Yang
• 04
  Once Upon a Time in the West
  Sergio Leone
• 05
  The Scarlet Empress
  Josef von Sternberg
• 06
  Spring in a Small Town
  Fei Mu
• 07
  Touch of Evil
  Orson Welles
• 08
  Un chien andalou
  Luis Buñuel
• 09
  Arabian Nights
  Pier Paolo Pasolini
• 10
  Blind Chance
  Krzysztof Kieślowski
• 11
  Chimes at Midnight
  Orson Welles
• 12
  Close-Up
  Abbas Kiarostami
• 13
  Black Narcissus
  Michael Powell
• 14
  King of the Children
  Chen Kaige
• 15
  The Color of Pomegranates
  Sergei Parajanov
• 16
  Querelle
  Rainer Werner Fassbinder
• 17
  Heart, Beating in the Dark
  Shunichi Nagasaki
• 18
  Sans soleil
  Chris Marker
• 19
  A Matter of Life and Death
  Michael Powell
• 20
  Zvenigora
  Aleksandr Dovzhenko
• 21
  Performance
  Donald Cammell
• 22
  A Farewell to Arms
  Frank Borzage
• 23
  The House on Trubnaia Square
  Boris Barnet
• 24
  Night and Fog in Japan
  Nagisa Ôshima
• 25
  Pierrot le fou
  Jean-Luc Godard
• 26
  The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum
  Kenji Mizoguchi
• 27
  Dirty Ho
  Liu Chia-Liang
• 28
  Heaven and Earth Magic
  Harry Smith
• 29
  Hard to Handle
  Mervyn LeRoy
• 30
  The Sea Horse
  Jean Painlevé
• 31
  Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome
  Kenneth Anger
• 32
  Postman
  He Jianjun
• 33
  Rock All Night
  Roger Corman