Why Jonathan Rosenbaum is Invaluable

By: alex peterson

Below is a list divided between US releases that I mainly came to through Rosenbaum’s Alternate 100 Best Americans Moives (that is, alternate to the AFI’s essentially advertising-motivated list of the late ’90’s) and the foreign films which he regularly calls attention to through his travels around world film festivals. His status allows him access to fests on a wider latitude than even most critics get, therefore he has been my primary source for information on the best overlooked film. some of these i’d seen (playtime, the wrong man, the tarnished angels) and was prompted to go back to, you see.

at #14 my list switches.
Rosenbaum’s alt-100 can be found here: http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/list-o-mania/Content?oid=896619

His overpoweringly erudite Top 1000 here: http://mapage.noos.fr/screenville/highlights/rosenbaum1000.htm

01

Broken Blossoms

D.W. Griffith
02

Foolish Wives

Erich von Stroheim
03

Killer of Sheep

Charles Burnett
04

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie

John Cassavetes
05

Mikey and Nicky

Elaine May
06

Monsieur Verdoux

Charlie Chaplin
07

The Naked Spur

Anthony Mann
08

Point Blank

John Boorman
09

The Shooting

Monte Hellman
10

The Tarnished Angels

Douglas Sirk
11

Track of the Cat

William A. Wellman
12

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?

Frank Tashlin
13

The Wrong Man

Alfred Hitchcock
14

Damnation

Béla Tarr
15

Yi yi

Edward Yang
16

Goodbye, South, Goodbye

Hou Hsiao-hsien
17

Marcel Proust's Time Regained

Raúl Ruiz
18

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

Jim Jarmusch
19

Irma Vep

Olivier Assayas
20

La belle noiseuse

Jacques Rivette
21

Les amants du Pont-Neuf

Léos Carax
22

Yeelen

Souleymane Cissé
23

The House is Black

Forugh Farrokhzad
24

Playtime

Jacques Tati

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alex peterson

17Nov09

i came to mizoguchi before i started reading rosenbaum but my favorite thing about him (jr) is his championing of lesser known stuff, which he can do because he spends all his time at world film fests and sees more than probably any other human being. would love to see your rosenbaum list. best critic alive.

scorpiorising

16Nov09

I wish that most film canons looked like Jonathan Rosenbaum's, more personal, more varied and more foreign films. I don't like some of his choices such as Track of the Cat, Mikey and Nicky and Yi Yi. But I highly regard his criticism and opinions more than other well-known critic such as Leonard Maltin (who obviously prefers the American classics over anything else) and Roger Ebert. His list of 1000 films is a great guide, way better than other lists of "best 1000 films ever made" (whose writers have evidently decided for themselves and for us that they are the greatest movies ever, most of them American, mainstream, blockbuster hits, and highly commercialized).

Kenji

16Nov09

I was thinking of putting a Rosenbaum list here, he does a great job promoting hidden treasures. Don't forget to include a Mizoguchi, eg Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (in his top 10 in 02 for Sight and Sound).