The Mubi Forum User's Top 20 Movie List -- 2012 ed.
Thank you Polarisdib for keeping tally and hosting such an interesting thread.
citizen kane approves xD
Yes! Stellar work, Polaris!
I have seen 11 or the 20 selections and like all of them to one degree or another. Additionally, I’m pleased to see three of my favorite directors (Altman, Kobayashi, Ray) represented.
In order of preference
1) Harakiri
2) Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
3) Sansho the Bailiff
4) Three Women
5) Charulata
6) Woman in the Dunes
7) The Cloud Capped Star
8) The Cameraman
9) A Man Escaped
10) A Brighter Summer Day
11) City of Pirates
Oh and by the way, I think this list in combination with the first World Cup and my own personal opinion basically proves that the Japanese are the best creators of cinema on the planet.
(Humor intended.)
—PolarisDiB
Thanks DiB!
great list.
Let’s do another one!!!!
Would this be a good time to inquire when the 2012 Director’s Cup begins? ;p
A lot of my favourites (The Age of the Earth, A Brighter Summer Day, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, A Man Escaped, Once Upon a Time There Was a Singing Blackbird, The Cameraman, The Third Part of the Night, The Cloud-Capped Star, Death in the Land of Encantos, Sansho the Bailiff, and Jeanne Dielman) have made it to the list so I guess you can say I am more than satisfied with the list. And I also liked Harakiri and Charulata. I also may be gloating a bit, perhaps.
I also have yet to see Woman in the Dunes, We Won’t Grow Old Together, Tie Xi Qi, Celine and Julie Go Boating and 3 Women but they all look promising and rewarding.
But I am curious as to what other people have thought about The Age of the Earth since, like films like Jeanne Dielman, it was constantly being voted down by many and was only able to make it to the list because of its several supporters. But unlike Jeanne Dielman and A Man Escaped, The Age of the Earth is not at the top of the TSPDT’s list or any other canonical lists, which I assume was the reason for most, if not all, of the negative votes for Jeanne Dielman, etc. Just curious, that’s all, although I do remember the inclusion of the film (or maybe the films of Glauber Rocha in general) in the final 30 or so garnering some hatred from at least one user.
ahahahaha – one American filmmaker and the top film is a Criterion title!
Good job Mubi! A for effort.
“Is this something you would show off to people and say, “Yeah, this is the stuff we watch at the Mubi forums!”?”
No. I would be more inclined to point to films that get discussed on the forums that these top twenty films. A lot of these films on this list rarely get mentioned on this forum. When I think of “stuff that we watch at Mubi”, movies like Irreversible and Syndromes and a Century come to mind. I don’t know if this list is a “random list of WTF”, but it’s certainly not a definitive list of Mubi taste (I don’t think any list could hold that distinction). In my opinion, this whole exercise was merely that, an exercise. A game. A fun distraction. I think anything more than that is misguided.
Thanks Polaris for all the hard work!
I vote for City Of Pirates.
EDIT: pardon me, two Americans. lol
YES!
I’m so pleased with the final list, though I don’t look at it so much as a ranked list but as a grouping of 20 excellent films that we’ve chosen to represent ourselves with. I have always looked at this list in this way, which is why I took it so seriously.
Films I championed early on—Panahi’s The Mirror, for example—fell without much fanfare but I am very pleased to see Tie Xi Qu make the Top 20, which was always my goal. I thought it important to have a documentary on the list, and this is the best, most relevant, and impactful documentary I’ve yet seen. I didn’t really expect it to make it, given that it’s a somewhat obscure nine-hour documentary about a dying industrial town in China—I didn’t expect many to have seen it. I just quietly voted for it every day, and when it needed extra support, others (Gondo, et al) stepped up. Thanks to all of you—I’m sure you’re as pleased as I am to see it here.
Others I’m especially glad to see here (note I’ve only seen nine of the final list):
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
The Age of the Earth
City of Pirates
Jeanne Dielman
The Cloud Capped Star
I’m also pleased that a film like Sansho is at the top—the fact that it’s a Criterion is irrelevant. It’s an amazing display of humanity and deserves a spot in this list among the others. Kudos to Kenji for summoning the support it needed to catapult to the top.
Kudos to all of you who kept an honestly open mind and refused to vote down films you hadn’t seen.
Out of the many films I have not yet seen on this list, Death in the Land of Encantos has to be at the top. Yay! Another nine-hour film!
This was a blast and I hope we can do similar (though perhaps smaller) projects in the future.
I’ve seen only six of the final twenty
1. A Man Escaped (in my top ten all time)
2. The Cloud Capped Star (also in my top ten all time)
3. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (in my top 100)
4. The Cameraman
5. Harakiri
6. Woman in the Dunes
Great work Polaris, thank you for taking the time to do this.
“Is this something you would show off to people and say, “Yeah, this is the stuff we watch at the Mubi forums!”?”
My response is very similar to Santino’s.
HoL said, I’m so pleased with the final list, though I don’t look at it so much as a ranked list but as a grouping of 20 excellent films that we’ve chosen to represent ourselves with.
“Films that represent us” is an interesting concept. What does that mean for you? Does this mean films that represent what people like and value in films? Does this also include how diverse our tastes are? How does the overall quality of the film factor in? For example, if the best films didn’t contain much diversity in terms of style or country of origin would some of those films get knocked off to allow for more diversity or other qualities?
i’m glad we managed a female director and i promise to watch jeanne dielman soon. have seen 10 of these and 3 are in my favorites. so proud of buster!
Also, conspiracy theorists might opine that The Cameraman’s high ranking on this list coincidentally coincides with the American Cinematheque’s screening of the film at the Egyptian later this month. But I still think Oswald was alone.
Btw, fwiw, the one thing I really liked about the game was the way it got a lot of participation. In terms of getting people engaged and involved, I think the game was a huge success, and it points to the kind of thing we need to do if we want more participation. Kudos to DiB!
“Films that represent us” is an interesting concept… Does this mean films that represent what people like and value in films? Does this also include how diverse our tastes are? …If the best films didn’t contain much diversity in terms of style or country of origin would some of those films get knocked off to allow for more diversity or other qualities?
Yes, yes, and yes! :)
I’ll say congratulations to you DiB for an ambitious undertaking and steering it through to the end despite all the insanity.
I’ve seen less than a handful of films on the list (but am glad to say I’ve even seen that many! :) ) and therefore am not sure what to think of it as a whole nor as Santino said, whether it IS possible to pinpoint “Mubi” taste since not everyone with an account on the site participated in this game… so, I’d say it’s more of a reflection of the people who were determined to participate in terms of both what films were ultimately chosen, and what films were submitted to the game in the first place.
Still, an interesting and different list and that is cool and what I like about Mubi.
Now let’s see everyone write an amazing critical analysis of the top 20. Get on it, cinephiles!
^yes!
This was the achievement of the game, more than anything. The titles themselves are sort of irrelevant.
This was a fun game, but like Santino and Jazz, I wouldn’t overstate its significance. Lets not pretend we’ve reached consensus. These 20 films are the survivors of a no-holds-barred battle involving many factors having nothing to do with the quality of the films (as well as the quality of the films.) It’s a fine recommendations list, but many completely different results would have led to other fine recommendations list.
I think that DiB should do a no-holds barred favorite film competition called “The Mother Of All Films.”
People can add videos of themselves screaming at the computer for added animosity and passion.
10 European Films
8 Criterion Releases
3 Films from the Western Hemisphere
1 Film from the first half of cinema history
1 Genre Film
Average Film Length: 170 min
Mubi likes ’em long, deep, exotic and recent (just how I like my sex). My advice to Mubiites: have better sex.
^hahahahaha
Fantastic event! Kudos PolarisDiB for all your hard work. After all the dust has settled I think we have a pretty respectable and eclectic final 20. I’ve seen 14 of the 20 and was rooting for Sansho The Bailiff which was one of my original 20, Charulata, and A Man Escaped among a few others like Tie Xi Qu, Woman In The Dunes, Harakiri, and Jeanne Dielman, and have a few lined up to watch, like The Executioner, and We Won’t Grow Old Together.
Brilliant.
Very happy
:)
No Jerry, that should be “Mubi likes ’em long, deep, and erotic…”
…now what am i supposed to do every day :(
Make films, man. :D
Guess I better watch these, seeing as how I haven’t seen any as of now.
PolarisDiB
As I said, I would publish this list as an actual Mubi list. So here it is!
This is the thread dedicated to your thoughts and opinions and continued rumblings, grumblings, and controversies on the matter.
What I want to know is, the previous times I’ve done this has been quite stressful for the people involved as well, but they’ve always ended up feeling proud and attached to the final list when it’s done. This game, however, was the biggest I ever ran and was a LOT more dramatic and vitriol-laced. So, worth it? Do you connect in any way to the result? Is this something you would show off to people and say, “Yeah, this is the stuff we watch at the Mubi forums!”?
Or is it pretty much a random collection of WTF?
I like it, myself, but I’ve only seen six movies on it, so we’ll see how I feel about the other fourteen.
Anyway thanks guys, you’ve all been champs.
—PolarisDiB