The MUBI Sight & Sound Poll 2011 Results

The votes have been counted.

The Top 50 can be seen here

The list of all films voted for can be seen here

The complete lists can be seen here

One of my picks had two other votes, three of my picks had one other vote and the rest had no other votes. Not bad.

Well, four of my top ten were in the top 50 and four, I was the only person to select them.

RUS, I hate to say it, but good job.

I am disappointed to see 2001 with the top amount of selections, but… And Pulp Fiction, oy…

Who were the most represented filmmakers?

Good work !
btw, do you have the total number of voters?

Thanks a lot for your hard work. Not many surprises in the top 50- Liberty Valance. high placings of Malick, no Bresson. Satyajit Ray should surely have made the 50. It was his poor showing in the last poll when i joined auteursmubi that prompted the thread about his relative neglect. Good to see Sansho made the top 20 and Spirit of the Beehive the 50. In the Mood for Love, Mulholland Dr often seem to be top films since 2000 and Bela Tarr’s following is only to be expected.

Singin in the Rain and Eisenstein used to ride high in the S&S polls but missed the 50. A pity there weren’’t more silent films included..

No Singin’ in the Rain?

Kind of surprising. I thought there was some kind of rule, like with Casablanca.

It looks like musicals are out of fashion. As an Astaire fan, I regret not picking The Band Wagon. Damn 10, should be 20 or 25. I can’t complain about the lack of Latin American, Indian and African films in the 50, as i didn’t vote for any myself, but it is still a great pity; a lot of work is needed still to raise the profile of films from neglected areas. And the Balkans is another region deserving more love, as Dimitris would agree! Is Angelopoulos a lesser director than Tarr? I think not. Usual suspects like Kubrick, Hitchcock, Welles, Fellini, Bergman and Kurosawa riding high as ever. Again, no female directors in the 50.

No Antonioni in the 50! But Tarkovsky has 3 in the top 20, out of only 7 features- he’s a big Mubi favourite. Chaplin, who used to battle it out with Potemkin and Bicycle Thieves for top spot in polls in the 50s, makes the 50, but sadly not Buster Keaton.

Kenji, if I’m correct, I’m pretty certain the only Balkan film voted in the entirety of the poll weeks was an Angelopoulos film….I may be wrong but I didn’t notice any other film from that region whatsoever, including Turkey (but probably Ceylan snatched a vote or 2…)

And the Balkans is another region deserving more love, as Dimitris would agree!

Not even after a century, Balkans, Latin America, African countries and India (I could count more regions, what’s up with U.S.A. love anyway?) will get the love they deserve for their dozens of masterpieces. Kind of predictable even amongst the big ones: Liberty Valance is NOT Ford’s top, same goes for Vertigo, In the Mood for Love and particularly Kieslowski!!!! (don’t people watch Decalogue and / or his Polish works of art?)

How the hell did Pulp Fiction get so many votes??? It’s good, silly entertainment but for fuck’s sake, Predator PAWNS Pulp Fiction!!! Are Travolta and Jackson still “cool”?

I think this poll pretty much summarizes a huge majority’s favourites from the newest crop of users, preferably.

P.S.: Kenji, in a top 500, there might have been a possibility for female directors, it would have been a miracle to see the most beloved “female” films like Jeanne Dielman and / or Cleo in a top 100!!! It’s worse in literature but….

For what it’s worth, one good thing came out of this list: I’ll finally get to watch Sans Soleil!!!! Thanks voters, muahahahaha.

Thanks for that, I knew none of mine would figure, going for sentimentality over the “posh” stuff as I did:):)

As ever the interesting thing is studying the individual lists, which often turn up hidden treasures. But in Sight & Sound recently talk was more on whether Kane would or should top the poll next year; always eyes on the top but neglecting lesser gems. But that’s how society works. I’ve kept all the Sight and Sound top 10 lists over the years, through thick and thin. Always films i’d not even heard of crop up. Fingers crossed they have a better geographical spread of voters next time. Had it been 20 i would have included Angelopoulos, albeit with one you’re not so keen on. But so much still to discover in the Balkans

Dim, Decalogue was included in the top 50.

I’m alway surprised how well Persona does in these polls. it is not an easy film to watch by any stretch.

^ Really? Then I guess the only one that’s left to watch from the top 50 is Sans Soleil indeed.

(and I doubt most know who Chris Marker is other than this film and the “pre-12 Monkeys short film”)

Go Criterion!!!

EDIT: About Persona….lesbians (just joking)

Great Bergman film but again, not his top as with Fanny and Alexander mania.

Persona is just out of my top ten, so I certainly understand.

All mine were mine alone except Gummo (4 votes) and Virgin Spring (2 votes)

Part of the problem with getting any African or Balkan or wherever films on the list is that one would have to make a push for a few specific films rather than call for any from those regions to make the list. Even if 50 voters each included films from hitherto unrecognized regions, none would make the list unless there was some agreement on a couple of films in specific that the voters coalesced around. One of the things that will keep this from happening is the very thing that is expanding the horizons of film viewers. The enormous variety of films now available to people will make it increasingly difficult for a few films to be singled out as being worthy of inclusion on a list like this unless film criticism changes dramatically and a new sifting process takes place pushing certain films to the top of the praise pile at the expense of others. other than that, the only thing one could hope for, and perhaps this is the ideal of Dimitris and those who agree with him, is for each voter to turn in a wholly individual list which would make the accumulated total nothing more than a repitition of all the lists turned in as none gather more than a single vote or two.

The enormous variety of films now available to people will make it increasingly difficult for a few films to be singled out as being worthy of inclusion on a list like this unless film criticism changes dramatically and a new sifting process takes place pushing certain films to the top of the praise pile at the expense of others.

Wasn’t that always the case? I doubt it will change anytime soon….

Examples like these occur in music and theatre and literature too and it’s always from the same old countries and usual suspects.

My Top 10 (no. of users who selected the film)

1. American Graffiti (1)
2. Once Upon a Time in America (4)
3. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (7)
4. Pulp Fiction (9)
5. Citizen Kane (15)
6. Reservoir Dogs (2)
7. Apocalypse Now (15)
8. Manhattan (4)
9. National Lampoon’s Animal House (1)
10. Brazil (4)

What also baffles me is how a film like Satantango, a 7-hour film that succeeds even less in preference Bela Tarr lists compared to Werckmeister managed to creep into the top 50 and not only that but surpass (!) Werckmeister Harmonies, a strong MUBI favourite!!!! I mean….don’t people watch Jeanne Dielman or The Travelling Players or at least the Apu trilogy as a whole (!!!!) where each one of them is half the time of Satantango?

Sure Tarr has loads of supporters for specific films but where were all those supporters whenever Satantango came up in discussion in scarce forums? Don’t get me wrong, I love Satantango more than a lot of films in this final list but it’s one of the few “obscurities” and it’s unbelievably surprising that more and more have seen it so….where were they all this time?

Thanks for everything RUS, appreciated :)

No, it wasn’t always the case. There have always been limits on what is viewable as well as limits as to what is considered “significant” which has some control over what people will believe is important to view. The latter issue is what we are concerned with here, and hasn’t changed too much, but the former issue and new people being brought in to the discussion of what is significant will presumably change that over time, particularly as the west starts losing its place of dominance in the world. This sort of change has been happening slowly in literature and the other arts where different voices make their way onto reading lists and university classes, but there is understandbly some that fight against going that way too quickly worried both about what may be lost and their own more constrained points of view being marginalized. Nonetheless, this sort of shift will continue and more and more voices will be heard even as the old ones aren’t thrown out completely due to the greater history of thinking and writing about them. Increasing global communication will inevitably have its way in the longer run barring catastrophe.

This sort of change has been happening slowly in literature and the other arts where different voices make their way onto reading lists and university classes, but there is understandably some that fight against going that way too quickly worried both about what may be lost and their own more constrained points of view being marginalized.

Take a look at the bigger picture here though Greg: what I originally wanted to enlighten was the marginalization of countries, not the expansion of this global communication you’re saying. Can you really oppose to the simple fact that these changes in literature, film, theatre mainly come from the usual suspects once again? When was the last time a Greek or a Yugoslav writer made any top 100 in the last 100 years or so? This will NEVER change, so we’re talking about a bigger threat here: that of segregated choices. Forget about the styles and techniques, it’s countries we should be worrying about….this also reflects your introduction on your quote above:

There have always been limits on what is viewable as well as limits as to what is considered “significant” which has some control over what people will believe is important to view.

AKA academics want France, Germany, China and U.S.A. to go well in Arts and shit Portugal, Egypt, Brazil and Turkey in the face. That’s the bittersweet truth…

Where are short films, animations and documentaries? There’s Sans Soleil. I wish Tale of Tales had made the top 50. It seems size is important; the type of film performing well here is quite limited in range, by genre and geography. And time; only 3 films from the first 44 years since 1895 (or 51 since 1888 if you prefer)

Thanks, RUS.

I would like to see the ranking of filmmakers, although I know that is a hard work…

There is no way a compilation of top tens could show better results because there is no way to reduce your cinematic tastes to 10 titles. Still a lot of fun.

Glad to see the classic cinema, even silent, has not been forgotten in a young forum like this.

Thanks for doing this, RUS.
I’m saddened to see no more votes for Mouchette other than my own. :(

I think the individual lists will be much more interesting than the top 50!

Kenji: As ever the interesting thing is studying the individual lists, which often turn up hidden treasures. But in Sight & Sound recently talk was more on whether Kane would or should top the poll next year; always eyes on the top but neglecting lesser gems.

Yup, I like looking at individual lists from people. Especially if we share similar less common favorites, then I have a chance at finding something under the radar that can blow me away.

Thanks again, RUS!

Well, I certainly prefer it to TSPDT’s top 50 even if it is far from perfect (not enough older films by any stretch of the imagination).

My ten with the vote total next to their names:

1. Chungking Express (8)
2. The Red Shoes (7)
3. Last Year at Marienbad (7)
4. Scenes from a Marriage (5)
5. The Green Ray (2)
6. L’Atalante (2)
7. The Mirror (16)
8. Paris, Texas (8)
9. Eureka (Shinji Aoyama) (1)
10. Pather Panchali (2)

Kenji, how many short films did you include in your ten? How many from 1939 down?

As for my ten and how many selected the same:
1- Apocalypse Now- Francis Ford Coppola-1979 (15)
2- The Ice Storm- Ang Lee-1997 (1)
3- Miller’s Crossing- The Coen Bros.- 1990 (2)
4- The Godfather (All Parts)- Francis Ford Coppola- 1972/74/90 (7, kinda)
5- Mean Streets- Martin Scorsese-1973 (1)
6- Se7en- David Fincher- 1995 (1)
7- Trois Couleurs: Bleu- Krzysztof Kieślowski- 1993 (7, kinda)
8- Raging Bull- Martin Scorsese- 1980 (7)
9- Medium Cool- Haskell Wexler- 1969 (3)
10- Europa Europa- Agnieszka Holland- 1990 (1)

Dimitris, was has been true and what will be so aren’t the same. Just ten years ago when I was something of a regular on the boards at IMDb the idea of talking to someone like you was unlikely at best. It isn’t just that more films are available to be seen, but the fact that more voices talking about those films and why they are important are out there. Fifteen years ago I could read about some film from Africa in Film Comment or Cineaste, and possibly, if I was really lucky, find a way to rent it eventually if New Yorker films picked up its rights on VHS, but my watching it was a solo activity, I didn’t have access to a forum to talk about the film or write about it and so the experience was an isolated one unable to gain any force or form through further discussion outside, perhaps, a few close friends. Now, you and I can talk about films, you can convince people that Ruiz’s filmography is worth examination and we can all share in the watching and discussion of a Nikolaidis movie. This is entirely new and will shift the ways we think about movies and talk about them, even if that change isn’t as fast as you might want. In addition to that, India and China taking a greater place on the world’s stage and places like Nigeria being able to make so many films will also cause a shift in how we think about film history. It won’t strictly be the domain of the west, Japan, and a few isloated individuals but a much broader sphere of possibilities. Again, just ten years ago it was virtually impossible for me to see a film by Ghatak, now I, and many, many others can view one without much problem at all. That’s an enormous shift that can only lead to an expanded view of the art world going forward as the older crowd who had a more limited perspective either catches up or falls away to irrelevance.

None of that is to say you should stop pushing for more films from more places in the world to be looked at or included in lists like this since that sort of promotion will be necessary from people to make this happen.

I include myself in the stats of course as i did over geography. Pre 39, just Sunrise, then 1 from 39. I would have liked 20-25 films, and i expect others felt likewise. I did want to change Pather Panchali for Rublev, for a touch extra diversity, but i could do with thinking on my own range and whether to adapt selections in future.