Thursday, September 24, 2009

Our Emmy Choices for 2009

My Emmy Choices for this year's awards, for 2009
Telecast live, Sunday, Sept. 20th Most Nominations: 30 Rock (22), Grey Gardens (17), Mad Men (16) Updated with winners after the awards..
[looks like 5 of my 11 prime time choices won, and I'm happy for Chenoweth and Gleeson, both overdue]

Here's the official Emmy winners at their site

Comedy Series: **WINNER: 30 Rock**
(1) 30 Rock
(2) Entourage
[Flight of the Conchords wasn’t as good as year one. Same with Entourage, new chapters, same story.
30 Rock has maintained its sharpness and creativity each year. Witness this Baldwin quote, "The postmaster general and I had a falling out over the Jerry Garcia stamp.. I mean, if I want to lick a hippie I'll return Joan Baez' phone calls". rock, sex, and right wing humor all in one line.. now THAT is comedy!]

Drama Series: **WINNER: Mad Men**
(1) Mad Men (2) Big Love (3) Dexter
[Damages, likewise, a better year one but still engrossing and worthy; for some reason, I find Mad Men maddingly addictive, but all three of these are worthy candidates.
You have to love Big Love, produced by Tom Hanks - you get all the viewpoints on polygamy and Mormans, who have always been 'under attack' from the repressive U.S. government. In fact, the first woman in the U.S. arrested for 'terrorism' was a Morman woman who bombed the feds, circa 1910?]

Lead Actor/Comedy: **WINNER: Alec Baldwin**
(1) Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (2) Jemaine Clement, Flight of the Conchords
[This should be a Baldwin runaway, he’s brilliant in this, absolutely perfect timing for comedy. Jemaine doesn't act, but is kinda funny in a nerdy, perverted way]

Lead Actor/Drama: **WINNER: Bryan Cranston** - back to back
(1) Michael C. Hall, Dexter (2) Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad (3) Jon Hamm, Mad Men
[Cranston is brilliant, a former Broadway musical star - deserved Emmys for Malcolm in the Middle, but he got his last year for this role. Hall deserves at least one for Dexter, he’s better in this than in Six Feet Under, and makes homicide enjoyable. Hamm is an Arrow shirt ad, circa 1955, but I think wife January Jones is the better actor]

Lead Actor/Miniseries of Movie: **WINNER: Brendan Gleeson** (yea!)
I haven’t seen these but I love Brendan Gleeson (Into the Storm), he’s long overdue. You may know him from In Bruges with Colin Farrell last year. Kenneth Branagh and Ian McKellen are both nominated, and both Shakespearean, either would be a good choice.

Lead Actress/Comedy: **WINNER: Toni Collette**
- this series bothers me, like when, as a man, she had a fistfight with a high school boy; they call this comedy? about a true schizoid person w multiple personalities?
(1) Sara Silverman, Sarah Silverman Program (2) Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds (3) Tina Fey, 30 Rock [Mary-Louise is overdue for Weeds, but I have a crush on Sara Silverman, who was voted 50th in Maxim’s “hottest 100 women” poll. She said, "great position - I'm not so high that I have to maintain myself, but I'm ahead of 50 others that I can say I'm 'hotter than.." She also told “The Aristocrats” joke the most erotically in that film, and deserves something for that!]

Lead Actress/Drama: **WINNER: Glenn Close** - 2 for 2, she's just too good
(1) Glenn Close, Damages (2) Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men (3) Sally Field, Brothers and Sisters
[Close is perfect, and scary, but won last year. Moss is the best actor in a large and talented cast and is very understated. Field has won enough, and Hunter is a life-long favorite and from the same town in Georgia, Athens]

Lead Actress/ Miniseries or Movie: **WINNER: Jessica Lange**
I haven’t seen these but I love the underrated Chandra Wilson, from Grey’s Anatomy. She’s up against two former Oscar winners, in Jessica Lange and Shirley Maclaine, also Sigourney Weaver and Drew Barrymore. 

Supporting Actor/Comedy: **WINNER: John Cryer**
(1) Tracy Morgan, 30 Rock (2) Kevin Dillon, Entourage
[Looks like Piven retired himself to give co-star Dillon a shot, but I get more laughs from Tracy Morgan myself, and this is comedy, not dramatic acting, Johnny Drama!]

Supporting Actor/Drama: **WINNER: Michael Emerson** - I hate this show, can't watch it
(1) John Slattery, Mad Men (2) William Hurt, Damages [both are just what the part calls for, Slattery is overdue for some award - update: Slattery later won for "guest star in a drama" - he's not a "guest", he's a regular!]

Supporting Actress/Comedy: **WINNER: Kristen Chenoweth** - they got this right, and she cried the whole time!
(1) Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies (2) Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock (3) Elizabeth Perkins
[Chenoweth is a huge talent, for both music and comedy; it’ll be a crime if she doesn’t get one award for the early cancelled but underrated fantasy. Krakowski is funny but I don’t see a lot of acting, same with Perkins & Poehler]

Supporting Actress/Drama: **WINNER: Cherry Jones** - 24 is still on? (hey, I have a "cherry jones" myself, esp. on ice cream)
(1) Chandra Wilson, Grey’s Anatomy (2) Rose Byrne, Damages
[Chandra is overdue for an Emmy for this; she has a SAG Actor. Dianne Wiest is an old fave but has 2 Oscars already]

Supporting Actress/Miniseries or Movie: **WINNER: Shohreh Aghdashloo** - a surprise winner from Iran, and she was truly gorgeous, wasn't she? one of the classiest winners..
I haven’t seen these but I love Janet McTeer, a best actress Oscar nominee as well, for Tumbleweeds.

Exceptional Merit in Non-Fiction Programming: (already awarded) **The Memory Loss Tapes, Shari Cookson and Nick Doob**, producers
[This was brilliant, pt 1 of the Alzheimer’s Project for HBO, I was glad they won. This is the equivalent of "documentary", but AMPAS 'owns' that word, tv can't use it - how silly, eh? How can people get a legal hold on nouns, like 'windows' and 'apple'?]

There are some reality show awards, but I don’t care – they could lose all those, imo, and just show more live music and comedy from around the planet, that would be the best reality. Let's just mount cameras in all the blues, jazz, and other music venues around the world. I think we should also put cameras all over Tiger Woods' house, and pay him another 100 million a year..

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Top Ranked Films from the Rest of Europe



Taking the countries we didn’t list yet from the remainder of Europe, we have 32 more films mentioned, with 24 in the top 1000. Poland and Denmark had 6 each.

1. Ordet [Dreyer, Carl Theodor; 1955] #111 - Denmark
2. Ashes and Diamonds [Wajda, Andrzej; 1958] #114 - Poland
3. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles [Akerman, Chantal; 1975] #146 - Belgium-France
4. Dekalog [Kieslowski, Krszystof; 1988] #237 - Poland
5. Gertrud [Dreyer, Carl Theodor; 1964] #276 - Denmark
6. Landscape in the Mist [Angelopoulos, Theo; 1988] #321 - Greece-France-Italy
7. Travelling Players, The [Angelopoulos, Theo; 1975] #418 - Greece
8. Closely Watched Trains [Menzel, Jirí; 1966] #427 - Czechoslovakia
9. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days [Mungiu, Cristian; 2007] #430 - Romania
10. Breaking the Waves [von Trier, Lars; 1996] #449 - Denmark-Sweden-France-Netherlands-Norway

11. Day of Wrath [Dreyer, Carl Theodor; 1943] #488 - Denmark
12. Sátántangó [Tarr, Bela; 1994] #547 - Hungary-Germany-Switzerland
13. Loves of a Blonde [Forman, Milos; 1965] #553 - Czechoslovakia
14. Werckmeister Harmonies [Tarr, Bela & Hranitzky, Agnes; 2000] #611 - Hung-It-Gy-France
15. Once [Carney, John; 2006] #744 - Ireland
16. Daisies [Chytilová, Vera; 1966] #756 - Czechoslovakia
17. Firemen's Ball, The [Forman, Milos; 1967] #804 - Czechoslovakia
18. Fateless [Koltai, Lajos; 2005] #824 - Hungary-GY
19. Short Film About Killing, A [Kieslowski, Krszystof; 1988] #844 - Poland
20. Festen (aka Celebration) [Vinterberg, Thomas; 1998] #884 - Denmark-Sweden

21. Round-Up, The (Szegénylegények) [Jancsó, Miklós; 1966] #889 - Hungary 22. Europa [von Trier, Lars; 1991] #929 - Denmark
23. Edge of Heaven, The [Akin, Fatih; 2007] #962 - Gy-Tky-Italy
24. Mephisto [Szabó, István; 1981] #997 - Hungary
25. Man Without a Past, The [Kaurismaki, Aki; 2002] #1104 - Finland
26. Eternity and a Day [Angelopoulos, Theo; 1998] #1125 - Greece-Fr-It-Ger
27. Kingdom (Riget) [von Trier, Lars; 1994] #1193 - Den-Fr-Gy-Sweden
28. Red and White [Jancsó, Miklós; 1967] #1218 - Hungary-USSR
29. Maskerade [Forst, Willi; 1934] #1223 - Austria
30. Short Film About Love, A [Kieslowski, Krszystof; 1988] #1239 - Poland

31. Man of Marble [Wajda, Andrzej; 1977] #1246 - Poland
32. Kanal [Wajda, Andrzej; 1957] #1268 - Poland Missing:

The Oscar-winning The Shop on Main St., a beautifully understated Czech film about the 'Aryanization' of Jewish shops, with a terrific performance by Ida Kaminska

Zelary - a terrific Czech film about an underground agent in WW2 who has to move high up in the mountains to escape; Oscar nominee for foreign film.

Kolya - a beautiful Oscar-winning story of an aging Czech bachelor who marries to help a Russian woman get citizenship, and who gets a terrific stepson named Kolya in the bargain; this would be #1 on this list for me, an all-time top 100 for sure. Written by the director's father who stars as the bachelor musician.

My favorite on this list is the Oscar-winning Mephisto, a brilliant study of an actor thanks to a remarkable performance by Klaus-Maria Brandauer (where was Oscar?), based on Klaus Mann’s (son of Thomas) novel of his brother-in-law's life, who was an actor in Berlin during the Third Reich. Some of these should come with a warning, especially Jeanne Dilman, which is 3.5 hrs long, and shows Jeanne meticulously peel potatoes, prepare meat loaf, take a bath, and other everyday banalities, which was the point, I'm sure. It all leads up to an important character event, but that could have been done in 90 minutes instead, and you wouldn't want director Akerman's head. Bela Tarr’s Werckmeister Harmonies has some unforgettable scenes, with a giant whale and an angry mob with torches, yet its entire meaning must ultimately be provided by the viewer.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Top Ranked Films from Brazil and Mexico

20 total (10 each), with 14 in the top 1000 (7 each). Ironic, that most Mexican films were directed by Spaniard Luis Buñuel, even one by a Russian, Sergei Eisenstein. [I'm using the IMDB country designations, which are often joint collaberations, just to get the financing].

These two countries had the most films listed in the the western hemisphere, after the U.S. and Canada.

Brazil
1. City of God [Meirelles, Fernando and Lund, Katia; 2002] #192 - Brazil-Germany-France [photo top] - Lund was a photojournalist with experience working in the slums that Fernando had assist him on this film, as this is based on the story of a young photographer who took pictures of the violence in this slum city.

2. Children of Men [Meirelles, Fernando; 2006] #458 - Brazil
3. Black God, White Devil [Rocha, Glauber; 1964] #528 - Brazil
4. Terra em Transe [Rocha, Glauber; 1967] #617 - Brazil
5. Antonio das Mortes [Rocha, Glauber; 1969] #668 - Brazil
6. Barren Lives [Dos Santos, Nelson Pereira; 1963] #752 - Brazil
7. Limite [Peixoto, Mario; 1931] #897 - Brazil
8. Black Orpheus [Camus, Marcel; 1959] #1124 - Brazil-France-Italy
9. Pixote [Babenco, Hector; 1981] #1237 - Brazil
10. Central Station [Salles, Walter; 1998] #1238 - Brazil

I'm a big fan of both Meirelles, City of God is a masterpiece, and Salles, whose Motorcycle Diaries is also excellent, but is listed as U.S., not Brazil, though Salles is from Rio de Janiero.

I've yet to see the Rocha films, they are currently unavailable at Netflix.

Black Orpheus is also a classic, a modernized myth, and should be ranked much higher, like the top 200. It's a rare combination of music and film that become so symbiotic they can't be separated.

Mexico
1. Pan's Labyrinth [del Toro, Guillermo; 2006] #154 - Mexico
2. Los Olvidados [Buñuel, Luis; 1950] #372 - Mexico
3. Exterminating Angel, The [Buñuel, Luis; 1962] #403 - Mexico
4. Y Tu Mamá También [Cuarón, Alfonso; 2001] #470 - Mexico
5. Amores perros [Inarritu, Alejandro Gonzalez; 2000] #489 - Mexico
6. El [Buñuel, Luis; 1953] #520 - Mexico
7. Que viva - Mexico! [Eisenstein, Sergei; 1932] #663 - Mexico-US
8. Nazarín [Buñuel, Luis; 1959] #1078 - Mexico
 9. Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz, The [Buñuel, Luis; 1955] #1172 - Mexico
10. Simon of the Desert [Buñuel, Luis; 1965] #1214 - Mexico

I'm not a big fan of Pan's, though it did have some interesting special effects (in a kind of 50's way); but I found it mostly sensationalism without a lot of substance behind the imagery, and I can do without watching a man sew his torn up face together in a mirror.

Buñuel, a surrealist who works without a script (and sometimes with Salvador Dali), does a lot of improvising, and is an acquired taste - many of his films will test your patience, which Exterminating Angel did for me.

Viridiana (Spanish, the #1 ranked film solely from Spain) was much more interesting.

Cuaron (Y Tu Mamá También) is one of the best young directors, and all his films are worth seeing.

Missing: Inarritu's Babel, which I found much more artistic and riveting than Amores Perros, which has some very disturbing dog scenes.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Top Ranked Films from Australia, Canada, and New Zealand

The top ranked films on the net from Australia (9), New Zealand (4), and Canada (13) from our survey of internet film polls. Out of the 26 mentioned, 23 made the top 1000, 11 from Canada.

Australia
1. Piano, The [Campion, Jane; 1993] #81 - Australia
2. Shine [Hicks, Scott; 1996] #574 - Australia
3. Mad Max 2, aka Road Warrior [Miller, George; 1981] #590 - Australia
4. Walkabout [Roeg, Nicolas; 1971] #672 - Australia
5. Picnic at Hanging Rock [Weir, Peter; 1975] #730 – Australia
6. An Angel at My Table, An [Campion, Jane; 1990] #737 - New Zealand-Aust-UK
7. Forbidden Lie$ [Broinowski, Anna; 2007] #1028 - Australia
8. Year of Living Dangerously, The [Weir, Peter; 1982] #1136 - Australia
9. Moulin Rouge! [Luhrmann, Baz; 2001] #1184 - Australia-US
 [see bottom of this post for a list of Australian Film Institute awards for best picture]

Missing (they really shafted Australia in the polls):
Babe (Chris Noonan, 1995) [This won 17 international awards, nominated for Best Picture, how can it not make any film polls? Produced by Road Warrior director George Miller]
My Brilliant Career (Gillian Armstrong, 1979) - energetic romantic adventure
Breaker Morant (Bruce Beresford, 1980) - terrific war story based on fact
The Proposition (John Hillcoat, 2005) – a gutsy western
The Last Wave (Peter Weir, 1977) - aboriginal folk tale of the apocalypse
Flirting (John Duigan, 1980) - insightful interracial love story, Nicole Kidman co-stars
The Man From Snowy River (George Miller, 1982) – not the same George Miller as above (this one's from Scotland), another Aussie western
Australia (Baz Luhrmann, 2008) - enjoyable epic western romance, with some war thrown in as well

My own favorite Aussie films are: Babe, Walkabout, The Road Warrior (a classic in mayhem), My Brilliant Career, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Flirting, The Piano, The Proposition, Shine, The Man From Snowy River
Update: add Animal Kingdom (2010)

New Zealand
1. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring [Jackson, Peter; 2001] #84 - US-New Zealand
2. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King [Jackson, Peter; 2003] #97 - US-New Zealand
3. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers [Jackson, Peter; 2002] #144 - US-New Zealand
4. An Angel at My Table [Campion, Jane; 1990] #737 - New Zealand

Canada
1. Wavelength [Snow, Michael; 1967] #263 - Canada
2. Sweet Hereafter, The [Egoyan, Atom; 1997] #319 - Canada
3. Dead Ringers [Cronenberg, David; 1988] #355 - Canada
4. Atlantic City [Malle, Louis; 1980] #491 - Canada-France
5. Fast Runner, The [Kunuk, Zacharias; 2001] #620 - Canada
6. Videodrome [Cronenberg, David; 1983] #705 - Canada
7. Hart of London, The [Chambers, Jack; 1970] #711 - Canada
8. Région centrale, La [Snow, Michael; 1971] #725 - Canada*
9. Capote [Miller, Bennett; 2005] #760 - Canada-US
10. Away from Her [Polley, Sarah; 2006] #774 - Canada
11. Crash [Cronenberg, David; 1996] #984 - Canada
12. My Winnipeg [Maddin, Guy; 2007] #1096 - Canada
13. Barbarian Invasions, The [Arcand, Denys; 2003] #1207 - Canada*

* = in French, with subtitles

I think the last of these, foreign language Oscar® winner Barbarian Invasions, about a man dying of cancer with his family and friends around to send him off, is my favorite Canadian film (in French, with subtitles).
However, The Sweet Hereafter (in English) is a minor masterpiece, imo, which also deals with death, as lawyer Ian Holm shows up in a small Canadian town to try to get them to seek justice after a fatal school bus accident.
Atlantic City, with Burt Lancaster and Susan Sarandon, is Louis Malle's best to me, though it really feels like US film, another crime/noir story.
Apparently, Wavelength is an experimental film designed to get people to leave the theater with noise, I don't know how it out-polled the more serious films.

Australian Film Institute Awards for Best Picture [only films produced in Australia]
2008 - The Black Balloon
2007 - Romulus, My Father
2006 - Ten Canoes
2005 - Look Both Ways
2004 - Somersault
2003 - Japanese Story
2002 - Rabbit-Proof Fence
2001 - Lantana
2000 - Looking for Alibrandi
1999 - Two Hands
1998 - The Interview
1997 - Kiss or Kill
1996 - Shine
1995 - Angel Baby
1994 - Muriel's Wedding
1993 - The Piano
1992 - Strictly Ballroom
1991 - Proof
1990 - Flirting
1989 - Evil Angels (aka. A Cry in the Dark)
1988 - The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey
1987 - The Year My Voice Broke
1986 - Malcolm
1985 - Bliss
1984 - Annie's Coming Out
1983 - Careful, He Might Hear You
1982 - Lonely Hearts
1981 - Gallipoli
1980 - Breaker Morant
1979 - My Brilliant Career
1978 - Newsfront
1977 - Storm Boy
1976 - The Devil's Playground
1974/5 - Sunday Too Far Away
1973 - Libido: The Child
1973 - 27A
1972 - Stork
1971 - Homesdale
1970 - Three To Go: Michael
1969 - Jack And Jill: A Postscript
1968 - The Change at Groote / The Talgai Skull
1967 - Cardin in Australia
1966 - Concerto for Orchestra
1965 - The Legend of Damien Parer / Stronger Since The War
1964 - The Dancing Class / I The Aboriginal
1963 - The Land That Waited
1962 - Bypass to Life / Night Freighter
1961 - Not awarded this year
1960 - Three in a Million
1959 - Edge of The Deep / The Power Makers
1958 - Conquest of The Rivers / Hard to Windward

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Top Ranked Films from Russia-USSR

© William L. Sinclair

The top ranked films on our internet survey from Russia or the USSR; 34 total mentioned, with 23 in the top 1000. The top three are ironically silent films; the #1 ranked Man With a Movie Camera still looks modern today, featuring thousands of edits and creative camerawork to show one day in the Soviet Union.

1. Man With a Movie Camera [Vertov, Dziga; 1929] #78
2. Battleship Potemkin [Eisenstein, Sergei; 1925] #100
3. October [Eisenstein, Sergei; 1927] #222
4. Earth [Dovzhenko, Alexander; 1930] #249
5. Solaris [Tarkovsky, Andrei; 1972] #267
6. Andrei Rublev [Tarkovsky, Andrei; 1966] #282
7. Strike [Eisenstein, Sergei; 1924] #328
8. Ivan the Terrible, Part One [Eisenstein, Sergei; 1944] #357
9. Alexander Nevsky [Eisenstein, Sergei; 1938] #374 [photo rt - this features the ice battle on a frozen lake]
10. Mirror, The [Tarkovsky, Andrei; 1976] #382

11. Stalker [Tarkovsky, Andrei; 1979] #407
12. Ivan the Terrible, Part Two [Eisenstein, Sergei; 1946] #416
13. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors [Parajanov, Sergei; 1964] #508
14. Come and See [Klimov, Elem; 1985] #559
15. Colour of Pomegranate, The [Parajanov, Sergei; 1968] #578
16. I Am Cuba [Kalatozishvili, Mikheil; 1964] #637
17. Ivan's Childhood [Tarkovsky, Andrei; 1962] #743
18. Storm Over Asia [Pudovkin, Vsevolod; 1928] #753
19. Tulpan [Dvortsevoy, Sergei; 2008] #758
20. Outskirts (Okraina) [Barnet, Boris; 1933] #801

21. Mother (Mat) [Pudovkin, Vsevolod; 1926] #855
22. Cranes Are Flying, The [Kalatozishvili, Mikheil; 1957] #874
23. Russian Ark [Sokurov, Aleksandr; 2002] #898
24. End of St. Petersburg, The [Pudovkin, Vsevolod; 1927] #1016
25. Alexandra [Sokurov, Aleksandr; 2007] #1042
26. Happiness [Medvedkin, Aleksandr; 1934] #1056
27. War and Peace [Bondarchuk, Sergei; 1967] #1077
28. Childhood of Maxim Gorky, The [Donskoi, Mark; 1938] #1120
29. By the Bluest of Seas [Barnet, Boris; 1936] #1135
30. Burnt by the Sun [Mikhalkov, Nikita; 1994] #1146

31. Slave of Love, A [Mikhalkov, Nikita; 1976] #1165
32. My Apprenticeship (Gorky Trilogy II) [Donskoi, Mark; 1939] #1173
33. My Friend Ivan Lapshin [Gherman, Alexei; 1984] #1199
34. Arsenal [Dovzhenko, Alexander; 1928] #1202

We lumped Russia and the USSR together.
It's interesting that Ivan the Terrible, in two parts, was listed as one from Russia, one from the USSR.

Many of these are terrific: all the Eisensteins, Man With the Movie Camera (deserves #1), Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev, Ivan's Childhood, and The Mirror, the holocaust story Come and See, and the major league epic War and Peace, which is over 6 hrs, with 250,000 extras.

 

Missing: Gregori Chukrai's Ballad of a Soldier (1959), first Russian film distributed in the U.S., a beautiful b&w anti-war tale of a soldier's train journey home on a special furlough for heroism.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Top Ranked Films from the UK


The first list is just UK produced films, 92 total with 73 in the top 1000. The second list are multi-country projects which include the UK, 18 more mentioned with 11 of those in the top 1000. There are also 8 best picture winners.
[AA] = Academy Award, best pic



UK (only)
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey [Kubrick, Stanley; 1968] #2
2. Third Man, The [Reed, Carol; 1948] #15 [photo rt]
3. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb [Kubrick, Stanley; 1964] #17
4. Lawrence of Arabia [Lean, David; 1962] #50 [AA]
5. A Clockwork Orange [Kubrick, Stanley; 1971] #69
6. Bridge on the River Kwai, The [Lean, David; 1957] #85 [AA]
7. Barry Lyndon [Kubrick, Stanley; 1975] #101
8. Kind Hearts and Coronets [Hamer, Robert; 1949] #117
9. Brief Encounter [Lean, David; 1945] #127
10. Red Shoes, The [Powell, Michael/Emeric Pressburger; 1948] #156
11. Great Expectations [Lean, David; 1946] #180
12. Brazil [Gilliam, Terry; 1985] #189 [photo rt]
13. Performance [Roeg, Nicolas/Donald Cammell; 1970] #202
14. Monty Python and the Holy Grail [Gilliam, Terry/Terry Jones; 1975] #224
15. A Matter of Life and Death [Powell, Michael/Emeric Pressburger; 1946] #280
16. Gandhi [Attenborough, Richard; 1982] #286 [AA]
17. Lady Vanishes, The [Hitchcock, Alfred; 1938] #295
18. Don't Look Now [Roeg, Nicolas; 1973] #306
19. Repulsion [Polanski, Roman; 1965] #311
20. A Hard Day's Night [Lester, Richard; 1964] #332
21. Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The [Powell, Michael/Emeric Pressburger; 1943] #334
22. 39 Steps, The [Hitchcock, Alfred; 1935] #346
23. Trainspotting [Boyle, Danny; 1995] #360
24. Peeping Tom [Powell, Michael; 1960] #369
25. Secrets & Lies [Leigh, Mike; 1996] #385
26. Henry V [Olivier, Laurence; 1944] #409
27. Black Narcissus [Powell, Michael/Emeric Pressburger; 1946] #412
28. Crying Game, The [Jordan, Neil; 1992] #415
29. Monsieur Verdoux [Chaplin, Charles; 1947] #422
30. Thief of Bagdad, The [Powell, Michael, Berger, & Whelan; 1940] #434
31. Odd Man Out [Reed, Carol; 1947] #478
32. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning [Reisz, Karel; 1960] #485
33. English Patient, The [Minghella, Anthony; 1996] #502 [AA]
34. Man of Aran [Flaherty, Robert; 1934] #517
35. Kes [Loach, Ken; 1969] #526
36. If… [Anderson, Lindsay; 1968] #533
37. Local Hero [Forsyth, Bill; 1983] #535
38. Canterbury Tale, A [Powell, Michael/Emeric Pressburger; 1944] #536 [photo rt]
39. Providence [Resnais, Alain; 1977] #548
40. Mononoke-hime (anime) [Miyazaki, Hayao; 1997] #555
41. Servant, The [Losey, Joseph; 1963] #560
42. Listen to Britain [Jennings, Humphrey; 1941] #562
43. Shakespeare in Love [Madden, John; 1998] #563 [AA]
44. Tom Jones [Richardson, Tony; 1963] #583 [AA]
45. Life of Brian [Gilliam, Terry/Terry Jones; 1979] #599
46. Snatch [Ritchie, Guy; 2000] #605
47. I Know Where I'm Going! [Powell, Michael/Emeric Pressburger; 1945] #607
48. Distant Voices, Still Lives [Davies, Terence; 1988] #647
49. Lolita [Kubrick, Stanley; 1962] #650
50. Topsy-Turvy [Leigh, Mike; 1999] #661
51. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels [Ritchie, Guy; 1998] #673
52. Monty Python's Life of Brian [Jones, Terry; 1979] #675
53. Man Who Fell to Earth, The [Roeg, Nicolas; 1976] #678
54. Devils, The (of Loudun) [Russell, Ken; 1971] #684
55. In Bruges [McDonagh, Martin; 2008] #708
56. Man for All Seasons, A [Zinnemann, Fred; 1966] #715
57. Innocents, The [Clayton, Jack; 1961] #742
58. Overlord [Cooper, Stuart; 1975] #763
59. Get Carter [Hodges, Mike; 1971] #776
60. Chicken Run [Park, Nick & Lord, Peter; 2000] #781
61. Fires Were Started [Jennings, Humphrey; 1943] #800
62. Howards End [Ivory, James; 1992] #812
63. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit [Park, Nick & Box, Steve; 2005] #815
64. Naked [Leigh, Mike; 1993] #870
65. Bad Timing [Roeg, Nicolas; 1980] #880
66. Fallen Idol, The [Reed, Carol; 1948] #886
67. Goldfinger [Hamilton, Guy; 1964] #901
68. Gregory's Girl [Forsyth, Bill; 1981] #906
69. Night of the Demon [Tourneur, Jacques; 1957] #917
70. This Is England [Meadows, Shane; 2006] #920
71. Chariots of Fire [Hudson, Hugh; 1981] #925 [AA]
72. Fish Called Wanda, A [Crichton, Charles; 1988] #970
73. O Lucky Man! [Anderson, Lindsay; 1973] #972
74. Quadrophenia [Roddam, Franc; 1979] #1000
75. Love & Diane [Dworkin, Jennifer; 2002] #1006
76. Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, The [Richardson, Tony; 1962] #1030
77. Atonement [Wright, Joe; 2007] #1036
78. Hamlet [Olivier, Laurence; 1948] #1044 [AA]
79. Tales of Hoffmann, The [Powell, Michael/Emeric Pressburger; 1951] #1053
80. A Room with a View [Ivory, James; 1985] #1067
81. Go-Between, The [Losey, Joseph; 1970] #1115
82. Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, The [Greenaway, Peter; 1989] #1128
83. Excalibur [Boorman, John; 1981] #1157
84. Lavender Hill Mob [Crichton, Charles; 1951] #1186
85. Ryan's Daughter [Lean, David; 1970] #1189
86. Pandora and the Flying Dutchman [Lewin, Albert; 1951] #1194
87. Song of Ceylon [Wright, Basil; 1934] #1195
88. Pillow Book, The [Greenaway, Peter; 1996] #1196
89. Full Monty [Cattaneo, Peter; 1997] #1200
90. Accident [Losey, Joseph; 1967] #1226
91. Room at the Top [Clayton, Jack; 1959] #1231
92. Duellists, The [Scott, Ridley; 1977] #1259

Note: I guess it's debatable whether 2001: A Space Odyssey is a UK film, but it was made in the UK on a soundstage with a UK crew, so for me it's a UK film, though officially listed as a U.S. production. Director Stanley Kubrick moved to the UK and made his best films there: 2001, Dr. Strangelove, and A Clockwork Orange. Michael Powell has 9 films listed, 7 with collaborator Emric Pressburger, together known as The Archers. Martin Scorsese flew to England to see Powell in retirement, and flew the surprised filmmaker back to the U.S. to meet all the directors that he influenced, who included Spielberg and Coppola. Both Kubrick and David Lean have four each in the top 11.

UK Plus
1. Pianist, The [Polanski, Roman; 2002] #200 - Fr-Gy-UK-Poland
2. Blow-Up [Antonioni, Michelangelo; 1966] #244 - Italy-UK
3. Big Lebowski, The [Coen, Ethan and Joel; 1998] #386 - US-UK
4. Queen, The [Frears, Stephen; 2006] #481 - UK-Fr-Italy
5. Triplets of Belleville, The [Chomet, Sylvain; 2003] #624 - France-Belg-Can-UK
6. Man on Wire [Marsh, James; 2008] #712 - UK-US
7. Straight Story, The [Lynch, David; 1999] #745 - US-France-UK
8. Orlando [Potter, Sally; 1992] #907 - UK-Russia-France-Italy-Netherlands
9. Sweet Sixteen [Loach, Ken; 2002] #927 - UK-Gy-Spain
10. Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, The [Butler, George; 2000] #968 - Sw-UK-Gy-US
11. Festival Express [Smeaton & Cvitanovich; 2003] #985 - UK-Neth
12. Eyes Wide Shut [Kubrick, Stanley; 1999] #1046 - UK-US
13. Leaving Las Vegas [Figgis, Mike; 1995] #1048 - US-UK-France
14. Last Emperor [Bertolucci, Bernardo; 1987] #1054 - UK-Italy-China-France [AA]
15. Paragraph 175 [Epstein, Rob & Friedman, Jeffrey; 2000] #1063 - UK-US-Germany
16. Tale of the Wind, A [Ivens, Joris; 1988] #1066 - UK-France-Germany
17. Sense and Sensibility [Lee, Ang; 1995] #1222 - US-UK
18. Sheltering Sky, The [Bertolucci, Bernardo; 1990] #1263 - UK-Italy

This is a great list of films, you can pretty much enjoy all the films of these directors: Stanley Kubrick, Michael Powell, Carol Reed, and David Lean - these all belong on any list of great directors. 2001, Dr. Strangelove, Lawrence of Arabia are all in my all-time top 10, and apparently many others' lists as well.

At Criterion's film club / networking site, The Auteurs, over 100,000 members have 2001 ranked #1, A Clockwork Orange #2, and Dr. Strangelove #5, so it's fair to say they rank Stanley Kubrick #1 for directors.

There are many offbeat classics on this list:
Kind Hearts and Coronets, In Bruges, A Hard Day's Night, Brazil, Performance, If.., The Servant, Shakespeare in Love, Local Hero, Black Narcissus, A Matter of Life and Death, Orlando, The Crying Game, The Lavender Hill Mob, Accident. These are not your average stories.

The Last Emperor should be ranked much higher than 1054th all-time, at least top 150; it won 8 Oscars® including best picture and director. Oh, right - Big Lebowski is about 700 films higher than Last Emperor; someone shouldn't be ranking films while drinking, or maybe they confused Lebowski with Penny Marshall's Big, which is much better..

Probably the most glaring omission for me is Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment, a romantic comedy that includes insanity, tarzan, and communism - from director Karel Reisz with David Warner and Vanessa Redgrave as the ex-wife who drives Warner into gorilla suits and insanity.

Women in Love, the classic D.H. Lawrence novel, was brilliantly filmed by Ken Russell, and should also be on this list - for me it would be around the top 10 somewhere; Glenda Jackson won a her first, well-deserved Oscar for this.

Another film missing is Michael Powell's Edge of the World. In the U.S., his film A Matter of Life and Death is known as A Stairway to Heaven - the producers thought the U.S. wouldn't like a film with "death" in the title! Now, that is funny.. we invented weapons of mass destruction, as brillliantly parodied in Dr. Strangelove. ("Gentlemen, there's no fighting here - this is the war room!")

A Room With a View should also be much higher than 1067th. It's a classic E.M Forster novel and a very entertaining and beautifully filmed romance with an superlative cast: Helena Bonham Carter, Daniel-Day Lewis, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Denholm Elliott, Julian Sands, and Rupert Graves in the leading roles. Carter has perhaps the biggest hair in all of cinema.

In Ridley Scott's The Duellists, Jeremy Irons and Harvey Keitel play two soldiers in the same army unit who fight duels with swords for about 90 minutes of the two-hour film, all because Irons was sent to fetch Keitel from a brothel in the story's beginning. And Robert Osborne on TCM said some 8-10 minute swordfight in some swashbuckler film from the 40's was "the longest swordfight in cinema history" - hey, start using your researchers if you're NOT gonna watch modern films!

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Top Ranked Drama-Comedy Films and Other Dramas


These are the last of the drama genres from our survey of all the internet polls. Using IMDB's designations, there are 23 films mentioned listed as either drama-comedy or comedy-drama, with 16 in the top 1000.

Following this list are the remaining dramas from various other sub-genres: fantasy, mystery, legal, adventure - really just the miscellaneous remaining dramas that haven't been listed elsewhere yet; 20 of those mentioned, 15 in the top 1000.

Drama-Comedy Films
1. El Verdugo [Berlanga, Luis García, 1963 ] #497 - Spain-Italy
2. Le Plaisir [Ophüls, Max, 1951 ] #571 - France
3. I Was Born, But… [Ozu, Yasujiro, 1932 ] #626 - Japan
4. Stranger Than Paradise [Jarmusch, Jim, 1984 ] #627 - US
5. Goodbye Solo [Bahrani, Ramin, 2008 ] #717 - US
6. Underground [Kusturica, Emir, 1995 ] #758 - France-Germany-Hungary
7. Tulpan [Dvortsevoy, Sergei, 2008 ] #759 - Russia-Kaz
8. Firemen's Ball, The [Forman, Milos, 1967 ] #805 - Czechoslovakia
9. Phantom of Liberty, The [Buñuel, Luis, 1974 ] #836 - France
10. Naked [Leigh, Mike, 1993 ] #872 - UK

11. I'm Going Home [de Oliveira, Manoel, 2001 ] #884 - France-Portugal
12. Sun Shines Bright, The [Ford, John, 1953 ] #926 - US
13. You Can Count On Me [Lonergan, Kenneth, 2000 ] #955 - US
14. Savages, The [Jenkins, Tamara, 2007 ] #969 - US
15. Out 1: Spectre [Rivette, Jacques, 1974 ] #976 - France
16. La Collectionneuse [Rohmer, Eric, 1967 ] #985 - France
17. Léolo [Lauzon, Jean-Claude, 1992 ] #1054 - France
18. Happiness [Medvedkin, Aleksandr, 1934 ] #1059 - USSR
19. Sorpasso, Il [Risi, Dino, 1962 ] #1078 - Italy
20. Christmas Tale, A [Desplechin, Arnaud, 2008 ] #1091 - France
21. Man Without a Past, The [Kaurismaki, Aki, 2002 ] #1106 - Finland
22. Late Autumn [Ozu, Yasujiro, 1960 ] #1183 - Japan
23. Adaptation [Jonze, Spike, 2002 ] #1268 - US
El Verdugo is a nearly impossible movie to find or to view, or even find stills or posters. Only about 200 people have rated it at IMDB. Apparently it got buried with Franco.. or by the Generalissimo. I found the nearly constant brass band in Underground to be not only insane but a major distraction; for me, this would be the perfect musical accompaniment in hell. This would be the most effective form of torture known if put into practice.

Dramas from Other Sub-Genres
1. 8½ [Fellini, Federico, 1963] #37 - Italy [Fantasy]
2. 12 Angry Men [Lumet, Sidney, 1957] #124 - US [Legal]
3. Celine and Julie Go Boating [Rivette, Jacques, 1974] #141 - France [Mystery]
4. Pan's Labyrinth [del Toro, Guillermo, 2006] #154 - Mexico [Fantasy]
5. Donnie Darko [Kelly, Richard, 2001] #228 - US [Fantasy]
6. Oldboy [Park Chan-Wook, 2003] #380 - Korea [Mystery]
7. If… [Anderson, Lindsay, 1968] #534 - UK [Fantasy]
8. Marnie [Hitchcock, Alfred, 1964] #540 - US [Mystery]
9. Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, The [Herzog, Werner, 1974] #572 - West Germany [Mystery]
10. Into the Wild [Penn, Sean, 2007] #588 - US [Nature]

11. Fast Runner, The [Kunuk, Zacharias, 2001] #621 - Canada [Fantasy]
12. Blood of a Poet, The [Cocteau, Jean, 1930] #693 - France [Fantasy]
13. Spider's Stratagem, The [Bertolucci, Bernardo, 1970] #730 - Italy [Mystery]
14. Kameradschaft [Pabst, G.W., 1931] #924 Germany [Adventure]
15. Kramer vs. Kramer [Benton, Robert, 1979] #994 - US [Legal]
16. Mother India [Khan, Mehboob, 1957] #1032 - India [Musical]
17. Hamlet [Olivier, Laurence, 1948] #1047 - UK [Play]
18. Missing [Costa-Gavras, Constantin, 1982] #1099 - US [Mystery]
19. Lost Highway [Lynch, David, 1997] #1117 - US [Mystery]
20. Rose Hobart [Cornell, Joseph, 1936] #1151 US [Art]

Fellini's autobiographical is really hard to classify, these are IMDB's genre listings. 12 Angry Men is unique, and stands alone among legal films.
Most true mystery films were listed as crime drama.

I recently saw Oldboy and liked it a lot, it's a very unusual story, creatively filmed. I also found Into the Wild riveting and rewarding, but I had a hard time watching both Pan's Labyrinth and The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser.

Kramer vs Kramer is just about the worst film to ever win best picture, imo, a mundane and common story with no relevations, no artistic catharsis, not much really in the way of creativity. Now, had the kid just "seen some dead parents or divorce lawyers.."

Top Ranked Family Dramas on the Net


The top ranked family dramas from our survey of all the polls on the net. By these, we mean dramas centered around family situations, not G-rated films for the family to enjoy. I'm sure more can be defined as both society and family, or both family and romance, so it's a loose definition. 49 were mentioned, 41 in the top 1000.

1. Quiet Man, The [Ford, John; 1952] #301 -US
2. Cries and Whispers [Bergman, Ingmar; 1972] #308 -Sweden
3. How Green Was My Valley [Ford, John; 1941] #384 -US [AA]
4. Secrets & Lies [Leigh, Mike; 1996] #385 -UK
5. Shadows [Cassavetes, John; 1959] #411 -US
6. Lost Weekend, The [Wilder, Billy; 1945] #415 -US [AA]
7. Faces [Cassavetes, John; 1968] #422 -US
8. Mother and the Whore, The [Eustache, Jean; 1973] #424 -France
9. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days [Mungiu, Cristian; 2007] #430 -Romania
10. Late Spring [Ozu, Yasujiro; 1949] #436 -Japan

11. Smiles of a Summer Night [Bergman, Ingmar; 1955] #459 -Sweden
12. Dead, The [Huston, John; 1987] #460 -US
13. Story of the Late Chrysanthemums, The [Mizoguchi, Kenji; 1939] #461 -Japan
14. Mouchette [Bresson, Robert; 1966] #492 -France
15. Make Way for Tomorrow [McCarey, Leo; 1937] #499 -US
16. City of Sadness, A [Hou Hsiao-Hsien; 1989] #510 -Taiwan
17. Providence [Resnais, Alain; 1977] #548 -UK
18. Magnolia [Anderson, Paul Thomas; 1999] #576 -US
19. Alice in the Cities [Wenders, Wim; 1974] #580 -Germany
20. Sacrifice, The [Tarkovsky, Andrei; 1986] #586 -France-Sweden

21. Autumn Afternoon, An [Ozu, Yasujiro; 1962] #592 -Japan
22. Muriel ou Le Temps d'un Retour [Resnais, Alain; 1963] #622 -France-Italy
23. Distant Voices, Still Lives [Davies, Terence; 1988] #648 -UK
24. Silence, The [Bergman, Ingmar; 1963] #650 -Sweden
25. There's Always Tomorrow [Sirk, Douglas; 1956] #689 -US
26. Straight Story, The [Lynch, David; 1999] #746 -US-Fr-UK [photo rt]
27. Time Out [Cantet, Laurent; 2001] #770 -France
28. Away from Her [Polley, Sarah; 2006] #774 -Canada
29. Juliet of the Spirits [Fellini, Federico; 1965] #783 -Italy
30. Nobody Knows [Koreeda, Hirokazu; 2004] #792 -Japan

31. Othello [Welles, Orson; 1952] #797 -Italy
32. Lacombe, Lucien [Malle, Louis; 1974] #882 -France
33. Festen (aka Celebration) [Vinterberg, Thomas; 1998] #886 -Den.-Swe
34. Fallen Idol, The [Reed, Carol; 1948] #889 -UK
35. Not Reconciled [Straub, Jean-Marie; 1965] #899 - W Germany
36. Shame (Skammen) [Bergman, Ingmar; 1968] #913 -Sweden
37. Flight of the Red Balloon, The [Hsiao-hsien Hou; 2007] #946 -China
38. Opening Night [Cassavetes, John; 1977] #990 -US
39. Coeur en hiver, Un [Sautet, Claude; 1992] #996 -France
40. Half Nelson [Fleck, Ryan; 2006] #997 -US
41. Through a Glass Darkly [Bergman, Ingmar; 1961] #1000 -Sweden
42. Floating Weeds [Ozu, Yasujiro; 1959] #1011 -Japan
43. Cul-de-sac [Polanski, Roman; 1996] #1012 -France
44. Cría cuervos [Saura, Carlos; 1976] #1016 -Spain
45. Diary of a Lost Girl [Pabst, G.W.; 1929] #1017 -Germany
46. Les Enfants Terribles [Melville, Jean-Pierre; 1950] #1020 -France
47. Since Otar Left [Bertucelli, Julie; 2003] #1075 -France-Belg
48. Burnt by the Sun [Mikhalkov, Nikita; 1994] #1149 - Russia-Fr
49. Central Station [Salles, Walter; 1998] #1241 -Brazil

I'll have to admit that this is not a favorite genre of mine, for as I peruse this list, I see more to avoid than to rewatch. One I do like is The Straight Story, an oddly affable outing from el bizarro David Lynch, which has another terrific performance from Richard Farnsworth (The Gray Fox).

Ironically my favorite film on this list is the last one, Central Station, a touching and poignant tale from Brazilian director Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries); his best works are inspiring but not sentimental, a rare talent. Each of these has desevedly won numerous international awards.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Top Ranked Romantic Drama Films

These are all the films mentioned in our survey of internet polls that I would consider romance-dramas, 231 in all, 160 in the top 1000. Some obviously have humor and were listed as drama-comedy, but I considered the overall impact of the film. There are nine best picture winners here.


1. All About Eve [Mankiewicz, Joseph L., 1950] #33 -US [photo top] [AA]
2. Sunrise [Murnau, F.W., 1928] #38 -US [this is a beautiful silent film, winning a special Oscar® for 'artistic film', it's #12 overall on the critics 1000]
3. Casablanca [Curtiz, Michael, 1942] #47 -US [AA]
4. Jules et Jim [Truffaut, François, 1961] #59 -France
5. The Apartment [Wilder, Billy, 1960] #65 -US [AA]
6. Contempt [Godard, Jean-Luc, 1963] #74 -France-Italy
7. Gone with the Wind [Fleming, Victor, 1939] #80 -US [AA]
8. Piano, The [Campion, Jane, 1993] #81 -Australia
9. La Dolce vita [Fellini, Federico, 1960] #99 -Italy
10. La Strada [Fellini, Federico, 1954] #113 -Italy
11. Rebecca [Hitchcock, Alfred, 1940] #122 -US [AA]
12. Brief Encounter [Lean, David, 1945] #127 -UK
13. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington [Capra, Frank, 1939] #128 -US
14. A Streetcar Named Desire [Kazan, Elia, 1951] #150 -US
15. Red Shoes, The [Powell, Michael/Emeric Pressburger, 1948] #156 -UK
16. My Life to Live (Vivre sa vie) [Godard, Jean-Luc, 1962] #160 -France
17. Great Expectations [Lean, David, 1946] #180 -UK
18. Persona [Bergman, Ingmar, 1966] #186 -Sweden
19. L'Avventura [Antonioni, Michelangelo, 1960] #188 -Italy-France
20. Viridiana [Buñuel, Luis, 1961] #212 -Spain
21. Belle de jour [Buñuel, Luis, 1967] #214 -France-Italy
22. Two or Three Things I Know About Her [Godard, Jean-Luc, 1966] #215 -France
23. Last Year at Marienbad [Resnais, Alain, 1961] #216 -France-Italy
24. All That Heaven Allows [Sirk, Douglas, 1955] #235 -US
25. Pandora's Box [Pabst, G.W., 1928] #251 -Germany

26. Days of Heaven [Malick, Terrence, 1978] #264 -US
27. Earrings of Madame de..., The [Ophuls, Max, 1953] #268 -France
28. In the Mood for Love [Wong Kar-Wai, 2001] #272 -Hong Kong-France [photo rt]
29. Blue Angel, The [von Sternberg, Josef, 1930] #273 -Germany
30. Gertrud [Dreyer, Carl Theodor, 1964] #276 -Denmark
31. Last Picture Show, The [Bogdanovich, Peter, 1971] #283 -US
32. Hiroshima mon amour [Resnais, Alain, 1959] #284 -France-Japan
33. Roman Holiday [Wyler, William, 1953] #302 -US
34. Raise the Red Lantern [Zhang Yimou, 1991] #303 -Hong Kong
35. L'Eclisse [Antonioni, Michelangelo, 1962] #305 -France-Italy
36. Lola Montès [Ophüls, Max, 1955] #309 -France
37. Five Easy Pieces [Rafelson, Bob, 1970] #310 -US
38. Repulsion [Polanski, Roman, 1965] #311 -UK
39. Tristana [Buñuel, Luis, 1970] #315 -France-Spain
40. Written on the Wind [Sirk, Douglas, 1956] #317 -US
41. Letter from an Unknown Woman [Ophüls, Max, 1948] #336 -US
42. Last Tango in Paris [Bertolucci, Bernardo, 1973] #337 -France-Italy
43. Senso [Visconti, Luchino, 1954] #353 -Italy
44. Crowd, The [Vidor, King, 1928] #362 -US
45. La Notte [Antonioni, Michelangelo, 1961] #363 -France-Italy
46. Orpheus [Cocteau, Jean, 1950] #364 -France
47. Red Desert [Antonioni, Michelangelo, 1964] #388 -France-Italy
48. Imitation of Life [Sirk, Douglas, 1959] #391 -US
49. Lola [Demy, Jacques, 1961] #394 -France
50. Black Narcissus [Powell, Michael/Emeric Pressburger, 1946] #412 -UK [photo rt]

51. Double Life of Veronique, The [Kieslowski, Krszystof, 1991] #418 -France 52. Marriage of Maria Braun, The [Fassbinder, Rainer Werner, 1979] #426 -Germany
53. Closely Watched Trains [Menzel, Jirí, 1966] #427 -Czechoslovakia
54. Mildred Pierce [Curtiz, Michael, 1945] #445 -US
55. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? [Nichols, Mike, 1966] #446 -US
56. Breaking the Waves [von Trier, Lars, 1996] #449 -Den-Swe-Fr-Neth-Norway
57. Only Angels Have Wings [Hawks, Howard, 1939] #451 -US
58. Now, Voyager [Rapper, Irving, 1942] #452 -US
59. River, The [Renoir, Jean, 1951] #453 -US-India
60. Brokeback Mountain [Lee, Ang, 2005] #454 -US
61. Farewell, My Concubine [Chen Kaige, 1993] #456 -Hong Kong-China
62. Y Tu Mamá También [Cuarón, Alfonso, 2001] #470 -Mexico
63. Passenger, The [Antonioni, Michelangelo, 1975] #472 -Italy
64. In the Realm of the Senses [Oshima, Nagisa, 1976] #479 -France-Japan
65. Life of Oharu, The [Mizoguchi, Kenji, 1952] #480 -Japan
66. Floating Clouds [Naruse, Mikio, 1955] #482 -Japan
67. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning [Reisz, Karel, 1960] #485 -UK
68. Day of Wrath [Dreyer, Carl Theodor, 1943] #488 -Denmark
69. That Obscure Object of Desire [Buñuel, Luis, 1977] #496 -France-Spain
70. My Night at Maud's [Rohmer, Eric, 1969] #498 -France
71. Talk to Her [Almodóvar, Pedro, 2002] #500 -Spain
72. Wrestler, The [Aronofsky, Darren, 2008] #506 -US
73. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors [Parajanov, Sergei, 1964] #509 -USSR
74. Cat People [Tourneur, Jacques, 1942] #516 -US
75. El [Buñuel, Luis, 1953] #520 -Mexico

76. Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, The [Fassbinder, Rainer Werner, 1972] #525 -Germany
77. Wedding March, The [von Stroheim, Erich, 1928] #527 -US
78. Charulata [Ray, Satyajit, 1964] #530 -India
79. In a Year with 13 Moons [Fassbinder, Rainer Werner, 1978] #538 -West Germany
80. East of Eden [Kazan, Elia, 1955] #550 -US
81. Servant, The [Losey, Joseph, 1963] #560 -UK
82. Limelight [Chaplin, Charles, 1952] #569 -US
83. I Vitelloni [Fellini, Federico, 1953] #593 -Italy
84. An Actor's Revenge [Ichikawa, Kon, 1963] #600 -Japan
85. An Affair to Remember [McCarey, Leo, 1957] #602 -US
86. Our Daily Bread [Vidor, King, 1934] #603 -US
87. Moment of Innocence, A [Makhmalbaf, Mohsen, 1996] #607 -Iran-France-Switz
88. I Know Where I'm Going! [Powell, Michael/Emeric Pressburger, 1945] #608 -UK
89. Some Came Running [Minnelli, Vincente, 1958] #609 -US
90. Love Streams [Cassavetes, John, 1984] #617 -US
91. Lancelot du Lac [Bresson, Robert, 1974] #630 -France-Italy
92. Age of Innocence, The [Scorsese, Martin, 1993] #632 -US
93. Fellini's Casanova [Fellini, Federico, 1976] #635 -Italy
94. After Hours [Scorsese, Martin, 1985] #641 -US
95. India Song [Duras, Marguerite, 1975] #642 -France
96. Lolita [Kubrick, Stanley, 1962] #651 -UK
97. Three Colours: Blue [Kieslowski, Krszystof, 1993] #655 -France-Poland-Switz
98. Teorema [Pasolini, Pier Paolo, 1968] #659 -Italy
99. Devil is a Woman, The [von Sternberg, Josef, 1935] #660 -US
100. sex, lies, and videotape [Soderberg, Steve, 1989] #665 -US

101. Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The [Fincher, David, 2008] #667 -US
102. Before Sunset [Linklater, Richard, 2004] #668 -US
103. Walkabout [Roeg, Nicolas, 1971] #674 -Australia [photo rt - this is one of my favorite films]
104. Spring in a Small Town [Fei Mu, 1948] #675 -China
105. La Chienne [Renoir, Jean, 1931] #678 -Japan-China
106. Heiress, The [Wyler, William, 1949] #697 -US
107. Bad and the Beautiful, The [Minnelli, Vincente, 1952] #698 -US
108. Bigger Than Life [Ray, Nicholas, 1956] #699 -US
109. Best of Youth, The [Giordana, Marco Tullio, 2003] #702 -Italy
110. Dames du Bois de Boulogne, Les [Bresson, Robert, 1945] #704 -France
111. Passion [Godard, Jean-Luc, 1982] #705 -France-Switz
112. Sawdust and Tinsel [Bergman, Ingmar, 1953] #716 -Sweden
113. Sauve qui peut (la vie) [Godard, Jean-Luc, 1980] #718 -France-Switz
114. Angel [Lubitsch, Ernst, 1937] #720 -US
115. Brighter Summer Day, A [Yang, Edward, 1991] #722 -Taiwan
116. From Here to Eternity [Zinnemann, Fred, 1953] #728 -US [AA]
117. Splendor in the Grass [Kazan, Elia, 1961] #736 -US
118. Stromboli [Rossellini, Roberto, 1950] #741 -Italy
119. Once [Carney, John, 2006] #745 -Ireland
120. Tarnished Angels, The [Sirk, Douglas, 1958] #763 -US
121. La Belle Noiseuse [Rivette, Jacques, 1991] #781 -France
122. Gilda [Vidor, Charles, 1946] #786 -US
123. Good Will Hunting [Van Sant, Gus, 1997] #791 -US
124. Little Women [Armstrong, Gillian, 1994] #799 -US
125. Dangerous Liaisons [Frears, Stephen, 1988] #802 -US

126. Night of the Shooting Stars, The [Taviani, Paolo & Vittorio Taviani, 1982] #803 -Italy
127. Barefoot Contessa, The [Mankiewicz, Joseph L., 1954] #810 -US
128. Howards End [Ivory, James, 1992] #813 -UK
129. Cleo from 5 to 7 [Varda, Agnès, 1962] #817 -France
130. Pickup on South Street [Fuller, Sam, 1953] #823 -US
131. Ronde, La [Ophüls, Max, 1950] #826 -France
132. Princess Yang Kwei Fei (Yokihi) [Mizoguchi, Kenji, 1955] #829 -Japan-Hong Kong
133. Morocco [von Sternberg, Josef, 1930] #831 -US
134. Two English Girls [Truffaut, François, 1971] #851 -France
135. Amants du Pont-Neuf, Les [Carax, Lèos, 1991] #852 -France
136. Happiness [Solondz, Todd, 1998] #865 -US
137. Liebelei [Ophüls, Max, 1933] #868 -Germany
138. Titanic [Cameron, James, 1997] #874 -US [AA]
139. Cranes Are Flying, The [Kalatozishvili, Mikheil, 1957] #876 -Russia
140. America, America [Kazan, Elia, 1963] #883 -US
141. In the Bedroom [Field, Todd, 2001] #888 -US
142. Law of Desire [Almodóvar, Pedro, 1987] #890 -Spain
143. Flowers of Shanghai [Hou Hsiao-Hsien, 1998] #898 -Taiwan
144. Woman Next Door, The [Truffaut, François, 1981] #908 -France
145. Under the Sand [Ozon, Francois, 2000] #914 -France
146. Peter Ibbetson [Hathaway, Henry, 1935] #916 -US
147. Red Sorghum [Zhang Yimou, 1987] #921 -China
148. Sweet Sixteen [Loach, Ken, 2002] #929 -UK-Gy-Spain
149. Of a Thousand Delights [Visconti, Luchino, 1965] #935 -Italy
150. Queen Kelly [von Stroheim, Erich, 1929] #939 -US

151. Murmur of the Heart [Malle, Louis, 1971] #940 -France
152. Camille [Cukor, George, 1936] #943 -US
153. Ju Dou [Zhang Yimou, 1990] #958 -France
154. Three Colours: White [Kieslowski, Krszystof, 1994] #959 -France-Poland
155. Scenes from a Marriage [Bergman, Ingmar, 1973] #960 -Sweden
156. New York, New York [Scorsese, Martin, 1977] #966 -US
157. Early Summer (Bakushû) [Ozu, Yasujiro, 1951] #978 -Japan
158. Flaming Creatures [Smith, Jack, 1963] #981 -US
159. Crash [Cronenberg, David, 1996] #988 -Canada
160. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring [Ki-duk Kim, 2003] #992 -Korea-Gy
161. Mädchen in Uniform [Sagan, Leontine, 1931] #1007 -Germany
162. Intruder, The (L'innocent) [Visconti, Luchino, 1976] #1027 -Italy
163. Marty [Mann, Delbert, 1955] #1028 -US [AA]
164. Woman of Paris, A [Chaplin, Charles, 1923] #1029 -US
165. Atonement [Wright, Joe, 2007] #1039 -UK
166. Night Porter, The [Cavani, Liliana, 1974] #1048 -Italy
167. Eyes Wide Shut [Kubrick, Stanley, 1999] #1049 -UK-US
168. Leaving Las Vegas [Figgis, Mike, 1995] #1051 -US-UK-France
169. Early Autumn [Ozu, Yasujiro, 1961] #1052 -Japan
170. Out of Sight [Soderbergh, Steven, 1998] #1053 -US
171. Fountainhead, The [Vidor, King, 1949] #1061 -US
172. American Gigolo [Schrader, Paul, 1980] #1062 -US
173. Vive L'Amour [Tsai Ming-Liang, 1994] #1065 -Taiwan
174. Dodsworth [Wyler, William, 1936] #1068 -US
175. Under the Bridges [Kaütner, Helmut, 1945] #1079 -Germany
176. Veronika Voss [Fassbinder, Rainer Werner, 1982] #1084 -Germany
177. Happy Together [Wong Kar-Wai, 1997] #1088 -Hong Kong
178. Portrait of Jennie [Dieterle, William, 1948] #1089 -US
179. Green Ray, The [Rohmer, Eric, 1986] #1100 -France
180. Tobacco Road [Ford, John, 1941] #1101 -US
181. Two for the Road [Donen, Stanley, 1967] #1105 -US
182. Out of Africa [Pollack, Sydney, 1985] #1110 -US [AA]
183. Utamaro and His Five Women [Mizoguchi, Kenji, 1946] #1114 -Japan
184. Ballad of Narayama [Imamura, Shohei, 1983] #1115 -Japan
185. Go-Between, The [Losey, Joseph, 1970] #1118 -UK
186. Days of Being Wild [Wong Kar-Wai, 1990] #1120 -Hong Kong
187. Wuthering Heights [Wyler, William, 1939] #1121 -US
188. By the Bluest of Seas [Barnet, Boris, 1936] #1138 -USSR
189. Year of Living Dangerously, The [Weir, Peter, 1982] #1139 -Australia
190. Saga of Gosta Berling, The [Stiller, Mauritz, 1924] #1148 -Sweden
191. L'Amour Fou [Rivette, Jacques, 1969] #1154 -France
192. Il Posto (The Sound of Trumpets) [Olmi, Ermanno, 1961] #1157 -Italy
193. Wild River [Kazan, Elia, 1960] #1161 -US
194. City Girl [Murnau, F.W., 1930] #1167 -US
195. Slave of Love, A [Mikhalkov, Nikita, 1976] #1168 -USSR
196. Devil in the Flesh [Autant-Lara, Claude, 1947] #1169 -France
197. Way Down East [Griffith, D.W., 1920] #1170 -US
198. Shin heike monogatari (Taira Clan) [Mizoguchi, Kenji, 1955] #1171 -Japan
199. El Sur [Erice, Victor, 1983] #1172 -Spain-France
200. The Unbearable Lightness of Being [Kaufman, Philip, 1988] #1177 -US

201. Seventh Heaven [Borzage, Frank, 1927] #1179 -US
202. Giant [Stevens, George, 1956] #1181 -US
203. Luna [Bertolucci, Bernardo, 1979] #1186 -US-Italy
204. Little Foxes, The [Wyler, William, 1941] #1189 -US
205. Ryan's Daughter [Lean, David, 1970] #1192 -UK
206. Pandora and the Flying Dutchman [Lewin, Albert, 1951] #1197 -UK
207. Pillow Book, The [Greenaway, Peter, 1996] #1199 -UK
208. Sign of Leo, The [Rohmer, Eric, 1959] #1206 -France
209. Barbarian Invasions, The [Arcand, Denys, 2003] #1209 -Canada
210. Samson and Delilah [DeMille, Cecil B., 1949] #1210 -US
211. True Heart Susie [Griffith, D.W., 1919] #1211 -US
212. Jezebel [Wyler, William, 1938] #1213 -US
213. Passion of Anna, The [Bergman, Ingmar, 1969] #1220 -Sweden
214. Sense and Sensibility [Lee, Ang, 1995] #1225 -US-UK
215. Letter to Three Wives, A [Mankiewicz, Joseph L., 1949] #1227 -US
216. Room at the Top [Clayton, Jack, 1959] #1234 -UK
217. Short Film About Love, A [Kieslowski, Krszystof, 1988] #1243 -Poland
218. Ordinary People [Redford, Robert, 1980] #1245 -US
219. Chikamatsu monogatari [Mizoguchi, Kenji, 1954] #1246 -Japan
220. Strangers When We Meet [Quine, Richard, 1960] #1251 -US
221. Toute une nuit [Akerman, Chantal, 1982] #1252 -France-Belgium
222. Bridges of Madison County, The [Eastwood, Clint, 1995] #1253 -US
223. Far from Heaven [Haynes, Todd, 2002] #1257 -US
224. Four Friends [Penn, Arthur, 1981] #1264 -US
225. White Shadows in the South Seas [Van Dyke II, W.S., 1928] #1267 -US
226. Queen Christina [Mamoulian, Rouben, 1933] #1269 -US
227. Before the Revolution [Bertolucci, Bernardo, 1964] #1270 -Italy
228. Chloe in the Afternoon [Rohmer, Eric, 1972] #1272 -France
229. Bay of Angels [Demy, Jacques, 1963] #1275 -France
230. Toni [Renoir, Jean, 1935] #1278 -France
231. My Love Has Been Burning [Mizoguchi, Kenji, 1949] #1280 -Japan

Note:
I had trouble with It's a Wonderful Life, but left it in fantasy-romance for now, it's also one of those drama-comedy films, but I consider it a drama overall. Had I included it here, it would have been #1.

 Faves Listed:
This is a pretty conclusive and long list. Some favorites made it that are often overlooked:
Nicholas Roeg's beautiful Walkabout, from the Australian outback, lyrical, poetic, and primal.
Steven Frears' sophisticated Dangerious Liaisons, which has several career best performances: Glenn Close, Michelle Pfeiffer, John Malkovich, and Uma Thurman, and all were Oscar® nominated.

The Go-Between is a beautiful love story from Joseph Losey, with Alan Bates and Julie Christie, though not yet available on dvd.

The Night Porter is a bizarre s/m love story from Italian Liliana Cavani with Dirk Bogarde's and Charlotte Rampling's best performances, as former Nazi prison camp lovers reunited after the war.

Now, Voyager is a classic that you never hear about, an intelligent adult story as well.

L'avventura still looks modern today, I love the visual compositions of Antonioni here, one of 3 films that Woody said "crossed into art" (Seventh Seal and La Grande Illusion were the other two), definitely his most interesting and sensual film for me.

Atonement should be ranked higher, at least into the top 500; an epic film from a good novel, the long tracking shot at Dunkirk, the plot twists, the incredible performance from Vanessa Redgrave.

This particular Crash, at #159, is SF author J.G. Ballard's (Empire of the Sun) novel about bizarre love among traffic accident survivors, not the best pic one (which is far less interesting than this one) - these are the most erotic performances by Jame Spader, Holly Hunter, and Debra Kara Unger - and maybe Roseanna Arquette as well.

I Would Add (not many)
Rambling Rose [Martha Coolidge, 1991] - Laura Dern, Diane Ladd (her mom), and Robert Duvall are all terrific in this quirky southern drama about a 'lost woman' vs traditional attitudes.
The Game is Over [Roger Vadim, 1966] - Vadim filmed then wife Jane Fonda in Emile Zola's La Curee, in which a new young wife falls in love with her older husband's son, who is her age. Fonda's first serious dramatic part, and her most sensual to me, esp. compared to the coldness of Klute.
The Road Home [Zhang Yimou, 1999] - Yimou's Sundance audience winner has young Ziyi Zhang in her first film, a village girl in love with a teacher who comes there from a city.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Top Ranked Society Drama Films

There are around 725 dramas mentioned in our film survey. We may eventually post the entire list as one, but we decided to break them down in to sub-genres for these posts. We have family drama, romance drama, society dramas as the main groups, while some smaller sets are drama-comedy, mystery drama, fantasy drama. We will also post foreign language dramas separate as well. Once again, we've used the IMDB genre designations. 91 mentioned, with 84 in the top 1000.

Drama – Society
These are dramas whose major point was to make a statement about society, culture, life in general.

1. Citizen Kane [Welles, Orson, 1941] #5 - US
2. Seventh Seal, The [Bergman, Ingmar, 1956] #29 - Sweden [photo top]
3. Pather Panchali / Apu Trilogy I [Ray, Satyajit, 1955] #32 - India
4. Rules of the Game, The [Renoir, Jean, 1939] #44 - France
5. Umberto D [De Sica, Vittorio, 1952] #53 - Italy
6. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest [Forman, Milos, 1975] #54 - US
7. Tokyo Story [Ozu, Yasujiro, 1953] #57 - Japan
8. Ugetsu [Mizoguchi, Kenji, 1953] #58 - Japan
9. 400 Blows, The [Truffaut, François, 1959] #60 - France
10. Conformist, The [Bertolucci, Bernardo, 1970] #76 - Italy-France-Germany

11. Greed [von Stroheim, Erich, 1924] #79 - US
12. Au Hasard Balthazar [Bresson, Robert, 1966] #93 - France
13. Grapes of Wrath, The [Ford, John, 1940] #95 - US
14. To Kill a Mockingbird [Mulligan, Robert, 1962] #96 - US
15. Wild Strawberries [Bergman, Ingmar, 1957] #108 - Sweden
16. Ordet [Dreyer, Carl Theodor, 1955] #111 - Denmark
17. Ashes and Diamonds [Wajda, Andrzej, 1958] #114 - Poland
18. Pickpocket [Bresson, Robert, 1959] #125 - France
19. Pierrot le fou [Godard, Jean-Luc, 1965] #129 - France-Italy
20. Sweet Smell of Success [Mackendrick, Alexander, 1957] #133 - US [photo rt]

21. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles [Akerman, Chantal, 1975] #146 - Belgium-France
22. Broken Blossoms [Griffith, D.W., 1919] #147 - US
23. Woman Under the Influence, A [Cassavetes, John, 1974] #177 - US
24. Ikiru [Kurosawa, Akira, 1952] #198 - Japan
25. L'Âge d'or [Buñuel, Luis, 1930] #217 - France
26. World of Apu, The [Ray, Satyajit, 1959] #218 - India
27. Masculine-Feminine [Godard, Jean-Luc, 1966] #221 - France-Sweden
28. Dekalog [Kieslowski, Krszystof, 1988] #237 - Poland
29. Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom [Pasolini, Pier Paolo, 1975] #240 - Italy
30. Earth [Dovzhenko, Alexander, 1930] #249 - Russia
31. Diary of a Country Priest [Bresson, Robert, 1950] #250 - France
32. Spirit of the Beehive, The [Erice, Victor, 1973] #261 - Spain
33. Leopard, The [Visconti, Luchino, 1963] #269 - Italy
34. Week-End [Godard, Jean-Luc, 1967] #277 - France-Italy
35. All About My Mother [Almodóvar, Pedro, 1999] #288 - Spain-France
36. Aparajito [Ray, Satyajit, 1956] #313 - India
37. Sweet Hereafter, The [Egoyan, Atom, 1997] #319 - Canada
38. Landscape in the Mist [Angelopoulos, Theo, 1988] #321 - Greece-France-Italy
39. Exterminating Angel, The [Buñuel, Luis, 1962] #403 - Mexico
40. Travelling Players, The [Angelopoulos, Theo, 1975] #419 - Greece
41. Last Laugh [Murnau, F.W., 1924] #425 - Germany
42. Death in Venice [Visconti, Luchino, 1971] #433 - Italy
43. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul [Fassbinder, Rainer Werner, 1971] #435 - Germany
44. Music Room, The [Ray, Satyajit, 1958] #438 - India
45. Freaks [Browning, Tod, 1932] #444 - US
46. Children of Men [Meirelles, Fernando, 2006] #458 - Brazil
47. Germany, Year Zero [Rossellini, Roberto, 1947] #467 - Italy-West Germany
48. Kings of the Road [Wenders, Wim, 1976] #491 - Germany
49. Taste of Cherry, A [Kiarostami, Abbas, 1997] #507 - Iran
50. Wind Will Carry Us, The [Kiarostami, Abbas, 1999] #511 - France-Iran

51. Kes [Loach, Ken, 1969] #526 - UK
52. Sátántangó [Tarr, Bela, 1994] #547 - Hungary-Germany-Switzerland
53. Chelsea Girls [Warhol, Andy, 1967] #564 - US
54. Fellini Satyricon [Fellini, Federico, 1969] #570 - Italy
55. Cloud-Capped Star, The [Ghatak, Ritwik, 1960] #594 - India
56. La Terra Trema [Visconti, Luchino, 1948] #605 - Italy
57. Werckmeister Harmonies [Tarr, Bela & Hranitzky, Agnes, 2000] #613 - Hung-It-Gy-France
58. Moolaadé [Sembene, Ousmane, 2004] #616 - Senegal-France
59. Two-Lane Blacktop [Hellman, Monte, 1971] #629 - US
60. Europa '51 [Rossellini, Roberto, 1952] #636 - Italy
61. Dersu Uzala [Kurosawa, Akira, 1975] #645 - Japan-Russia
62. Three Colours: Red [Kieslowski, Krszystof, 1994] #657 - France-Switzerland-Poland
63. Wild Child, The [Truffaut, François, 1970] #671 - France
64. And Life Goes On [Kiarostami, Abbas, 1991] #700 - Iran
65. Where is the Friend's Home? [Kiarostami, Abbas, 1987] #703 - Iran
66. Hart of London, The [Chambers, Jack, 1970] #713 - Canada
67. Through the Olive Trees [Kiarostami, Abbas, 1994] #740 - Iran
68. Barren Lives [Dos Santos, Nelson Pereira, 1963] #753 - Brazil
69. Ghost World [Zwigoff, Terry, 2001] #755 - US
70. Heaven's Gate [Cimino, Michael, 1980] #812 - US
71. Dead Poets Society [Weir, Peter, 1989] #827 - US
72. Ceddo [Sembene, Ousmane, 1977] #835 - Senegal
73. Short Cuts [Altman, Robert, 1993] #842 - US
74. Marooned in Iraq [Ghobadi, Bahman, 2002] #848 - Iran
75. Yellow Earth [Chen Kaige, 1984] #855 - China

76. Woman in the Dunes [Teshigahara, Hiroshi, 1964] #860 - Japan
77. Fellini's Roma [Fellini, Federico, 1972] #862 - Italy
78. Ten [Kiarostami, Abbas, 2002] #892 - Iran
79. Vagabond (Santoit ni loi) [Varda, Agnès, 1985] #893 - France
80. Sugar Cane Alley (Rue case negres) [Palcy, Euzhan, 1983] #894 - France
81. Limite [Peixoto, Mario, 1931] #900 - Brazil
82. Husbands [Cassavetes, John, 1970] #902 - US [photo rt]
83. Red Beard [Kurosawa, Akira, 1965] #922 - Japan
84. Le Fils (The Son) [Dardenne, Jean-Pierre & Luc, 2002] #927 - France
85. Days and Nights in the Forest [Ray, Satyajit, 1970] #1064 - India
86. Le Feu Follet [Malle, Louis, 1963] #1107 - France
87. Eternity and a Day [Angelopoulos, Theo, 1998] #1128 - Greece-Fr-It-Ger
88. 3 Women [Altman, Robert, 1977] #1133 - US
89. King of the Children [Chen Kaige, 1987] #1182 - China
90. Tout va bien [Godard, Jean-Luc & Jean-Pierre Gorin, 1972] #1218 - France
91. Man of Marble [Wajda, Andrzej, 1977] #1249 - Poland