{"id":2448,"date":"2023-09-13T10:08:25","date_gmt":"2023-09-13T09:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.watershed.co.uk\/film-academy\/?post_type=faresources&p=2448"},"modified":"2024-10-18T17:22:28","modified_gmt":"2024-10-18T16:22:28","slug":"hardie-writes-best-and-worst-of-film-lists","status":"publish","type":"faresources","link":"https:\/\/www.watershed.co.uk\/film-academy\/resources\/film-criticism\/hardie-writes-best-and-worst-of-film-lists\/","title":{"rendered":"Hardie Writes: Best and Worst of Film Lists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My<\/a> passion for cinema began during adolescence and grew through IMDb\u2019s Top 250 Movies<\/em><\/a> list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entries One to Four of IMDb’s Top 250 Movies (L-R): The Shawshank Redemption, The Godfather, The Dark Knight, The Godfather Part II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remembered entries one through twenty by heart, often reciting them during spirited debates of people\u2019s favourites. <\/a>Martin Scorese\u2019s<\/em><\/a> The Departed was always my go-to pick, coming in at a respectable 45th place \u2013 not as basic as Forrest Gump, not something \u2018old\u2019 like The Great Escape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had objectionably great taste in film, which could not be argued with, and was always destined to be a critic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, after growing up slightly, I began to see some faults with my thought process. If <\/a>Film 4<\/em><\/a> <\/em>hadn\u2019t been my main source for accessing different titles, I wouldn\u2019t have given anything below a 7\/10 my time. Therefore, I was in disbelief upon discovering that <\/a>Ben Wheatley\u2019s<\/em><\/a> horrific masterpiece Kill List only averaged a 6.4 rating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the same vein, there are several \u2018best movies of all time\u2019 which happen to correlate with popular culture from the last decade. Each of them deserve to be in the conversation, but the weighting will always be skewed to modern releases. On the contrary, some of these films are also review-bombed by trolls, so their valuations should be taken with a pinch of salt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Delphine Seyrig<\/em><\/a> <\/em>in Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. Still from FILMGRAB<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Delphine Seyrig<\/em><\/a> <\/u><\/em>in Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. Still from <\/a>FILMGRAB<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following a similar introduction into cinema as me is <\/a>Thomas Flew<\/em><\/a>. Reading 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die eventually led him to becoming Editorial Assistant for <\/a>Sight & Sound Magazine<\/em><\/a>. He discussed how the publication\u2019s critics\u2019 poll has evolved since 1952 on the <\/a>Cinema Rediscovered<\/em><\/a> panel Every List, Everywhere, All at Once: Film Culture in the era of Lists \u2013 chaired by critic <\/a>Tara Judah<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collated once a decade, the Sight & Sound poll was reserved for a select group of highly regarded critics. 25 of 63 established cinephiles put Bicycle Thieves as their number one in the inaugural list, before 145 reviewers solidified Citizen Kane at top spot for the next sixty years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, if <\/a>Roger Ebert<\/em><\/a> deemed the poll \u201cthe only one most serious movie people take seriously”, will watching these 100 films make my cinematic taste objectionable again?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, whilst Sight & Sound may have the \u2018prestige\u2019 over IMDb users, they still came under scrutiny on who participated. Flew explained how the 2022 pool expanded to 1,600 voters in order to diversify participants. Considering Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles then became the first feature directed by a woman to top the list shows a progressive step in the right direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can we quantify \u2018greatest\u2019 anyway? Sight & Sound leaves it open to the artist\u2019s interpretation, using their April 2023 issue to highlight top picks chosen by just one person. Where does Benny Safdie\u2019s<\/em><\/a> <\/em>high valuation of Requiem for a Heavyweight rank amongst more popular choices for example?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dr Elena Gorfinkel’s 2019 essay ‘Against Lists<\/a>‘ for Another Gaze<\/em><\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Alongside my tongue-in-cheek \u2018objectionable\u2019 opinion, top 100s may set a dangerous precedent towards film criticism. <\/a>Dr Elena Gorfinkel<\/em><\/a> <\/em>addressed this matter in her 2019 manifesto <\/a>Against Lists<\/em><\/a> as well as the Cinema Rediscovered panel. Essentially, there\u2019s more concern regarding which piece is perceived better than offering a nuanced opinion on what the art means to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She then remarked on the exclusivity of lists too, with many featuring at best one token woman out of ten. When you then consider the many other underrepresented filmmakers that don\u2019t get a mention at all, Gorfinkel\u2019s manifesto sums it up nicely: \u201cLists are not neutral or innocent or purely subjective\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, compiling lists of films together results in an invaluable resource for <\/a>Arika Oke\u2019s<\/em><\/a> role as Executive Director of Knowledge and Collections at BFI. Similar to the film festival, she detailed how archival work is trying to find different angles for repertory pieces in response to contemporary work. There is an immense catalogue to delve through, so lists are used to navigate uncharted territory instead of pitting art against each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This point was echoed by Ella Kemp<\/em><\/a>, London Editor of Letterboxd. With the tagline \u2018Social film discovery\u2019, Letterboxd is focused on curating what you\u2019ve seen and sharing must-watches amongst friends. Sure, ratings remain a crucial aspect to the site (they also have a top 250, encountering similar issues with IMDb regarding Across The Spider-verse\u2019s popularity surge<\/em><\/a>), but my memory is more reliant on the diary rather than their reviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Miles and Gwen in Across The Spider-Verse (Sony Pictures<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other function Kemp highlighted was user-created lists, which can be made by anyone about any topic without using the star system. These have ranged from <\/a>itemising films at Cinema Rediscovered<\/em><\/a> for research afterwards to help find <\/a>short features when you\u2019re in a rush.<\/em><\/a> It certainly doesn\u2019t solve Gorfinkel\u2019s concerns, but there\u2019s now a larger space for inclusivity within the community\u2019s lists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, whether they\u2019re a rage-inducing hobby or an archivist\u2019s reference, lists are a necessary evil. They\u2019ve provided me with some structure to broaden my horizons, but you could argue that\u2019s restricted my viewing habits. They allow me to produce easily digestible posts on Instagram which likely discourages people from reading my full opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Either way, I look forward to stressing over ranking my \u2018Watched at Cinema Rediscovered\u2019 list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My passion for cinema began during adolescence and grew through IMDb\u2019s Top 250 Movies list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2463,"template":"","faresources_category":[17],"faresources_type":[16],"class_list":["post-2448","faresources","type-faresources","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","faresources_category-film-criticism","faresources_type-article","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHardie Writes: Best and Worst of Film Lists - BFI Film Academy South West<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.watershed.co.uk\/film-academy\/resources\/film-criticism\/hardie-writes-best-and-worst-of-film-lists\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hardie Writes: Best and Worst of Film Lists - BFI Film Academy South West\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My passion for cinema began during adolescence and grew through IMDb\u2019s Top 250 Movies list.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.watershed.co.uk\/film-academy\/resources\/film-criticism\/hardie-writes-best-and-worst-of-film-lists\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BFI Film Academy South West\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BfiFilmAcademyBristol\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-18T16:22:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.watershed.co.uk\/film-academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/review-image.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"624\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"352\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bfi_FAB\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.watershed.co.uk\\\/film-academy\\\/resources\\\/film-criticism\\\/hardie-writes-best-and-worst-of-film-lists\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.watershed.co.uk\\\/film-academy\\\/resources\\\/film-criticism\\\/hardie-writes-best-and-worst-of-film-lists\\\/\",\"name\":\"Hardie Writes: Best and Worst of Film Lists - 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