This was actually one of the initial projects I had in mind when starting this Patreon, or at least some means of covering/beginning to reckon with the latest edition of the Sight & Sound poll. Despite running an entire account dedicated to the individual lists, I feel I’ve been a bit negligent with this task, and this preliminary run-through feels like as good a place to start as any. Originally, when this Patreon was going to be more audio-focused (and thus easier to formulate without editing), I was just going to ramble on about all these films for as long or short as I wanted; hopefully writing will encourage some brevity.

I’ll be tackling the entire top 250 (technically 264 thanks to ties) in somewhat irregular fashion, gathering up films according to the other ones in similar tiers, starting from the end of the list. No particular research — apart from tracking the film’s previous placement, in the 2012 poll, which I’ll note in brackets — should be expected; these are gut reactions, and I think I’ve only seen about half of these films anyways.

243. Born in Flames (1983, Lizzie Borden) [894]

One of many odd films that, given the ascension of Jeanne Dielman in particular, feels preordained to be in this list, despite just one critic (B. Ruby Rich) voting for it last time around. It is a film I love (though not as much as some) and I know has a wide following, not just among queer critics, for its concatenation of so many influences including genre filmmaking; happy to see it here.

243. Pandora’s Box (1929, G. W. Pabst) [235]

A film I’m both surprised and not to see in this list; it’s always held a canonical place in my mind (I haven’t seen it) despite no real movement from a restoration and zero day-to-day discussion, the Criterion DVD remains un-upgraded too.

243. Sullivan’s Travels (1941, Preston Sturges) [235]

Definitely going to run into the problem throughout this short-ish project of films I haven’t seen and have held steady; haven’t been able to identify any trend with screwball comedies in particular, though I wouldn’t necessarily have thought of this as *the* consensus Sturges.

243. Annie Hall (1977, Woody Allen) [127]

Was inevitable this was going to drop hard, though I’m glad it’s still clinging on in the top 250; don’t recall whether there were any other Allens like Manhattan or Crimes and Misdemeanors before.

243. Earth (1930, Alexander Dovzhenko) [171]

Definitely dismaying to see this drop, though it’s true that there still hasn’t been a great copy available in North America or elsewhere; it’s not true that silent films dropped throughout the list, but it’s certainly a trend.

243. My Darling Clementine (1946, John Ford) [235]

The first of three semi-inconsistent results for Ford, no truly significant change here; obviously it’d be a surprise to see something like Stagecoach in here at this point but this being his only pre-1955 film is a little odd.

243. Mouchette (1967, Robert Bresson) [117]

Somehow not the biggest or most disappointing drop for a Bresson film; not my favorite of his but still extremely significant and beautiful, and I wonder if the subject matter helps or hurts it.

243. A Clockwork Orange (1971, Stanley Kubrick) [235]

Surprised that this has held on fairly well despite renewed challenges from the likes of Eyes Wide Shut; only seen this once and pretty sure I’d detest it if I got around to rewatching it.

243. A Canterbury Tale (1944, Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger) [117]

Don’t know whether to be more surprised that it was so high in the first place or that it’s fallen so far; in general the variance in Powell and Pressburger results is one of the most interesting throughlines in this list.

243. Videodrome (1983, David Cronenberg) [202]

Would have guessed that this wasn’t in the top 250 last time but I was wrong; very fascinating to see this drop while another Cronenberg pops up towards the end of this entry.

243. Possession (1981, Andrzej Żuławski) [447]

One of those no-brainer rises, thanks partly to a restoration (though one more than six years old at this point) and much more to this film’s continual meme status; very much doubt On the Silver Globe for example did better though.

243. Soleil Ô (1970, Med Hondo) [N/A]

The first totally new entry to the Sight & Sound poll, definitely one of the prime examples on the renewed focus on Black and African cinema throughout this top 250; for some reason I had it in my head that this, not West Indies, was the canonical Hondo.

243. Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988, Terence Davies) [154]

One of the sadder drops, don’t really know how British film fared generally but would have thought, with Davies’ queer cachet and continually renewed interest due to subsequent films great films, he would have done better.

243. Nostalgia for the Light (2010, Patricio Guzmán) [447]

Pleasantly surprised to see this, obviously it isn’t a film that’s been forgotten and Guzmán has done more well-received work before and in the interim, but it’s one I never hear discussed.

243. Syndromes and a Century (2006, Apichatpong Weerasethakul) [447]

My favorite Apichatpong and one beloved as an alternative pick, so it’s not the biggest surprise to see this hanging on in the top 250, but still not a selection I expected to see.

243. L’Intrus (2004, Claire Denis) [377]

This actually did better in 2012 than I had realized, and I suppose it fulfills a similar Syndromes niche, but it’s very strange that this might be the second most popular Claire Denis film (thought it certainly is one of the *most* Denis films).

243. Morvern Callar (2002, Lynne Ramsay) [894]

Don’t know exactly how Ramsay’s other films did; I’ve only seen You Were Never Really Here and hated it but definitely look forward to catching up with this one, which received a (very recent) Blu-ray and I know has always had admirers, and seems like a signal one to rally around for this sort of list.

243. In Vanda’s Room (2000, Pedro Costa) [323]

This is a surprise at least to me; for some reason I’ve always thought of Colossal Youth as the canonical Costa (maybe it’s the title), despite how well this has done in decade polls and its significance as his first digital film, but it did well in 2012 too. Couldn’t be happier to see him here.

243. Werckmeister Harmonies (2000, Tarr Béla and Hranitzky Ágnes) [171]

Wonder how this would have done had the restoration come out a few years earlier, though Tarr is always one of those filmmakers that perennially seems both in and out of fashion.

243. Taste of Cherry (1997, Abbas Kiarostami) [283]

Very nice to see this get a slight but crucial bump, I honestly don’t think the restoration had much to do with it though; Kiarostami in general did quite well in this edition.

243. The Quince Tree Sun (1992, Víctor Erice) [283]

Another unexpected inclusion, though it was already just outside the top 250; I don’t know how well El Sur, the only Erice not to make it, did.

243. The Last Laugh (1924, F. W. Murnau) [127]

Murnau in general took an even greater beating than most other silent cinema directors, and this drop was especially egregious; his most significant film I haven’t yet seen I should point out.

225. Harlan County U.S.A. (1976, Barbara Kopple) [894]

Haven’t yet gotten a sense of exactly how well documentaries improved (my friends on the Wiseman Podcast seem to suggest not much as all), but this is practically an expected jump up, especially considering the timeliness of the subject matter and the filmmaker.

225. Cries and Whispers (1972, Ingmar Bergman) [154]

Fortunately (for me) Bergman didn’t do as well as in past editions, this is the biggest drop, though don’t think it’s the most significant or important.

225. Star Wars (1977, George Lucas) [171]

A little surprised both by seeing this on these sorts of lists and that it dropped so much; I’d wager that the sequel trilogy and myriad TV shows didn’t actually have too big an effect though.

225. Intolerance (1916, D. W. Griffith) [93]

Here it is, the lowest placing previous top 100 film and only one not in the top 200. Obviously basically everything is working against it: the ongoing rejection of Griffith, the slight bias against silent films; it’d be terrible if it didn’t have some place in this list, though I still haven’t gotten around to it.

225. The Hour of the Furnaces (Fernando Solanas & Octavio Getino) [447]

An inclusion that’s surprising but obvious in hindsight; now makes me realize that The Battle of Chile seems like a more expected inclusion than Nostalgia but the three-part construction undoubtedly worked against it.

225. Europa ’51 (1952, Roberto Rossellini) [377]

Absolutely zero idea why this of all Rossellinis jumped up so high even though it is pretty great; definitely worth noting the worse placing of the other Rossellini-Bergman on this list.

225. Napoléon (1927, Abel Gance) [144]

A very unfortunate drop despite the relative recency of the apex of Kevin Brownlow’s restoration; other than the silents and maybe the ardent royalism I don’t know why this happened.

225. The Crowd (1928, King Vidor) [283]

Another sort of baffling entrant into the top 250; Vidor always feels in the process of rediscovery but relative recognizability of this one aside, it’s a bit strange to see here.

225. A Touch of Zen (1971, King Hu) [183]

The first of these that I voted for myself, and of course this was when it dropped; still the highest wuxia *or* martial arts representative but really disheartening to see, almost felt like an obvious pick to me.

225. Je, tu, il, elle (1974, Chantal Akerman) [N/A]

Honestly stunned that, as far as I can tell, this received absolutely zero votes in 2012, for sheer recognizability and its significance as her narrative debut alone, though this is a trend for Akerman.

225. Petite Maman (2021, Céline Sciamma) [N/A]

I like this one a lot more than its even more grotesquely overhyped predecessor, and I remembered it as being higher than it actually is, but still a baffling inclusion on here, especially because of how forthrightly minor it is (perhaps a benefit after all).

225. As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000, Jonas Mekas) [588]

I had no clue that this was so low (relatively speaking) on the past list, and I don’t know how well Mekas did otherwise. Experimental film did better in sum total, but this was a nice surprise.

225. Flowers of Shanghai (1998, Hou Hsiao-hsien) [235]

A nice modest gain, probably helped just the tiniest of bits by the restoration, though it doesn’t seem to have done a ton for Hou otherwise.

225. Happy Together (1997, Wong Kar-wai) [323]

A little surprised this appears to be the consensus third favorite Wong (justice as ever for Days of Being Wild) but a definite sign of the constant uptick in his reputation and beloved status.

225. Crash (1996, David Cronenberg) [894]

I don’t know whether I’m more surprised at the fact that this got a vote at all in 2012 or that it actually surpassed Videodrome to become the favorite Cronenberg; it really feels like it only became widely loved in the past few years (pre-Blu-rays mind you) so for it to achieve this status so quickly is really something, definitely has to do with its inherent foregrounding of queerness.

225. Blue (1993, Derek Jarman) [894]

This was a real shock, a film seemingly destined to be canonized instantly that nevertheless received just one vote in 2012; could certainly chalk this up to the better appreciation of experimental film generally; very much doubt that Jarman otherwise got much love.

225. Grave of the Fireflies (1988, Takahata Isao) [588]

I wonder how Takahata’s other films did; a little surprising that this jumped up so much, the placement of two Miyazakis in the top 100 notwithstanding. It’s the one of his I don’t like but very much need to revisit.

225. The Green Ray (1986, Éric Rohmer) [283]

Seems to have become not just a consensus Rohmer but perhaps his most beloved film period, eclipsing My Night at Maud‘s; obviously I feel he should have at least five films in the top 250 instead of just one, but this is a great representative nonetheless.