Opinions on BFI 2022 Sight and Sound Poll

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I feel like much of the backlash Sight and Sounds has been getting is ridiculous. The top 100 wasn't just one or two Sight & Sound workers deciding the entire list. It was voted on by over a thousand people (someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that no Sight and Sounds employees or whatnot even vote on their polls) and the reason Jeanne Dielman made it to #1 was because enough of them loved the film and felt it was worthy of making the list. The same applies to how Vertigo dethroned Citizen Kane in the 2012 poll. If the ranking bothers you, then blame the voters.
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I talked with someone about the film this weekend. They said they hadn't heard of it before and I started describing the basic plot. They said, "Wait! Is that the film where at the end ________?" And it was. They said, "You know, I watched that movie back in college (12 years ago). At the time I didn't love it, but I actually think about it all the time even though I didn't remember its name. I remember how she would turn the lights off whenever she left a room to save electricity. I think about her when I turn the lights off when I leave the house."

This anecdote in not necessarily in response to what you wrote above, but just that it was neat to encounter someone who had a different kind of appreciation of the film than mine.

EDIT: Just read the essay you reference and wowza do I feel this in my bones! In �Jeanne Dielman,� it remains ambiguous whether the repetitiveness and routinization of Jeanne�s life erode her sanity, or if, rather, it�s the lockstep structure of her days that wards off darker thoughts and impulses.

It's the kind of article about a film I cherish because it is so rare. It understands the film, articulates her relationship with it, and it is actually written well. A real miracle in these times



I like the director's poll more.

But it still has Moonlight on it! And... Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?!

https://letterboxd.com/bfi/list/sigh...reatest-films/

I love both of those movies, particularly Moonlight, but I could do without either of them on these lists.


Not. Good. Enough.



I feel like much of the backlash Sight and Sounds has been getting is ridiculous. The top 100 wasn't just one or two Sight & Sound workers deciding the entire list. It was voted on by over a thousand people (someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that no Sight and Sounds employees or whatnot even vote on their polls) and the reason Jeanne Dielman made it to #1 was because enough of them loved the film and felt it was worthy of making the list. The same applies to how Vertigo dethroned Citizen Kane in the 2012 poll. If the ranking bothers you, then blame the voters.

I certainly blame the voters for Get Out being on the list, as well as a couple of other wonky ones but yes, people have the right to vote for anything they choose to.

I just seriously question why anyone would choose to

But I am also seriously not concerned about any nonsensical woke conspiracy that seemingly threatens the most fragile of fragile movie 'fans'

But, aside from all of this, and regardless of my tiny handful of gripes, there is way less questionable picks then you normally would get on a list of this size. Like....there's no Shawshank? Right,? Right? Please tell me I'm right. And so that itself is a major victory for taste.



I certainly blame the voters for Get Out being on the list, as well as a couple of other wonky ones but yes, people have the right to vote for anything they choose to.

I just seriously question why anyone would choose to

But I am also seriously not concerned about any nonsensical woke conspiracy that seemingly threatens the most fragile of fragile movie 'fans'

But, aside from all of this, and regardless of my tiny handful of gripes, there is way less questionable picks then you normally would get on a list of this size. Like....there's no Shawshank? Right,? Right? Please tell me I'm right. And so that itself is a major victory for taste.
Sight & Sounds' lists are generally really high quality.

Even their full 1000+ list back in 2012, which can be found here, remains great from beginning to end.



Sight & Sounds' lists are generally really high quality.

Even their full 1000+ list back in 2012, which can be found here, remains great from beginning to end.
I'm sure someone had little fun with breaking ties:

666. The Exorcist (1973)
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As much as The Exorcist is my favorite movie, and as much as I'm more than fine with it not cracking the top hundred....there is something almost criminal with it placing in the 600's.



It's better than The Shining. And The Shining is brilliant.



Sorry if I'm rude but I'm right
https://letterboxd.com/russman/list/...-sight-sounds/

Is a list like that for the 2022 poll available yet?
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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.



As much as The Exorcist is my favorite movie, and as much as I'm more than fine with it not cracking the top hundred....there is something almost criminal with it placing in the 600's.



It's better than The Shining. And The Shining is brilliant.

One downside to the relatively small number of voters and the small number of movies they can vote for (generally, I think the constraint that they have a small number of movies they can vote for is what causes the entries in the top 100 to be generally considered really good), is that once you get below a certain rank, movies are getting relatively few votes, and a few small decisions here and there by a few voters can probably cause a movie to fluctuate a movie's position to fluctuate a crap-ton.


i.e. Below a certain rank, the comparison by rank starts to mean a lot less (for those who don't care, it means even less) the further down you go.



Sight & Sounds' lists are generally really high quality.

Even their full 1000+ list back in 2012, which can be found here, remains great from beginning to end.

Something is off here. On that list, I see Daisies is at 300. Going back to a spreadsheet I created when S&S published the top 250, it's on there at around 210 (I didn't think to put the ordering rank in there, so I don't know the exact rank because of ties, but that does mean it was at least 210).



And fwiw, in terms of availability, I saw someone elsewhere say Jeanne Dielmann was added to the Criterion collection in 2009. It was known before that, but hard to see outside of repertory screenings.
This tracks with @[Frightened Inmate #2]'s statement about it being hard to see before and became a lot more accessible in the last 10 years. Numerically, I think it also tracks with its availability allowing it to get in the top 50 last time.
Since I became aware of it because of the 2012 poll, it was widely available to me in the entire time it existed in my cognitive brain space.



https://letterboxd.com/russman/list/...-sight-sounds/

Is a list like that for the 2022 poll available yet?

If I go to a BFI page for a movie (I basically find these by googling a movie title and BFI), they still list and link to the 2012 data (rankings, who voted for the movie). I'm not sure which comes first, them releasing the full set of data or them updating those pages, but I'd guess those two things would happen around the same time.



mattiasflgrtll6's Avatar
The truth is in here
Why is she stating something false? Black Girl, Get Out and Moonlight are made by black directors, Cléo from 5 to 7 and Portrait Of A Lady On Fire are directed by women. It's not much, but let's not spread incorrect info.

EDIT: I've been told this is about a different list.



Why is she stating something false? Black Girl, Get Out and Moonlight are made by black directors, Cléo from 5 to 7 and Portrait Of A Lady On Fire are directed by women. It's not much, but let's not spread incorrect info.
She means his list:

https://letterboxd.com/coffeevirus/l...ht-sound-list/



Something is off here. On that list, I see Daisies is at 300. Going back to a spreadsheet I created when S&S published the top 250, it's on there at around 210 (I didn't think to put the ordering rank in there, so I don't know the exact rank because of ties, but that does mean it was at least 210).
Here's the source of that list. I think the critics' and directors' lists were combined to make that one, which is why some of the rankings are a bit different in some cases.

https://mubi.com/lists/sight-sound-2...ectors-ballots



That person disappointed in Hertzfeld is being a pest. If directors find value in being inclusive, let them have at it. But to complain someone's honest answer to what their ten favorite movies are is...just **** off...not everything needs to be a statement. Not everything needs to reflect your personal politics.


But also, look at Herzfeldts response. Polite, measured, understands her underlying point but at no point apologizes for his choices. Explains his perfectly rational reasoning for why it isn't as inclusive as this person would like.


It's almost like people make up their own mind what to include, even if there are Twitter dorks like Vinnie out there. Or maybe Herzfeldt just didn't get the memo that he had to choose Jeanne Dielman because of those dastardly, conspiratorial women's who are busy ruining both the world and movie lists.



That person disappointed in Hertzfeld is being a pest. If directors find value in being inclusive, let them have at it. But to complain someone's honest answer to what their ten favorite movies are is...just **** off...not everything needs to be a statement. Not everything needs to reflect your personal politics.


But also, look at Herzfeldts response. Polite, measured, understands her underlying point but at no point apologizes for his choices. Explains his perfectly rational reasoning for why it isn't as inclusive as this person would like.


It's almost like people make up their own mind what to include, even if there are Twitter dorks like Vinnie out there. Or maybe Herzfeldt just didn't get the memo that he had to choose Jeanne Dielman because of those dastardly, conspiratorial women's who are busy ruining both the world and movie lists.

Idk. I'm only going off of the screencap, but I don't think it was that out of line for her to state her opinion the way she did. Maybe she had a reply where she dug in her heels on the need for inclusivity.
Granted, I take statements like that, stated like that, to basically be prompts of asking for an explanation why he chose what he chose, or rather why he didn't choose some other movies.


As I say, without context of seeing if there was a further reply.