Therein, perhaps, lies the appeal. The pretence of prestige - a personal canon - with an air of impermeability, is what makes the new discoveries all the more exciting.
Below is the list I'm submitting as part of the Filmspotting forum's annual ballot. I'm happy with it - happy, that is, with the fact it comes with limitations. The first 48 films were guaranteed - they're the lucky few to which I give top marks.
After that, things get tricky. Without time to revisit every contender, you aim for a balance between gut instinct and the notes you wrote at the time. There are nine titles included here on the strength of one viewing: casting a glance, Comrades, Days of Hope, Deseret, RR; and Archipelago, Dead Ringers, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu and Land and Freedom - the last four of these survived an overhaul of the list I submitted two years ago.
Filmspotting ballots are tiered; the higher up a list, the more points a film receives. To counter accusations of self-seriousness (these things are meant to be fun!) and to allow for greater fluidity (all these films are excellent!), I've alphabetised each tier.
See also: Yearly Top Tens
1 | 10/10 French Connection, The | 1971 | Friedkin |
| --------- | ----------------------------------------------- | ----------- | ------------------ |
| 2 to 5 | Chinatown | 1974 | Polanski |
| North by Northwest | 1959 | Hitchcock | |
| Rear Window | 1954 | Hitchcock | |
| Singin’ in the Rain | 1952 | Donen/Kelly | |
| --------- | ----------------------------------------------- | ----------- | ------------------ |
| 6 to 10 | I Don't Want to Sleep Alone | 2006 | Tsai |
| Psycho | 1960 | Hitchcock | |
| Robinson in Ruins | 2010 | Keiller | |
| Rope | 1948 | Hitchcock | |
| Vertigo | 1958 | Hitchcock | |
| --------- | ----------------------------------------------- | ----------- | ------------------ |
| 11 to 20 | Apocalypse Now | 1979 | Coppola |
| Blue Velvet | 1986 | Lynch | |
| Children of Men | 2006 | Cuarón | |
| Die Hard | 1988 | McTiernan | |
| Fly, The | 1986 | Cronenberg | |
| Godfather Part II, The | 1974 | Coppola | |
| New World, The | 2005 | Malick | |
| Police, Adjective | 2009 | Porumboiu | |
| Southern Comfort | 1981 | Hill | |
| Videodrome | 1983 | Cronenberg | |
| --------- | ----------------------------------------------- | ----------- | ------------------ |
| 21 to 30 | Conversation, The | 1974 | Coppola |
| Double Indemnity | 1944 | Wilder | |
| Eternal Sunshine . . . | 2004 | Gondry | |
| Home Alone | 1990 | Columbus | |
| Kes | 1969 | Loach | |
| Satan's Tango | 1994 | Tarr | |
| Take It Or Leave It | 1981 | Robinson | |
| Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The | 1974 | Hooper | |
| Werckmeister Harmonies | 2000 | Tarr | |
| Zodiac | 2007 | Fincher | |
| --------- | ----------------------------------------------- | ----------- | ------------------ |
| 31 to 40 | Alien | 1979 | Scott |
| Birds, The | 1963 | Hitchcock | |
| Citizen Kane | 1941 | Welles | |
| Don't Look Now | 1973 | Roeg | |
| Eraserhead | 1977 | Lynch | |
| Godfather, The | 1972 | Coppola | |
| Jurassic Park | 1993 | Spielberg | |
| Songs From the Second Floor | 2000 | Andersson | |
| West Side Story | 1961 | Wise/Robbins | |
| You, the Living | 2007 | Andersson | |
| --------- | ----------------------------------------------- | ----------- | ------------------ |
| 41 to 60 | Blackmail | 1929 | Hitchcock |
| Bride of Frankenstein | 1935 | Whale | |
| Days of Heaven | 1978 | Malick | |
| Festen | 1998 | Vinterberg | |
| Frankenstein | 1931 | Whale | |
| Ghostbusters | 1984 | Reitman | |
| Ghostbusters II | 1989 | Reitman | |
| Wicker Man, The | 1973 | Hardy | |
| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | - - - - | - - - - - - | |
| 9/10 Damnation | 1988 | Tarr | |
| Days of Hope | 1975 | Loach | |
| Fargo | 1996 | Coen/Coen | |
| Heat | 1995 | Mann | |
| Insider, The | 1999 | Mann | |
| King of Comedy, The | 1983 | Scorsese | |
| London | 1994 | Keiller | |
| Prestige, The | 2006 | Nolan | |
| Robinson in Space | 1997 | Keiller | |
| Syndromes and a Century | 2006 | Weerasethakul | |
| True Confessions | 1981 | Grosbard | |
| Wind That Shakes the Barley, The | 2006 | Loach | |
| --------- | ----------------------------------------------- | ----------- | ------------------ |
| 61 to 80 | Adventures of Robin Hood, The | 1938 | Keighley/Curtiz |
| Assassination of Jesse James . . . | 2007 | Dominik | |
| Badlands | 1973 | Malick | |
| Casablanca | 1942 | Curtiz | |
| Deer Hunter, The | 1978 | Cimino | |
| Deseret | 1995 | Benning | |
| Gladiator | 2000 | Scott | |
| In the Mood for Love | 2000 | Wong | |
| Jaws | 1975 | Spielberg | |
| LA Confidential | 1997 | Hanson | |
| Last Year in Marienbad | 1961 | Resnais | |
| Laura | 1944 | Preminger | |
| Lawrence of Arabia | 1962 | Lean | |
| M | 1931 | Lang | |
| Price of Coal 1: Meet the People | 1977 | Loach | |
| Proof of Life | 2000 | Hackford | |
| Riff-Raff | 1991 | Loach | |
| Seven | 1995 | Fincher | |
| Third Man, The | 1949 | Reed | |
| Warriors, The | 1979 | Hill | |
| --------- | ----------------------------------------------- | ----------- | ------------------ |
| 81 to 100 | All the President’s Men | 1976 | Pakula |
| Archipelago | 2010 | Hogg | |
| casting a glance | 2007 | Benning | |
| Circus, The | 1928 | Chaplin | |
| Comrades | 1986 | Douglas | |
| Dead Ringers | 1988 | Cronenberg | |
| Death of Mr. Lazarescu, The | 2005 | Puiu | |
| Elena | 2011 | Zvyagintsev | |
| Irreversible | 2002 | Noé | |
| Kind Hearts and Coronets | 1949 | Hamer | |
| King Kong | 1933 | Cooper/Schoedsack | |
| Land and Freedom | 1995 | Loach | |
| Modern Times | 1936 | Chaplin | |
| Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horrors | 1922 | Murnau | |
| Paris, Texas | 1984 | Wenders | |
| Rebecca | 1940 | Hitchcock | |
| RR | 2007 | Benning | |
| Terminator, The | 1984 | Cameron | |
| Thin Red Line, The | 1998 | Malick | |
| Unknown, The | 1927 | Browning |
