Skuriels 2012: The Greatest Films Ever

Following in the tradition of Sight & Sound’s Greatest Films poll and recent announcement of its decennial results, participants in the year-end film polls the Muriels and the Skandies combined forces as the Skuriels to determine what these cinephile communities consider the best movies ever.  The results can be found on the official awards site.

As a voter in the Muriels, I was invited to make twenty unranked selections.  I did not have time to contribute any commentary on the individual films in the group’s top 20 or my picks, so I thought I’d use this space to talk a bit about my methodology.

The task at hand was to name the twenty movies that best represent to me the greatest that cinema has to offer.  It probably goes without saying, but trying to winnow the history of cinema down to a list of twenty feature-length films is a foolhardy assignment.  On top of that, how do I distinguish between greatest films and favorite films?  Should I?  And how much consideration should I give to post-1968 films that have had a hard time making inroads in the S&S Top 10?

Although there’s no shortage of certified masterpieces, I decided that my list should be an accurate representation of my tastes and not merely a rubber stamping of canon.  I could have easily voted for twenty films made before I was born, but how interesting would that be?  (As it turns out, nine of those making the cut have been made in my lifetime.)  I made a conscious effort to put all decades on relatively equal footing.  Ultimately I selected the films that have made the biggest impressions on me and that I couldn’t bear to cut from the list.

I’ll note that, for all intents and purposes, BEFORE SUNSET represents it and its predecessor (BEFORE SUNRISE) and THREE COLORS: RED stands in for the trilogy.  Except for CHUNGKING EXPRESS, which I’ve only seen once, I’ve seen these listed films at least twice and count many of them among my most meaningful moviegoing experiences.  These aren’t merely films I like a lot; these are films that have left marks.  This unranked list isn't comprehensive--how could it be?--but it should provide a snapshot of the movies that matter deeply to me.

-The 400 Blows (Les quatre cents coups) (François Truffaut, 1959)
-2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
-After Life (Wandâfuru raifu) (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 1998)
-Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)
-Before Sunset (Richard Linklater, 2004)
-Chungking Express (Chung Hing sam lam) (Wong Kar-wai, 1994)
-Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
-Man with a Movie Camera (Chelovek s kino-apparatom) (Dziga Vertov, 1929)
-Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927)
-Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch, 2001)
-Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967)
-Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954)
-The Red Shoes (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1948)
-Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen, 1952)
-This is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984)
-There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
-Three Colors: Red (Trois couleurs: Rouge) (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1994)
-The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)
-The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les parapluies de Cherbourg) (Jacques Demy, 1964)
-Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)

On year-end awards

When the calendar turns to early December, year-end film awards begin spreading like wildfire across the entertainment media landscape. Whether such honors are bestowed by critics in the biggest cities and longstanding organizations or cinephiles in little-known groups, there is no shortage of these best-of lists. Regardless of all the ink and pixels devoted to these laudatory announcements, what impact they have, be it on box office, Oscar nominations, or filmmaker egos, is hard to say, although I'm inclined to believe it's insignificant on a large scale.

As someone who participates in polls for the Online Film Critics Society, the Central Ohio Film Critics Association, and the Muriel Awards, I can say that it's a fun way of synthesizing a year at the movies even when it can be a frustrating process. Consider it a way for us film writers and movie lovers to engage in imaginary play as Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members in the same way that fantasy sports owners manage teams. The difference is that the outcomes of our games come with internationally distributed press releases whose results may be employed in ads.

I see a lot of movies, so I enjoy putting my knowledge to use in these polls. The exercises aren't without their aggravations. I get irritated when it seems like my colleagues nominate exclusively from awards season openers and readers assume we're trying to predict Golden Globe and Oscar nominees. I would prefer to nominate what I feel is the best from the previous twelve months and leave it at that rather than filling out my sheet with gamesmanship in mind. I don't intend this as a swipe at anyone specifically or the groups in general. Everyone is free to vote as they see fit. I just wish my tastes could be expressed more in the winners.

That's where the Muriels is a salvation for me and my purist's ballot. The group of professional and amateur writers--or maybe paid and unpaid writers is the better phrasing--takes a more expansive view of the year in film. (It helps that the later deadline grants needed time to catch up on year-end platform releases.) Performances and films that wouldn't muster any consideration in awards season coverage aren't necessarily lost causes among Muriels voters.

This goes for overlooked and underappreciated work in mainstream films as well as arthouse and foreign titles. For example, my 2009 nomination ballot included EXTRACT'S Dustin Milligan in Best Supporting Performance, Male and TETRO for Best Cinematography. I could feel free to include both because I knew that such nominations didn't automatically equate to wasting those slots. As it turns out, I was on my own in nominating Milligan and one of seven supporting TETRO.

Whether my favorites come out on top or not, it's gratifying to see the thought put into the nominations--yes, even the head scratchers--and the essays that Muriels voters write about the winners. It's very satisfying for me to see the group recognize deserving work that, for whatever reason, never gains traction among the ad blitzes and campaigns. For instance, my two favorite supporting actress performances of 2010 also snagged the top two spots in Muriels voting, which somewhat remedies their near absence in the awards conversation. Such wins also confirm that these awards reflect a passion for cinema, something that gets lost too often in the incresasingly industry-dominated, year-long chatter.

As the season comes to a close with tomorrow night's Academy Awards ceremony, I encourage you to check out the slow roll-out of this year's Muriels. They're not to be treated as alternative Oscars--in fact, some category winners may be in agreement--but the results and idiosyncratic nominations ought to give cinephiles plenty of suggestions for films to search out. And isn't that the whole reason for doing this anyway?