Last January/February was the 25th anniversary of the first rankings I ever wrote, in early 1997 for the movies of 1996. Nearly a year later, it's been closer to 26 years and I do have a total of 26 previous #1s. As you would know, when you have an anniversary of something, it often means you have one more than the number of years in between, seeing as how I revealed a new #1 in both early 1997 and early 2022. You don't need any additional time spent on explanations that seem mildly defensive in nature.
However, I will remind you that in 2022, I rewatched all 26 #1s, starting with the most recent (Our Friend) on January 10th -- actually a part of reassessing it for my 2021 list -- and finishing with Beyond the Hills (my #1 of 2013) on December 12th. The 24 others were spaced at approximately two-week intervals throughout the year, though those were sometimes collapsed (the shortest interval was two days) because I had to expand the interval at other times, as when I went to America (leading to a 39-day interval at that point).
In fact, since I have you, since it doesn't take very much time to read a list (you can just skip it if you want), and since I recorded it (because of course I did), here is the order I watched the movies, along with their dates:
1. Our Friend (1/10/22)
2. A Ghost Story (1/21/22)
3. Looking for Richard (2/1/22)
4. Hustle & Flow (2/12/22)
5. Children of Men (2/26/22)
6. Gosford Park (3/16/22)
7. Parasite (3/30/22)
8. Moon (4/14/22)
9. Titanic (4/25/22)
10. Toni Erdmann (4/27/22)
11. Ruby Sparks (5/13/22)
12. Run Lola Run (5/29/22)
13. I’m Thinking of Ending Things (6/11/22)
14. The Wrestler (6/22/22)
15. Inside Out (7/7/22)
16. Hamlet (7/18/22)
17. Lost in Translation (8/26/22)
18. Adaptation (9/4/22)
19. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (9/16/22)
20. 127 Hours (9/29/22)
21. A Separation (10/11/22)
22. There Will Be Blood (10/24/22)
23. Happiness (11/7/22)
24. First Reformed (11/20/22)
25. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (12/1/22)
26. Beyond the Hills (12/12/22)
Inside Out actually got rewatched twice, since my dad and his wife wanted to watch it while we were visiting them in Maine. If I'd have only known.
The above list also reminds you of the titles we're dealing with ... even though I'm sure you don't need it because most of you devoted Audientheads (Audientphiles?) would have done your due diligence and committed them to memory.
The viewings were of course leading up to an epic ranking of only these 26 titles on Flickchart, which I accomplished with a separate account. I didn't know how long it would take to reach a definitive order, but it took less than a thousand duels, and probably closer to 700. (I didn't make a note of the number of duels when I started. It wasn't zero, as I hijacked this account from when I used it to help determine my top 25 of the 2010s.)
I had thought of doing a set number of duels, but by the end I had gone something like 200 duels without a single lower-ranked movie beating a higher-ranked movie, meaning that the movies had stopped changing positions. Of course, many of these movies had now dueled the same other movie countless times. And it was easy enough to remember the decision I'd made on the previous occasion, so after a while, that's what I remembered rather than giving each of these films a fresh assessment on every new duel. But I also saw no reason to call into question my previous thoughts on the matter, given that they were recorded within the past week.
And after a while it all became a big blur. I'd have to stop and look at the titles carefully as they hard started to lose all meaning. It was coming to the point where I had basically memorized the movie's chart position, and it was easy in one moment to say "Well, #19 obviously beats #22." This was a good indication it was time to stop and to publish this list.
So here are those definitive rankings, with a couple sentences on each to give my thoughts on the ranking, and how the movie may have changed in my mind on this viewing. For the sake of a drama you probably don't need, I'll go ahead and list them in reverse order:
26. Gosford Park - Robert Altman's film has had a lot of challenges in its time since being named my #1 of 2001, as I rather quickly regretted not giving the top spot to Memento, and then it became my only #1 not to make my top 25 of the 2000s, though I did take pity on it in the form of an honorable mention. It's no surprise that my latest rewatch didn't do much to bolster its case, though we're still of course talking about a very good movie here -- just not one that can compete with these others.
25. Hustle & Flow - Craig Brewer's film may have suffered more than any other film I rewatched this year. Don't get me wrong, I still really like it, but there were some moments I found broader and more melodramatic than I remembered, and I couldn't fully get past them. And yes, it kills me that it's so low considering that this is my only #1 where the lead character is Black. (Leave it to Vance, who writes a post about race approximately every three weeks, to bring race into it.)
24. Looking for Richard - It took until 2022 to finally rewatch my first-ever #1, and after 25 years, I did wonder what all the fuss was about. To be sure this is a useful academic and artistic exercise, but it did act as a de facto confirmation of my idea about the "documentary ceiling" -- i.e., the notion that even the best documentaries have a ceiling to their impact on us, especially when up against a narrative film of equal quality. It's no surprise another documentary has yet to scale my year-end heights.
23. Ruby Sparks - This was the other movie (along with Gosford Park) that I knew would likely be in trouble during this project, since it also only made the honorable mentions in my best of the 2010s list posted in early 2020. I think this viewing was a slight improvement on the one in 2019, but it still leaves Ruby Sparks on the outside looking in, the initial excitement I had for it in 2012 steadily becoming more muted over time.
22. I'm Thinking of Ending Things - I've felt very positively about this movie in all three of my viewings since it topped my charts in 2020, but others' criticisms of it have, indeed, seeped into my consciousness over time, maybe especially the very ending of the film -- whether that's just the last few minutes or the 20 minutes before that. For sure Kaufman remains on top of his game here, and as I said previously, this assessment is relative to other #1s.
21. Our Friend - And both of my #1s from the 2020s are in the 20s. This and Looking for Richard are my only two #1s that I've seen only twice, and I am conscious that Our Friend is the only one I did not rewatch specifically for this project -- having retrofit it into the project because I'd already watched it for another reason at the start of 2022. I'm not sure how I would have seen it with a slight adjustment in my agenda, but I did blubber like an idiot in January, and I'm quite fond of this film. (Also, reverse recency bias could be at play. Films need time to amass classic status.)
20. Toni Erdmann - I feel like I have a weaker grasp on my true level of affection for this film than most others on this list. On a good day, it could beat many of the next ten titles ahead of it. However, I do have to acknowledge that there's an uneven quality to Maren Ade's film that may only be exacerbated by its length -- as an example, I still don't really care for the "Greatest Love of All" scene, which many people cite as a standout. Still, Toni Erdmann takes you on a real journey and I still loved that journey after this third viewing.
19. Hamlet - I talked earlier about the documentary ceiling; maybe this is the "Hamlet ceiling." In other words, though I obviously got an incredible amount out of this version of Hamlet back in 2000, it's still Shakespeare's play and it could not have contained any actual surprises for me in terms of the story, just in terms of Michael Almereyda's staging. Again, we're talking about grading on a curve here, and I think pretty soon we'll move into the territory where I can stop apologizing about why one of these excellent films is "so low."
18. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) - Each Birdman viewing, I think it's going to seem significantly worse to me than it did the time before, but that never happens. As I've discussed a couple times on this blog, Birdman backlash is a real thing and I'm not immune to it. But I still think the movie's core trick is a technical wonder, and the themes considered here are interesting ones.
17. The Wrestler - I think I expected Darren Aronofsky's film to drop considerably in my estimation on this viewing, and it totally didn't. I still love Mickey Rourke's performance and am still amazed that Aronofsky can so confidently make a film that seems so fundamentally different, in both style and substance, from out-there movies like Requiem for a Dream and mother!
16. Beyond the Hills - This did suffer just a tiny bit on this viewing, my fourth. Before this project I would guess that this might finish around 11th, which is where it finished on my best of the decade list -- ahead of some films that have yet to make an appearance on this list. I can't rule out that its length, combined with it being the last of the 26 I rewatched, had some impact on me. I was probably exhausted at this point.
15. A Separation - It remains a fascinating social puzzlebox in which not all the clues even mean anything. On this viewing I learned that although you're never actually told what happened to the money that Nader thought Razieh had stolen from him, the answer is in the first 15 minutes of the movie, if only you had known to look for it -- Simin just grabbed it out of the drawer when she needed some money for something. Just one of many reasons this rewards repeat viewings.
14. Happiness - I had thought this was sort of a black sheep among my #1s, and my difficulty getting my hands on it seemed to confirm that. (I ultimately had to buy a DVD copy to be shipped from the U.S.) But I liked this odd, twisted, and strangely humanistic movie as much as ever on this viewing, which allowed it almost to sneak into the top half of my #1s rather than somewhere in the early 20s as I might have forecasted before I started.
13. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - If Happiness is a riser, Eternal Sunshine is a faller. Look, this movie is still crazy brilliant. But on my last two viewings, which came in 2021 and 2022, I have felt a little less enthusiastic about it than originally -- maybe it just seems a little twee. Then again, it's top-notch, high-concept intellectual and emotional creativity on display, and lists like Sight and Sound keep reminding me how great others think it is. At least it's still in the upper half of my rankings.
12. Moon - The pairing of this and my #11 is a pairing of men caught in desperate solo situations from which they might not emerge alive -- and they were also my #1 in consecutive years. I guess I was pretty easy to profile psychologically in 2009 and 2010. (Though I'd only just gotten married in 2008, so let's not read too much into it.) The existential issues at the core of Moon still really do it for me -- though I am starting to doubt if Duncan Jones will ever make another good movie. (Yes, I didn't even care for Source Code.)
11. 127 Hours - The other half of the 11-12 pairing, which probably could have gone either way. Given the other favorites that emerged from 2010 after the fact (Tangled, The Social Network and Rabbit Hole all made my top five of the decade), I kind of thought 127 Hours would be the Gosford Park of its year and this would continue to reflect negatively against it -- but I still like it quite a bit every time I see it, and this viewing was no exception. That it could beat heavy hitters like Moon and Eternal Sunshine is really saying something.
10. A Ghost Story - I've had one sub par Ghost Story viewing mixed in with three great ones, but this year's was one of the great ones. In fact, it was after watching it -- as what proved retroactively to have functioned as my second viewing in the series -- that I decided to go forth with the project of watching all 26 and ranking them. Combined with Our Friend, I was already 1/13th of the way there. The level of existential wonder wrapped in this minimalist indie package continues to knock my socks off.
9. First Reformed - I'm already up to five First Reformed viewings, and it only came out in 2018. I wouldn't keep watching this movie if there weren't something about it that fundamentally speaks to me. Artistically, I feel like there's some element of it that goes hand in hand with A Ghost Story -- maybe it's the 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Even in five viewings I have yet to have an off one, and at this point it looks like I never will.
8. Parasite - With each viewing of Parasite (four now) it reveals itself more and more as a stone cold classic. Forget the fact that I gave it "only" 4.5 stars when it first came out. Bong Joon-ho's film comically yet poignantly examines the same themes as A Separation while containing the sort of narrative surprises Rian Johnson thinks he's giving us in the Knives Out movies. This is a clear riser given that it finished behind both of the previous two movies in the best of the decade list (where it finished 13th), and if I ever do this sort of thing again I suspect it will rise further.
7. Inside Out - There's a perfect echo between this and my top ten of the decade list, as Inside Out finished in seventh in both places. It was my highest #1 movie in that list that was specific to that decade, and still holds that crown here. Perhaps the best indication of its ongoing impact on me is that as mentioned previously, I watched it twice this year -- about three weeks apart, and unwittingly the second time when it was suggested for viewing on a visit to my dad. If anything, it actually might have had even more of an impact on me in the second viewing. Just Pixar at its absolute finest.
6. There Will Be Blood - Even though this movie has always lingered around the middle of my top 100 on my regular Flickchart account, I think of this as possibly the biggest riser as a result of this year's viewing, which just confirmed what a total masterpiece Paul Thomas Anderson's best film is. My relatively recent third viewing was only so-so, but it rocketed back up in my estimation after this one. There's a reason many people consider this the best film of the 2000s.
5. Titanic - My Titanic loyalty knows no bounds. Truth is, as confirmed when I watched this during COVID isolation for probably the fifth time overall, I still get a huge charge out of the spectacle as well as the sweeping old-school romanticism of it all. At this point, the ultimate fodder for backlash will never add me to its list of detractors.
4. Lost in Translation - Given their overwhelming romanticism, and that the years 2003 and 2004 found me in a very melancholy place in that regard, I always link this with Eternal Sunshine in my mind. But while Eternal Sunshine has steadily lost some of its luster, Sofia Coppola's tone poem of dislocation and connection continues to ride its ethereal soundtrack to great heights -- even when I go more than 11 years between viewings, which is what happened in this case.
3. Adaptation - Adaptation has truly been the "little #1 that could," having had times throughout the latter part of its decade when I debated how good it was (it was only 11th on that decade list, which is decent but not fantastic). In the last decade, I have continued to marvel at how it's one of the most ambitious scripts ever written and that every single moment of the film leaves me feeling intellectually thrilled. On the 20th anniversary of its existence, it has forged a permanent place in my affections.
2. Children of Men - This is the only film other than my #1 that had a chance to be my #1, and in fact, it is actually a few spots higher on my regular Flickchart than the one that came out on top here. Instead of bemoaning its failure to become the champion, I'll just say again what a technical masterpiece this is, what a totally realized creation of a future world that easily feels like an outgrowth of our own. And despite its everpresent sense of misery, it touches you with it ultimate optimism. Alfonso Cuaron has made other incredibly praised films, but his achievement here (with a big assist from DP Emmanuel Lubezki) tops all others.
1. Run Lola Run - Although I'm not sure if my #1 ever actually dueled my #2, I had kind of thought from the start that this would end up as my #1, considering that it has spent years now in the top 20 of my regular Flickchart account, and I'd be lying if I said knowing it held that lofty position didn't factor into my duels here. I regularly deferred to the decisions made by Previous Me over many years. Other movies may surge to favorite status among my previous #1s during short periods of time, but Tom Tykwer's film always outlasts them. I need to look no further than two (or was it three?) viewings ago, when I got emotional during the opening credits of Run Lola Run just because they were so awesome.
One more final piece of business I want to accomplish is to see how these rankings deviate from their relative ranking in my actual Flickchart. This year's decisions were made in a smaller set and therefore I find them purer, since they aren't polluted by the imperfection of the process, when more titles are involved, many of which may not be in the correct spot in my Flickchart. Especially since, as I mentioned, their rankings on my normal account were definitely in the back of my mind when I was doing this.
So here's the order these appear on my actual Flickchart, with a number and percentage, and a + or - next to them to indicate if they are relatively higher or relatively lower.
1. Children of Men (17/6201, 100%) -1
2. Run Lola Run (20/6201, 100%) +1
3. Lost in Translation (36/6201, 99%) -1
4. Adaptation (41/6201, 99%) +1
5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (50/6201, 99%) -8
6. Titanic (62/6201, 99%) +1
7. There Will Be Blood (70/6201, 99%) +1
8. Moon (92/6201, 99%) -4
9. A Separation (97/6201, 98%) -6
10. Parasite (144/6201, 98%) +2
11. Inside Out (151/6201, 98%) +4
12. Hamlet (156/6201, 97%) -7
13. Toni Erdmann (158/6201, 97%) -7
14. A Ghost Story (165/6201, 97%) +4
15. Ruby Sparks (166/6201, 97%) -8
16. I'm Thinking of Ending Things (168/6201, 97%) -6
17. First Reformed (169/6201, 97%) +8
18. Happiness (170/6201, 97%) +4
19. Beyond the Hills (171/6201, 97%) +3
20. 127 Hours (185/6201, 97%) +9
21. The Wrestler (194/6201, 97%) +4
22. Our Friend (201/6201, 97%) +1
23. Hustle & Flow (208/6201, 97%) -2
24. Gosford Park (244/6201, 96%) -2
25. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (270/6201, 96%) +7
26. Looking for Richard (275/6201, 96%) -1
Some quick thoughts about this:
- Large variations are generally explained by a movie debuting very highly during my peak enthusiasm for it, then steadily falling as my thoughts take more shape and it begins losing duels. This takes a while though. Ruby Sparks was once as high as around 90 on my Flickchart, and it's taken years to fall only to #166. I sometimes forcibly re-rank a movie if I realize it is way out of place, but in these cases I would just let them gradually fall.
- How funny that four consecutive #1s appear from 168 to 171 on my Flickchart ... and it's actually six out of seven if you consider there are also two at 165 and 166. I guess this is where #1s go to cluster.
- Given that there are some pretty big disparities between these two lists, it lends credence to the idea that even my current ranking of the 26 is not a true indication how I feel about them, and that it just takes one really good or really bad viewing to have a big impact. I don't think I'll be watching any of these for a couple years now, at which point other changes in the way I see the world could impact how I see these movies.
I'll really finish -- no really this time -- with a handful of pormanteaus, since I'll be doing that in a couple weeks for the movies of 2022 and it's already on the brain.
Toni Birdman - A father trying to connect with his daughter joins up with another father trying to connect with his daughter for a road trip involving Raymond Carver adaptations and false teeth.
Children of Erdmann - Ines Conradi is the last pregnant woman on Earth, and is mortified that the world's only grandfather spends his time dressing up in outrageous wigs.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Moon - A clone working on the moon undergoes a procedure to have his memory continually wiped in order to forget the manic pixie dream girl that got away.
Looking for Ruby - It turns out that Shakespeare wrote the world's first manic pixie dream girl, but it takes Al Pacino to explain it to the public.
Inside Our Friend - The emotions inside a terminal cancer patient try to boost her spirits by restarting Goofball Island.
Gosford Parasite - A wealthy British estate owner is stabbed not by one of the guests at his party, but by the stir crazy Korean living in a hidden bomb shelter in his basement.
Lost in Separation - In order to reinvigorate their failing marriage, Nader and Simin travel to Tokyo and pretend to meet as strangers in a hotel bar.
There Hills Be Blood - Daniel Plainview is the victim of witchcraft when he attempts to drill for oil on the land of a Romanian convent.
Okay maybe more than a handful.
Four directors of my 26 #1s have a new movie in 2022, those being Darren Aronofsky, James Cameron, Cristian Mungiu and Alejandro G. Inarritu. I don't think I'll be able to get to Mungiu's R.M.N. (which might end up being a 2023 movie), but I should catch the others.
Do any of them have a chance to be my first two-time #1 director? You'll find out in about three weeks.
And that brings this 25th anniversary celebration of looking back on my former #1s to a close. See you in another 25 years.
No comments:
Post a Comment