One of the most enjoyable parts of the Sight & Sound hullaballoo that we go through each decade is finally sorting through the minutia of the lists and seeing what some of the…other choices of the voters were. Over at Criticwire my colleague Matt Singer has done a yeoman’s job sifting through the list to find the most unusual selections were (found here). Tim Burton’s ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ actually got votes, if you can believe it. After the jump you can see the 10 oddest choices from the poll, but remember, this is all in good fun and no one is wrong when it comes to personal love of film (even if one or two of the choices really makes me scratch my head). Take a gander below…
Here’s what Matt found:
Movies That (Shockingly) Received At Least One Vote in Sight & Sound’s Greatest Films Poll
“Anvil! The Story of Anvil” – Diane Negra, Head of Film Studies, University College Dublin
“Dead or Alive 2: Birds” – Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, Film Critic, MUBI
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” – Li Hongyu, Journalist and Editor
“Hitman” – Slavoj Zizek, Philosopher and Cultural Critic
“Metallica: Some Kind of Monster” – Diane Negra, Head of Film Studies, University College Dublin
“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” – Mark Sinker, Writer/Editor
“The Rainmaker” – Martial Pisani, Critic, Independencia
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” – Rob White, Editor, Film Quarterly
“A Serbian Film” – Karen Oughton, Visiting Lecturer, Freelance Film Journalist
“Zoolander” – Fernando E. Juan Lima, Film Critic, El Amante; Charles Whitehouse, Film Critic
-Thoughts? Discuss in the comments!
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12 Comments












Those would be some mindboggling vote getters but I perused the top 235 films on the list… and some of the entries made me wonder who was actually voting on this list (yes I did read the names of all the contributors)..But as much as I loved In The Mood for Love, I don’t think it was that good to be #24 or Mullholland Drive #25. I am familiar with the majority of films on this list and have seen a great many of them…but there were titles that baffled me: Santantago (1994)??? Jean Dielmar Quai De Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)? The Colour of Pomegranates (1968), Touki Bouki (1973) #93?? Where were these films shown??????????? Never heard of them.
I love Dreyer but Gertrud #43??? and Histoires Du Cinema (Godard)??? probably only seen by critics and programmers.
Rio Bravo is #63 much higher than Red River and where the hell is High Noon?
Tree of Life #102 Come on!!!!!
I loved Chunking Express but #144 way ahead of King Kong #171.
And The Texas Chainsaw Massacre #183 ahead of Bunuel’s Discrete Charm of the Bourgeosie #184.
Head scratchers all of them.
jmlatinsir(Quote) (Reply)
A Serbian Film? Bold choice, to be sure. I disagree with every fiber of my being, of course, but I can see the reasoning behind it, I suppose.
UBourgeois(Quote) (Reply)
Zoolander!
Jessie Makowski(Quote) (Reply)
A major philosopher picked “Hitman”. That’s awesome.
I also like that Attenberg got a vote. And The Saga of Anatahan (2 votes!). But nothing for Snatch.
JamDenTel(Quote) (Reply)
Jmlatinsir- There are definitely some choices that I wish the voters would follow up a bit on…
Joey Magidson(Quote) (Reply)
UBourgeois- I understand the reasoning, but there’s got to be a better film than that dreck that fits the bill…
Joey Magidson(Quote) (Reply)
Jessie- Indeed, that got voted for.
Joey Magidson(Quote) (Reply)
JamDenTel- I actually like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, so that vote tickled me…
Joey Magidson(Quote) (Reply)
@ jmlatinsir: I’m confused at your “bafflement” over some of their more obscure picks. Are you implying that films you’ve never heard of shouldn’t be considered for the Sight & Sound list? Speaking for myself I found Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles to be a fascinating example of feminist cinema, and I’ve heard quite a few people stand by Sátántangó as Béla Tarr’s masterpiece (though I’ve never gotten around to seeing myself despite being a huge fan of the director).
If anything, I prefer a top ten film list (of the year, of the decade, of all time) to have at least a few titles I’m unfamiliar with so that I can discover something new, rather than simply look for validation of films I already have an opinion on.
Robert Hamer(Quote) (Reply)
Robert. My comment was directed at the films being so obscure (please note that I asked where were they shown!!! Since I haven’t seen them I could not possibly make a judgement on whether they are good or bad or belong on the list. If anything, my feelings were that there were many other films way down the list that had stood the test of time and deserved a better showing on the list. The two films you mention are way up on the list and fairly recent which evoked my reaction. And yes, that also provoked me into looking them up.
jmlatinsir(Quote) (Reply)
Robert, the only student film I ever made was for a class that focused on the director of ‘Jeanne Dielman,’ Chantal Ackerman. My film was an homage to that criterion classic. Great film…a fascinating 3+ hours even if the end is predictable.
Joseph Braverman(Quote) (Reply)
There’s definitely an appeal to the unfamiliar…I’m more puzzled by the above choices, obviously.
Joey Magidson(Quote) (Reply)