My Top 10 Films
By my reckoning, it’s a week until Sight and Sound, the British Film Institute’s magazine, releases the results of its ten yearly poll. For those not in the know – every ten years, beginning in 1952, Sight and Sound has surveyed the world’s directors and critics and asked them what they think the 10 best films of all time are. Every decade but the first has seen Citizen Kane come in at number 1. I suspect this year will see Kane lose that top spot for the first time since ’52 – Tokyo Story might rise above it, as might Sunrise (a film more viewed and accessible now and in a quality blu-ray print). As is usual, I suspect no film more recent than 1979 will make the list. In 1961, Penelope Houston, then editor of the magazine, asked people to play this “impossible but intriguing game again” and nominate 10 films. Nick James, the current editor, has been doing the same again over the last twelve months. Because I’m not a famous di...