THE LISTS: Duncan's 25 Greatest Films of All Time

Two days ago marked the enormous milestone of Sight and Sound Magazine's poll of the greatest films of all time. It wasn't quite a matter of what was most at the top, and more of what was on the most Top 10 lists. Given that, it's rather unsurprising what landed at the top, given that it's a much more unanimously acclaimed film than "Citizen Kane", which has suffered from a "top dog fatigue" that most associate it with. Being hailed as the end-all-be-all of cinema takes away some of the wonder from it, like you're not coming upon something fresh for you specifically. It becomes a corporatized experience instead of a personal one. For that reason, "Citizen Kane" just didn't figure into my Top 10, or even 25.

But hey, it's a personal list after all. Not everyone operates under the same criteria, and nobody sticks with the same criteria on every approach at a list. Egregious amounts of ranking with years, decades, and trying to meld those two lists together, ultimately fell apart to a rather hollow and uninteresting list. Going film-by-film asking "Is this better than this?", quickly grew rather tiresome and became an overwhelming chore. A list like this shouldn't come across so mechanically, and it should be a pleasant experience in arriving on certain films rising to the front. So I attempted for a much simpler, far less foolproof approach.

THE LISTS: Ranking Claire Denis

In case you've been wondering about where the grand scope of my film oriented focus has been for the past couple months, I have honestly been caught up in other things involving rigorous schoolwork. Somehow this semester has been drain, though I don't wish to burden you with the boorish details. Let's just say, my heart has been torn up through stresses of extreme panic. On the one end, I've been completely unwilling to give myself to a production assignment requiring a hefty sum of money towards 16 mm film, along with all the acquaintances necessary to make a film go off without a hitch. At a stage when college itself is proving a drain, this has been an unnecessary extra weight.

On the other hand, I've also been immersed in one of the most amazing class experiences I've had in my two years here, which has done quite a bit towards convincing me that critical studies is where it's at, rather than production. The past couple of months have given me a much desired crash course in the cinema of Claire Denis, whom I had become simply acquainted with last year via Netflix. How taken with her was I before? Well, I've owned the Criterion DVD of "White Material" since my last birthday, so I suppose that's something. But I had admittedly only seen that and "35 Shots of Rum" before the class I had on her this semester.