Sight & Sound's Top Ten of 2013

For the films of 2013
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Precious Doll
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Re: Sight & Sound's Top Ten of 2013

Post by Precious Doll »

Worth noting the runner ups of the Sight & Sound poll, having received by paper version today.

11. Before Midnight
= Strays Dogs (Tsai Ming-liang)
13. Leviathan
14. 12 Years a Slave
= A Field in England
= All Is Lost
17. Bastards
= Gloria
= Story of My Death (Albert Serra0
= The Missing Picture (Rithy Panh)
= Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)
22. At Berkeley (Frederick Wiseman)
= Beyond the Hills
= Blancanieves
= Blue Jasmine
= Django Unchained
= Ida (Pawel Pawlikowski) (My best of 2013 so far)
= Inside Llewyn David
= It's Such a Beautiful Day (Don Hertzfeldtz)
= The Last of the Unjust (Claude Lanzmann)

It should be noted that contributors are limited by what they have seen and that some of these films will end up appearing in Sight & Sounds 2014 list.
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Re: Sight & Sound's Top Ten of 2013

Post by ksrymy »

I'm not calling everyone who didn't like it a pretentious ass. Around the various boards and groups I engage in online, it has just been made very clear to me that the people who are most outspoken about their hatred of Cuarón's picture are the same people who only seem to take pleasure in watching films the mainstream would not care for - these are the same people who only take their opinions into consideration as the end-all be-all. I can see how Gravity has its detractors - it has its flaws, but I still see how much good there is in it.

If I offended anyone with an assumed glittering (or unglittering) generality, I apologize.
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Re: Sight & Sound's Top Ten of 2013

Post by ITALIANO »

I didn't know that you are 22. I think that for someone who's so young watching - and appreciating - films like Last Year in Marienbad is a very good sign. And I wouldn't even say that liking Gravity is a terrible, unforgivable thing - I don't know, at 22 maybe I would have liked it, too, and anyway there are many of my age or older who think it's a very good movie. I don't agree at all, but at the moment I am in the minority. A proud minority, but still a minority.

What I don't like is calling those who don't like it (or any other movie) "pretentious asses", just that. It's the easiest thing to say, and quite unfair, too. And it can be risky, too - who knows, in a few years maybe you also will see Gravity under a different light (I certainly hope you will), because we all change, growing up.

Unfortunately I have only seen three movies on this list. I will soon see Frances Ha and Stranger by the Lake, too. But for example I can't see how Gravity can be rated higher than Blue is the Warmest Colour and The Great Beauty. One can like Gravity, it definitely has its good aspects - but at least these two other movies (and, again, I haven't seen the others) are quite objectively better.
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Re: Sight & Sound's Top Ten of 2013

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I'm still developing taste. The films I see you all have seen before. I'm only 22. Give me some time.
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Re: Sight & Sound's Top Ten of 2013

Post by Eric »

Probably because they see a naked fool.
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Re: Sight & Sound's Top Ten of 2013

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I'm not calling anyone here a pretentious ass; I'm simply clueless as to why, to put it in terms put here, these people have the innate need to feel like the kid in The Emperor's New Clothes.
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Re: Sight & Sound's Top Ten of 2013

Post by Big Magilla »

Eric wrote:I think every movie deserves to bear the scrutiny of detractors. I believe all DVD commentary tracks extolling the virtues of the film in question should be doubled up against a second track from someone pointing out its faults.
I doubt we'll ever see something like that, but the best commentaries are from film critics and historians who point out both a particular film's virtues and faults as do some commentaries from the filmmakers themselves. The worst commentaries are generally from actors who only want to talk about themselves.
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Re: Sight & Sound's Top Ten of 2013

Post by Eric »

The Original BJ wrote:As someone who is a fan of Gravity, I would want to chime in and say that calling people who don't like the movie pretentious asses doesn't seem exactly fair to me, especially because, at least when it comes to this movie, no one around here has been behaving that way. All of the detractors here have been pretty thoughtful, and I don't think it really encourages interesting discussion to dismiss people just for going against the grain on a near-universally praised movie.

And, along those lines, I don't think the fact that Sight & Sound and Cahiers placed it highly on their year-end lists "proves" anything, other than that those critics like the movie. Someone who doesn't like Gravity isn't going to suddenly change their opinion because those organizations gave it a stamp of approval, nor should they.
I think every movie deserves to bear the scrutiny of detractors. I believe all DVD commentary tracks extolling the virtues of the film in question should be doubled up against a second track from someone pointing out its faults. There is no movie that's impervious to criticism, at all.

... except La Jetee. If you think there's thing one wrong with that film, you can go take a flying leap.
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Re: Sight & Sound's Top Ten of 2013

Post by ITALIANO »

And by the way, I didnt have to wait for the movie to be "critically acclaimed" - I saw through it right from the first moment, on its opening weekend. Well-made but absolutely empty (which doesnt necessarily mean "for the empty-headed"). I didn't even hate it - it's too obviously "light" - and I think I was quite objective in my view of it. Only later, when it became "the movie one has to love" (not only on this board, and not only in America), I admit that I was a bit annoyed. But I mustn't be: I'm old enough, I've seen countless movies like this - the so-called masterpieces which critics feel compelled to appreciate in order to be close to the "ordinary people" (a populistic approach that often intellectuals can't avoid), and in turn ordinary people feel right about loving them because they got the stamp of approval from the critics. Cinema often works this way. These "masterpieces" are always forgotten after a few years.

As for calling others "pretentious asses", well... I shouldn't probably comment, and I don't want to go into that. I'll just say that we've seen that before too, and, how shall I put it... ok, I hope that Ksrymy will agree: it's the kind of desperate reaction which doesn't come from the brightest minds around. Not a sign of genius, let's say so. Not even a sign of stupidity, don't get me wrong. Rather of a limited, but still average, intelligence. So don't worry.
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Re: Sight & Sound's Top Ten of 2013

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ksrymy wrote:It's just become the film everyone with "classier" taste in cinema loves to hate this year. Since its critical acclaim, everyone has been trying to pick it apart and demolish it. This, along with the Cahiers, shows its undeniable power and beauty.
Honey, being such a gracious person yourself, you just don’t have the ability to get what drive us pretentious asses – we just love imagining ourselves being the little boy of The Emperor’s New Clothes. I’m afraid we’re gonna become more and more self righteously obnoxious as the Gravity avalanche gets bigger. Beware.
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Re: Sight & Sound's Top Ten of 2013

Post by Precious Doll »

It's worth noting that Jonathan Romney review of Gravity in the recent December edition of Sight and Sound was somewhat mixed. He praised the technical achievements of the film (how couldn't one - they are brilliant) but was very lukewarm on the human drama of the piece.

Of course Sight and Sounds end of year poll is based not only on the critics who write reviews on a monthly basis for the magazine but other critics from around the globe as well. Much in the same way the Film Comment does.

One of the problems with all of these end of year lists is that not everyone has seen everything due to the different release dates across the globe along with festival screenings from which critics include in their choices.

I have seen 7 of the films on the list and won't be seeing The Great Beauty until January and the other two until sometime later next year.
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Re: Sight & Sound's Top Ten of 2013

Post by The Original BJ »

As someone who is a fan of Gravity, I would want to chime in and say that calling people who don't like the movie pretentious asses doesn't seem exactly fair to me, especially because, at least when it comes to this movie, no one around here has been behaving that way. All of the detractors here have been pretty thoughtful, and I don't think it really encourages interesting discussion to dismiss people just for going against the grain on a near-universally praised movie.

And, along those lines, I don't think the fact that Sight & Sound and Cahiers placed it highly on their year-end lists "proves" anything, other than that those critics like the movie. Someone who doesn't like Gravity isn't going to suddenly change their opinion because those organizations gave it a stamp of approval, nor should they.
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Re: Sight & Sound's Top Ten of 2013

Post by ksrymy »

anonymous1980 wrote:Gravity is an FX-driven Hollywood product that made a lot of money. That, in itself, is something to be automatically shunned by the film intelligentsia.
An FX-driven commentary on loss and survival. These pretentious asses just need to be subjected to a weekend of classic '80s comedies to be brought back down to earth.
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Re: Sight & Sound's Top Ten of 2013

Post by anonymous1980 »

Gravity is an FX-driven Hollywood product that made a lot of money. That, in itself, is something to be automatically shunned by the film intelligentsia.
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Re: Sight & Sound's Top Ten of 2013

Post by ksrymy »

It's just become the film everyone with "classier" taste in cinema loves to hate this year. Since its critical acclaim, everyone has been trying to pick it apart and demolish it. This, along with the Cahiers, shows its undeniable power and beauty.
"Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known." - F. Scott Fitzgerald
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