Sight & Sound’s Top 10 Films of 2007
Let the lists begin…
Sight & Sound’s January 2008 issue features their annual Top 10 picks for 2007. Though my own list will be different when I decide to sit down and do one, these are terrific choices. I haven’t seen Silent Light yet, Inland Empire was my #1 pick of 2006 and I also saw Lives of Others in 2006, but any of the rest of these could easily make my Top 10 and many will.
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days wasn’t my personal favorite of the year, but it’s an intense and moving piece of work that I fear will be snubbed for the Foreign Language Film Oscar.
I’m surprised and delighted to see the underloved Zodiac at #3. The studio dumped it in the middle of winter and most people were too busy shutting their brains off with Norbit and Wild Hogs to trouble themselves with this work of art. Those who saw it went in expecting Se7en and were a little frosted to find a rumination on obsession and loss of innocence set during the country’s transition from the ’60s to the ’70s. Now’s your chance to make up for it by throwing it in your Netflix queue or just wait a couple of months for the Director’s Cut. Either way, do yourself a favor and check it out.
I’m Not There is a great choice at #4, but I’m most excited for the four films tied at #7: No Country for Old Men (you may have heard me mention this one once or twice), Syndromes and a Century (yes!), The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (suck on that Zacharek, Dargis, Turan and Lane) and Eastern Promises.
No Country for Old Men is quite simply the film of the year so you’d best start getting used to it.
Syndromes…well you can use the search box to see what I’ve already had to say about that one.
Jesse James is the most unfairly abandoned movie of the year if not the best. It’s a remarkable, lyrical, contemplative Western that just doesn’t seem to have a place in this era of 3 minute YouTube videos. You’ve already pretty much missed your chance to see this one on the big screen where it belongs, but you might still be able to save yourself from the fires of cinema hell by dropping it into your Netflix queue. No, I don’t want to hear about your 65 inch plasma. It’s not the same. There’s a sense of scale you’re missing no matter how close your nose is to the screen and the communal experience is gone. Listen, don’t argue. You’re in enough trouble for missing this movie in the first place, but I digress…
Anyway, I hope that the lack of There Will Be Blood simply means it will show up on the 2008 list.
See all the critics polled and how they voted here.
Here’s the whole list presented in list-like fashion:
(1) 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu)
(2) Inland Empire (David Lynch)
(3) Zodiac (David Fincher)
(4) I’m Not There (Todd Haynes)
(tied) The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)
(6) Silent Light (Carlos Reygadas)
(7) The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik)
(tied) Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
(tied) No Country for Old Men (Ethan and Joel Coen)
(tied) Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg)
Filed under: News
Related Posts: - Indiewire 2007 Critics Poll: There Will Be Blood
- 30 Helens Agree: No Country is #1
- Village Voice/LA Weekly Poll Strikes Oil
- ASC Hearts Deakins (and you should too)
- Six Down, Six to Go
Actually, there are mentions to TWBB:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/pdf/films-of-the-year-2007.pdf
About five critics put it in their top 5 lists.
Curious that Zodiac has a certain kinship to both No Country for Old Men and Assassination of Jesse James in a thematic sense but in totally different ways. And all three are likely going to make my list as well. This one is pretty good although it’s curious to see a few releases here that are from 2006 for us ‘Mericans.
I had Silent Light on my list of movies to watch for from a posting I saw months ago somewhere else so it’s nice to see it come up again. Probably one I’ll have to find on DVD since it’s gotten zero mention anywhere else.
Thanks for the heads up on TWBB Gus, I hadn’t looked at all the votes. I have to believe some critics voted for Inland Empire last year as well so hopefully this doesn’t mean TWBB just didn’t register.
Silent Light was on my short list to catch at AFI, but the short list was actually pretty long and I couldn’t fit everthing in.
It’s up for an Oscar I think so hopefully I’ll get a crack at it here sometime in December. Either way, I’m sure it’ll get at least a small US release.
Surprised but happy to see Zodiac up there. I can’t wait for the director’s cut. Also happy to see Jesse James get some more loving. And you know where I stand on No Country.
Thanks for posting this Craig. I find it particularly interesting looking at the indiviudal lists. They offer a heads up about films I might otherwise overlook.
Please excuse this diversion into TWbB marketing territory. But I’m starting to really wonder at the release date for it, and the unsettling similarities starting to emerge between its end of the year profile and Children of Men. If TWbB is going to gain box office momentum - or at least as much that such a challenging and arthouse film can expect - then it needs awards recognition. I get the feeling that the lack of general release and limited screening opportunities for critics mean that too few of them have seen the film for it to garner a higher profile across critics awards or top ten lists. Maybe I’m wrong, and they all have seen the film but don’t rate it highly. It’s likely going to polarize even critics. But the absence of DDL’s name from best actor lists among the early critics awards raises for me an even bigger question mark as to whether enough critics have actually seen the film.
I’m a little troubled by TWbB’s release strategy as well. It’s almost completely dependent on it getting Oscar nominations. If that happens, so much the better, but I fear we have another The New World in the making. Another great movie that was never given a chance to find its audience.
hmm, put me on the really want to see the 4 months bandwagon……