Atom Egoyan

Comments

Vertigo

Story, performances, visual design and score all fused into a perfect film. Even the parts that don't make sense contribute to its hallucinatory spell. Endlessly inspiring.

Citizen Kane

Superbly structured and impeccably shot. Wildly ambitious and beautifully realized.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Rarely has a film so philosophically challenging been so wildly entertaining and so impeccably designed. The reverberations of this masterpiece are still being deeply felt.

8½

Many films have tried to understand and visualize the creative process. Fellini has made one of the most passionate and affectionate portraits of an artist. Self-loving, self-mocking, and a glorious affirmation of cinema.

I already have a double vote for Choice 5, but I would seriously consider pairing 8 1/2 with Alejandro González Iñárritu's BIRDMAN (2014). Half a century later, another wonderfully exciting examination of artistic turmoil and self-flagellation.

Tokyo Story

Never has any national cinema produced two such flat-out masterpieces in one year. Both are perfect, with TOKYO STORY being a study in simplicity and UGETSU exploring a number of wildly divergent cinematic styles. Sorry to share the space, but I needed to get both these films in.

Pather Panchali

Quite possibly the most influential 'independent' film of all time, Ray shot this film over many weekends with a tiny crew and some of the most moving and devastating performances ever committed to film. Unforgettable scenes which introduced a truly alternate cinema.

The Colour of Pomegranates

A completely unique and stunning cinematic experience. With a series of completely static tableaux, this singular artist creates a world of incredible internal motion and hypnotizing beauty. Each frame is a revelation. There's nothing like it.

Beau travail

One of the most unusual adaptations ever attempted, taking Herman Melville's story of Billy Budd, audaciously fusing it at moments with Benjamin Britten's exquisite opera. Agnes Godard's camera impeccably observes male rites of competition, desire and cruel justice.

Persona

Lately I have been obsessed with Bergman's later PASSION OF ANNA, but PERSONA is still the purest distillation of this monumental director's tortured and complex vision of human relationships. Full of compositional choices that perfectly harness the turbulent inner life of these two magnificent actresses.

Vagabond

Varda has created a body of work which is finally getting its full due and this is her acclaimed masterpiece. It uses many documentary techniques to paint a merciless portrait exquisitely performed by Sandrine Bonnaire. A haunting score by Joanna Bruzdowicz.

Further remarks

Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)

Never has any national cinema produced two such flat-out masterpieces in one year. Both are perfect, with TOKYO STORY being a study in simplicity and UGETSU exploring a number of wildly divergent cinematic styles. Sorry to share the space, but I needed to get both these films in.

There are so many directors whose body of work is exemplary (Godard, Tarkovsky, Bresson, Kiarostami, Pasolini, Bunuel, Visconti, Antonioni, Lang, Resnais, Fassbinder, Dreyer...) and a list of Ten Best Directors would have a very different makeup.

I am surprised that I haven't included any post-2000 works, but I haven't had the same opportunity to rewatch and reassess more recent masterpieces.

The ten films I have chosen are works I have seen several times over the years. They are all works that continue to grow with each viewing, and films that I will look forward to watching again.