Robert Beeson

Comments

Only Angels Have Wings

Probably the ultimate Hawks film.

Paisan

Despite its occasional awkwardness, its sincerity makes it one of the greatest to deal with war.

Aparajito

The first Ray film I ever saw, and after several re-views still my favourite.

A Man Escaped

The film that got me hooked onto cinema decades ago, and still the most perfect achievement of my favourite director.

Viridiana

The most astounding achievement of cinema's slyest director.

Il POSTO

A hard choice between this and I Fidanzati, both of which I somehow only saw a few years ago. This wins for its melancholy humour.

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

Only watched it properly in the last decade, and then another 3 times. It's easy to get as obsessive as Jeanne herself.

The Ascent

I never saw it until recently. I am a sucker for Russian war films, but this is the most powerful.

El sur

Re-watching it recently made me decide it was the greatest of this frustratingly unprolific director's works.

Dekalog (Decalogue)

Tried to avoid anything we released, but a recent re-watch confirmed this is simply a staggering achievement, greatly aided by the wealth of Polish acting talent at Kieślowski's disposal at the time, and just has to be included.

Further remarks

I still stand by my choices from 2012, but I wanted to make some changes by only including films first seen or re-seen since 2012, so only 2 titles from 2012 reappear in 2022. Films less than 10 years old I left to mature a little longer, and some of the best recent works have been long form TV like Twin Peaks: The Return and The Underground Railroad.