BFI | Sight & Sound | Top Ten Poll 2002

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en"> <head> <title> BFI | Sight & Sound | Top Ten Poll 2002 - Directors' Poll</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> <meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-gb" /> <meta name="robots" content="all" /> <meta name="MSSmartTagsPreventParsing" content="true" /> <meta name="Keywords" content="bfi, sight and sound, top ten, film poll, critics, writers, academics, directors" /> <meta name="Description" content="In 2002, Sight & Sound published its largest Top Ten poll to date, receiving contributions from 145 film critics, writers and academics, and 108 film directors." /> <meta name="Author" content="Nick James, et al." /> <link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico" title="The British Film Institute."/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/global.css" media="screen, projection" type="text/css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/colours.css" media="screen, projection" type="text/css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/global-print.css" media="print" type="text/css" />  <script language="JavaScript" src="/js/css_switcher.js" type="text/javascript"></script> </head> <body class="sightsound"> <div id="wrapper"> <div id="headerWrapperdummy"> <div id="navigationDummy"> <div id="headerWrapper"> <div id="header">  <p class="hide"><a href="#content">Skip to main content</a></p> <h1 class="hide">BFI - page title here for accessibility</h1>  <div id="main_nav" class="ident"> </div>   <div class="clear"></div> <div id="site-archive-2012"> <a href="http://bfi.org.uk"><img src="/images/global/layout/bfi-logo-2012.png" width="94" height="126" alt="BFI - Film Forever" class="2012-logo" /></a> <div id="message-2012"> <p>From <strong>6 June 2012</strong> this page is no longer being actively maintained.</p> <p><a href="http://bfi.org.uk">Visit the new BFI website</a></p> </div> </div>  <?php // Set var again for PHP pages. global $bfiHdr; $bfiHdr = "11"; ?> </div> </div> <div id="breadcrumbWrapper"> <div id="breadcrumb"> <p class="hide">Crumbtrail</p> <ul> <li><a href="/" title="Home page for the BFI website.">Home</a> ></li> <li><a href="/sightandsound/" title="The Sight & Sound homepage">Sight & Sound</a> ></li> <li><a href="/sightandsound/polls/">Polls and surveys</a> ></li> <li><a href="/sightandsound/polls/topten/">Greatest films ever</a> ></li> <li><a href="/sightandsound/polls/topten/poll/" class="current">Explore the poll</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="clear"></div> </div> </div> <div class="clear"></div> </div> <div id="mainContent"> <div id="primaryWrapper"> <div id="primaryNav">  <p class="hide">Primary navigation</p> <ul> <li><a href="/sightandsound/" class="headlink">Sight & Sound</a></li> <li><a href="/sightandsound/issue/">This month’s issue</a></li> <li><a href="/sightandsound/newsandviews/">News and views</a></li> <li><a href="/sightandsound/featuresandinterviews/">Features and interviews</a></li> <li><a href="/sightandsound/reviews/">Reviews</a></li> <li><a href="/sightandsound/polls/">Polls and surveys</a></li> <li><a href="/sightandsound/archive/">Archive</a></li> <li><a href="/sightandsound/competitions/">Competitions</a></li> <li><a href="/sightandsound/subscribe/">Subscribe</a></li> <li><a href="/sightandsound/advertise/">Advertise</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="primaryNav_bottom_corner"></div> <div class="clear"></div> <div class="relatedLinks secondaryBox"> <p>Explore the poll</p> <ul class="links"> <br /> <li><a href="/sightandsound/polls/topten/">The 2002 poll</a></li> <li><a href="/sightandsound/polls/topten/poll/critics.html">Critics’ top ten films</a></li> <li><a href="/sightandsound/polls/topten/poll/critics-directors.html">Critics’ top ten directors</a></li> <li><a href="/sightandsound/polls/topten/poll/directors-directors.html">Directors’ top ten directors</a></li> <li><a href="/sightandsound/polls/topten/poll/list.php?list=films">Every film voted for</a></li> <li><a href="/sightandsound/polls/topten/poll/list.php?list=voters&votertype=critic">Critics polled</a></li> <li><a href="/sightandsound/polls/topten/poll/list.php?list=voters&votertype=director">Directors polled</a></li><br /> <li><a href="/sightandsound/polls/topten/history/">Historical results</a></li> <li><a href="/sightandsound/polls/topten/coverage.html">Media coverage</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="relatedLinks_bottom_corner"></div> <div class="clear"></div> </div> <div id="content">  <h2>The directors’ top ten films</h2>  <div class="full"> <h3><a href="voted.php?film=Citizen+Kane+(Welles)" title="Find out which directors voted for this film."><img src="/sightandsound/topten/images/stills/80/citizen-kane_80.jpg" alt="Film still." width="80" height="80" />1. <cite>Citizen Kane</cite> (Welles)</a></h3> <p>Dazzlingly inventive, technically breathtaking, Citizen Kane reinvented the way stories could be told in the cinema, and set a standard generations of film-makers have since aspired to. An absorbing account of a newspaper tycoon's rise to power, Orson Welles' debut film feels as fresh as tomorrow's headlines. And he was only 26 when he made it.</p> <p>» Who voted for <a href="voted.php?film=Citizen+Kane+(Welles)"><cite>Citizen Kane</cite></a>?</p> <div class="clear"></div> </div> <div class="clear"></div>  <div class="full"> <h3><a href="voted.php?film=The+Godfather" title="Find out which directors voted for this film."><img src="/sightandsound/topten/images/stills/80/the-godfather-ii_80.jpg" alt="Film still." width="80" height="80" />2. <cite>The Godfather</cite> and <cite>The Godfather part II</cite> (Coppola)</a></h3> <p>Few films have portrayed the US immigrant experience quite so vividly as Coppola's Godfather films, or exposed the contradictions of the American Dream quite so ruthlessly. And what a cast, formidable talent firing all cylinders: Brando, De Niro, Pacino, Keaton, Duvall, Caan. Now that's an offer you can't refuse.</p> <p>» Who voted for <a href="voted.php?film=The+Godfather"><cite>The Godfather</cite></a>?</p> <div class="clear"></div> </div> <div class="clear"></div>  <div class="full"> <h3><a href="voted.php?film=8+1/2+(Fellini)" title="Find out which directors voted for this film."><img src="/sightandsound/topten/images/stills/80/eight-and-a-half_80.jpg" alt="Film still." width="80" height="80" />3. <cite>8&frac12</cite> (Fellini)</a></h3> <p>Wonderfully freefloating, gleefully confusing reality and fantasy, 8&frac12 provides a ringside seat into the ever active imaginative life of its director protagonist Guido, played by Fellini's on-screen alter-ego Marcello Mastroianni. The definitive film about film-making - as much about the agonies of the creative process as the ecstasies - it's no wonder the movie is so popular with directors.</p> <p>» Who voted for <a href="voted.php?film=8+1/2+(Fellini)"><cite>8&frac12</cite></a>?</p> <div class="clear"></div> </div> <div class="clear"></div>  <div class="full"> <h3><a href="voted.php?film=Lawrence+of+Arabia" title="Find out which directors voted for this film."><img src="/sightandsound/topten/images/stills/80/lawrence-of-arabia_80.jpg" alt="Film still." width="80" height="80" />4. <cite>Lawrence of Arabia</cite> (Lean)</a></h3> <p>Filmed in the desert in lavish widescreen and rich colours, Lawrence of Arabia is David Lean at his most epic and expansive. You can almost feel the waves of heat glowing from the cinema screen.</p> <p>» Who voted for <a href="voted.php?film=Lawrence+of+Arabia"><cite>Lawrence of Arabia</cite></a>?</p> <div class="clear"></div> </div> <div class="clear"></div>  <div class="full"> <h3><a href="voted.php?film=Dr.+Strangelove+(Kubrick)" title="Find out which directors voted for this film."><img src="/sightandsound/topten/images/stills/80/dr-strangelove_80.jpg" alt="Film still." width="80" height="80" />5. <cite>Dr. Strangelove</cite> (Kubrick)</a></h3> <p>A black comedy about impending nuclear annihilation that was made at the height of the cold war, Dr. Strangelove is perhaps Kubrick's most audacious movie and certainly his funniest. Peter Sellers has never been better, and provides good value playing three roles.</p> <p>» Who voted for <a href="voted.php?film=Dr.+Strangelove+(Kubrick)"><cite>Dr Strangelove</cite></a>?</p> <div class="clear"></div> </div> <div class="clear"></div>  <div class="full"> <h3><a href="voted.php?film=Bicycle+Thieves+(De+Sica)" title="Find out which directors voted for this film."><img src="/sightandsound/topten/images/stills/80/bicycle-thieves_80.jpg" alt="Film still." width="80" height="80" />6. <cite>Bicycle Thieves</cite> (De Sica)</a></h3> <p>Mixing melodrama, documentary and social commentary, De Sica follows an impoverished father and son treading the streets of post-war Rome, desperately seeking their stolen bicycle. Deeply compassionate, this poignant film is one of the outstanding examples of Italian neorealism.</p> <p>» Who voted for <a href="voted.php?film=Bicycle+Thieves+(De+Sica)"><cite>Bicycle Thieves</cite></a>?</p> <div class="clear"></div> </div> <div class="clear"></div>  <div class="full"> <h3><a href="voted.php?film=Raging+Bull+(Scorsese)" title="Find out which directors voted for this film."><img src="/sightandsound/topten/images/stills/80/raging-bull_80.jpg" alt="Film still." width="80" height="80" />6. <cite>Raging Bull</cite> (Scorsese)</a></h3> <p>An unblinkingly honest biopic of Jake La Motta - a great prizefighter but a deeply flawed human being - this catches Scorsese in fighting fit form. The boxing sequence are both brutal and beautiful, and De Niro, who famously put on weight to play the middle-aged La Motta, gives one of <cite>the</cite> performances of modern cinema.</p> <p>» Who voted for <a href="voted.php?film=Raging+Bull+(Scorsese)"><cite>Raging Bull</cite></a>?</p> <div class="clear"></div> </div> <div class="clear"></div>  <div class="full"> <h3><a href="voted.php?film=Vertigo+(Hitchcock)" title="Find out which directors voted for this film."><img src="/sightandsound/topten/images/stills/80/vertigo_80.jpg" alt="Film still." width="80" height="80" />6. <cite>Vertigo</cite> (Hitchcock)</a></h3> <p>A gripping detective story or a delirious investigation into desire, grief and jealousy? Hitchcock had a genius for transforming genre pieces into vehicles for his own dark obsessions, and this 1958 masterpiece shows the director at his mesmerising best. And for James Stewart fans, it also boasts the star's most compelling performance.</p> <p>» Who voted for <a href="voted.php?film=Vertigo+(Hitchcock)"><cite>Vertigo</cite></a></p> <div class="clear"></div> </div> <div class="clear"></div>  <div class="full"> <h3><a href="voted.php?film=Rashomon+(Kurosawa)" title="Find out which directors voted for this film."><img src="/sightandsound/topten/images/stills/80/rashomon_80.jpg" alt="Film still." width="80" height="80" />9. <cite>Rashomon</cite> (Kurosawa)</a></h3> <p>Offering four differing accounts of a rape and murder, all told in flashbacks, Kurosawa's 1951 film is a complex meditation on the distortive nature of memory and a gripping study of human behaviour at its most base. Mifune Toshiro is magnetic as the bandit Tajomaru.</p> <p>» Who voted for <a href="voted.php?film=Rashomon+(Kurosawa)"><cite>Rashomon</cite></a>?</p> <div class="clear"></div> </div> <div class="clear"></div>  <div class="full"> <h3><a href="voted.php?film=La%20Regle%20du%20jeu%20(Renoir)" title="Find out which directors voted for this film."><img src="/sightandsound/topten/images/stills/80/regle-de-jeu_80.jpg" alt="Film still." width="80" height="80" />9. <cite>La Règle du jeu</cite> (Renoir)</a></h3> <p>Tragedy and comedy effortlessly combine in Renoir's country house ensemble drama. A group of aristocrats gather for some rural relaxation, a shooting party is arranged, downstairs the servants bicker about a new employee, while all the time husbands, wives, mistresses and lovers sweetly deceive one another and swap declarations of love like name cards at a dinner party.</p> <p>» Who voted for <a href="voted.php?film=La+Regle+du+jeu+(Renoir)"><cite>La Règle du jeu?</cite></a></p> <div class="clear"></div> </div> <div class="clear"></div>  <div class="full"> <h3><a href="voted.php?film=Seven+Samurai" title="Find out which directors voted for this film."><img src="/sightandsound/topten/images/stills/80/seven-samurai_80.jpg" alt="Film still." width="80" height="80" />9. <cite>Seven Samurai</cite> (Kurosawa)</a></h3> <p>The blueprint for The Magnificent Seven was Kurosawa's magnificent swordplay epic of self-sacrifice about a band of hired samurai who come together to protect a helpless village from a rapacious gang of 40 thieves who descend every year to steal the harvest and kidnap women. The final sequence of the fight in the mud and rain has never been bettered.</p> <p>» Who voted for <a href="voted.php?film=Seven+Samurai"><cite>Seven Samurai</cite></a>?</p> <div class="clear"></div> </div> <div class="clear"></div> <p></p> <h3>See also</h3> <p><a href="directors-long.html">Read the directors’ complete list</a></p> <div class="clear"></div> <p></p> <p><a href="http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-count="horizontal" data-via="SightSoundmag">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></p> <div class="clear"></div> <p></p>  <div class="clear"></div> </div> <div id="secondaryWrapper"> <div class="clear"></div> </div> <div class="clear"></div> <div id="footerWrapper">  <script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? 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BFI | Sight & Sound | Top Ten Poll 2002 - Directors' Poll