The Hollywood Reporter asked studio heads, award-winning actors and other insiders of the film/television industry to rank the 100 best films of all-time. The selections are described as “definitive” but the results suggest that those who participate in the filmmaking machine that is Hollywood may not watch many themselves. Lists of this kind are inherently subjective, but for an industry that encompasses the globe, a majority of the films are narrowly focused. Only ten films feature women as the main focus, only three are non-English language, beyond that everything else is almost exclusively based on American white males.
Sam Adams of Criticwire notes a few complaints about a list that claims to be definitive regarding the whole history of cinema.
- One film by a female director.
- Three films by non-white directors (Akira Kurasawa, Ang Lee, Guillermo Del Toro).
- Zero documentaries (h/t Tim Horsburgh)
- Five films released before 1950
- 15 movies released in or after 2000.
A more representative list was what cinephiles were hoping for, yet the finished product is hardly surprising. The Godfather and Citizen Kane usually end up at the #1 slot in most of these lists, so that uninspired choice isn’t surprising, but to exclude so many foreign films, and films made during the inception of Hollywood just seems wrong. A lack of fresh ideas has plagued film production recently, and if this list is any indication, so little love for groundbreaking narratives means little change is to come in the future.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
