The 1985 Mini-List

[Toland's Mitchell]

Thanks swo. Right now, 1985 is my favorite year of the decade. The 86-89 mini-lists might change that, but nevertheless I'm quite fond of the year's output. My top 10:

1. Come and See
2. The Purple Rose of Cairo
3. Back to the Future
4. The Breakfast Club
5. To Live and Die in L.A.
6. Mishima
7. Brazil
8. Ran
9. Tampopo
10. The Color Purple

Further down, I had Fletch, Witness, After Hours, Angel's Egg, Real Genius, Vagabond, and Re-Animator. Good to see a couple more submitted lists this time. Hope that continues.

[therewillbeblus]

Totally forgot about Tampopo. Would've placed high for me

[swo17]

Unless it was one of your top 2, that wouldn't have changed its position on the final list

[therewillbeblus]

Yeah that makes me feel better

[geoffcowgill]

Eternally, thanks for doing this, swo. I always look forward to seeing these results at the beginning of the month.

I thought O.C. & Stiggs was from '87 or so, otherwise I would have had it on my list.

Here's my top ten. I don't know what it says that all but one of them are titles Criterion has released. Am I unconsciously swayed by the imprimatur?

1-Brazil
2-After Hours
3-Ran
4-Lost In America
5-The Purple Rose Of Cairo
6- Vagabond
7- Insignificance
8- Tampopo
9- Police Story
10- My Beautiful Laundrette

Orphans

14- Restless Natives
17- No End
18- Fool for Love
25- Disciples of the 36th Chamber

It looks like Cop au Vin barely made the also-rans. I had it at 24, which was its highest placing.

[swo17]

I thought O.C. & Stiggs was from '87 or so, otherwise I would have had it on my list.

Sorry about that. I thought twbb had mentioned it prominently enough on the first page to remind people it was eligible. As for the year assignment, my understanding is that the film was finished, copyrighted, and screened in 1985, but then shelved for a couple years before seeing a somewhat limited release. As with other films whose release is delayed by studio or government interference, I generally try to "correct" these injustices by assigning the film back to the earlier date. Note that in this case, IMDb also agrees with the 1985 assignment.

Also, if you had voted for it, the main thing you would have done was to move O.C. and Stiggs above Shoah. Which is not a great look

[andyli]

Thanks for compiling the list. I did some binge watching in preparation (but still not ended up voting). Saw 9 out of the top 10 and quite a few below them. Will try to watch more eligible titles for this month and participate in the next vote.

Sad to see Typhoon Club ranking relatively low. I thought with the recent physical release it would have got a chance for reassessment. I probably would have ranked it among the top 3 in my votes.

[geoffcowgill]

I thought O.C. & Stiggs was from '87 or so, otherwise I would have had it on my list.

Sorry about that. I thought twbb had mentioned it prominently enough on the first page to remind people it was eligible. As for the year assignment, my understanding is that the film was finished, copyrighted, and screened in 1985, but then shelved for a couple years before seeing a somewhat limited release. As with other films whose release is delayed by studio or government interference, I generally try to "correct" these injustices by assigning the film back to the earlier date. Note that in this case, IMDb also agrees with the 1985 assignment.

Also, if you had voted for it, the main thing you would have done was to move O.C. and Stiggs above Shoah. Which is not a great look

Just my carelessness; I didn't mean this as a complaint, and thanks for the clarification. I have old lists of favorites per year that I revisit for these polls, and the vagaries of listed release or copyright dates means I've shifted things on personal lists from one year to another several times after enlightenment here. This one just got by me. Actually, I haven't seen O.C. and Stiggs for decades, haven't gotten around to getting the Radiance release of it though I've considered it, and my abiding memory of the film was joy at watching Altman flip off the '80s privileged white boy hijinks genre. So, really it wouldn't have ranked very high on my top 25, especially without a re-watch. And, I feel like confessing, I haven't seen Shoah. That's one of those "one of these days I'll gird myself for this" viewings. The idea of O.C. and Stiggs vs. Shoah for the soul of this cineaste community is a fun one. So although I didn't vote for either, I guess I'm glad I didn't end up contributing to twbb's hooliganism, their anarchic, iconoclastic, heck, let's face it, just evil push to insult humanist cinema.

[knives]

For anyone who wants to double check our dates I have been collecting the master lists in Letterboxd form.