The Lists Project

[swo17]

So much testosterone

Eh, my initial list had women in it, they were just all Americans. Feel free to sprinkle these in (in addition to seconds for all the ones you mentioned):

Silvana Mangano
Giulietta Masina
Anne Wiazemsky
Delphine Seyrig
Setsuko Hara
Meiko Kaji
Ingrid Bergman
Marlene Dietrich

[Matt]

I don't see why British wouldn't count- hence my Thewlis nom

For some reason I was stuck on “international” meaning “made films in more than one language” and was certain that Thewlis had made something in French. What’s more embarrassing is that I was probably thinking of Total Eclipse.

I would absolutely second a Sugimura Haruko list (even though much of her work would probably be unavailable).

[therewillbeblus]

So much testosterone

Eh, my initial list had women in it, they were just all Americans. Feel free to sprinkle these in (in addition to seconds for all the ones you mentioned):

I know I was being moderately cheeky but also directing that comment at how 'manly' some of that list of men was, but now I've ruined the ambiguity

I’d like to see us tackle an actress though if just because of my own feelings of inadequacy so I’ll also second Denevue though maybe we can do a left field choice like SUGIMURA Haruko.

Same, but if we are going to go real left-field, why not go all the way

Spoiler

[knives]

I feel bad, but who?

[therewillbeblus]

You should probably feel bad since you watched her for 13 hours minus some detours

[knives]

Ah, I thought it was Charlotte Gainsborough at first.

[domino harvey]

Reminder that it's almost a dead cert I'm not putting anyone up in the poll who only worked in one national cinema. To Matt's delight, Delon, Deneuve, and Huppert are of course obvious choices, as is the man I envisioned when I first pictured this exercise, Michel Piccoli

[knives]

Doesn’t that necessarily limit this to European stars unless you think Jimmy Wang Yu is an easier sell than Chisu Ryu?

[domino harvey]

knives, do you think either of those were going to win a poll? And to answer your question, given that Jackie Chan would easily fit the bill, no.

[knives]

I think Ryu could (though to your point I forgot Mifune made a couple of American films).

[therewillbeblus]

If Jackie Chan is the pick, it’ll be the equivalent of a Disney list for me nostalgia-wise, since I was introduced to movies through Chan (and saw most Chan films before Disney movies in my early years of life). Also, my dad might have to join the forum.

[therewillbeblus]

I know this is a longshot, but I'll throw out Melvil Poupaud's name as a fascinating diverse international star. I always seem to forget that he started as the sociopathic Malo in Ruiz's City of Pirates, went onto wear many different hats in his oeuvre (his work in Love Torn in a Dream could be pages of discussion alone) and then of course a much more interesting role in Descplechin's film than meets the eye, and the Catholic seeking justice in the recent Ozon. I have a lot of blind spots but something tells me it'll only reveal more versatility.

[Nw_jahrles]

Since the first two Hollywood star lists have been male actors, I think it would make sense to select an actress for the first international star list. Catherine Deneuve, Simone Signoret and Jeanne Moreau all seem like pretty obvious candidates off the top of my head.

[therewillbeblus]

Hey swo, any chance of unlocking the 60s list for the long weekend?

Edit: Thanks!

[Pavel]

Dunno if this would work, but recently I had the idea of a Performance List Project where everybody would have to submit a list of their 50 favorite performances of all time. There would be no strict watchlist for such a list (unlike watching all of a director's filmography or catching up on acclaimed 60s films), but I imagine there could be great discussion with people mentioning performances many might have forgotten about or just recommending films that they think feature amazing perfs. And in the end we'll get an idea of what the forum considers the best acting of all time + plenty of idiosyncratic list

[swo17]

I feel like that's far too broad of a net to cast, akin to asking everyone to compile a list of their favorite trees

[therewillbeblus]

I feel like that's far too broad of a net to cast, akin to asking everyone to compile a list of their favorite trees

I mean, the correct answer to both proposed lists is

[therewillbeblus]

So the First Features list has been fun, and in thinking about several members' expressed interest in a Final Features list, I think it would be even more interesting to measure a filmmaker's work based on their organic trajectory/culmination of themes in oeuvre/the cultural touchstones from the era of their last film compared to their earlier work/own personal traumas that have led to where they're at now vs. the past/etc. Obviously there would need to be some elasticity and disqualifiers: a Last film wouldn't really fit with the one-offs like Night of the Hunter since the language assumes there was growth from an earlier focal point- so we would need to set a number of films as bare minimum; it could gravitate towards big auteurs under auteur theory- though this First Features list could have too and people have done well writing up other contexualizations of what a First film is and what makes it impressive divorced from large and loud formalist stamps. There would need to be tough calls for active filmmakers (do we only examine deceased or retired filmmakers, or say that if a filmmaker is not officially retired that we would look at artists who have not made a movie for X years...)

[swo17]

What are you suggesting exactly--a median features list?

[therewillbeblus]

Nope, but I'm not pretending that it's a fully formed idea

[Matt]

I need a new distraction. What's next after Deneuve? What's after that? Can we get an updated edition of this post?

[therewillbeblus]

I need a new distraction. What's next after Deneuve? What's after that? Can we get an updated edition of this post?

It's kept relatively current here

[domino harvey]

I need a new distraction. What's next after Deneuve? What's after that? Can we get an updated edition of this post?

That post only lists the next list in each category. You can see the next couple years’ worth of lists in my post here— the next two are a RW Fassbinder auteur list and a James Stewart star list

[Matt]

Marvelous! Thank you. I’m in just the right mood for some Fassbinder rewatches and catching up on some unseen Czech/Slovak films.

[therewillbeblus]

What better time than now, as the world begins to deteriorate again, than to go on a Fassbinder bender