Mark Naglazas

Freelance film journalist
Australia

Voted for

FilmYearDirector
The Apartment1960Billy Wilder
Citizen Kane1941Orson Welles
The Godfather1972Francis Ford Coppola
1963Federico Fellini
On the Waterfront1954Elia Kazan
North by Northwest1959Alfred Hitchcock
The Searchers1956John Ford
Le Mépris1963Jean-Luc Godard
Sullivan's Travels1941Preston Sturges
HABLE CON ELLA2002Pedro Almodóvar

Comments

My top ten movies are chosen from a slightly larger list of movies I watch over and over (in some cases at least once a year). Each viewing deepens my appreciation of the film's craft and reconnects me that that ineffable element that makes it my movie. I am especially drawn to comedy because it provides that aspect of cinema most easily forgotten by filmmakers: pleasure. It is why I have The Apartment at number one, why I chose North By Northwest over Vertigo, why I found room for Preston Sturges and why I am angry I can't find a spot for Woody Allen or Some Like It Hot or Tootsie. And it is why I am not quick to toss out Citizen Kane. No dusty classic, it is cheeky as the best of Wilder, Fellini, Hitchcock and Sturges. Wit. It's what I value most in art. With and feeling.