Richard Combs
Film Critic/Lecturer
UK
Voted for
| Film | Year | Director |
|---|---|---|
| A Prairie Home Companion | 2006 | Robert Altman |
| Sabotage | 1936 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| Playtime | 1967 | Jacques Tati |
| A Moment of Innocence | 1996 | Mohsen Makhmalbaf |
| Petulia | 1968 | Richard Lester |
| The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance | 1962 | John Ford |
| GION BAYASHI | 1953 | Kenji Mizoguchi |
| La DÉCADE PRODIGIEUSE | 1971 | Claude Chabrol |
| Dream Street | 1921 | D.W. Griffith |
| In film nist | 2011 | Jafar Panahi, Mojtaba Mirtahmaseb |
Comments
A Prairie Home Companion
Altman stages his last sister act, and has death close the show.
Sabotage
This is not Hitchcock's greatest film, but it may be his greatest audience put-on, something he did often by both reflecting on and making fun of his own film-making.
Playtime
Jacques Tati bankrupts himself to build his own world, where M. Hulot wanders in pursuit of a romantic connection.
A Moment of Innocence
Makhmalbaf resurrects some personal history but finds the past hard to predict.
Petulia
Quasi-Brit Richard Lester leaves Swinging London for flippy, trippy San Francisco, with cinematographer soon-to-be-director Nicolas Roeg, the guardian spirit of British cinema for the next three decades.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Every Western could fit within John Ford's frame, and inside John Wayne's 10-gallon hat.
GION BAYASHI
Sexual politics in a Mizoguchi gaiety.
La DÉCADE PRODIGIEUSE
Chabrol does a deeply religious, and mocking, decalogue; Orson Welles fittingly plays the presiding god of paradise, or is just of the movies?
Dream Street
Cinema begins and ends here...
In film nist
...or is it here?
Further remarks
These are probably not the 10 greatest films ever made, but they are titles that always get in the way in my mind whenever I try to think of the 10 greatest.