Alex Fung's Page > Film Columns/Essays > 1997's Top Films: A Critical Consensus

By ALEX FUNG

PREVIOUS RESULTS:

1996 (Fargo) 1995 (Sense And Sensibility)

As in the previous two years, I have collected a number of Top 10 lists from various film critics with the help of many generous people, and have attempted to consolidate the data provided into a 'consensus' ordered list of the top films of the year. I used a largely weighted scale where the critic's Top 10 list was ordered, and where no particular order was used, each of the selections were equally weighted. Each critic's selection was weighted equally, irregardless of my personal opinion of the quality of their work or their tastes. (This year I was particularly careful, going down to two decimal places -- which turned out to be fortuitous: the difference between As Good As It Gets and Amistad was 0.06 points.)

Clearly, this is not a perfect system -- several weaknesses in this system come to mind almost immediately -- but it is the best that I can do with this data, and I don't have any major qualms about the usage of this method; I think it's nearly irrefutable that the films on the top of the above list received a great deal of critical acclaim, the films in the middle of the list slightly less critical acclaim, and so forth; there's a good correlation here. I suspect that anyone who develops an alternate methodology to assess the same data will come up with a list which will strongly resemble the one below.

---

[1] L.A. Confidential Curtis Hanson [2] The Sweet Hereafter Atom Egoyan [3] Titanic James Cameron [4] Boogie Nights Paul Thomas Anderson [5] The Ice Storm Ang Lee [6] The Wings Of The Dove Iain Softley [7] Ulee's Gold Victor Nunez [8] The Full Monty Peter Cattaneo [9] In The Company Of Men Neil LaBute [10] Face/Off John Woo [11] Chasing Amy Kevin Smith [12] As Good As It Gets James L. Brooks [13] Amistad Steven Spielberg [14] Donnie Brasco Mike Newell [15] The Apostle Robert Duvall [16] Ponette Jacques Doillon [17] Eve's Bayou Kasi Lemmons [18] Fast, Cheap & Out Of Control Errol Morris [19] Wag The Dog Barry Levinson [20] Shall We Dance? Masayuki Suo [21] La Promesse Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne [22] Men In Black Barry Sonnenfeld [23] Waiting For Guffman Christopher Guest [24] Good Will Hunting Woody Allen [25] Deconstructing Harry Woody Allen [26] When We Were Kings Leon Gast [27] Happy Together Wong Kar-wai [28] Jackie Brown Quentin Tarantino [29] Contact Robert Zemeckis [30] Mrs Brown John Madden [31] Grosse Pointe Blank George Armitage [32] Irma Vep Olivier Assayas [33] Kundun Martin Scorsese [34] Crash David Cronenberg [35] My Best Friend's Wedding P.J. Hogan [36] FairyTale: A True Story Charles Sturridge [37] Lost Highway David Lynch [38] Welcome To Sarajevo Michael Winterbottom [39] Hard Eight Paul Thomas Anderson [40] The Daytrippers Greg Mottola [41] Un Heros Très Discret (A Self-Made Hero) Jacques Audiard [42] Career Girls Mike Leigh [43] Sling Blade Billy Bob Thornton [44] Drifting Clouds Aki Kaurismaki [45] Cop Land James Mangold [46] 4 Little Girls Spike Lee [47] Gabbeh Mohsen Makhmalbaf [48] Starship Troopers Paul Verhoeven [49] Washington Square Agnieszka Holland [50] Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery Jay Roach List generated with data as of 98/02/02

---

As indicated in the various 1997 critics awards, L.A. Confidential and The Sweet Hereafter are the clear critical favourites -- no other film comes remotely close. It's also a bit of a runaway for L.A. Confidential -- even if The Sweet Hereafter managed to place first on a hypothetical additional twenty Top 10 lists where L.A. Confidential didn't rate, it still wouldn't be enough to make up the difference.

The third place spot is hotly contested between Titanic and Boogie Nights, while The Ice Storm easily settles into the fifth-place spot. Positions #6-8 are rather tight, as are positions #10-13.

Paul Thomas Anderson is the only director to have two films in this year's list: Boogie Nights at #4, and Hard Eight at #39.

Due to the wonders of platform releases, two films on this year's list also made last year's list: When We Were Kings and Crash (well, it was the Turner factor for the latter). Curiously, Sling Blade failed to make the list last year; it's #43 this year.

Alex Fung (aw220@freenet.carleton.ca).

Back to film page.