Introduction: Methodology
Last year Sight & Sound returned to a perennial subject, the top ten films of all time. At the same time Channel Four happily filled six hours with a very similar (in theory) list show, which soon got devolved into the Top 100 love stories, comedies, and films with monkeys in*. The AFI in the States seems to be in a constant pregnancy and birthing list after list, canon after canon – and why should Freaky Trigger be any different. Everyone loves lists. Everyone knows they are bollocks too, no matter how clever, well-versed or respectable the contributors are.
Our list is lousy from the methodology up. Which oddly does not undermine the usefulness, interest or fun of the list. It just means that we admit from the get go that some odd things may happen along the way. It is still has just as much authority as the Sight & Sound poll.
So the methodology then. A long pub crawl. (The Mornington Crescent for those who are interested). About nine O’clock after six straight hours of drinking. Ten Freaky Trigger contributors sit down, and we start at number 100. First person names a film that they think deserves to be in the top 100. The film needs two other people in the group to back it. However if everyone else in the group vote against it, it does not stay in. If rejected, the next person nominates the next film. This methodolgy ensures that a film is judged good enough to be in the list by at least three people, and not so controversial that it survives excess hate.
So over the next three months the Freaky Trigger Top 100 Films…Of All Time..2003 will be posted here, on Do You See, and then later collected as an article. Number 100 starts tomorrow.
(Note is contributors would like to write shortish 100-200 word pieces on films on the list e-mail me and I’ll send the list and you can pick some. I’d rather not do it all myself).
* If you include King Kong, it is King Kong, but if not it is obviously Dunstan Checks In.