by Nathaniel R
One of the hit and miss traditions of year-end hoopla is the American Film Institute's Top Ten List. This list, which has a rotating jury, began as something kind of unpredictable but it's been veering towards straight up Oscar Best Picture frontrunners mirroring for some years now. The ten titles they've cited this year are...
FILM TOP TEN
- CODA
- Dont Look Up*
- Dune*
- King Richard*
- Licorice Pizza*
- Nightmare Alley*
- The Power of the Dog
- tick, tick... BOOM!
- The Tragedy of Macbeth*
- West Side Story*
*also made the NBR list
Who does this help...
The biggest boost goes to Don't Look Up and Nightmare Alley, which are arguably the most divisive titles listed. Though they premiered to raves (as most films in awards season do these days, given the "first!" excitement of glitzy premieres and star-studded screenings) the raves quickly dissipated revealing surprisingly mixed reviews. This honor is a quick salve to those tiny wounds. And this acknowledgement is helpful to CODA, too. as the only release that survived AFI's extreme recency bias. One wishes they would select jury members who watch films all year long and not those called in to attend special screenings at the tail end of the year for this purpose.
Who does it hurt?
It's definitely not good news for quality American pictures like In the Heights, C'mon C'mon, Passing, Red Rocket, The Lost Daughter, or Zola (any of which might have snuck in in earlier years when the AFI was more apt to get a bit frisky and less "precursory"... they've only strayed out of Oscar territory once in the past several years in 2018 for two titles: A Quiet Place and Eighth Grade). Not making this list is bad news for Being the Ricardos (in the same boat, response-wise, as Don't Look Up and Nightmare Alley) and Cyrano, both of which should have theoretically benefitted from AFI's recency bias.
What else?
As usual they've picked the most Oscar-bound but ineligible film (i.e. not American) for a special prize (Belfast) and have also selected the documentary Summer of Soul for a special award. We always wish they would be a little more daring in these choices too. But they go with the buzziest titles every single year.
TELEVISION TOP TEN
- Hacks
- Maids
- Mare of Easttown
- Reservation Dogs
- Schmigadoon!
- Succession
- Ted Lasso
- The Underground Railroad
- WandaVision
- The White Lotus
Special Award: Squid Game (as it wasn't eligible since it's not American)
Ending on a nicer note:
One thing we do like about the AFI lists is that they honor the entire creative teams, in front of and behind the camera, and since film and television are collaborative arts, that's smart.