Last night, after a day in which I saw the great Laurie Metcalf give an incredible performance in Steppenwolf Theatre’s production of Little Bear Ridge Road in Chicago, eating dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant with friends, and talking life and music at my old friend Mike’s party in Uptown, I decided to check out what my fellow Flickcharters were up to on their Facebook page. I ended up staying up well into the wee hours of the morning as I took a deep dive into my own Flickchart.
For those of you who haven’t ever experienced it, Flickchart.com is a site which pits different films against each other. You pick the one you prefer. This creates an ongoing list of your favorite films ranked based on how they fared in the various match-ups. The more you do it (and it IS VERY addictive) the more you get a clear snapshot of what your favorite films really are.
If you’ve read my Top Ten Memoir, you know I’ve been ranking songs for decades. I’ve also been on Flickchart for 15 years and have at this point ranked films over 56,000 times! The number of films on my list is just under 2900 (meaning most films have been involved in multiple match-ups.) I’ve performed these rankings while needing some down time, trying to fall asleep, and avoiding other pressing activities.
The associated Facebook group is a great community of people who seem just as obsessive as I am about getting those films into just the right place on their own personal charts. We have many discussions about films and even completed numerous Zoom drafts where we pick a year and compete for the best roster of films from that year.
So, when one of the Flickcharters posed the task of trying to find the highest charted films on our individual lists from 20 different countries, I was all in for the dive into my own chart rankings. The following is a list of which films are the highest charted on my Flickchart from their respective countries. The # associated with each is where they rank on my overall chart:
1. Fargo (1996) - USA - #1
2. Run Lola Run (1997)- Germany #8
3. Y tu Mama Tambien (2001) - Mexico #14
4. Where is the Friend’s Home? (1987) - Iran #16
5. Triangle of Sadness - (2022) - UK #29
6. Six Shooter - (2004) - Ireland - #54
7. Mon Oncle - (1958) - France - #56
8. Stories We Tell (2012) - Canada - #70
9. 8 1/2 (1963) - Italy -#97
10. City of God (2002) - Brazil -#107
11. Parasite (2019) - South Korea - #109
12. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (2014) - Sweden - #122
13. What We Do in the Shadows (2014) - New Zealand - #124
14. 20 Days in Mariupol (2023) - Ukraine - #129
15. Leonor Will Never Die (2022) - Philippines - #132
16. Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World (2023) - Romania -#148
17. The Eternal Memory (2023) - Chile - #152
18. Perfect Days (2023) - Japan - #168
19. Another Round (2020) - Denmark - #172
20. Fallen Leaves (2023) - Finland - #239
I find it interesting that there are so many recent films on this list. I’ve been watching international films for decades but I think recency bias has put some of these films higher on my Flickchart than perhaps they should be. Also note, that some countries are better represented in my Top 250 than others. So, for instance, while there is only one French film on my list above there are many more in my Top 250. Mon Oncle just happens to be my highest ranked.
I could probably spend another few hours re-ranking the films on my overall list and the above could look different but this is just a snapshot as to where it stands at the moment.
I’d love to know if you’re on Flickchart and how rankings have fared for you. Know that I appreciate your obsession with the site and the hours of intense enjoyment it provides!
Cool list! I’m recommending this app to my husband. He’s a big “list” guy.