The cover of the December issue of Sight & Sound – the publishing arm of the British Film Institute (BFI)- proudly announces a listing of the 50 best films of 2024 and an accompanying e-mail to subscribers (of whom I am one) asks conversationally “How many have you seen?”
This question is, as it turns out, a disengenious one. Unless you have attended all the major film festivals of the year or live in the USA with ready access to an arts cinema there is no hope in hell that even the most avid movie buff will have watched all fifty.
In this way, critics maintain their fragile status as arbitors of good taste in all things cinematic.
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