The Ratings Project: Top 100 Most Divisive Films (2013)

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A countdown of the top 100 most divisive films polled in the ratings project thus far — culled from the 1,620 titles that received votes in the 2012 Filmspotters' Top 100 Movies of All Time.

Divisiveness here is measured by the standard deviation of each film's votes. Films needed 13 votes to qualify.

It's an oddball and rather frivolous list, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

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Casino
Martin Scorsese, 1995

Votes	Average	St Dev	Rank
25	6.69	2.012	100

Vote Distribution

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
-	-	1	1	2	2	4	7	2	4	2

I don't have the energy to hate Casino, it kind of just goes on and on.

Oh dear, I do love Casino. I think it was the second double-tape VHS I owned after Braveheart.

But yeah, back to CASINO: wonderful film, better than GOODFELLAS, #5 all-time for me.

I find it to be one of my guilty pleasures. And I too, like it better than Goodfellas. I've never been too enamored with Scorsese's films. I think he tries too hard to impress the viewer with camera angles and imagery, but in this film, he seems to have decreased his penchant for this.

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Hiroshima, mon amour
Alain Resnais, 1959

Votes	Average	St Dev	Rank
16	7.73	2.015	99

Vote Distribution

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
-	-	1	-	1	-	-	3	4	5	2

One of the more beautiful films of all time is this Alain Resnais film about a French actress who meets, has a one-night stand with and falls in love with a Japanese man (Eiji Okada) while shooting a film in Paris.

I think I've been hesitant to write about this film partly because my first reaction was, "hmmm, I don't think I liked that." I was very put off, for example, by the first verbal interchanges we hear between the lovers in what seemed to me forced and artificial laughter and conversation ... But in the days since I've seen it, I find myself more and more gripped by the film, haunted by so many of the images - the opening sequence is both lovely and horrifying, in its mingling of sensuous bodies and disintegrating bodies; the scene with the protest marchers - the lovers separated and rushed along by the stream of people captures a panic and claustrophobia (a kind of claustrophobia that is perhaps linked to the woman locked in the basement) I've not seen/felt before in a film; and so many others.

What I thought was going to be a difficult sit, quickly turned into a great lesson in world cinema.  The film ultimately didn't sustain my interest.  I was more intrigued in this couple than the one in Brief Encounter, but after a while the story felt too thin even to sustain it's brief 90 minute running time.

In just a span of a few moments, Resnais creates three different motifs, showcasing fear of the unknown, the comforting embrace of two people, possibly in love and finally, the erotic nature of romance. It was an absolute masterstroke of genius. This is the third film I've seen directed by Resnais, and he's definitely become, alongside Eric Rohmer, the shining beacons of the French New Wave for me.

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Suspiria
Dario Argento, 1977

Votes	Average	St Dev	Rank
15	6.42	2.017	98

Vote Distribution

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
-	1	-	-	1	2	1	6	3	-	1

oh, wow, Suspiria!

With its over saturated colours and crazy looking maybe German expressionist inspired sets, let's just say that Suspiria's art direction makes the Shining look like a minimalist painting. I didn't find the story all that compelling or frightening but the way the film is shot and what Argento chooses to show us is very interesting. I of course need to mention the music as well, with the creepy sounds and voices which I often confused for actual sounds from the film. It works very well.

A weird movie. In one way it's so much a B movie. And yet in another way it feels artistic. Strange experience indeed. I can't say it turned me into one of his dedicated fans. But at least I've educated myself a little and I suppose that's not a bad thing.

The opening is terrific...love the music. I kind of got bored with it after that.

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Scent of a Woman
Martin Brest, 1992

Votes	Average	St Dev	Rank
18	5.71	2.020	97

Vote Distribution

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
-	-	1	3	-	5	1	5	1	2	-

"What kind of a show you guys are putting on here today?"

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American History X
Tony Kaye, 1998

Votes	Average	St Dev	Rank
25	6.94	2.021	96

Vote Distribution

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
-	-	2	-	1	2	2	4	8	6	-

American History X is a pretty great film hampered by one pretty bad performance but boosted by two awesome ones and less-than-conventional-direction. ... Although the film seemed more like a series of disconnected stories (it didn't feel like only one day passed in current time and the flashbacks could mostly be taken on their own and didn't connect much outside of a shared cast) I think it worked pretty well. ... And the last great part of this film, the one, the only Ed Norton. I have never denied that he is a good actor (despite my perception of his off screen personality) but this is one of the best performances I have seen in this bracket. He is great as the hate filled Derek and awesome as the reformed version.

In the Red Corner wearing the Black & White trunks we have American History X.  It has going for it... Career Best performances from Edward Norton, Edward Furlong and Fariuza Balk.  (The last 2 aren't as big a deal, but it's worth mentioning anyways.) ... Blistering direction by Tony Kaye, who pulls heightened drama from even the most preachy scenes. ... Award-worthy cinematography (again from Mr. Kaye.) ... A murder scene you won't soon forget.  The sound of teeth on pavement may cause permanent chills.  If that doesn't, Norton's reaction after doing the deed probably will. ... After the opening foreshadowing, the film takes a little time to get it's motor running, but before long, it's just one great dramatic scene after another.  This is one of the most exciting dramas of recent years.  If you like your drama hot-button exciting, X gonna give it to ya'.

Way too heavy-handed and preachy, with all the subtlety of a jack-hammer.  The film recognizes that racism is a complex problem, and yet seems to suggest ridiculously simple answers.  Characters reconstruct their ideologies at the drop of a hat, and that happens no less than five times in the film (twice for each Edward, once for Fairuza).  And the ending (which Elizabeth spoiled for me… but you could see it coming at the halfway point anyway) is cruel and pointless.  The heart is in the right place, but the method leaves much to be desired.

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La jetée
Chris Marker, 1962

Votes	Average	St Dev	Rank
19	7.66	2.022	95

Vote Distribution

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
-	-	1	1	-	-	-	3	8	4	2

I disliked watching La Jetee the same way I dislike eating parsnips; It's simply a matter of taste. The reaction isn't intellectual nor emotional, but physical. If I put a turnip in my mouth the response is out of my control. Sadly, such things only change with time (not thought or discussion), and even that is no guarantee.

... a permanent top 5 film of all time for me; one of the most unique films ever made ...

Just look at the photos! They're so good that each one is a piece of art that would qualify for a photo exhibition. The score is mesmerizing and the voiceover text is like poetry. ... However it's more than just the esthetics that speaks to me. The film has the single quality that I think is the one I appreciate most of all in time travel movies: It messes with your mind until the walls of reality start to crumble and for a sweet moment of joy and horror you're hit by the wave of sense of wonder.

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The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Luis Buñuel, 1972

Votes	Average	St Dev	Rank
13	6.79	2.025	94

Vote Distribution

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
-	-	-	1	2	1	1	-	6	2	-

Some cute bits, but mostly I couldn't bring myself to care.  I can see it improving on a second viewing, but until then—

... clever and funny but repetitious. I got bored with it after an hour.

I was underwhelmed at first, but really grew to love it the second time.

I appreciate certain things here and it is certainly better than having your eye cut by a razor.

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TRON
Steven Lisberger, 1982

Votes	Average	St Dev	Rank
18	5.09	2.027	93

Vote Distribution

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
1	-	1	1	2	6	4	2	-	-	1

Impeccable set and costume design.

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Elephant
Gus Van Sant, 2003

Votes	Average	St Dev	Rank
24	6.86	2.028	92

Vote Distribution

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
-	1	-	-	-	4	6	4	4	1	4

Interesting but not very enlightening.  I’m displeased with the way Van Sant not-very-subtly lays blame on videogames and casts the villains as homosexuals (how can this be the same director who did My Own Private Idaho?).  I’m not sure, but I don’t remember Kleibold and Harris being lovers. Maybe, I dunno.  But the game they played was Doom, where you shoot at monsters hell-bent on killing you, not at innocent people calmly walking around.  Of course, Van Sant is not making a documentary of Columbine, or even a dramatic re-telling, but the comparison is obviously intended to be drawn.

Pretty good. It's mostly composed of long takes of teenagers walking through highways which strangely enough is kinda of how I remember high school. It's pretty quiet and elliptical with characters being introduced just barely. We don't get to know anyone besides a surface level kind of way (the way they look like, clothes, hobbies, etc) but that seems to be the point. The thing that really drags this down for me is when it gets too specific (the stuff with the killers).

Its not about him saying something, and to always expect that is kinda lazy.  The intent of this and last days and gerry ect is a kind of semiotic investigation - its up to YOU to say something.  Unlike say Pixar, this is actually art as film (not to knock it - i love entertainment as much as the next person).  You have these ideas and judgments in your head and he give you visuals that provoke those associations.  Meditate on your own reactions - not on what you think Van Sant's might be because you don;t know what they are because he's actually not interested in telling you.  This is why something like Theo Angelopoulos' Ulysses' Gaze (which tries to do the same thing) doesn't work for me is that I really have no cultural knowledge base from which to draw on to interact with what I'm seeing.  But to disregard this side of the film is to lose so much of what makes the film great.

I thought it was an excellently made film, taking me where it wanted me to go, lulling me with the boring events going through the maze of halls and classrooms of this quiet high school.  We see things from different perspectives all throughout the movie, and even though we know what's going to happen it still shocks and horrifies us-- perhaps because it was all TOO normal, too peaceful, too boring.  The complacency we felt is jarred, and our world is not the same.  Is this a perfect film?  No, but it is marvelous, and the acting isn't great, but real life isn't about great acting-- real life is full of terrible acting.  And by the end, this was MY high school and this event was happening where I lived.