Just a day before the Sight and Sound results were published, the LA Review of Books had an excellent piece on the potential drama that could surround this year’s results. They went in-depth about the major changes that occurred within the organizational structure of the whole thing. It explains a lot:
“There is reason to think that change may be in store. Sight & Sound has taken steps to generate a different kind of list this year by again expanding (to more than 1600) and transforming its list of list-makers. Rather than leaving it to the “chains of recommendations” that shaped the 2012 list, this time, consultants were hired. Will it make a difference? I spoke to critic Girish Shambu, one of those hired to consult, who doubts we’ll see much change at the top. But he also voiced another common argument: that changing the top of the list shouldn’t be the goal anyway.”
As mentioned above, a Caltech professor by the name of Girish Shambu was hired in early summer as a “voting consultant” for the 2022 Sight and Sound poll. He blew the doors wide open by mixing the “chains of recommendation.” Even though he claims that he didn’t want changes to occur, a tweet written by him dated 08.08.22 might say otherwise.
The "chains of recommendations" kept the standards high last time. Why couldn't they have just expanded that? No matter what is said now about Shambu, one cannot deny that he's on-record as hoping for the outcome that we got. “The Godfather” and “Raging Bull’ OUT. “Get Out,” “Parasite,” “Moonlight” and “Portrait of A Lady On Fire” IN.
Now, we’re all wondering, who some of the other consultants hired were …