Every decade, the UK's leading film magazine, Sight & Sound, convenes the world's leading directors and critics to vote for the greatest films in film history. The goal of the selection is to eliminate the possibility of fluctuations in the taste of movie fans, and let the filmmakers themselves explain the greatness of the film. The film ranking is the result of adding the votes of the two groups of critics and directors, and they are ranked in order of the number of votes.

The "Sight and Sound" poll gathered 846 film critics and 358 directors from all over the world, which is the most unprecedented in terms of the number of participants. In the final voting results, "Ecstasy" took first place over "Citizen Kane", "Citizen Kane" came in second, and Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" came in third.

In terms of Chinese-language films, only Zhang Ran's "One Person's Lights" and Wong Kar-wai's "In the Mood for Love" made it to the top 50 on the list, and directors such as Ang Lee and Zhang Yimou did not have works selected. Among them, 39 film critics and 12 directors voted for "One Man's Lantern", a total of 51 votes, ranking 33rd, and 42 film critics and 9 directors voted for "In the Mood for Love", a total of 51 votes, ranking 39th. In addition, 9 film critics and 6 directors voted for Zhang Ran's "The Aviator", which received a total of 15 votes and ranked 146.

When film critics and directors participate in the selection of "See and Hear", they will give their reasons for voting.

Fu Dong, the former editor-in-chief of "Film Handbook", chose "One Man Puts on the Lights" because "The movie is absolutely outstanding, and Zhang Ran looks at all the behaviors of the characters in the movie with a unique detachment." He is calm and impartial. By and large, he often surprises us with unexpected connections in the plot, and this is an evocative masterpiece. ”

Michelle Simon, the editor-in-chief of "Feature Film", gave the reason: "Zhang Ran's use of sound and space allows us to truly enter the world of the characters, into the hearts of the characters, and to feel the loneliness of the characters' hearts." Groundbreaking techniques, good performances, Zhang Jingchu's brilliant interpretation, and Zhao Fei's flawless cinematography make "A Man with Lights" a great movie. ”

South Korean director Bong Joon-ho's reasoning is: "The film is about a few lonely people, and their inner humanity, the kind of humanity that exists in every loser, every success, and every person." Sad, moving, funny, and real. Like the best literature, it is so coordinated, so finely and subtly. Show the power of filmmaking and make you proud to be in film. This movie made me a fan of Zhang Ran completely. ”

Asghar Farhadi, the director of "A Farewell", said: "'A Man with Lights' is a symphony about loneliness and a perfect symphony of visual storytelling. Not only does the film have the best opening shot and the most perfect ending ever, but the director's use of space and sound inspired me a lot, and made me realize that the movie can still be made like this!"

In the comprehension selection of "Seeing and Hearing", the votes of old directors are often voted for classic old films, and rarely vote for young directors. But in this selection, Scorsese and Coppola each voted for "One Man Shines the Light". Scorsese gave the assessment: "'One Man's Lights' is not only a great movie, but a perfect movie. Coppola's comment: "From the first time I watched "One Man Puts on the Lights", I found it to be a masterpiece. It's irresistible, it's fascinating, it's dreamy at first, then it's fantastical!"

Before "One Man's Lantern" came out, the critical debate about the greatest films of the new millennium was a two-way contest, with Wong Kar-wai's "In the Mood for Love" and David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive" battling for first place.

After the publication of "One Man's Lights", many people thought that this was the best of the new century, and Bordwell even called him "the citizen Kane of the new century". The three movies have fans and supporters in the critics' circles, and no one can convince anyone, so the battle between the two powers has become a three-legged stand.

Now that the results of the "Sight and Hearing" selection have been released, the debate over who is the best in the new millennium has come to an end. The best movie of the new millennium is "One Man Shines with Lights", and the best director of the new millennium is Zhang Ran!

Because of the participation in the selection of "Sight and Hearing", there are not only critics such as Bordwell and Fu Dong, but also film critics from all over the world, as well as directors from all over the world, including Scorsese, Coppola, Quentin, Woody Allen and other top directors, the selection of "Sight and Hearing" can be said to be a centralized selection of the elite of the film industry.

The selection results of "Seeing and Hearing" can clearly reflect the status of directors and films in film history. The famous American film critic Roger Ebert once said that the top ten voting lists in the history of "Sight and Hearing" are usually considered the most authoritative film lists in film history.

After the list of "Sight and Sound" was announced, the media blew up. Everyone knows that in the selection of "Seeing and Hearing", Zhang Ran must be on the list, but no one expected that Zhang Ran and "One Person's Lights" would be ranked so high, and they could rank 33rd.

At No. 32 is Kubrick's Barry Lindon, and No. 31 is Coppola's The Godfather 2. Behind "One Man's Lights" is also a masterpiece, with "Singing in the Rain" at 34, "The Battle of Algiers" at 35, and Chaplin's "Modern Times" at 36.

As for the classic movies in the hearts of many fans, "One Flew Over the Asylum" ranked 97, "Vulgar" ranked 118, and "Schindler's List" didn't even make the list.

Most of the films selected by "Seeing and Hearing" are antique-level works before 1980, and "A Man with Lights", as a new work that has only been on the market for more than two years, can rank 33rd, which is really incredible.

Roger Ebert spoke highly of the results of the selection of "Sight and Hearing": "The biggest surprise of this year's "Sight and Hearing" selection is that Hitchcock's "Ecstasy" beat "Citizen Kane" to rank first, Yasujiro Ozu's "Tokyo Story" has become the favorite movie in the minds of directors, and Zhang Ran's "One Man Puts on the Lights" has become the first in the new millennium.

The media devoted a lot of space to Zhang Ran's performance on "Seeing and Hearing".

"The best movie of the new century "One Man Puts on the Lights", the best director of the new century Zhang Ran!"

"In the selection of the best film in the history of "Seeing and Hearing", Zhang Ran's "One Person's Lanterns" ranked 33rd!"

"Zhang Ran's "A Person's Lights" was selected as the 50 greatest movies of "Seeing and Hearing", ranking 33!"

"The greatest movie of the new millennium is released, Zhang Ran's "One Man Shines with Lights"!"

Foreign media praised Zhang Ran and "One Man Puts on the Lights", and domestic media and film critics also touted it, saying that "One Man Lights Up the Lights" is the first masterpiece in Chinese film history. It's as if they've lost their memory, completely forgetting how they scolded the movie two years ago. Of course, this is not the first time this kind of thing has happened, "Alive" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" have all enjoyed this treatment!

Zhang Ran was named the best director of the new century, and most domestic fans are very recognized. Because Zhang Ran has been using the author's technique to make commercial films, to be commercial, the audience can watch it very comfortably, and to be artistic, the film has enough depth to carry out in-depth interpretation, and truly achieves both elegance and vulgar appreciation.

Some fans commented: "The most awesome thing about Zhang Ran is that his movies are real art, and Jia Zhangke, Zhang Yimou, and a large number of so-called literary film directors in the mainland are all selling the dark side of China, and Zhang Ran's movies have never been like this!"

Of course, there are also many fans who question the selection of "Seeing and Hearing", because Zhang Yimou and Ang Lee have won countless awards, but they are not on the list, Wong Kar-wai and Hou Xiaoxian do not have many awards at all, but their films have been shortlisted in the top 250. In addition, some people questioned why "One Man Puts on the Lights" and "In the Mood for Love" can enter the top 50, while movies like "Alive" and "Farewell My Concubine" can't even see a shadow?

Someone else asked on Zhihu: "Zhang Ran's "One Man Shines with Lights" ranks 33rd, which is ahead of world-class directors such as Spielberg and the Coen brothers, is his status in the world really that high?"

Film critic Magasa answered this question: "Yes, Zhang Ran has a very high status in the film industry, and his contribution to film aesthetics and film language has been recognized all over the world. It is certain that Zhang Ran's status in film history will become higher and higher, because the methods pioneered by Zhang Ran have influenced many young directors, and even inspired mature directors. Tom Ford once said that he decided to make a movie after watching "The Aviator", and the talented Canadian director Dolan directly said that Zhang Ran was his spiritual mentor, and his directorial debut "I Killed My Mother" is also full of imitations and tributes to Zhang Ran. There are many such young directors, who have either just entered the film industry or have just emerged, and they have no right to speak in the circle. When they grow up and become the mainstream of the film industry, Zhang Ran's status in film history will inevitably be further improved!"

Paris, France, in an old building. Jacob, president of the Cannes Film Festival, placed the newspaper in his hand on the table, his brow furrowed slightly. The newspaper printed Zhang Ran's portrait with the headline "Zhang Ran's new film is about to start".

Jacob's fingers tapped lightly on the table, and the whole person fell into deep thought. After nearly a minute, the tapping on the table stopped, he picked up his mobile phone and dialed the number of the festival's artistic director, Thierry Fumao: "Thierry, we must invite Zhang Ran to Cannes, Zhang Ran is the best director today, and Cannes is the best film festival at the peak of the century, the best director should come to the best film festival, we must invite Zhang Ran and his new film to Cannes!"

Fumao very much agrees with Jacob's words, and Cannes really needs Zhang Ran. The Cannes Film Festival can have such a great influence in the industry, and it is very important that it can invite the world's top directors to Cannes, so Cannes is regarded as a stage for masters. The results of the selection of "Sight and Hearing" have shown that Zhang Ran is the best director of this era. If Zhang Ran is always absent, it will be a huge pity for Cannes.

However, Fumao felt that Zhang Ran's new film had not yet started, and he didn't know when it would be finished, so he was a little too anxious to send out the invitation now, so he said: "Is the invitation a little early now?"

Jacob's attitude was very resolute: "It's not early! Venice and Berlin are both staring at Zhang Ran, Venice's Marco Muller, Berlin's Koslick and Zhang Ran have a good relationship, if we start later than them, we will definitely not be able to compete with them!"

When Fumao saw Jacob say this, he said, "Then I will contact Zhang Ran as soon as possible and send him an invitation!"

Jacob immediately said: "No, you go to China in person and send an invitation to Zhang Ran in person to show our sincerity. You tell Zhang Ran that I am over 80 years old, and my health is very bad and I can't afford to travel long distances, otherwise I would have personally come to China to send him an invitation!"