From the moment film fanatics had two or three movies at their fingertips to compare there have been arguments about which film is “best.” Truthfully, it can be exhausting. One man’s Citizen Kane is another man’s Vertigo, and rarely the two opinions shall meet - which is fine. But when you really want to chart the tracks of Hollywood’s best features, chopped up by genre category, this new train map is the way to go. Surf the image, and we’ll discuss it below:
Click on the image for a much larger version.
The feat of this chart is the way the designers found ways to “connect” genres (marked by color-coded lines) at intersections the way rail line connect at key subway stations. So Clint Eastwoood’s Mystic River bridges the “Mystery/Crime” line and the “Drama” line. Or the brilliant Casablanca becomes a way station where “Universally Acclaimed Masterpiece,” “Romance” and “War” converge. It’s fun to debate the locations where certain films fall, and it’s interesting to discuss is the creators of the chart forced their hand to make a few connection on the train chart work.
And then there is the passionate discussion that can immediately swirl around films that probably have no business on any chart pertaining to the “Best Movies of All Time” My apologies to designer David Honnorat, but Forrest Gump? Changeling? Crash and Gran Torino? Charts like this are fun. And it’s always going to boil down to opinion. But if the train is stopping on these movies, remind me to get off at an earlier station.
