Best of 2009

MY FAVORITE FILMS OF 2009

1. TWO LOVERS (James Gray, USA)
2. 35 RHUMS (Claire Denis, France)
3. PONYO (Hiyao Miyazaki, Japan)
4. ANTICHRIST (Lars Von Trier, Denmark)
5. THREE MONKEYS (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey)

6. MOON (Duncan Jones, UK)
7. THE HURT LOCKER (Kathryn Bigelow, USA)
8. THE LIMITS OF CONTROL (Jim Jarmusch, USA)
9. PASSING STRANGE (Spike Lee, USA)
10. THE WHITE RIBBON (Michael Haneke, Austria)

20 runners-up, in alphabetical order: ADVENTURELAND (Greg Mottola, USA); ALEXANDER THE LAST (Joe Swanberg, USA); BEESWAX (Andrew Bujalski, USA); CARGO 200 (Aleksey Balabanov, Russia); A CHRISTMAS CAROL (Robert Zemeckis, USA); FANTASTIC MR. FOX (Wes Anderson, USA); THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE (Steven Soderbergh, USA); THE HEADLESS WOMAN (Lucrecia Martel, Argentina); HUNGER (Steve McQueen, UK); IN THE LOOP (Armando Iannucci, UK); INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (Quentin Tarantino, USA); JERICHOW (Christian Petzold, Germany); LIVERPOOL (Lisandro Alonso, Argentina); LORNA’S SILENCE (The Dardenne Brothers, Belgium); POLICE, ADJECTIVE (Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania); STILL WALKING (Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan); SUMMER HOURS (Olivier Assayas, France); TOKYO! (Michel Gondry/Leos Carax/Bong Joon-ho, France/Japan); A TOWN CALLED PANIC (Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar, Belgium); WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (Spike Jonze, USA) and the first half of FUNNY PEOPLE (Judd Apatow, USA)

Guilty Pleasures

THE BOX (Richard Kelly, USA); runner-up: MICHAEL JACKSON’S THIS IS IT (Kenny Ortega, USA)

Best Unreleased

1. NE CHANGE RIEN (Pedro Costa, France)
2. EVERYONE ELSE (Maren Ade, Germany)
3. ECCENTRICITIES OF A BLONDE-HAIRED GIRL (Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal)
4. BARBE-BLEU (Catherine Breillat, France)
5. AROUND A SMALL MOUNTAIN (Jacques Rivette, France)

Best Documentaries

1. LA DANSE (Frederick Wiseman, USA/France)
2. GUEST OF CINDY SHERMAN (Paul H-O and Tom Donahue, USA)
3. OF TIME AND THE CITY (Terence Davies, UK)
4. MUST READ AFTER MY DEATH (Morgan Dews, USA)
5. REMBRANDT’S J’ACCUSE (Peter Greenaway, UK/Netherlands)

P.S. I forgot BEACHES OF AGNES (Agnes Varda, France) which should be #2

Best Old Films Seen for First Time in ’09

1. PITFALL (Andre de Toth, USA, 1947)
2. ALL THE MARBLES (Robert Aldrich, USA, 1981)
3. L’ENFANCE NUE (Maurice Pialat, France, 1967)
4. DILLINGER IS DEAD (Marco Ferreri, Italy, 1969)
5. LE COMBAT DANS L’ILE (Alain Cavalier, France, 1962)

My favorite films of the ’00s

1. DOGVILLE (Lars von Trier, Denmark, 2003)
2. THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES… (Andrew Dominik, USA, 2007)
3. WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES (Bela Tarr, Hungary, 2000)
4. THE NEW WORLD (Terrence Malick, USA, 2005)
5. GERRY (Gus Van Sant, USA, 2002)

6. DISTANT (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey, 2002)
7. PLATFORM (Jia Zhangke, China, 2000)
8. FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan/France, 2007)
9. TURNING GATE (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea, 2002)
10. FAR FROM HEAVEN (Todd Haynes, USA, 2002)

20 runners-up:

BEFORE SUNSET (Richard Linklater, USA); BIRTH (Jonathan Glazer, USA); BLOODY SUNDAY (Paul Greengrass, UK); CACHÉ (Michael Haneke, France); CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS (Andrew Jarecki, USA); A CHRISTMAS TALE (Arnaud Desplechin, France); CLIMATES (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey); CODE INCONNU (Michael Haneke, France); DANCER IN THE DARK (Lars Von Trier, Denmark); THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU (Cristi Puiu, Romania); KILL BILL VOL. 1 (Quentin Tarantino, USA); MEMENTO (Christopher Nolan, USA); THE RETURN (Andrei Zvyagintsev, Russia); SOLARIS (Steven Soderbergh, USA); SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand); SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK (Charlie Kaufman, USA); 25TH HOUR (Spike Lee, USA); YI YI (Edward Yang, Taiwan); WHAT TIME IS IT THERE? (Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan); THE WHITE DIAMOND (Werner Herzog, UK/Germany)