Of 2009 (Time Out NY)
David Fear, Film Editor
10. Bronson — Nicolas Winding Refn
09. Treeless Mountain — So Yong Kim
08. Still Walking — Hirokazu Kore-eda
07. Hunger — Steve McQueen
06. A Serious Man — Joel & Ethan Coen
05. The Headless Woman — Lucrecia Martel
04. Sugar — Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden
03. The Hurt Locker — Kathryn Bigelow
02. Summer Hours — Olivier Assayas
01. 35 Shots of Rum — Claire Denis
Joshua Rothkopf, Senior Film Writer
10. Funny People — Judd Apatow
09. Somers Town — Shane Meadows
08. The House of the Devil — Ki West
07. Summer Hours — O. Assayas
06. Anvil! The Story of Anvil — Sacha Gervasi
05. The Hurt Locker — K. Bigelow
04. Star Trek — J.J. Abrams
03. Two Lovers — James Gray
02. Still Walking — H. Kore-eda
01. A Serious Man — J.& E. Coen
Keith Uhlrich, Film Writer
10. Inglourious Basterds — Quentin Tarantino
09. The Box — Richard Kelly
08. A Christmas Carol — Robert Zemeckis
07. Public Enemies — Michael Mann
06. Lorna’s Silence — Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne
05. My Son, My Son, What Have Ye’ Done? — Werner Herzog
04. Two Lovers — J. Gray
03. California Dreamin’ — Cristian Nemescu
02. Night and Day — Hong Sang-soo
01. The Limits of Control — Jim Jarmusch
Robin Wood’s final top 10, from Jonathan Rosenbaums site.
Rio Bravo
Either I Can’t Sleep or I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone (Robin wasn’t articulating well, but probably the former)
Sansho Dayo
Tokyo Story
Ruggles of Red Gap or Make Way for Tomorrow
Code inconnu
The Reckless Moment or Letter from an Unknown Woman
Angel Face (something of a surprise, this)
The Seven Samurai
Le Crime de Monsieur Lange or La Règle du jeu
James Quandt (Cinematheque Ontario)
Best of the Decade:
1) These Encounters of Theirs
2) In Praise of Love
3) Platform
4) Syndromes and a Century
5) The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
6) In Vanda’s Room
7) The Headless Woman
8) La Commune (Paris, 1871)
9) Come and Go
10) La Blessure
The Japan Times’ Mark Schilling’s Top 10 Japanese Films of 2009*:
1. Fish Story
2. Dear Doctor
3. Summer Wars
4. Villon no Tsuma
5. Zero no Shoten
6. Nankyokyu Ryorinin
7. Live Tape
8. Instant Numa
9. Symbol
10. Ultra Miracle Love Story (Bare Essence of Life)
*I, in no way, endorse this list.
In Greece we have a magazine about cinema.Here’s their top 10 of the decade:
10.The Return(2003,Andrei Svyagintsev)
9.No Country for the Old Men(2007,Joel & Ethan Coen)
8.Synecdoche,New York(2008,Charlie Kaufman)
7.Mulholland Dr.(2001,David Lynch)
6.In the Mood for Love(2000,Wong Kar-Wai)
5.Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind(2004,Michel Gondry)
4.Zodiac(2007,David Fincher)
3.Brokeback Mountain(2005,Ang Lee)
2.Pan’s Labyrinth(2006,Guillermo del Toro)
1.Hidden(2005,Michael Haneke)
I agree for some choises,but I think their list could be better.
“I agree for some choises,but I think their list could be better.”
so true Jake, their list is as conservative as the U.S. critics’ above.
i do admire some of their choices myself but honestly…No Country for Old Men?
Brokeback Mountain? Synecdoche, New York?
Whoa Dimitris, what’s wrong with No Country for Old Men?
Cahiers du Cinema – Top 10 of 2009:
1. Les Herbes folles , Alain Resnais
2. Vincere , Marco Bellochio
3. Inglourious Basterds , Quentin Tarantino
4. Gran Torino , Clint Eastwood
5. Singularités d’une jeune fille blonde , Manoel de Oliveira
6. Tetro , de Francis Ford Coppola
7. Démineurs , Kathryn Bigelow
8. Le Roi de l’évasion , Alain Guiraudie
9. Tokyo Sonata , Kiyoshi Kurosawa
10. Hadewijch , Bruno Dumont
Not bad for a 100 year old to make Cahiers’ top 5! (but oh dear below Tarantino)
Sight and Sound:
1.A Prophet (Audiard)
2=The Hurt Locker (Bigelow)
35 Shots of Rum (Denis)
4.The White Ribbon (Haneke)
5.Let the Right One In (Alfredson)
6=Up (Docter)
White Material (Denis)
8=Bright Star (Campion)
Antichrist (von Trier)
10.Inglourious Basterds (Tarantino)
the year of the woman
Honestly, what is everyone’s obsession with The Hurt Locker? Did I miss something?
its a good solid movie..thats what
The first 20 movies from INDIEWIRE’s top 50 of the decade. 114 critics and bloggers vote for this list.
1 Mulholland Dr.
2 In the Mood for Love
3 Yi Yi 177
4 There Will Be Blood
5 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
6 The New World
7 Before Sunset
8 Zodiac
9 Platform
10 A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
11 Syndromes and a Century
12 25th Hour
13 No Country for Old Men
14 Brokeback Mountain
15 The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
16 In Praise of Love
17 The Son
18 Inland Empire
19 Kings and Queen
Punch-Drunk Love
20 Werckmeister Harmonies
The first 20 movies from INDIEWIRE’s top 50 of the decade. 114 critics and bloggers voted for this list.
1 Mulholland Dr.
2 In the Mood for Love
3 Yi Yi
4 There Will Be Blood
5 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
6 The New World
7 Before Sunset
8 Zodiac
9 Platform
10 A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
11 Syndromes and a Century
12 25th Hour
13 No Country for Old Men
14 Brokeback Mountain
15 The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
16 In Praise of Love
17 The Son
18 Inland Empire
19 Kings and Queen & Punch-Drunk Love
20 Werckmeister Harmonies
Most of the lists I have come across are predictable, conventional and cater to popular taste. Richard Brody’s list is acceptable, as it points viewers towards titles they probably missed ( isnt that the point of a list? to educate the reader, to give under-publicised movies their due? ). I am waiting for Rosenbaum’s list. His personal canon of 1000 favorites is the best film list I have ever seen.
Anyway, the TIFF list for best of the decade is, in my opinion, the best list so far. Some predictable choices can be found here too, but how does one leave out films like Mulholland Drive and In the Mood for Love from a list of 50 odd best films of the decade? I think this list is more or less the one all film buffs can respect.
The TIFF list
1. Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand). 2. Platform (Jia Zhang-ke, Hong Kong, China/China/Japan/France) 3. Still Life (Jia Zhang-ke, China). 4. Beau travail (Claire Denis, France). 5. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, China), 6. Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, France/Thailand/Germany/Italy). 7. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu, Romania); Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr, Hungary). 8. Éloge de l’amour (Jean-Luc Godard, Switzerland/ France). 9. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, Romania). 10. Silent Light (Carlos Reygadas, Mexico/France/Netherlands). 11. Russian Ark (Alexander Sokurov, Russia/Germany). 12. The New World (Terrence Malick, U.S.) 13. Blissfully Yours (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, France/Thailand). 14. Le Fils (Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, Belgium/France). 15. Colossal Youth (Pedro Costa, Portugal/France/Switzerland). 16. Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse (Agnès Varda, France); In Vanda’s Room (Pedro Costa, Portugal/Germany/Italy/Switzerland); Songs from the Second Floor (Roy Andersson, Sweden/Denmark/Norway). 17. Caché (Michael Haneke, France/Austria/Germany/Italy); A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, classified as a U.S. film despite the director’s Canadian nationality.); Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, France/USA); Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan). 18. Rois et reine (Arnaud Desplechin, France). 19. Elephant (Gus Van Sant, U.S.) 20. Talk to Her (Pedro Almodóvar, Spain). 21. The Wind Will Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami, Iran/France); Yi Yi (A One and a Two) (Edward Yang, Taiwan/Japan). 22. Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, Spain). 23. L’Enfant (Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, Belgium/France); The Heart of the World (Guy Maddin, Canada); I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone (Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan/France/Austria); Star Spangled to Death (Ken Jacobs, U.S.) 24. The World (Jia Zhang-ke, China/Japan/France). 25. Café Lumière (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Japan); The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/Spain/France/Italy); L’Intrus (Claire Denis, France); Millennium Mambo (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan/France); My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin, Canada); Saraband (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden); Spirited Away (Hiyao Miyazaki, Japan); I’m Not There (Todd Haynes, U.S.) 26. Gerry (Gus Van Sant, U.S.). 27. Distant (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey); Dogville (Lars von Trier, Denmark/Sweden/UK/France/Germany); The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, U.S.); 28. Alexandra (Alexander Sokurov, Russia/France); Demonlover (Olivier Assayas, France). 29. Atanarjuat, The Fast Runner (Zacharias Kunuk, Canada); Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan). 30. Longing (Valeska Grisebach, Germany); Secret Sunshine (Lee Chang-dong, South Korea); Vai e Vem (João César Monteiro, Portugal); Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes, U.S./France).We all have out own tastes and preferences, but the depressing thing about many of these lists is how insular they are – with far too many American and English language films. They give the impression that the non-English-speaking world hardly exists. These lists are compiled by people who would claim to love the cinema and are professionally engaged with it, yet they seem to have no taste for the likes of Abbas Kiarostami or Hou Hsiaou-Hsien, who many would argue are among the most interesting and artistically successful film makers currently working.
When it comes to The Hurt Locker, I’m with Fandorin. I don’t get it at all.
It’s like Man on Wire: an empty, stupid movie that people are projecting all kinds of things onto, like realism in this case.
I’m happy to see Still LIfe on some of these lists.
I’m not sure how many of you are listeners of Slate Magazine’s Culture Gabfest podcast, but the last episode was all about their process of selecting top 10’s for the year and decade. It was really great to hear the kinds of thoughts that go into assembling such a list. Def. check it out if you get a chance.
Man On Wire is not empty.
yeah, i also don’t understand the praise for ‘The Hurt Locker’ – it was okay, but nothing sensational to me really and i was pretty unaffected by it. the direction of suspense was incredibly solid, but that’s all i felt it had going for it.
i was excited to see the Russian film ‘The Return’ turn up on someone decade list. that was one of the most beautifully simplistic road films i’ve ever seen.
Wow I actually really like INDIEWIRE’s list (or at least the top 20(1) posted on here)
Except for Brokeback. Brother.
I haven’t seen it yet, but even if I don’t like it, I’m not going to ever find a list I fully agree with… except for mine!
russian ark didnt make any lists?
weird
Hahaha, that’s the ONLY one I’ve seen from that list!
WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?!?
Mulholland Dr.
In the Mood for Love
Yi Yi
There Will Be Blood
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The New World
Before Sunset
Zodiac
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
Syndromes and a Century
No Country for Old Men
Inland Empire
Punch-Drunk Love
Those are the ones I have seen and I recommend all of them rather highly with extra emphasis on Mulholland Dr., There Will Be Blood, The New World, Syndromes and a Century, Zodiac, Inland Empire, and AI.
I really need to see a David Lynch film. I have Twin Peaks ordered.
dont start with inland if u have never seen a lynch film
Why not? Its fun to be thrown in an icy cold pool when you don’t know how to swim!
Den, I’m starting with Twin Peaks!
Jake La Motta
Drew,I’m from Greece such as Dimitris,and unfortunately the situation is almost the same,at least here in Greece.At least in terms of cinema.And yes,I agree,that’s scary.