An inspiring portrait of Nelson Mandela, his vision, and what he has achieved for his South African nation. His political formula is not so much about using sports to unite his countrymen to avoid repeating the cycle of hatred and oppression that apartheid have brought his homeland. Above it all, it was how he uses his leadership to sow and inspire change through forgiving the enemies.

What's best about this film is that for the many reason that people might not sit through watching a plot-less film, the acting and the mature directing of Alexander Payne are just brilliant and more than enough to convince me to stick around, care for their characters, and their little family's story. This is also about the moral choices we make and must be responsible of for the rest of our lives.

Easily one of the best and most cinematic films of the year for me. It's a simple story of a boy who wants to find his purpose in life after the death of his father. Along the way he touched the lives of the people he met, unlocked some secrets and fixed regrets. It was an inspired piece of film making from Scorsese. And his ode to cinema is breathtaking. To use a cliche - magical, enchanting and luminous!

Tears of joy swelled in my eyes upon watching this poignant film that pays homage to an era that glorifies the aesthetics and beauty of silent films. But there is someone beyond Hazanavicius' age who delivers a more powerful and original homage to that bygone era. That honor belongs to Raya Martin's Isang Maicling Pelicula ng Indio Nacional (A Short Film of Indio Nacional). Martin then was only 24 I guess.

My only complain here is how formulaic the film's plot was developed. But should everyone really care? All in, the film is captivating beyond immediate elucidating. Each frame is inspired. And as an early work from Park Chan Wok, this may have heralded his arrival in world cinema scene that I believe he did gracefully, effortlessly.

Another brilliant and unforgettable film from the same duo who brought us L'Enfant and Le Fils. If handled by other filmmakers, this straightforward and honest film will fail miserably. Thankfully though, the Dardennes have brought us another gem of a humanist film on the unconditional love given by Cecile De France's character Samantha to the abandoned and troubled 11-year-old Cyril, the titular kid with a bike.

A kid- and family-friendly film. But having said so is not some assurance that this is like your kind of Hollywood fare that Pixar or Walt Disney are making. Summer Days with Coo is a family drama that is full of heart without drowning the viewers with too much sentimentality and sweetness. There are harsh realities tackled by this gem of a film, but the charm and heart of this film shines through.

With the masterful direction by one of Japan's well-loved filmmaker, the film is not only affectionate and poignant, Twilight Samurai teaches the importance of living life with quiet dignity, honor and contentment. In another level, the film works both as an elegy to the ending samurai era and film genre that have catapulted Japan to the attention of the world. Just bring some tissues when you watch this film.

This is one of those rare films that shows that while the old tradition is being swallowed up by the fast-paced, unfolding of modern times, nothing replaces eating together with your family even amidst difficult times. Tender and heartfelt, Summer Wars is a mesmerizing film that once again proves that a film with a heart shines bright, even though the world around is cold and slowly fading in bleak hopelessness.

One of the most important films from Turkey. In the surface, we see through eyes of Yusuf, the six-year-old innocent boy, his so many questions about life, death and his dreams of his father falling from a high tree while fetching honey, their source of income. But like Yusuf, we are like the child, who can barely see the more pressing truths about life: that it is harsh. Life's joys can be found but quite rare.

This film does prove a lot of things. That Mia Wasikowska is someone to watch after her follow up to Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland; and that Michael Fassbender, that Irish actor who figured in a previously critically-acclaimed film Fish Tank, enters the league of first rate actors. Cary Fukunaga (Sin Nombre) proved that beloved classics when tackled with imagination can be a splendid cineastes' feast.

The kids are not all right in this film. Mesmerizing and unforgettable for so many things: acting, direction, cinematography, music and story. A microcosm of sort of Japanese youth culture: bleak and hopeless, contrary to the powerful image of progress and elegance of this nation's economy. The film's ending is all for the audience to complete. But am all for a brighter hopeful future. Definitely.

Stubbornly difficult film. Yes, and also divisive. And also - a) cerebral, b) inaccessible, c) resistant to explanation, and many other adjectives to describe this slow cinema. PURE CINEMA, there's no doubt. Pity that I can't recommend the film to my friends because they might hate me for promoting such slow piece of cinema. But the upside: it will still earn many best of the year's lists, including mine.

Very challenging multi-layered piece of cinema! I thought I will immediately forget this after watching! Almost immediately dismissed that this is just another take on the thriller/whodunnit genre. But people, I was wrong. Easily one of the best films of the decade. I think I like this better than his Palme D'or winning The White Ribbon. But there is a question that lingers: who sends the tape? Let the debate begin.

Thanks MUBI for having this gem! This is one of my new all-time favorites now!

Having watched three of his films, Ceylan's new film looks more ambitious in scope than the former. Looking forward to finally seeing this soon. This surely will nab every critic's top ten lists for 2011 or 2012 (if only, this will be distributed next year in North America).

There's always some mesmerizing spirituality about the Dardenne's films. Their films are bleak yet elegantly well-crafted. Magical too. We, as spectators of their films, may not have the chance to change the paths their characters have taken but somehow after watching, we are left with the chance to do on our own what we think is moral. That's why it is always exciting to know if they direct a new film.

What is art? What is hype? This joyous film shed some really interesting points on what we consider as art (or not?). Or are we all along being conned to believe what we see? Exit's director popular street artist Banksy is obviously not a believer of the notion, "to see is to believe" and this is very much the point of this remarkable documentary. One of the year's best films.

One of those films that's hard to forget. Lee Chang-Dong's Poetry is indeed (sorry to say) poetic. The trouble that this make? I am having a hard time deciding which is the director's best: this or Secret Sunshine. Love both films' dense, novelistic character study of South Korean's people.

Film is too long and can still be enhanced at the editing room. The only reason you will stay is with the stunning perf by Jeon Do-yeon. Film poses difficult questions about faith and spirituality. Sadly though, it hardly grapple with these same doubts so the open-ended ending just failed to nail it.

Well-conceived film. While it is still early, I will not be surprised if this film gets voted among the decade's best films.

I have deep respect that Weerasethakul's shape-shifting film is one of the strangest and perhaps most original that I watched in years - from the real, the film transformed into allegory. But I must admit the film is not my kind of cinema: too abstract and undecipherable. Although strange and hypnotic, this is not the kind that will make me excited again watching it.

Though almost three decades old, the film still stands among the best films ever made by a Filipino filmmaker, even reaching a status higher than most films created anywhere in the world today for the last decade. Dark and unsentimental, the film achieves miraculous beauty when secrets are slowly revealed to everyone's grasp but bluntly stalled a tall wall to prevent us from reaching out. Only cries are getting louder and to help means death.

Really gripping film. Its wonder lies in the way the filmmaker delves deeply into the trenches of the human heart - or to the extent that a person will commit good or bad in order to survive. The film is an exercise in social realism, but everything else is a parable.

One of the best Filipino films I really want rediscovered by the world. Very original, audacious and insightful.

Electrical and enigmatic. One of the best film adaptations of its decade.

Ajami is a well-conceived film that tells us the reality and what it feels like inside the mean streets of Ajami in Israel. But the film's central issues and themes can happen anywhere else in the world now whether you are in the slums in Rio De Janeiro or Tondo in Manila or Tokyo or New York and London. Like the people who inhabits Ajami, there are people who are like them in other places - forced by circumstances to do things they were not born to do and commit. The film is quite merciless in indicting society in general and refuses to resolve anything for us - but leave to us, viewers, what we can and should be doing to keep the human spirit hopeful for change.

Wonderful and touching film. Like a beautiful gift, this one packs a lot of brilliance without being too manipulative.

Visually stunning and beautiful but a disappointing new film from a very good filmmaker. I like Scorsese best in films like Taxi Driver and Raging Bull.

Right when the opening sequence was being reeled - you know you are in the hands of a true art filmmaker. But this is a strangely divisive film - it will either leave you spellbound by the stark contrast of the beautiful scenery with the cruelty of humanity. Or, it will make you feel manipulated. In all, I felt this is Haneke's masterpiece.