Banana Leaves as Feathers: Best Films of 2009

My top 25 films of 2009 thus far with three notable works that would easily tie with my bottom three. Those entries would be Tony Gilroy’s magnificent espionage comedy Duplicity, Claire Denis’ beautiful 35 Shots of Rum and Jane Campion’s splendorous Bright Star.

2009 was a year for a lot of good/very good movies but very few great ones. I have nothing but faith that the 25 here deserve to be ranked as major works but I’d be lying if I said the list stood confidently next to my 2008 list. Mention should also be made of a few other favorites that though they are not canonical by any stretch of the imagination,...