Best Films of 2005

I am not one for making best of the year movie lists. One can't really compare different kinds of movies which cover different genres and cultures. For example, it is not feasible to pit a Brazilian road movie against a comic book Hollywood movie. Still one can have their subjective views. So here are my personal biased views for which movies I enjoyed best in this year.

Note: a lot of movies that I liked this year were officially released in 2004 but I didn't get a hold of them until this year (like Closer and Sideways). So I am not including them in this list...

1) Hollywood movies: in no particular order

Brokeback Mountain
Batman Begins
Sin City
Crash
The Constant Gardener
Good Night, and Good Luck
Syriana

I liked parts of Lord of War and The Interpreter but both these movies were a bit contrived and cliched.

2) Canadian movies:

The Dark Hours
Memories Affectives (English title, Looking for Alexander)

3) Indian and Bollywood movies:

Amu
Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara
Black
Socha Na Tha
Sehar
Parineeta (despite the flawed ending scene, the breaking of the wall)
Paheli
Bluffmaster
Matrabhoomi (I know this was a 2003 movie but it got released in North America this year).


4) Other Foreign movies:

Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures
Yes
3-Iron
L'Enfant
Mountain Patrol (Kekexili)
Sepet
Turtles Can Fly
Cache
Head-On
The Beat that my Heart Skipped

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If I had to pick just one film as my absolute favourite of 2005, then it would have to be the Brazilian film Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures.