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Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Best Films of 2007

Favourite 2007 films, in order of preference:


  • Foster Child (Philippines, Brillante Mendoza)
  • Dans la ville de Sylvia & Unas fotos en la ciudad del Sylvia (Spain, José Luis Guerin)
  • Slingshot (Philippines, Brillante Mendoza)
  • Children of Men (2006, USA, Alfonso Cuarón)
  • Black Friday (India, Anurag Kashyap)
  • The Bourne Ultimatum (USA, Paul Greengrass)
  • Zodiac (USA, David Fincher)
  • Rendition (USA, Gavin Hood)
  • Ratatouille (USA, Brad Bird)
  • Drained (Brazil, Heitor Dhalia)
  • Taare Zameen Par (India, Aamir Khan)
  • Euphoria (Russia, Ivan Vyrypaev)


  • Update: Children of Men is added to the list as it was only released locally in the first week of January 2007.

    Honorable mentions, in order of viewing:

    Hot Fuzz (UK, Edgar Wright)
    Summer 04 (Gemany, Stefan Krohmer)
    The Big Sellout (Germany, Florian Opitz)
    Happy New Life (Hungary, Árpád Bogdán)
    4 Months 3 Weeks 2 days (Romania, Cristian Mungiu)
    Khadak (Belgium/Germany, Peter Brosens & Jessica Hope Woodworth)
    The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories (Bulgaria, Director Andrey Paounov)
    The Edge of Heaven (Germany/Turkey, Fatih Akin)
    Black Butterfly (2006, Peru, Francisco J. Lombardi)
    In Memory of Myself (Italy, Saverio Costanzo)
    Secret Sunshine (South Korea, Lee Chang-Dong)
    The Girl Cut in Two (France, Claude Chabrol)
    Import Export (Austria/France, Ulrich Seidl)
    Bliss (Greece/Turkey, Abdullah Oguz)
    Johnny Gaddaar (India, Sriram Raghavan)
    No Smoking (India, Anurag Kashyap) A Mighty Heart (USA/UK, Michael Winterbottom)



    Older favourites (released prior to 2007), in order of viewing:


  • United 93 (2006, USA co-production, Paul Greengrass)
  • The House of Sand (2005, Brazil, Andrucha Waddington)
  • Notes on a Scandal (2006, UK, Richard Eyre)
  • Tropical Malady (2004, Thailand, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
  • Pickpocket (1959, France, Robert Bresson)
  • L’Enfer (2005, France co-production, Danis Tanovic)
  • Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972, West Germany, Werner Herzog)
  • Eraserhead (1977, USA, David Lynch)
  • Cobra Verde (1987, West Germany, Werner Herzog)
  • My life to Live (1962, France, Jean-Luc Godard)
  • Volver (2006, Spain, Pedro Almodóvar)
  • Crimson Gold (2003, Iran, Jafar Panahi)
  • The Straight Story (1999, USA, David Lynch)
  • Blue Velvet (1986, USA, David Lynch)
  • The Mahabharata (1989, multiple countries, Peter Brook)
  • Pixote (1981, Brazil, Hector Babenco)
  • Whisky (2004, Uruguay, Juan Pablo Rebella, Pablo Stoll)
  • North by Northwest (1959, USA, Alfred Hitchcock)
  • Camera Buff (1979, Poland, Krzysztof Kieslowski)
  • Army of Shadows (1969, France, Jean-Pierre Melville)
  • Spare Parts (2003, Slovenia, Damjan Kozole)
  • Dekalog (1989, Poland, Krzysztof Kieslowski)
  • Underground (1995, Serbia, Emir Kusturica)
  • Mirage (2004, Macedonia, Svetozar Ristovski)
  • Modern Times (1936, USA, Charlie Chaplin)
  • L'Avventura (1960, Italy, Michelangelo Antonioni)
  • L'Eclisse (1962, Italy, Michelangelo Antonioni)
  • Blowup (1966, Italy, Michelangelo Antonioni)
  • The Addiction (1995, USA, Abel Ferrara)
  • Bad Lieutenant (1992, USA, Abel Ferrara)
  • The River (1997, Taiwan, Tsai Ming-liang)
  • Yi Yi (2000, Taiwan, Edward Yang)
  • The Bourne Identity (2002, USA, Doug Liman)
  • The Page Turner (2006, France, Denis Dercourt)
  • Dead Ringers (1988, Canada, David Cronenberg)
  • Le Trou (1960, France, Jacques Becker)
  • Touchez pas au grisbi (1954, France, Jacques Becker)
  • The Son (2002, Belgium/France, Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)
  • Distant (2002, Turkey, Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
  • Bug (2006, USA, William Friedkin)
  • Grand Prix (1966, USA, John Frankenheimer)
  • Le Mani sulla città (1963, Italy, Francesco Rosi)
  • Salvatore Giuliano (1962, Italy, Francesco Rosi)
  • Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (2003, India, Sudhir Mishra)
  • Life on Earth (1998, Mali/Mauritania/France, Abderrahmane Sissako)
  • Moolaade (2004, Senegal co-production, Ousmane Sembene)



  • Note: The funny nature of release dates sometimes puts some films in a bizarre limbo state when it comes to personal best of year lists. Children of Men only got a limited released in 2006 and didn't make it Canadian cinemas until early 2007. Initially, this film was missed from my year end list but as a correction, I have now put it back.

    The same border-line release schedule continues this year as well. For example, There Will be Blood is only getting a limited Canadian release on Jan 4, 2008. But it might take another few weeks to make it out to my city.

    1 comment:

    Unknown said...

    Some of those I have seen in the past year were on your list.


    Zodiac-Really liked this film. Thought it was well done.

    Ratatouille- Already added to my home movie collection.

    Hot Fuzz - LOVE IT!!!

    Eraserhead -So bizarre, you gotta love it. True Lynch at the beginning.

    Volver-FANTASTIC!

    The Straight Story-How did I miss this Lynch film?

    Blue Velvet - I really need to see this again now that I have emersed myself in this bizarre world over the past year.

    The Bourne Identity - Not a huge Matt Damon fan but I love these films.

    I am scared to count how many films I have watched over the past 365 days.