2008: Overview and best film candidates

Back in Jan 2008, I anticipated the following regarding my 2008 film watching:

1) I would be watching significantly less films than the 386 I saw back in 2007.
2) I would struggle to watch 'new' films released in 2008 and would not even have enough to draft a top 10 list.
3) I would be unable to find time to screen films for CIFF and might find it hard to watch even 10 films during the 10 day film festival.
4) I would not be able to attend VIFF.

Well it turns out that I was wrong on 3 counts. I was unable to make it to VIFF but my other expectations were quite wrong. And it is one of those cases that I am thankful that I was wrong.

So this is what happened with my #1-3 expectations.

1) I ended up watching 445 films in 2008, easily the highest number of films I have seen in a year in my life.
2) I also watched about 143 new films. These are either 2008 films or 2007/2006 films which were only released in my city this year.
3) I screened about 50 films over two months in the summer for CIFF and managed to take in 18 films during the festival.

The following are the candidates films from which my best of 2008 films will come from. It turns out that I have some difficult but fun choices to make to draft a year end best list.

---

Outsourced (2006, USA, John Jeffcoat)

The Detective (2007, Hong Kong, Oxide Pang Chun)

Cloverfield (2008, USA, Matt Reeves)

Halla Bol (2008, India, Rajkumar Santoshi)

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007, France/USA, Julian Schnabel)

There Will be Blood (2007, USA, Paul Thomas Anderson)

I Don't want to Sleep Alone (2007, Taiwan, Tsai Ming-liang)

My Name is Anthony Gonsalves (2008, India, E. Niwas)

Sunday (2008, India, Rohit Shetty)

Mithya (2008, India, Rajat Kapoor)

Super Star (2008, India, Rohit Jugraj)

Bombay to Bangkok (2008, India, Nagesh Kukunoor)

Tashan (2008, India, Vijay Krishna Acharya)

Black & White (2008, India, Subhash Ghai)

Syndromes and a Century (2006, Thailand, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)

27 Dresses (2008, USA, Anne Fletcher)

Be Kind Rewind (2008, USA, Michel Gondry)

Rambo (2008, USA, Sylvester Stallone)

Touching Home (2008, USA, Miller Brothers)

45 R.P.M (2008, Canada, Dave Schultz)

Tkaronto (2008, Canada, Shane Anthony Belcourt)

Of Golf and God (2008, Canada, Ryan Mains)

Silent Light (2007, Mexico, Carlos Reygadas)

The Dead Girl's Feast (2008, Brazil, Matheus Nachtergaele)

Drama/Mex (2006, Mexico, Gerardo Naranjo)

On War (2008, France, Bertrand Bonello)

Nonsense Revolution (2008, Canada, Ann Verrall)

Mommy is at the hairdresser (2008, Canada, Lea Pool)

Meet the Spartans (2008, USA, Jason Friedberg/Aaron Seltzer)

Sirf (2008, India, Rajatesh Nayyar)

Race (2008, India, Abbas-Mastan)

Jannat (2008, India, Kunal Deshmukh)

Caramel (2007, Lebanon co-production, Nadine Labaki)

Anamika (2008, India, Anant Mahadevan)

Bhootnath (2008, India, Vivek Sharma)

Krazzy 4 (2008, India, Jaideep Sen)

Mr. Black Mr. White (2008, India, Deepak S. Shivdasani)

Khuda Ke Liye (2007, Pakistan, Shoaib Mansoor)

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008, USA, Jon Hurwitz/Hayden Schlossberg)

Idiots and Angels (2008, USA, Bill Plympton)

Mechanical Love (2008, Denmark, Phie Ambo)

Junior (2008, Canada, Isabelle Lavigne/Stéphane Thibault)

Full Battle Rattle (2008, USA, Tony Gerber/Jesse Moss)

De Muze (2006, Holland, Ben van Lieshout)

My Life Inside (2008, Mexico, Lucía Gajá)

Continental: A film without guns (2008, Canada, Stéphane Lafleur)

Tricks (2007, Poland, Andrzej Jakimowski)

Modern Life (2008, France, Raymond Depardon)

Meadowlark (2008, USA, Taylor Greeson)

Seaview (2007, Ireland, Nicky Gogan/Paul Rowley)

Futro (2007, Poland, Tomaz Drozdowicz)

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na (2008, India, Abbas Tyrewala)

Aamir (2008, India, Raj Kumar Gupta)

Kismat Konnection (2008, India, Aziz Mirza)

Sarkar Raj (2008, India, Ram Gopal Varma)

Mission Istaanbul (2008, India, Apoorva Lakhia)

Contract (2008, India, Ram Gopal Varma)

Vantage Point (2008, USA, Pete Travis)

Mere Baap Pehle Aap (2008, India, Priyadarshan)

Singh is Kinng (2008, India, Anees Bazmee)

De Taali (2008, India, E.Nivas)

Brick Lane (2007, UK, Sarah Gavron)

City of Men (2007, Brazil, Paulo Morelli)

Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008, India, Siddarth Anand)

Rock On (2008, India, Abhishek Kapoor)

Step Up 2: The Streets (2008, USA, Jon Chu)

My Blueberry Nights (2007, co-production, Wong Kar-wai)

Mumbai Meri Jaan (2008, India, Nishikant Kamat)

The Fall (2006, India/UK/USA, Tarsem)

Smart People (2008, USA, Noam Murro)

Speed Racer (2008, USA, Andy & Larry Wachowski)

Street Kings (2008, USA, David Ayer)

Alexandra (2007, Russia/France, Aleksandr Sokurov)

Children (2006, Iceland, Ragnar Bragason)

Parents (2007, Iceland, Ragnar Bragason)

Bobby (2008, USA, Emilio Estevez)

Used Parts (2007, Mexico, Aarón Fernández)

Let the Right One In (2008, Sweden, Tomas Alfredson)

I am from Titov Veles (2007, Macedonia, Teona Strugar Mitevska)

Wonderful Town (2007, Thailand, Aditya Assarat)

Paraiso Travel (2007, Colombia/USA, Simon Brand)

Gomorra (2008, Italy, Matteo Garrone)

Alice’s House (2007, Brazil, Chico Teixeira)

Time to Die (2007, Poland, Dorota Kedzierzawska)

One Week (2008, Canada, Michael McGowan)

The Grocer's Son (2007, France, Eric Guirado)

Driving to Zigzigland (2007, USA, Nicole Ballivian)

REC (2007, Spain, Jaume Balagueró/Paco Plaza)

The Band's Visit (2007, Israel, Eran Kolirin)

Corridor #8 (2008, Bulgaria, Boris Despodov)

Jar City (2006, Iceland, Baltasar Kormákur)

The Pope's Toilet (2007, Uruguay, César Charlone/Enrique Fernández)

Welcome to Sajjanpur (2008, India, Shyam Benegal)

Saas Bahu aur Sensex (2008, India, Shona Urvashi)

Sex and the City (2008, USA, Michael Patrick King)

Hijack (2008, India, Kunal Shivdasani)

The Love Guru (2008, USA, Marco Schnabel)

Margot at the Wedding (2007, USA, Noah Baumbach)

A Wednesday (2008, India, Neeraj Pandey)

Drona (2008, India, Goldie Behl)

Kidnap (2008, India, Sanjay Gadhvi)

Hello (2008, India, Atul Agnitori)

Chamku (2008, India, Kabeer Kaushik)

C Kkompany (2008, India, Sachin Yarda)

The Happening (2008, USA, M. Night Shyamalan)

Mukhbiir (2008, India, Mani Shankar)

The Savages (2007, USA, Tamara Jenkins)

Before the Rains (2008, India, Santosh Sivan)

Honeydripper (2007, USA, John Sayles)

Maan Gaye Mughall-e-Azam (2008, India, Sanjay Chel)

Iron Man (2008, USA, Jon Favreau)

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008, USA, Nicholas Stoller)

You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008, USA, Dennis Dugan)

Tell No One (2008, France, Guillaume Canet)

JCVD (2008, France, Mabrouk El Mechri)

Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2008, India, Dibakar Banerjee)

Dostana (2008, India, Tarun Mansukhani)

Get Smart (2008, USA, Peter Segal)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008, USA, Steven Spielberg)

The Dark Knight (2008, USA, Christopher Nolan)

Wanted (2008, USA, Timur Bekmambetov)

Flight of the Red Balloon (2007, France, Hou Hsiao-hsien)

Quantum of Solace (2008, UK/USA, Marc Forster)

Fashion (2008, India, Madhur Bhandarkar)

In Bruges (2008, UK/USA, Martin McDonagh)

The Last Lear (2007, India, Rituparno Ghosh)

Golmaal Returns (2008, India, Rohit Shetty)

Jumper (2008, USA, Doug Liman)

The Visitor (2007, USA, Thomas McCarthy )

Yuvraaj (2008, India, Subhash Ghai)

Paranoid Park (2007, USA, Gus Van Sant)

Milk (2008, USA, Gus Van Sant)

Rachel Getting Married (2008, USA, Jonathan Demme)

EMI (2008, India, Saurav Kabra)

Mad Detective (2007, Hong Kong, Johnny To/Wai Ka-Fai)

War Inc (2008, USA, Joshua Seftel)

Kung Fu Panda (2008, USA, Mark Osborne/John Stevenson)

Happy-Go-Lucky (2008, UK, Mike Leigh)

Heroes (2008, India, Samir Karnik)

Slumdog Millionaire (2008, UK/USA, Danny Boyle/Loveleen Tandan)

Tropic Thunder (2008, USA, Ben Stiller)

WALL·E (2008, USA, Andrew Stanton)

Hancock (2008, USA, Peter Berg)

A Christmas Tale (2008, France, Arnaud Desplechin)