Best Films of the Decade: 2003-12

Compiling a best of the decade list using only top 10 film lists from 2003-12 resulted in omissions from many of the best directors in the world. That meant no films from Claire Denis, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Pedro Costa, Béla Tarr, Manoel de Oliveira, Wang Bing, Terrence Malick, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Jia Zhangke & Nuri Bilge Ceylan. In most cases, it took me a few years to catch up with the forenamed auteur’s work thereby making the film ineligible from an end of the year list. On a few occasions, worthy films narrowly missed out on the top 10. For example, Syndromes and a Century placed #12 in 2008, Uncle Boonmee.. was #15 in 2010 and The Turin Horse grabbed #18 in 2011.

In order to come up with a more complete best of the decade list, I put together a collection of stellar films that I caught a few years after the film’s release. Also, I included some films that were initially cut from my top 10 but placed in an end of the year list. The final tally of this collection ended up being a staggering 181 titles. These 181 titles combined with the original 100 more accurately reflects some of the best films of 2003-2012.

List 1 (reproduced here): 100 films from 2003-2012 top 10 lists

List 2 (in alphabetical order below): 181 films that were delayed viewing or narrowly missed out on the top 10.

12 (2008, Russia, Nikita Mikhalkov)
12:08 East of Bucharest (2006, Romania, Corneliu Porumboiu)
15 Park Avenue (2005, India, Aparna Sen)
2046 (2004, Hong Kong co-production, Wong Kar-wai)
35 Shots of Rum (2008, France, Claire Denis)
4 Months 3 Weeks 2 days (2007, Romania, Cristian Mungiu)
5x2 (2004, France, François Ozon)
A Town Called Panic (2009, Belgium co-production, Stéphane Aubier/Vincent Patar)
A Useful Life (2010, Uruguay, Federico Veiroj)
After this our exile (2006, Hong Kong, Patrick Tam)
Agrarian Utopia (2009, Thailand, Uruphong Raksasad)
Alamar (2009, Mexico, Pedro González-Rubio)
Alexandra (2007, Russia/France, Aleksandr Sokurov)
Apocalypto (2006, USA, Mel Gibson)
Applause (2009, Denmark, Martin Zandvliet)
Attenberg (2010, Greece, Athina Rachel Tsangari)
Avenida Brasilia Formosa (2009, Brazil, Gabriel Mascaro)
Away from Her (2006, Canada, Sarah Polley)
Baixio das Bestas (2007, Brazil, Cláudio Assis)
Ballast (2008, USA, Lance Hammer)
Before I Forget (2007, France, Jacques Nolot)
Between Two Worlds (2009, Sri Lanka, Vimukthi Jayasundara)
Black Butterfly (2006, Peru, Francisco J. Lombardi)
Blind Shaft (2003, China co-production, Yang Li)
Blockade (2006, Russia, Sergey Loznitsa)
Broken Flowers (2005, USA, Jim Jarmusch)
Bug (2006, USA, William Friedkin)
Café Lumière (2003, Japan/Taiwan, Hou Hsiao-heien)
California Dreaming (2007, Romania, Cristian Nemescu)
Carcasses (2009, Canada, Denis Côté)
Certified Copy (2010, France/Iran/Italy, Abbas Kiarostami)
Children (2006, Iceland, Ragnar Bragason)
Chronicles of an Escape (2006, Argentina, Adrián Caetano)
Citizen Havel (2008, Czech Republic, Miroslav Janek/Pavel Koutecký)
Climates (2006, Turkey, Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
Closer (2004, USA/UK, Mike Nichols)
Colossal Youth (2006, Portugal, Pedro Costa)
Continental: A film without guns (2008, Canada, Stéphane Lafleur)
Crane World (2003, Argentina, Pablo Trapero)
Crime and Punishment (2007, China, Zhao Liang)
Crimson Gold (2003, Iran, Jafar Panahi, Writer -- Abbas Kiarostami)
Curling (2010, Canada, Denis Côté)
De Muze (2006, Holland, Ben van Lieshout)
Delta (2008, Hungary, Kornél Mundruczó)
Departures (2008, Japan, Yôjirô Takita)
Dirty Carnival (2006, South Korea, Ha Yu)
Dogtooth (2009, Greece, Giorgos Lanthimos)
Dogville (2003, Denmark co-production, Lars von Trier)
Duck Season (2004, Mexico, Fernando Eimbcke)
Election (2005, Hong Kong, Johnnie To)
Elephant (2003, USA, Gus Van Sant)
Enter the Void (2009, France co-production, Gaspar Noé)
Euphoria (2006, Russia, Ivan Vyrypaev)
Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010, USA/UK, Banksy)
Good Bye Dragon Inn (2003, Taiwan, Tsai Ming-liang)
Happy New Life (2007, Hungary, Árpád Bogdán)
Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (2003, India, Sudhir Mishra)
Helvetica (2007, UK, Gary Hustwit)
Hunger (2008, UK, Steve McQueen)
I Wish I Knew (2010, China, Jia ZhangKe)
Import Export (2007, Austria/France, Ulrich Seidl)
In Memory of Myself (2007, Italy, Saverio Costanzo)
Independencia (2009, Philippines, Raya Martin)
Inland Empire (2006, USA co-production, David Lynch)
In the Pit (2006, Mexico, Juan Carlos Rulfo)
Invisible Waves (2006, Thailand, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang)
Iraq in Fragments (2006, USA, James Longley)
It’s Winter (2006, Iran, Rafi Pitts)
I’m Not Scared (2003, Italy co-production, Gabriele Salvatores)
Japanese Story (2003, Australia, Sue Brooks)
Julia (2009, France/USA/Mexico/Belgium, Erick Zonca)
Khadak (2006, Belgium/Germany, Peter Brosens & Jessica Hope Woodworth)
Khamosh Pani (2003, Pakistan co-production, Sabiha Sumar)
Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003, USA, Quentin Tarantino)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005, USA, Shane Black)
La France (2007, France, Serge Bozon)
Last Life in the Universe (2003, Thailand/Japan, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang)
Let Each One go Where He May (2009, USA/Suriname, Ben Russell)
Like you know it All (2009, South Korea, Hong Sang-Soo)
Lion's Den (2008, Argentina co-production, Pablo Trapero)
Look At Me (2004, France/Italy, Agnès Jaoui)
Los Angeles Plays itself (2003, USA, Thom Andersen)
Los Muertos (2004, Argentina, Lisandro Alonso)
Lourdes (2009, Austria/France/Germany, Jessica Hausner)
Love Exposure (2008, Japan, Shion Sono)
L’Appolinde (2011, France, Bertrand Bonello)
L’Enfer (2005, France co-production, Danis Tanovic)
L’Intrus (2004, France, Claire Denis)
Machuca (2004, Chile, Andrés Wood)
Manufacturing Landscapes (2006, Canada, Jennifer Baichwal)
Memories of Murder (2003, South Korea, Joon-ho Bong)
Miami Vice (2006, USA, Michael Mann)
Mildred Pierce (2011, USA, Todd Haynes)
Milk of Sorrow (2009, Peru/Spain, Claudia Llosa)
Mirage (2004, Macedonia, Svetozar Ristovski)
Mithya (2008, India, Rajat Kapoor)
Mo & Me (2006, Kenya, Roger Mills/Murad Rayani)
Moolaade (2004, Senegal co-production, Ousmane Sembene)
Moon (2009, UK, Duncan Jones)
My Joy (2010, Ukraine co-production, Sergei Loznitsa)
Mysteries of Lisbon (2010, Portugal/France, Raoul Ruiz)
Mystic Ball (2006, Canada/USA, Greg Hamilton)
Mystic River (2003, USA, Clint Eastwood)
No Smoking (2007, India, Anurag Kashyap)
Notes on a Scandal (2006, UK, Richard Eyre)
Of Gods and Men (2010, France, Xavier Beauvois)
Oki’s Movie (2010, South Korea, Hong Sang-soo)
Oldboy (2003, South Korea, Chan-wook Park)
Our Beloved Month of August (2008, Portugal, Miguel Gomes)
Oxhide (2005, China, Jiayin Liu)
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006, Mexico, Guillermo del Toro)
Paprika (2006, Japan, Satoshi Kon)
Paradise Now (2005, Palestine co-production, Hany Abu-Assad)
Paraguayan Hammock (2006, Paraguay co-production, Paz Encina)
Paranoid Park (2007, USA, Gus Van Sant)
Parents (2007, Iceland, Ragnar Bragason)
Poetry (2010, South Korea, Lee Chang-dong)
Putty Hill (2010, USA, Matthew Porterfield)
Rapt (2009, France/Belgium, Lucas Belvaux)
Requiem (2006, Germany, Hans-Christian Schmid)
Rhinoceros Eyes (2003, USA, Aaron Woodley)
Rumba (2008, France/Belgium, Dominique Abel/Fiona Gordon/Bruno Romy)
Secret Sunshine (2007, South Korea, Lee Chang-Dong)
Shame (2011, UK, Steve McQueen)
Shut up & Sing (2007, USA, Barbara Kopple/Cecilia Peck)
Siddharth: The Prisoner (2008, India, Pryas Gupta)
Sideways (2004, USA, Alexander Payne)
Silent Souls (2010, Russia, Aleksei Fedorchenko)
Songs from the Second Floor (2003, Sweden, Roy Andersson)
Spare Parts (2003, Slovenia, Damjan Kozole)
Still Life (2006, China/Hong Kong, Jia ZhangKe)
Summer Wars (2009, Japan, Mamoru Hosoda)
Sun Spots (2009, China, Heng Yang)
Syndromes and a Century (2006, Thailand, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Synedoche, New York (2008, USA, Charlie Kaufman)
Take Shelter (2011, USA, Jeff Nichols)
The Barbarian Invasions (2003, Canada/France, Denys Arcand)
The Box (2009, USA, Richard Kelly)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007, France/USA, Julian Schnabel)
The Edukators (2004, Germany/Austria, Hans Weingartner)
The Ghost Writer (2010, France/Germany/UK,Roman Polanski)
The Girl Cut in Two (2007, France, Claude Chabrol)
The House of Sand (2005, Brazil, Andrucha Waddington)
The Inheritance (2003, Denmark, Per Fly)
The International (2009, multiple, Tom Tykwer)
The King and the Clown (2005, South Korea, Joon-ik Lee)
The Machinist (2004, Spain, Brad Anderson)
The Man’s Woman and other Stories (2009, India, Amit Dutta)
The Middle of the World (2003, Brazil, Vicente Amorim)
The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories (2007, Bulgaria, Director Andrey Paounov)
The New World (2005, USA/UK, Terrence Malick)
The Russian Dolls (2005, France/UK, Cédric Klapisch)
The Strange Case of Angelica (2010, Portugal co-production, Manoel de Oliveira)
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005, USA, Tommy Lee Jones)
The Tiger Factory (2010, Malaysia/Japan, Woo Ming Jin)
The Tree of Life (2011, USA, Terrence Malick)
The Turin Horse (2011, Hungary co-production, Béla Tarr/Ágnes Hranitzky)
The Wind Journeys (2009, Colombia co-production, Ciro Guerra)
The World (2004, China co-production, Jia Zhang ke)
The Wrestler (2008, USA, Darren Aronofsky)
The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (2006, Brazil, Cao Hamburger)
There Will be Blood (2007, USA, Paul Thomas Anderson)
Three Times (2005, France/Taiwan, Hou Hsiao-hsien)
Tinker Tailor Sailor Spy (2011, UK co-production, Tomas Alfredson)
Todo Todo Torres (2006, Philippines, John Torres)
Tony Manero (2008, Chile/Brazil, Pablo Larraín)
Torremolinos 73 (2003, Spain, Pablo Berger)
Tropical Malady (2004, Thailand, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010, Thailand co-production, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Undertow (2009, Peru co-production, Javier Fuentes-León)
United 93 (2006, USA co-production, Paul Greengrass)
Used Parts (2007, Mexico, Aarón Fernández)
We Own the Night (2007, USA, James Gray)
West of the Tracks (2003, China, Wang Bing)
Whisky (2004, Uruguay, Juan Pablo Rebella, Pablo Stoll)
White Material (2009, France, Claire Denis)
Win/Win (2010, Holland, Jaap van Heusden)
Woman on Fire Looks for Water (2009, Malaysia/South Korea, Woo Ming Jin)
Woman without a Piano (2009, Spain, Javier Rebollo)
You, the Living (2009, Sweden, Roy Andersson)
Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004, USA, Xan Cassavetes)

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Top 10 of the decade, 2003-12

1. L’Intrus (2004, France, Claire Denis)

2. Tropical Malady (2004, Thailand, Apichatpong Weerasethakul) 

3. Colossal Youth (2006, Portugal, Pedro Costa) 

4. West of the Tracks: parts I, II, III (2003, China, Wang Bing)

5. Crimson Gold (2003, Iran, Jafar Panahi) 
6. The Strange Case of Angelica (2010, Portugal co-production, Manoel de Oliveira) 
7. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005, Romania, Cristi Puiu) 
8. Three Times (2005, France/Taiwan, Hou Hsiao-hsien) 
9. Foster Child (2007, Philippines, Brillante Mendoza) 
10. Los Muertos (2004, Argentina, Lisandro Alonso)

Runners-up: 

Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures (2005, Brazil, Marcelo Gomes)
Liverpool (2008, Argentina, Lisandro Alonso)
Syndromes and a Century (2006, Thailand, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
My Joy (2010, Ukraine co-production, Sergei Loznitsa)
The Turin Horse (2011, Hungary co-production, Béla Tarr/Ágnes Hranitzky)
Climates (2006, Turkey, Nuri Bilge Ceylan)

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The comparison of List 1 & List 2 is further proof that it often takes a few years to catch up with all the worthy films from one calendar year. And I am certain the above 278 titles still don't cover everything. I have missed many films over the last decade, including those by Lav Diaz, and need to catch up with a few 2011 & 2012 titles. So the above best of decade could still change in 2014.

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Update Log

Entry #1, Feb 13: Less than a few hours after posting this list, I realized that I left out The New World from the above list. So List 2 grew from 178 titles to 179. I am certain the list will grow in upcoming weeks, so I will gradually update this page and modify the top 10 as needed. But for now, the top 10 stays unchanged.
Entry #2, Feb 16: Hard to imagine I left out the wonderful Mexican documentry In the Pit. Also, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly deserves its place. Total titles in List #2 have been modified from 179 to 181.

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Best Films of the Last Decade

I have always refrained from assessing whether a particular year had a good cinematic output mostly because a majority of foreign films were out of reach for me. This meant I was a few years behind in catching all the newest film titles and as a result, many excellent titles missed my end of the year list. For example, past omissions have included personal favorites such as The Strange Case of Angelica, Mysteries of Lisbon, My Joy, West of the Tracks and Pedro Costa’s Colossal Youth. I had a 2 year delay for the first three films and it was almost 4 years before I finally saw the Costa. But ultimately at the end of the day, I can only judge what is available to me. With that in mind, I decided to tally up my top 10 film lists from 2003 - 2012 to determine a personal best cinematic viewing year. I cut down lists from some years which had more than 10 titles, such as 23 films in 2009.

A quick rundown of lists from 2003 - 2012.

Top 10 films of 2003

1. Lost in Translation (USA/Japan, Sofia Coppola)
2. And Now...Ladies and Gentlemen (2002, France/UK, Claude Lelouch)
3. Mr & Mrs Iyer (2002, India, Aparna Sen)
4. Teen Deewarein (India, Nagesh Kukunoor)
5. Adaptation (2002, USA, Spike Jonze)
6. 21 Grams (USA, Alejandro González Iñárritu)
7. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002, South Korea, Park Chan-wook)
8. Gangaajal (India, Prakash Jha)
9. Haasil (India, Tigmanshu Dhulia)
10. Saathiya (2002, India, Shaad Ali)

Top 10 films of 2004

1. Exiles (France/Japan, Tony Gatlif)
2. Monsieur Ibrahim (2003, France, Francois Dupeyron)
3. Kontroll (2003, Hungary, Nimrod Antal)
4. Samsara (2001, India co-production, Pan Nalin)
5. Carandiru (2003, Brazil co-production, Hector Babenco)
6. Kopps (2003, Sweden/Denmark, Josef Fares)
7. Control Room (USA, Jehane Noujaim)
8. About Baghdad (USA, Sinan Antoon & 4 other directors)
9. Checkpoint (2003, Israel, Yoav Shamir)
10. Before Sunset (USA, Richard Linklater)

Top 10 films of 2005

1. Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures (Brazil, Marcelo Gomes)
2. Yes (2004, UK/USA, Sally Potter)
3. L’Enfant (Belgium/France, Jean-Pierre Dardenne/Luc Dardenne)
4. Sepet (2004, Malaysia, Yasmin Ahmad)
5. Cache (France co-production, Michael Haneke)
6. Mountain Patrol/Kekexili (2004, China/Hong Kong, Chuan Lu)
7. Head-On (2004, Germany/Turkey, Fatih Akin)
8. Brokeback Mountain (USA/Canada, Ang Lee)
9. Good Night, and Good Luck (USA/France/UK/Japan, George Clooney)
10. Turtles Can Fly (2004, Iran/France/Iraq, Bahman Ghobadi)

Top 10 films of 2006

1. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005, Romania, Cristi Puiu)
2. Dosar (2006, India, Rituparno Ghosh)
3. El Violín (2005, Mexico, Francisco Vargas Quevedo)
4. Tzameti (2005, France/Georgia, Géla Babluani)
5. The Bet Collector (Philippines, Jeffrey Jeturian)
6. Khosla Ka Ghosla (India, Dibakar Banerjee)
7. The Descent (2005, UK, Neil Marshall)
8. The Lives of Others (Germany, Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck)
9. Election 2 (Hong Kong, Johnny To)
10. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005, South Korea, Park Chan-wook)

Top 10 films of 2007

1. Foster Child (Philippines, Brillante Mendoza)
2. Dans la ville de Sylvia (Spain, José Luis Guerin)
3. Slingshot (Philippines, Brillante Mendoza)
4. Children of Men (2006, USA/UK, Alfonso Cuarón)
5. Black Friday (2004, India, Anurag Kashyap)
6. The Bourne Ultimatum (USA, Paul Greengrass)
7. Zodiac (USA, David Fincher)
8. Rendition (USA, Gavin Hood)
9. Ratatouille (USA, Brad Bird)
10. Drained (2006, Brazil, Heitor Dhalia)

Top 10 films of 2008

1. Rachel Getting Married (USA, Jonathan Demme)
2. Happy-Go-Lucky (UK, Mike Leigh)
3. Wonderful Town (2007, Thailand, Aditya Assarat)
4. The Fall (2006, USA/India, Tarsem)
5. Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (India, Dibakar Banerjee)
6. Gomorra (Italy, Matteo Garrone)
7. Silent Light (2007, Mexico, Carlos Reygadas)
8. Tell No One (2006, France, Guillaume Canet)
9. Rock On (India, Abhishek Kapoor)
10. WALL·E (USA, Andrew Stanton)

Top 10 films of 2009

1. Be Calm and Count to Seven (2008, Iran, Ramtin Lavafipour)
2. Breathless (2008, South Korea, Yang Ik-June)
3. Wendy and Lucy (2008, USA, Kelly Reichardt)
4. Police, Adjective (Romania, Corneliu Porumboiu)
5. Buick Riviera (Croatia, Goran Rusinovic)
6. Call If You Need Me (Malaysia, James Lee)
7. Karaoke (Malaysia, Chris Chong Chan Fui)
8. Birdsong (2008, Spain, Albert Serra)
9. Everyone Else (Germany, Maren Ade)
10. Milk (2008, Turkey, Semih Kaplanoglu)

Top 10 films of 2010

1. Kill the Referee (2009, Belgium, Y. Hinant/E. Cardot/L. Delphine)
2. Liverpool (2008, Argentina, Lisandro Alonso)
3. El Pasante (Argentina, Clara Picasso)
4. The American (USA, Anton Corbijn)
5. R (Denmark, Tobias Lindholm/Michael Noer)
6. Manuel De Ribera (Chile, Pablo Carrera/Christopher Murray)
7. The Robber (Austria/Germany, Benjamin Heisenberg)
8. Carlos (France, Olivier Assayas)
9. Shutter Island (USA, Martin Scorsese)
10. The Life and Death of a Porno Gang (2009, Serbia, Mladen Djordjevic)

Top 10 films of 2011

1. Le Quattro Volte (2010, Italy co-production, Michelangelo Frammartino)
2. Do Dooni Chaar (2010, India, Habib Faisal)
3. Drive (USA, Nicolas Winding Refn)
4. A Separation (Iran, Asghar Farhadi)
5. Dhobi Ghat (India, Kiran Rao)
6. Another Year (2010, UK, Mike Leigh)
7. Nostalgia for the Light (2010, Chile co-production, Patricio Guzmán)
8. Aurora (2010, Romania co-production, Cristi Puiu)
9. The Kid With a Bike (Belgium co-production, Jean-Pierre Dardenne/Luc Dardenne)
10. Melancholia (Denmark co-production, Lars von Trier)

Top 10 films of 2012

1. Holy Motors (France, Leos Carax)
2. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011, Turkey, Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
3. This is Not a Film (2011, Iran, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb/Jafar Panahi)
4. The Master (2012, USA, Paul Thomas Anderson)
5. Gone Fishing (2012, Argentina, Carlos Sorin)
6. The World Before Her (2012, Canada, Nisha Pahuja)
7. Found Memories (2011, Brazil co-production, Lucia Murat)
8. The Bright Day (2012, India, Mohit Takalkar)
9. Unfair World (2011, Greece/Germany, Filippos Tsitos)
10. Sleeping Sickness (2011, Germany co-production, Ulrich Kohler)

Best overall year

All the years contain many strong films but 2009 has the best overall selection with 10 outstanding entries. On top of that, there are 13 other worthy selections in 2009 that would have made an adequate top 10 substitute.

The Storm (Turkey, Kazim Öz)
Border (Armenia/Holland, Harutyun Khachatryan)
In the Loop (UK, Armando Iannucci)
The Limits of Control (USA, Jim Jarmusch)
Zidane (France, Douglas Gordon/Philippe Parreno)
Ain’t No Tomorrows (Japan, Yuki Tanada)
The Happiest Girl in the World (Romania co-production, Radu Jude)
The Hurt Locker (USA, Kathryn Bigelow)
The Class (France, Laurent Cantet)
District 9 (South Africa/New Zealand, Neill Blomkamp)
Katalin Varga (Romania co-production, Peter Strickland)
I Killed My Mother (Canada, Xavier Dolan)
The Prophet (France, Jacques Audiard)

2010 and 2011 are the next two best years with the highest number of personal favourites.

Top 10 from 100 films

In order to pick 10 titles from these quality 100 films, I ignored the previous year’s ranking and threw all 100 films into one big pot so that all entries were on equal footing. Even though the final list consists of films from 10 different directors and 9 countries, all the films either feature a journey or are shot in a verite style.

1. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005, Romania, Cristi Puiu)

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu is called a dark comedy but it is entirely possible to view it as a bloodless horror film where the audience is given a front row seat in witnessing the slow disintegration of the title character. Even though Mr. Lazarescu is slowly edging towards his death, no one around him seems to notice because they are all weighed down by a bureaucratic system and can’t look up to see the obvious.

2. Foster Child (2007, Philippines, Brillante Mendoza)

In 2007, Brillante Mendoza pulled off a unique feat by making two powerful films, Slingshot and Foster Child, in the same year. The two works share many production similarities as both are shot in roughly the same amount of time (10 and 11 days respectively) in locations next to each other and utilize a verite style where actors are integrated with the slum residents to create a unique mixture of fiction and reality. However, the two film differ by their focus on the resident’s lives. Slingshot looks at how corruption and politics mixes with poverty while Foster Child looks at foster care in Philippines and individuals who adopt children and look after them. Foster Child smartly balances both the macro and microscopic view by depicting the larger hierarchal structure of adoption and the tender individual relationships that form between the children and those that care for them. As a result, the film is heart-wrenching and leaves a lasting emotional impact.

3. Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures (2005, Brazil, Marcelo Gomes)

Johann is a traveling salesman who cleverly uses cinema to sell aspirin. As engaging as his encounters are, what elevates this work is the director’s decision to overexpose the film negative. This gives each frame a yellowish tint which perfectly conveys the heat and brutality of the almost endless Brazilian landscape. The overexposed film shatters the fourth wall and ensures the audience gets a sense of Johann’s struggles thereby making them a passenger on his journey. The film also smartly shows how people’s idea of freedom varies and what makes one person happy can be torture for another.

4. Liverpool (2008, Argentina, Lisandro Alonso)

Farrel, a lonely man, leaves a ship’s confined space and heads off into the vast open land in order to seek closure from his past. Alonso’s flexible camera film allows one to breathe in the environment and take in all the sights and sounds while observing the weight drop from Farrel’s shoulders as he makes his way through snow covered paths to his goal.

5. Exiles (2004, France/Japan, Tony Gatlif)

Exiles follows two characters who leave Paris and head to Algeria to find their roots. Since this is a Tony Gatlif movie, flamenco musical sequences are present but this time a touch of Rai music is added to the mix. The music, which consists of a hypnotic 11 minute trance segment near the finale, heightens the emotions thereby ensuring an immersive work.

6. Samsara (2001, India co-production, Pan Nalin)

A beautiful soulful film that explores the philosophical question "How do you prevent a drop of water from drying up?". A Buddhist monk renounces his religious life for the worldly pleasures of sex and love. But despite getting married, he begins to realize that satisfying one desire always leads to more desires. The movie highlights his spiritual journey but more importantly, it tackles the spiritual question from a woman's point of view as well. It is always men who are willing to get up and leave for the mountains. But what about the women they leave behind? Did anyone ask what happened to Buddha's wife?

7. Be Calm and Count to Seven (2008, Iran, Ramtin Lavafipour)

This stunning poetic film opens with fast boats landing on a beach, followed immediately by burqa covered women hurriedly unloading goods off the boats and disappearing into mud houses. The contents of those bags are revealed later on in the film but both the contents and act of smuggling are minor details. The most important aspect of this film is observing the way of life on a tiny beautiful island in the Persian Gulf. If the character’s didn’t speak Farsi, then one would imagine the fishing village setting was Yemen or North Africa . But the film is Iranian and shows a rarely seen side of the Persian country.

8. Holy Motors (2012, France, Leos Carax)

Leos Carax creatively captures the essence of cinema from the silent era to contemporary times while paying homage to key genres throughout.

9. Dans la ville de Sylvia (2007, Spain, José Luis Guerin)

Guerin beautifully strips cinema down to its bare essence capturing every sound found in a vibrant European city, right down to a bottle rolling down a cobblestone street, in following a man's return to the city where he met the lovely Sylvia 6 years ago. It is clear that the man is haunted by memories of Sylvia and seems to encounter her ghost in every female he crosses.

10. Breathless (2008, South Korea, Yang Ik-June)

Breathless draws a direct line from domestic abuse to a gangster life. In doing so, the film clearly depicts the dangers of a violent life, both in a household or in a gang, and demonstrates that there is a consequence to every violent action even if sometimes that consequence takes two generations to manifest itself. Yang Ik-June’s debut film is a rare film that has a purpose for every brutal violent scene and as a result film makes a strong case for leading an anti-violent life.

Children of Men and Once Upon a Time in Anatoalia were very close to making the top 10 and are worthy runners-up.

Countries represented

There are 30 countries represented but 3 nations make up 43% of all films, with USA having 21 films, India with 14 and France 8. Here is the list of nations arranged by inclusions:

USA: 21
India: 14
France: 8

Brazil, Germany, Iran, UK: 4

Argentina, Belgium, Malaysia, Philippines, Romania, South Korea: 3

Chile, Denmark, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Turkey: 2

Austria, Canada, China, Croatia, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Serbia, Sweden, Thailand: 1

Note: in the case of co-productions, the primary country is selected.

Film distribution breakdown of all 100 films

Total number of films seen due to film festivals: 53
Multiplexes: 20
DVDs: 18
Arthouses/indie cinemas: 8
online streaming: 1

The high percentage of titles from USA, India and France is not surprizing as these three countries have a prolific film industry and an established distribution scheme which ensures their works are easily available around the world. This is especially true in Canada where American, Indian and French films are quite accessible via cinemas and DVD/online streams. In fact, for a better part of the last decade, French films were more easily available than Canadian films which were mostly found only at film festivals.

However, the difficulty of seeing films from other countries becomes an issue if film festivals are taken out of the equation. For example, all three Filipino titles came from attending VIFF for two years. So now that I am not attending VIFF, my access to quality Filipino titles has declined drastically. Another decline has come from the closure of a local indie DVD store that specialized in carrying classic and contemporary Asian films of all genres. Therefore, many titles from Hong Kong, China, Japan and South Korea have fallen completely out of my regular viewing schedule. Plus, the shutdown of some mail rental stores such as Videomatica in Vancouver has also hurt in getting access to foreign films. The online film streaming sites in Canada do not have a fraction of the collection that worthy arthouse/indie DVD stores carried previously.

It seems that every year I am forced to repeat similar words about the difficulty of seeing global cinema but the truth is the foreign film distribution model in North America is broken, unless one lives in New York. Foreign film distribution is similarly in bad shape around the world but no such distribution problems exist for substandard Hollywood productions which are available in every part of the world.

A few other observations

2012 is the only year when all 10 films came from 10 different countries.
2003 contains the lowest number of countries represented with 4.
2009: 9 of the 10 films were made available due to film festivals.

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.

2007: Year in Review

2007 was a satisfying film viewing year both in terms of the quality of films seen and even the quantity.

Total # of films & documentaries seen in 2007: 385

Note: This number only includes films and docs with a duration of over 60 minutes; I am not including any individual shorts or medium length works (such as some 30 minute films or 45 minute documentaries that I saw). And the only shorts collection included is that of David Lynch whose 2002 released shorts DVD contained more than an hour's worth of material.

A big reason for this high total of 385 is the number of films that I saw as part of my spotlight series and at film festivals. I found that focusing on works of a region, country or even director made for an enjoyable experience and allowed me to easily watch multiple movies in succession.

Here are the major spotlights I looked at in 2007:

African cinema: part I, part II

David Lynch: Part I, Part II

French vs German Cinema: Part I, Part II

Iranian Cinema

Brazil -- part I, part II, part III, part IV

Eastern Europe -- part I, part II, part III, part IV, part V

Western Europe

South America via Copa America Film Festival

Taiwan, Tsai Ming-liang, part II

Abel Ferrara -- part I, part II & III

Antonioni

Chaplin

Jacques Becker

David Cronenberg

Japan

Turkey

Alejandro Jodorowsky

Francesco Rosi

Greece

Bollywood -- part I, part II

Hong Kong

And ofcourse, there was the matter of the two film festivals:

CIFF

VIFF

---

Full list of films seen in 2007 (roughly in order of viewing):
Comments/reviews of atleast 350 films have been posted on this blog over the course of last year.

Film (Year of Production, Country, Director name): Rating (out of 10)

1. United 93 (2006, USA co-production, Paul Greengrass): 9
2. Calvaire (2004, Belgium co-production, Fabrice Du Welz): 8
3. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006, USA, Adam McKay): 6
4. Todo Todo Torres (2006, Philippines, John Torres): 8
5. After this our exile (2006, Hong Kong, Patrick Tam): 8.5
6. Joni's Promise (2005, Indonesia, Joko Anwar): 6
7. Mukhsin (2006, Malaysia, Yasmin Ahmad): 8
8. Rain Dogs (2006, Malaysia/Hong Kong, Yuhang Ho): 6.5
9. Crazy Stone (2006, China/Hong Kong, Hao Ning): 5.5
10. Love Conquers All (2006, Holland/Malaysia, Tan Chui Mui): 7
11. Children of Men (2006, UK/USA co-production, Alfonso Cuarón): 10
12. The Queen (2006, UK co-production, Stephen Frears): 9
13. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006, Mexico, Guillermo del Toro): 8.5
14. Inside Man (2006, USA, Spike Lee): 7.5
15. Touching the Void (2003, UK, Kevin MacDonald): 8
16. Dolls (2002, Japan, Takeshi Kitano): 7
17. Babel (2006, USA/France/Mexico, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Writer : Guillermo Arriaga): 8
18. Jealousy (1999, Spain, Vicente Aranda): 7.5
19. Lisbon (1999, Spain/Argentina, Antonio Hernández): 6
20. District 13 (2004, France, Pierre Morel): 7
21. The House of Sand (2005, Brazil, Andrucha Waddington): 10
22. Guru (2007, India, Mani Ratnam): 8.5
23. Dhoom 2 (2006, India, Sanjay Gadhvi): 5
24. Woh Lahme (2006, India, Mohit Suri): 8
25. Zatracení The Damned (2002, Czech co-production, Dan Svátek): 4.5
26. Notes on a Scandal (2006, UK, Richard Eyre): 10
27. Invisible Waves (2006, Thailand, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang): 8.5
28. Exiled (2006, Hong Kong, Johnny To): 7.5
29. Khoshla Ka Ghosla (2006, India, Dibakar Banerjee): 10
30. Tropical Malady (2004, Thailand, Apichatpong Weerasethakul): 9
31. Apocalypto (2006, USA, Mel Gibson): 9
32. The Bow (2005, Korea, Kim Ki-Duk): 7.5
33. Eklavya (2007, India, Vidhu Vinod Chopra): 6.5
34. The Proposition (2005, UK/Australia, John Hillcoat): 8.5
35. Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (2006, UK, Michael Winterbottom): 8.5
36. When the Stars meet the Sea (1996, Madagascar/France, Raymond Rajaonarivelo): 8.5
37. Touki Bouki (1973, Senegal, Djibril Diop Mambéty): 7.5
38. Quartier Mozart (1992, Cameroon/France, Jean-Pierre Bekolo): 5.5
39. La Vie Est Belle (1987, Zaire/France/Belgium, Benoît Lamy & Mweze Ngangura): 6
40. Black Friday (2005, India, Anurag Kashyap): 10
41. Pickpocket (1959, France, Robert Bresson): 10
42. La Cienaga (2001, Argentina co-production, Lucrecia Martel): 7
43. Novo (2002, Switzerland co-production, Jean-Pierre Limosin): 6
44. Shanghai Triad (1995, China, Zhang Yimou): 7
45. Ashes of Time (1994, Hong Kong/China/Taiwan, Wai Kar Wong): 6
46. Anwar (2007, India, Manish Jha): 5.5
47. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006, USA, Clint Eastwood) : 7.5
48. The Departed (2006, USA, Martin Scorsese): 8.5
49. The Last King of Scotland (2006, UK, Kevin MacDonald): 7
50. Blood Diamond (2006, USA, Edward Zwick): 7.5
51. Hell L’Enfer (2005, France co-production, Danis Tanovic): 9
52. Otomo (1999, Germany, Frieder Schlaich): 8
53. Idiocracy (2006, USA, Mike Judge): 7
54. Night at the Museum (2006, USA, Shawn Levy): 7.5
55. Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972, West Germany, Werner Herzog): 9
56. The Enigma of Kasper Hauser (1974, West Germany, Werner Herzog): 8
57. Claire's Knee (1970, France, Eric Rohmer): 8.5
58. Les Bonnes Femmes (1960, France/Italy, Claude Chabrol): 7
59. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972, West Germany, Rainer Werner Fassbinder): 6
60. The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006, Ireland/UK co-production, Ken Loach): 8.5
61. Gangster: A Love Story (2006, India, Anurag Basu): 8
62. Takeshis' (2005, Japan, Takeshi Kitano): 6.5
63. Paris je t'aime (2006, France co-production, Multiple directors)
64. Eraserhead (1977, USA, David Lynch): 9
65. The Elephant Man (1980, USA, David Lynch) : 8
66. Lost Highway (1997, USA, David Lynch) : 7.5
67. The Science of Sleep (2006, France/Italy, Michel Gondry): 8
68. Traffic Signal (2007, India, Madhur Bhandarkar): 8
69. Strings (2005, India, Sanjay Jha): 4
70. Risk (2007, India, Vishram Sawant): 5
71. Je vous trouve très beau (2005, France, Isabelle Mergault): 8
72. Ma fille mon ange (2007, Canada, Alexis Durand-Brault): 9
73. Guide de la petite vengeance (2006, Canada, Jean-François Pouliot): 8.5
74. The Grindhouse (2007, USA, Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino): 7.5
75. Chronically Unfeasible (2000, Brazil, Sergio Bianchi): 7.5
76. Black Orpheus (1959, Brazil, Marcel Camus): 8
77. Hot Fuzz (2007, UK, Edgar Wright): 9
78. Cobra Verde (1987, West Germany, Werner Herzog): 10
79. Betty Blue (1986, France, Jean-Jacques Beineix): 8.5
80. My life to Live (1962, France, Jean-Luc Godard): 9
81. The Disenchanted (1990, France, Benoît Jacquot): 7.5
82. Destiny (1921, Germany, Fritz Lang): 7.5
83. Volver (2006, Spain, Pedro Almodóvar): 9
84. Catch a Fire (2006, USA, Phillip Noyce): 7
85. Namastey London (2007, India, Vipul Amrutlal Shah): 6
86. Just Married (2007, India, Meghna Gulzar): 6
87. Salaam-E-Ishq(2007, India, Nikhil Advani): 5.5
88. Nishabd (2007, India, Ram Gopal Varma): 7
89. Gafla (2006, India, Sameer Hanchate): 8
90. Red: The Dark Side (2007, India, Vikram Bhatt): 5.5
91. Crimson Gold (2003, Iran, Jafar Panahi, Writer -- Abbas Kiarostami): 10
92. Under the Moonlight (2001, Iran, Seyyed Reza Mir-Karimi): 7.5
93. Smell of Camphor Fragrance of Jasmine(2000, Iran, Bahman Farmanara): 8
94. The Straight Story (1999, USA, David Lynch): 9
95. The Short Films of David Lynch (2002)
96. Blue Velvet (1986, USA, David Lynch): 9
97. Twin Peaks:Fire Walk with me (1992, USA, David Lynch): 5
98. Wild at Heart (1990, USA, David Lynch): 4
99. Hotel Room (1993, USA, David Lynch, James Signorelli): 7
100. Manderlay (2005, Denmark co-production, Lars von Trier): 7
101. Inland Empire (2006, USA co-production, David Lynch): 8
102. Spider Man 3 (2007, USA, Sam Raimi): 5
103. Training Day (2001, USA, Antoine Fuqua): 7.5
104. Rebels of the Neon God (1992, Taiwan, Tsai ming-Liang): 9.5
105. Colour Me Kubrick (2005, UK/France, Brian Cook): 4.5
106. The Mahabharata (1989, multiple countries, Peter Brook): 9
107. Himalaya (1999, multiple countries, Eric Valli): 8
108. Lower City (2005, Brazil, Sérgio Machado): 7.5
109. Pixote (1981, Brazil, Hector Babenco): 9
110. El Compadre Mendoza (1934, Mexico, Juan Bustillo Oro, Fernando de Fuentes): 8
111. Coronacion (2000, Chile, Silvio Caiozzi): 6
112. Como voy a olvidarte? (2004, Ecuador, Edgardo Viereck): 4.5
113. North by Northwest (1959, USA, Alfred Hitchcock): 9
114. 1971 (2007, India, Amrit Sagar): 5.5
115. Delhii Heights (2007, India, Anand Kumar): 6
116. Whisky (2004, Uruguay, Juan Pablo Rebella, Pablo Stoll): 9.5
117. Dias de Santiago (2004, Peru, Josue Mendez): 8.5
118. Sexual Dependency (2003, Bolivia, Rodrigo Bellott): 7.5
119. Oriana (1985, Fina Torres, Venezuela): 7
120. Life in a Metro (2007, India, Anurag Basu): 7.5
121. Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. (2007, India, Reema Kagti): 6.5
122. Ek Chalis Ki Last Local (2007, India, Sanjay M. Kanduri): 7
123. Kya Love Story Hai (2007, India, Lovely Singh): 4.5
124. Salaam Namaste (2005, India, Siddharth Anand): 5.5
125. Neal 'N' Nikki (2005, India, Arjun Sablok): 3
126. Shakalaka Boom Boom (2007, India, Suneel Darshan): 3.5
127. Orange Revolution (2006, USA, Steve York): 7.5
128. Do you Remember Dolly Bell? (1981, Serbia, Emir Kusturica): 8.5
129. Camera Buff (1979, Poland, Krzysztof Kieslowski): 9.5
130. Werckmeister Harmonies (2000, Hungary, Béla Tarr / Agnes Hranitzky): 8
131. Army of Shadows (1969, France, Jean-Pierre Melville): 10
132. The Good Shepard (2006, USA, Robert De Niro): 8
133. Time (2006, South Korea, Ki-duk Kim): 8
134. The Fountain (2006, USA, Darren Aronofsky): 7

135. Spare Parts (2003, Slovenia, Damjan Kozole): 9
......titles not included 
148. The Prefab People (1982, Hungary, Béla Tarr): 8.5
149. Christmas Tree Upside Down (2006, Bulgaria, Ivan Tscherkelov,Vasil Zhivkov): 6
150. Ocean's Thirteen (2007, USA, Steven Soderbergh): 7.5
151. Knocked Up (2006, USA, Judd Apatow): 8
152. Jestem (2005, Poland, Dorota Kedzierzawska): 8
153. Dekalog (1989, Poland, Krzysztof Kieslowski): 10
154. Underground (1995, Serbia, Emir Kusturica): 9
155. The Oak (1992, Romania, Lucian Pintilie): 8
156. The Outsider (1981, Hungary, Béla Tarr)
157. Transformers (2007, USA, Michael Bay): 7.5
158. Where Fig Trees Grow (2004, France, Yasmina Yahiaoui): 7.5
159. Exterminating Angels (2006, France, Jean-Claude Brisseau): 7
160. Summer 04 (2006, Gemany, Stefan Krohmer): 9
161. Romanzo criminale (2005, Italy, Michele Placido): 8
162. Vitus (2006, Switzerland, Fredi M. Murer): 6
163. Fuse (2003, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Pjer Zalica): 8
164. Pretty Village Pretty Flames (1996, Former Yugoslavia, Srdjan Dragojevic): 7
165. Mirage (2004, Macedonia, Svetozar Ristovski): 10
.......
169. Ratatouille (2007, USA, Brad Bird): 10
170. Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (2007, India, Shaad Ali): 7
.........
178. El Aura (2006, Argentina, Fabián Bielinsky): 8.5
..........
184. When Father was away on Business (1985, Serbia, Emir Kusturica): 7
........
189. Happy New Life (2007, Hungary, Árpád Bogdán): 9
......
191. Blockade (2006, Russia, Sergey Loznitsa): 9
.....
205. The Man Who Copied (2003, Brazil, Jorge Furtado): 8.5
206. The Official Story (1985, Argentina, Luis Puenzo): 8.5
207. Los Ninos Invisibles (2001, Colombia, Lisandro Duque Naranjo): 7.5
208. Forever Never Anywhere (2007, Austria, Antonin Svoboda): 6
209. Fool N Final (2007, India, Ahmed Khan): 3
210. Shootout At Lokhandwala (2007, India, Apoora Lakhia): 6.5
211. The Train (2007, India, Raksha Mistry/Hasnain Hyderabadwala): 5
212. Swami (2007, India, Ganesh Acharya): 6
213. The Kid (1921, USA, Charlie Chaplin): 8.5
214. Modern Times (1936, USA, Charlie Chaplin): 10
215. City Lights (1931, USA, Charlie Chaplin): 7.5
216. The Gold Rush (1925, USA, Charlie Chaplin): 8
217. L' Avventura (1960, Italy, Michelangelo Antonioni): 9
218. L'Eclisse (1962, Italy, Michelangelo Antonioni): 10
219. Blowup (1966, Italy, Michelangelo Antonioni): 10
220. The Addiction (1995, USA, Abel Ferrara): 9
221. Bad Lieutenant (1992, USA, Abel Ferrara): 9
222. Fear City (1984, USA, Abel Ferrara): 5
223. King of New York (1990, USA, Abel Ferrara): 8
224. The Driller Killer (1979, USA, Abel Ferrara): 4.5
225. Crime Story (1986, USA, Abel Ferrara): 7.5
226. New Rose Hotel (1998, USA, Abel Ferrara): 6
227. The Funeral (1996, USA, Abel Ferrara): 8.5
228. God is Brazilian (2003, Brazil, Carlos Diegues): 7
229. Drained (2006, Brazil, Heitor Dhalia): 10
230. Baixio das Bestas (2007, Brazil, Cláudio Assis): 8
231. The Samba Poet (2006, Brazil, Ricardo Van Steen): 7.5
232. Yi Yi (2000, Taiwan, Edward Yang): 10
233. Millennium Mambo (2001, Taiwan, Hou Hsiao-hsien): 7.5
234. Vive L'Amour (1994, Taiwan, Tsai Ming-liang): 8
235. The River (1997, Taiwan, Tsai Ming-liang): 9
236. Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal (2007, India, Vivek Agnihotri): 4.5
237. Good Bye Dragon Inn (2003, Taiwan, Tsai Ming-liang): 7.5
238. The Bourne Identity (2002, USA, Doug Liman): 9
239. The Bourne Supremacy (2004, USA, Paul Greengrass): 8.5
240. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007, USA, Paul Greengrass): 10
241. Zodiac (2007, USA, David Fincher): 10
242. The Edge of Heaven (2007, Germany/Turkey, Fatih Akin): 9
243. Black Butterfly (2006, Peru, Francisco J. Lombardi): 9
244. The True Legend of Tony Vilar (2006, Italy, Giuseppe Gagliardi): 7.5
245. Hunt Angels (2006, Australia, Alec Morgan): 7.5
246. Jade Warrior (2006, Finland co-production, Antti-Jussi Annila): 6
247. The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories (2007, Bulgaria, Director Andrey Paounov): 9
248. Persepolis (2007, France, Directors/writers: Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi): 8
249. Two in One (2007, Ukraine/Russia, Kira Muratova): 6.5
250. Fresh Air (2006, Hungary, Ágnes Kocsis & Andrea Roberti): 8
251. 4 Months 3 Weeks 2 days (2007, Romania, Cristian Mungiu): 9
252. Saviour Square (2006, Poland, Joanna Kos & Krzysztof Krauze): 8
253. Khadak (2006, Belgium/Germany, Peter Brosens & Jessica Hope Woodworth): 8.5
254. Quilombo (1984, Brazil, Carlos Diegues): 7.5
255. Madame Satã (2002, Brazil, Karim Ainouz): 7
256. Citizen Dog(2004, Thailand, Wisit Sasanatieng): 8
257. Offside (2006, Iran, Jafar Panahi): 7.5
258. The Page Turner (2006, France, Denis Dercourt): 9
259. 2 Days in Paris (2007, France/Germany, Julie Delpy): 8.5
260. Cavite (2005, Philippines/USA, Neill Dela Llana Ian Gamazon): 8
261. Les Enfants Terribles (1950, France, Jean-Pierre Melville Novel by Jean Cocteau)
262. Videodrome (1983, Canada, David Cronenberg): 8.5
263. Dead Ringers (1988, Canada, David Cronenberg): 9.5
264. Le Trou (1960, France, Jacques Becker): 10
265. Casque d'or (1952, France, Jacques Becker): 8
266. Touchez pas au grisbi (1954, France, Jacques Becker): 9
267. Midnight Express (1978, USA/UK, Alan Parker): 8.5
268. The Son (2002, Belgium/France, Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne): 9.5
269. Fists in the Pocket (1965, Italy, Marco Bellocchio): 8.5
270. Japón (2002, Mexico co-production, Carlos Reygadas): 8
271. Chocolat (1988, France/West Germany/Cameroon, Claire Denis): 8
272. Transylvania (2006, France, Tony Gatlif): 7.5
273. Electra My Love (1970, Hungary, Miklós Jancsó)
274. Fando and Lis (1968, Mexico, Alejandro Jodorowsky): 6.5
275. El Topo (1970, Mexico, Alejandro Jodorowsky): 7.5
276. Distant (2002, Turkey, Nuri Bilge Ceylan): 9.5
277. Journey to the Sun (1999, Turkey, Yesim Ustaoglu): 8.5
278. Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul (2005, Germany/Turkey, Fatih Akin): 8.5
279. In July (2000, Germany, Fatih Akin): 8
280. Hamam (1997, Turkey, Ferzan Ozpetek): 7.5
281. Bug (2006, USA, William Friedkin): 9
282. Grand Prix (1966, USA, John Frankenheimer): 9
283. Mysterious Object at Noon (2000, Thailand, Apichatpong Weerasethakul): 8
284. The Hole (1998, Taiwan, Tsai Ming-liang): 8
285. Paprika (2006, Japan, Satoshi Kon): 9
286. Kamikaze Girls (2004, Japan, Tetsuya Nakashima): 6.5
287. The Twilight Samurai (2002, Japan, Yôji Yamada): 8
288. Eastern Promises (2007, Canada/UK/USA, David Cronenberg): 8
289. After the Wedding (2006, Denmark, Susanne Bier): 8
290. Black Book (2006, Holland, Paul Verhoeven): 6
291. Foster Child (2007, Philippines, Brillante Mendoza): 10
292. Dans la ville de Sylvia (2007, Spain, José Luis Guerin): 10
293. Unas fotos en la ciudad del Sylvia (2007, Spain, José Luis Guerin): 10
294. Slingshot (2007, Philippines, Brillante Mendoza): 10
295. Euphoria (2006, Russia, Ivan Vyrypaev): 9.5
296. Bliss (2007, Greece/Turkey, Abdullah Oguz): 9.5
297. Secret Sunshine (2007, South Korea, Lee Chang-Dong): 9
298. In Memory of Myself (2007, Italy, Saverio Costanzo): 9
299. The Girl Cut in Two (2007, France, Claude Chabrol): 9
300. Import Export (2007, Austria/France, Ulrich Seidl): 9
301. Times and Winds (2006, Turkey, Reha Erdem): 8.5
302. Help Me Eros (2007, Taiwan, Lee Kang-sheng): 8.5
303. Ploy (2007, Thailand, Pen-ek Ratanaruang): 8.5
304. Bad Habits (2007, Mexico, Simón Bross): 8.5
305. Sounds of Sand (2006, Belgium, Marion Hänsel): 8
306. Useless (2007, China, Jia Zhangke): 8
307. The Man from London (2007, France/Germany/Hungary, Béla Tarr): 8
308. My Winnipeg (2007, Canada, Guy Maddin): 8
309. Drowned in Oblivion (2006, Belgium/France, Pierre-Yves Vandeweerd): 8
310. Great World of Sound (2006, USA, Craig Zobel): 8
311. The Counterfeiters (2007, Austria/Germany, Stefan Ruzowitzky): 8
312. Keepers of Eden (2007, USA, Yoram Porath): 7.5
313. The Duchess of Langeais (2007, France, Jacques Rivette): 7
314. Soo (2007, South Korea, Sai Yoichi): 6.5
315. Since Otar Left (2003, France/Belgium, Julie Bertucelli): 8.5
316. Killer of Sheep (1977, USA, Charles Burnett): 7.5
317. Dog Days (2001, Austria, Ulrich Seidl): 6.5
318. Chak De India (2007, India, Shimit Amin): 8.5
319. Gandhi My Father (2007, India, Feroze Khan): 8
320. Bhool Bhulaiyaa(2007, India, Priyadarshan): 7.5
321. Saawariya (2007, India, Sanjay Leela Bhansali): 7
322. Dhamaal (2007, India, Indra Kumar): 6.5
323. Cheeni Kum (2007, India, R. Balki): 5.5
324. Dhol (2007, India, Priyadarshan): 4.5
325. Partner (2007, India, David Dhawan): 4
326. Cash (2007, India, Anubhav Sinha): 3.5
327. Aag (2007, India, Ram Gopal Varma): 2
328. A Girl in Black (1956, Greece, Mihalis Kakogiannis): 9
329. The Weeping Meadow (2004, Greece, Theodoros Angelopoulos): 8.5
330. Ulysses' Gaze (1995, Greece, Theodoros Angelopoulos): 7.5
331. Attila '74 (1975, Greece, Mihalis Kakogiannis): 6
332. Johnny Gaddaar (2007, India, Sriram Raghavan): 9
333. Manorama Six Feet Under (2007, India, Navdeep Singh): 8.5
334. Om Shanti Om (2007, India, Farah Khan): 8.5
335. No Smoking (2007, India, Anurag Kashyap): 10
336. Le Mani sulla città (1963, Italy, Francesco Rosi): 10
337. Salvatore Giuliano (1962, Italy, Francesco Rosi): 9
338. Cristo si è fermato a Eboli (1979, Italy, Francesco Rosi): 8.5
339. Tre fratelli (1981, Italy, Francesco Rosi): 8.5
340. Diario napoletano (1992, Italy, Francesco Rosi): 7.5
341. The Simpsons Movie (2007, USA, David Silverman): 7.5
342. This is England (2006, UK, Shane Meadows): 8
343. Bheja Fry (2007, India, Sagar Ballary): 7.5
344. Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (2003, India, Sudhir Mishra): 9
345. Dil Dosti etc (2007, India, Manish Tiwary): 7
346. Dhokha (2007, India, Pooja Bhatt): 5.5
347. Welcome (2007, India, Anees Bazmee): 5
348. Gone Baby Gone (2007, USA, Ben Affleck): 8.5
349. Rendition (2007, USA, Gavin Hood): 10
350. Michael Clayton (2007, USA, Tony Gilroy): 8
351. American Gangster (2007, USA, Ridley Scott): 8
352. Rescue Dawn (2006, USA, Werner Herzog) Rating 8.5
353. A Mighty Heart (2007, USA/UK, Michael Winterbottom): 9
354. Life on Earth (1998, Mali/Mauritania/France, Abderrahmane Sissako): 9
355. Hyenas (1992, Senegal, Djibril Diop Mambéty): 8
356. Moolaade (2004, Senegal co-production, Ousmane Sembene): 9.5
357. Haramuya (1995, Burkina Faso, Drissa Toure): 6.5
358. Wend Kuuni (1982, Burkina Faso, Gaston Kaboré): 6
359. Yeelen (1987, Senegal, Souleymane Cissé): 8.5
360. Hommage à noir (1996, Germany, Ralf Schmerberg): 8
361. Caméra arabe (1987, Tunisia, Férid Boughedir): 7
362. Halfaouine: Child of the Terraces (1990, Tunisia, Férid Boughedir): 8
363. Alexandria Again and Forever (1990, Egypt, Youssef Chahine): 7.5
364. Redacted (2007, USA, Brian De Palma): 6.5
365. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007, USA, Andrew Dominik): 7
366. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007, USA, Sidney Lumet): 7.5
367. No Country for Old Men (2007, USA, Joel & Ethan Coen): 8.5
368. Speed (2007, India, Vikram Bhatt): 0
369. Goodbye Lenin (2003, Germany, Wolfgang Becker)
370. Sorry for Kung Fu (2004, Croatia, Ognjen Svilicic)
371. Daywatch (2006, Russia, Timur Bekmambetov)
372. Zelary (2003, Czech Republic, Ondrej Trojan)
373. Edi (2002, Poland, Piotr Trzaskalski)
374. Jab We Met (2007, India, Imtiaz Ali): 8
375. Aaja Nachle (2007, India, Anil Mehta):8
376. Parzania (2005, India, Rahul Dholakia): 7.5
377. Kairee (2000, India, Amol Palekar): 6
378. Divergence (2005, Hong Kong, Benny Chan): 7
379. Triangle (2007, Hong Kong, Tsui Hark, Ronny Lam, Johnny Tam)
380. Love for Sale (2007, Brazil co-production, Karim Ainouz): 6.5
381. La Vie en Rose (2007, France co-production, Olivier Dahan): 7.5
382. Once (2007, Ireland, John Carney): 7.5
383. Who's Next (2007, Hong Kong, Chung Kai Cheung): 5
384. Taare Zameen Par (2007, India, Aamir Khan): 10
385. Heyy Babyy (2007, India, Sajid Khan): 3