Best Films of 2009

I saw plenty of excellent films in 2009 and I cannot restrict my list to 10 or even 20 films. My short list has 57 titles that I enjoyed in varying aspects so I have decided to break things up into three categories to reflect a subjective ordering -- Gold (Favourites), Silver (Honorable Mention), Bronze (Worthy viewing). All the films in each category are listed in order of viewing and are 2009 released films or older films that only saw the light of day in my city this year (such as Zidane and Wendy and Lucy).

Gold -- 23 titles

Zidane (France, Douglas Gordon/Philippe Parreno)
Wendy and Lucy (USA, Kelly Reichardt)
Birdsong (Spain, Albert Serra)
Call If You Need Me (Malaysia, James Lee)
Buick Riviera (Croatia, Goran Rusinovic)
Be Calm and Count to Seven (Iran, Ramtin Lavafipour)
Border (Armenia/Holland, Harutyun Khachatryan)
Everyone Else (Germany, Maren Ade)
Milk (Turkey, Semih Kaplanoglu)
Karaoke (Malaysia, Chris Chong Chan Fui)
Ain’t No Tomorrows (Japan, Yuki Tanada)
The Storm (Turkey, Kazim Öz)
The Hurt Locker (USA, Kathryn Bigelow)
District 9 (South Africa/New Zealand, Neill Blomkamp)
Katalin Varga (Romania co-production, Peter Strickland)
Police, Adjective (Romania, Corneliu Porumboiu)
The Happiest Girl in the World (Romania co-production, Radu Jude)
I Killed My Mother (Canada, Xavier Dolan)
Breathless (South Korea, Yang Ik-June)
The Prophet (France, Jacques Audiard)
The Class (France, Laurent Cantet)
In the Loop (UK, Armando Iannucci)
The Limits of Control (USA, Jim Jarmusch)

Silver -- 21 titles

The International (USA/Germany/UK, Tom Tykwer)
Che, part two (USA, Steven Soderbergh)
The Blessing (Denmark, Heidi Maria Faisst)
Can go Through Skin (Holland, Esther Rots)
My Only Sunshine (Turkey co-production, Reha Erdem)
This Longing (Malaysia, Azharr Rudin)
Fujian Blue (China, Weng Shou Ming)
Lulu & Jimi (Germany/France, Oskar Roehler)
Daytime Drinking (Korea, Young-Seok Noh)
Vacation (Japan, Hajime Kadoi)
Independencia (Philippines, Raya Martin)
Mid-August Lunch (Italy, Gianni Di Gregorio)
Still Walking (Japan, Hirokazu Koreeda)
Fish Eyes (Korea/China, Zheng Wei)
Rough Cut (Korea, Hun Jang)
Revache (Austria, Goetz Spielmann)
Wrong Rosary (Turkey, Mahmut Fazil Coskun)
Man on Wire (UK/USA, James Marsh)
Firaaq (India, Nandita Das)
The Damned United (UK/USA, Tom Hooper)
35 Shots of Rum (France, Claire Denis)

Bronze -- 13 titles

Dev D (India, Anurag Kashyup)
Gulaal (India, Anurag Kashyup)
Pontypool (Canada, Bruce McDonald)
Guidance (Sweden, Johan Jonason)
Amreeka (USA/Canada, Cherien Dabis)
Genova (UK, Michael Winterbottom)
Mary and Max (Australia, Adam Elliot)
Public Enemies (USA, Michael Mann)
The White Ribbon (Germany co-production, Michael Haneke)
The Last Lullaby (USA, Jeffrey Goodman)
Cooking History (Slovakia co-production, Peter Kerekes)
Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (France, Dany Boon)
Tulpan (Kazakhstan co-production,Sergei Dvortsevoy)

Best films of 2008

10 Best new films, in order of preference

Rachel Getting Married (USA, Jonathan Demme)

A fascinating look at characters in their moments of stress, tension and limited joy.

Happy-Go-Lucky (UK, Mike Leigh)

Poppy (Sally Hawkins) is probably the happiest and most optimist character to be filmed in the last few years. And her character meets her match in the constantly irritable Scott (Eddie Marsan). The interactions between the two give a glimpse into the problems that exist in the world -- the happy people are not trusted while the unhappy ones continue to ruin the world for everyone else. It is too easy to lose one's temper and continue to be unhappy while it is significantly more difficult to stay positive and continue to smile no matter what the situation. While this movie won't change the world, atleast it is great to know that a director is willing to explore such characters.

Wonderful Town (Thailand, Aditya Assarat)

Peaceful and calming. Even when a murder takes place, it feels like a dream and not a nightmare. Just as the river flows, so does life. The tidal waves can come and go but the sun will still rise and a new day will start.

The Fall (India/UK/USA, Tarsem)

Visually stunning and highly imaginative. The abstract story structure is a perfect canvas to paint such a stunning view of the world. And when the story gets darker, so does the outcome.

Oye Lucky Lucky Oye (India, Dibakar Banerjee)

A thief addicted to stealing while longing for love and fatherly acceptance.

Gomorra (Italy, Matteo Garrone)

Darkness everywhere. Garbage piling up and the chemicals seeping into the ground; boys on the lookout for the police and rival gangs; illegal goods being imported. Guns give a false sense of power with a young kid feeling invincible while an older, fat guy in shorts and sandals can feel good about himself.

Silent Light (Mexico, Carlos Reygadas)

A love affair is transcended into a universal tale thanks to Reygadas visual understanding. A slow focus on a sun rise is a cue to start the story and when the sun sets, then the story is over. Until the next day...

Tell No One (France, Guillaume Canet)

There is a precious love story trapped within the confines of a thriller here. Fascinating to watch, especially if one does not read the story in advance. No cheating as the camera ensures we get plenty of clues along the way.

Rock On (India, Abhishek Kapoor)

Friendships and dreams fading away. Love? Does love still have meaning? Life isn't that complicated but it sure feels like it.

WALL·E (USA, Andrew Stanton)

WALL·E..Eve...WALL·E...so cute. No human dialogue until the 40th minute and the first sign of robotic chatter takes place around the 20th minute mark. Yet one does not even notice the lack of words. Pixar has certainly taken animation to a new level, starting with last year's Ratatouille and now with WALL·E. Refreshing to see an animated movie not packed with animals constantly blabbering away with pop culture references.

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13 more films that could easily be in the top 10

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

Blink. Blink. Beautiful.

Syndromes and a Century (Thailand, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)

Calm meditation. Although Syndromes.. does not achieve the beauty of Tropical Malady but still makes me clamour for more films from Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

There Will be Blood (USA, Paul Thomas Anderson)

The first hour is pure cinematic excellence. The finale is pretty good as well. A simple dialogue about "drinking your milkshake" underlines the problem with greed. Someone is always carrying a bigger straw.

Alexandra (Russia/France, Aleksandr Sokurov)

What does war achieve? Broken down buildings and more feelings of anger.

Idiots and Angels (USA, Bill Plympton)

Dark animated film about how even the most angry person can change and find a tiny measure of goodness within themselves.

Children , Parents (Iceland, Ragnar Bragason)

Two separate films but joined together in their brilliant improvisational style. And made on a shoe string budget as well.

One Week (Canada, Michael McGowan)

A journey across this wonderful country called Canada. There are tiny charms about small town Canada that one only discovers by hitting the road.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (USA, Nicholas Stoller)

Cute, damn cute. Although if it were not Mila Kunis, I wouldn't have loved this film that much.

The Visitor (USA, Thomas McCarthy)

It is essential to understand people and treat them individually as opposed to treating them with force and authority.

Milk (USA, Gus Van Sant)

In a way, this film is a cousin of Happy-Go-Lucky and shows that happy, positive people are hard to come by.

Used Parts (Mexico, Aarón Fernández)

Ah the promise of crossing the border for a better life. Nicely filmed.

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

Danny Boyle and his screenwriter Simon Beaufoy take the structure of the game show from Vikas Swarup's novel Q&A, borrow some tips from Fernando Meirelles (boys with guns from City of God & the energy of the Kenyan landscape from The Constant Gardner), add a pinch of a Bollywood love story before garnishing the mix with a checklist of the common Indian symbols of crime, poverty, slums, prostitution, Taj Mahal, Amitabh and call centers. The end result is entertaining all right but still feels like a key ingredient is missing.

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Older wonderful films arranged in order of viewing

No End in Sight (2006, USA, Charles Ferguson)
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005, USA, Tommy Lee Jones)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005, USA, Shane Black)
12:08 East of Bucharest (2006, Romania, Corneliu Porumboiu)
We Own the Night (2007, USA, James Gray)
In the Valley of Elah (2007, USA, Paul Haggis)
Kaala Patthar (1979, India, Yash Chopra)
Torremolinos 73 (2003, Spain, Pablo Berger)
The Russian Dolls (2005, France/UK, Cédric Klapisch)
Valley of Flowers (2006, India co-production, Pan Nalin)
Rififi (1955, France, Jules Dassin)
A Peck on the Cheek (2002, India, Mani Ratnam)
Le Salaire De La Peur (1953, France, Henri - Georges Clouzot)
Elevator to the Gallows (1958, France, Louis Malle)
Late Autumn (1960, Japan, Yasujiro Ozu)
The End of Summer (1961, Japan, Yasujiro Ozu)
Tokyo Story (1953, Japan, Yasujiro Ozu)
Tokyo Twilight (1957, Japan, Yasujiro Ozu)
Equinox Flower (1958, Japan, Yasujiro Ozu)
Climates (2006, Turkey, Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
The Syrian Bride (2006, co-production, Eran Riklis)
Three Crowns of a Sailor (1983, France, Raoul Ruiz)
Play Time (1967, France, Jacques Tati)
Les ordres (1974, Canada, Michel Brault)
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006, France, Michel Hazanavicius)
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976, USA, John Cassavetes)
Opening Night (1977, USA, John Cassavetes)
Battle in Heaven (2005, Mexico, Carlos Reygadas)
Machuca (2004, Chile, Andrés Wood)
Los Muertos (2004, Argentina, Lisandro Alonso)
Bolivia (2001, Argentina, Adrián Caetano)
The Burmese Harp (1956, Japan, Kon Ichikawa)
Away from Her (2006, Canada, Sarah Polley)
The Inheritance (2003, Denmark, Per Fly)
High and Low (1963, Japan, Akira Kurosawa)
Manufacturing Landscapes (2006, Canada, Jennifer Baichwal)
Shut up & Sing (2007, USA, Barbara Kopple/Cecilia Peck)
A Married Couple (1969, Canada, Allan King)
Montreal Main (1977, Canada, Frank Vitale)
Dirty Carnival (2006, South Korea, Ha Yu)
Sátántangó (1994, Hungary, Béla Tarr)

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.

Best Films of 2006

It was a thoroughly satisfying personal film viewing year. I had more chances to watch festival films than previous years, while at the same time conducting personal film festivals (World Cup Film festival in the summer) or having theme festivals gifted to me (January 2006’s a tribute to Jean Cocteau and a Soccer Film festival for my birthday). In the last 10 years, I made the least trips to a multiplex this year and stayed away from quite a few hyped up Hollywood titles.

I can’t claim to pick an objective top ten as that is just impossible. So I compiled a short-list of all the movies that I loved watching this past year, from which I picked ten out. Overall, it was a truly rich year for movies and the diversity of the films is reflected in the choices. Just a note on the film selections: I only selected movies that I saw in 2006 because they were either released in the theatre this year (commercially or at a film festival) or released on DVD in 2006. Some movies in this list were released in film festivals last year but never made it out to Canada or to my city. Likewise, my favourite film of 2005 was a movie that was Brazil’s official entry to the Oscars in 2006 -- Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures was the finest film I had seen in 2005 thanks to the London Film Festival. However, that film won’t be out in most North American theatres until early 2007. Also, I separated the docs from the features. Each film title is followed by country name and director name in the bracket. So without further delay, here is the list:

Top Ten films of 2006 (in order of preference) :

1) The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Romania, Cristi Puiu)
2) Dosar (India, Rituparno Ghosh)
3) El Violín (Mexico, Francisco Vargas Quevedo)
4) Tzameti (France/Georgia, Géla Babluani)
5) The Bet Collector (Philippines, Jeffrey Jeturian)
6) Khosla Ka Ghosla (India, Dibakar Banerjee)
7) The Descent (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 (South Korea, Park Chan-wook)

Remaining short-listed films (in no particular order):
Being Cyrus (India, Homi Adajania), Paradise Now (Palestine, Hany Abu-Assad), Still Life (China, Jia Zhangke), The King and the Clown (South Korea, Lee Jun-Ik), La Moustache (France, Emmanuel Carrère), A Scanner Darkly (USA, Richard Linklater), A Prairie Home Companion (USA, Robert Altman), Requiem (Germany, Hans-Christian Schmid), The Host (Korea, Bong Joon-ho)

Note on Jan 2: I forgot that Three Times (Taiwan, Hsiao-hsien Hou) should also be added to this year's short-list. I incorrectly thought that I had seen this film last year.

Top Docs of the year (in order of choice):

1) Iraq in Fragments (USA/Iraq, James Longley)
2) Bombay Calling (Canada, Ben Addelman, Samir Mallal)
3) Riding Solo to the Top of the World (India, Gaurav Jani)
4) Mystic Ball (Canada, Greg Hamilton)
5) Mo & Me (Kenya, Roger Mills)
6) The Trials of Darryl Hunt (USA, Ricki Stern & Anne Sundberg)

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.