As an infrequent contributor to
In Review Online, they were kind enough to invite me to take part in their end-of-year best films extravaganza (I also blurbed Film Socialisme for their staff aggregate best list). The below list is what I sent them, although I hasten to add two caveats: I was told that de Oliveira's The Strange Case of Angelica wasn't eligible for inclusion, nor Costa's Ne change rien, as both were technically 2010 releases (you'll hear more about this in another post coming soon - yes, I'm gonna bitch about it); I neglected to include Andre Ujica's The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu, surely some kind of masterpiece. I hope that my oversight reflects not on the film itself and simply on my own inexplicable ineptitude. If anyone is interested, the InRO list was, to the best of my knowledge, ranked via each participants specific placement. With that in mind, I decided not to play the numbers game, as Film Socialisme would be my number one choice regardless of what list I was making or for who I happened to be making it for. Which is a long winded way of saying that the placement of my top five adequately reflects my enthusiasms for each, while the placement of the remaining titles is largely arbitrary.
1. Film Socialisme
2. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
3. Certified Copy
4. Poetry
5. Change Nothing
6. The Arbor
7. The Four Times
8. Martha Marcy May Marlene
9. The Strange Case of Angelica
10. 13 Assassins
11. Meek’s Cutoff
12. Nostalgia for the Light
13. Fast Five
14. A Dangerous Method
15. Drive
16. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart
17. The Ward
18. We Need To Talk About Kevin
19. Miss Bala
20. Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
21. Attack the Block
22. Goodbye First Love
