Voilà my annual list of the best and worst movies of the year (for lists of past years, see here). N.B. the films here came out in the cinema this year in either France or the US. Those in the top categories all have separate posts on the blog (or will soon).
TOP 10:
A Separation (جدایی نادر از سیمین)
Beginners
Chicken with Plums (Poulet aux prunes)
Habemus Papam
Meek’s Cutoff
Rebellion (L’Ordre et la morale)
The Artist
The Kid with a Bike (Le Gamin au vélo)
The Tree of Life
When We Leave (Die Fremde)
HONORABLE MENTION:
Carnage
Declaration of War (La Guerre est déclarée)
Le Havre
Midnight in Paris
On the Path (Na Putu)
BEST MOVIE FROM ROMANIA:
Morgen
BEST MOVIE FROM SLOVENIA:
Slovenian Girl (Slovenka)
BEST MOVIE FROM ALBANIA:
Amnesty (Amnistia)
BEST MOVIE FROM AUSTRALIA ABOUT A LOWLIFE CRIMINAL FAMILY IN MELBOURNE:
Animal Kingdom
BEST MOVIE FROM TURKEY THAT EXPLORES THE HUMAN CONDITION:
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Bir zamanlar Anadolu’da)
BEST MOVIE FROM TURKEY ABOUT AN ELDERLY MAN WHO SAYS NO TO RAMPANT URBAN DEVELOPMENT:
10 to 11 (11′e 10 Kala)
BEST MOVIE FROM LEBANON ON HOW WOMEN CAN BE PEACEMAKERS IN A SECTARIAN CONFLICT:
Where Do We Go Now? (وهلّأ لوين؟)
BEST MOVIE FROM LEBANON ON HOW WOMEN CAN BE COLD-BLOODED KILLERS IN A SECTARIAN CONFLICT:
Stray Bullet (رصاصة طايشة)
BEST MOVIE FROM ISRAEL ABOUT A FATHER-SON ACADEMIC RIVALRY:
Footnote (הערת שוליים)
BEST MOVIE FROM ITALY ABOUT AN OVER-THE-HILL MAN WHO LONGS FOR WOMEN HALF HIS AGE AND THEN DECIDES THAT HE DOESN’T REALLY:
The Salt of Life (Gianni e le donne)
BEST MOVIE FROM URUGUAY ABOUT A SHY OVERWEIGHT LOVESICK HEAVY-METAL FAN WHO FINDS HIS KINDRED SPIRIT:
Giant (Gigante)
BEST FILM NOIR FROM ARGENTINA:
Carancho
BEST MOVIE FROM DENMARK PARTLY SET IN AN UNNAMED AFRICAN COUNTRY IN THE THROES OF CIVIL WAR THAT IS OBVIOUSLY SUDAN:
In a Better World (Hævnen)
BEST MOVIE FROM CANADA MAINLY SET IN AN UNNAMED MIDDLE EASTERN COUNTRY IN THE THROES OF CIVIL WAR THAT IS OBVIOUSLY LEBANON:
Incendies
BEST MOVIE FROM FRANCE THAT IS PARTLY IN KURDISH:
Si tu meurs, je te tue
BEST MOVIE FROM FRANCE ON THE EXERCISE OF STATE POWER:
The Minister (L’Exercice de l’Etat)
BEST MOVIE FROM FRANCE ON NICOLAS SARKOZY’S CONQUEST OF STATE POWER:
The Conquest (La Conquête)
BEST FEATURE-LENGTH MOVIE FROM FRANCE MADE ON A BUDGET OF €150:
Donoma
BEST COMEDY FROM FRANCE ON SOCIAL CLASS STRATIFICATION DURING THE THIRTY GLORIOUS YEARS:
The Women on the 6th Floor (Les Femmes du 6e étage)
BEST COMEDY ON THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT:
When Pigs Have Wings (Le Cochon de Gaza)
BEST OKAY OCCASIONALLY FUNNY COMEDY SET IN MY HOMETOWNS MILWAUKEE AND CHICAGO:
Bridesmaids
BEST OKAY FEEL GOOD MOVIE ON THE WANING DAYS OF THE JIM CROW ERA:
The Help
BEST MOVIE ON THE USE OF QUANTITATIVE METHODS IN PUTTING TOGETHER A SPORTS TEAM:
Moneyball
BEST MOVIE ON THE MISERY OF SATYRIASIS:
Shame
BEST MOVIE DEPICTING THE SOVIET GULAG AND THAT IS BASED ON A TRUE STORY THAT IN FACT NEVER HAPPENED:
The Way Back
BEST MOVIE ON THE DOWNWARDLY MOBILE AMERICAN WORKING CLASS:
Putty Hill
BEST MOVIE THAT WAS NOT THE BEST MOVIE TO WIN THE OSCAR FOR BEST MOVIE:
The King’s Speech
BEST MOVIE THAT WAS IN FACT NOT ALL THAT GREAT OF A MOVIE:
Black Swan
BEST MOVIE ABOUT SADDAM HUSSEIN’S PSYCHOTIC SON UDAY WHO IS SO PSYCHOTIC THAT HE MAKES SADDAM HIMSELF LOOK LIKE AN ALMOST HALFWAY DECENT NORMAL PERSON BY COMPARISON:
The Devil’s Double
BEST MOVIE ON HOW THE ISRAELI MOSSAD IS NOT AS EXCELLENT AND EFFECTIVE AN INTELLIGENCE AGENCY AS IT’S CRACKED UP TO BE:
The Debt
BEST CAR CHASE FILM D’AUTEUR:
Drive
BEST SCREENPLAY ADAPTATION OF ‘THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN’ SERIES:
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
BEST DOCUMENTARY FROM SPAIN ABOUT CRIMES COMMITTED BY THE FRANCO REGIME:
Los Caminos de la Memoria
BEST DOCUMENTARY FROM CHILE ABOUT CRIMES COMMITTED BY THE PINOCHET REGIME:
Nostalgia de la Luz
BEST DOCUMENTARY FROM FRANCE ABOUT CRIMES COMMITTED BY THE PARIS POLICE DURING THE ALGERIAN WAR:
Ici on noie les Algériens
BEST DOCUMENTARY FROM FRANCE THAT WAS ACTUALLY MADE IN 1961 BUT ONLY RELEASED COMMERCIALLY IN 2011 ABOUT CRIMES COMMITTED BY THE PARIS POLICE DURING THE ALGERIAN WAR:
Octobre à Paris
SADDEST HOME MOVIE FROM IRAN DEPICTING THE JUDICIAL PERSECUTION OF A GREAT FILMMAKER:
This Is Not a Film
WORST MOVIE ABOUT ARABIAN TRIBES ON THE CUSP OF MODERNITY:
Black Gold
WORST SCREENPLAY ADAPTATION OF WHAT WAS NO DOUBT AN ALREADY TRASHY NOVEL:
Black Gold
WORST DEBUT POSSIBLE FOR QATAR’S INCIPIENT FILM INDUSTRY:
Black Gold
WORST MOVIE FROM FRANCE ON AGING MIDDLE CLASS LEFTISTS NOSTALGIC FOR THE CLASS STRUGGLE:
The Snows of Kilimanjaro (Les Neiges du Kilimandjaro)
WORST MOVIE FROM FRANCE OF TWO SELF-INDULGENT ACTORS PLAYACTING POLITICIANS:
Pater
MOST POINTLESS REMAKE OF THE MOVIE ‘TRUE GRIT’:
True Grit
MOST RIDICULOUS MOVIE ON A GLOBAL PANDEMIC SPREAD BY A MYSTERIOUS MUTATING VIRUS THAT THREATENS TO WIPE OUT THE WORLD’S POPULATION IN SHORT ORDER THUS LEADING TO MASS CHAOS AND SOCIAL BREAKDOWN BUT THAT SCIENTISTS SUDDENLY AND MIRACULOUSLY STOP MUTATING THEREBY SAVING THE WORLD AND ENABLING THE QUARANTINED TEENAGE DAUGHTER OF THE PANDEMIC’S FIRST VICTIM TO ATTEND HER HIGH SCHOOL PROM:
Contagion
MOST EXCRUCIATINGLY PAINFUL MOVIE TO SIT THROUGH:
127 Hours
MOST TECHNICALLY BEAUTIFUL BUT PONDEROUS CLUNKER OF A MOVIE THAT TAKES ITSELF WAY TOO SERIOUSLY AND IS TAKEN WAY TOO SERIOUSLY:
Melancholia
MOST INSUFFERABLE ACTION MYSTERY MOVIE FROM CHINA THAT SHOULD ONLY BE SEEN BY PEOPLE WHO LIKE THIS KIND OF ACTION MYSTERY MOVIE:
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (狄仁傑之通天帝國)
MOST REPREHENSIBLE MOVIE FROM AUSTRALIA ABOUT SADISTIC PSYCHOPATHIC WHITE TRASH MURDERERS IN ADELAIDE:
Snowtown
MOST FAILED ATTEMPT FROM FRANCE TO IMITATE A WOODY ALLEN MOVIE:
The Art of Love (L’Art d’aimer)
MOST FAILED ATTEMPT FROM SOUTH KOREA TO IMITATE AN ERIC ROHMER MOVIE:
Oki’s Movie (옥희의 영화)
MOST TEDIOUS MOVIE ON ENNUI IN HOLLYWOOD:
Somewhere
ADDENDUM: Dan Kois, a writer and cultural critic, has a piece in the January 1, 2012, New York Times Magazine—and to which I entirely adhere—on “The Top 10 Reasons to Make (and Love) Top 10 Lists.”
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