The return of a revered filmmaker and the confinement of a persecuted fellow director drove passions high for the top released and unreleased picks in this year’s critics’ poll, now in its 12th edition. Many of the theatrical favorites will be familiar from last year’s unreleased best-of slate—such titles as Uncle Boonmee may not have come soon to a theater near our respondents, but when they did, they were still very well liked. Other striking vote-getters include Andrei Ujica’s three-hour compilation film, Asghar Farhadi’s anatomy of divorce—slipping into theaters December 30—and Kenneth Lonergan’s long-in-coming production maudit Margaret. A note on the poll’s workings: around 120 North American colleagues (see complete participant list below) ranked their favorites in two categories: 1) those that received theatrical runs and 2) those viewed this year but not receiving U.S. theatrical distribution until 2012—if at all. For each ballot, a first-place choice was allotted 20 points, 19 for second, and so on. We published the results for the Top 20 in the current issue. Below are the Top 50.
ENTER OUR READERS’ POLL!
You’ve heard our take on this year’s crop of films. Now it’s your turn to give us your top picks and your takes on the movies of 2011. We’ll print the poll results in our March/April issue and publish your comments on our website—and all entries will automatically be entered in a contest for free DVDs from the Criterion Collection! Stand up and be counted: send your ranked list of the year’s 20 best films (plus your rants, raves, and insights) with your name, address, and phone number, to fcpoll [at] filmlinc.com, mail them to Film Comment Readers’ Poll, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023, or submit them online here. Deadline: February 10, 2012. Prizes: First Prize: your choice of Criterion Collection DVDs, up to $200 in value. Second Prize: up to $120. Third & Fourth Prizes: up to $80. The winners, who will be picked by random draw, will select prizes, subject to availability, from the Criterion Collection catalogue.
BEST FILMS OF 2011
(Released theatrically in the U.S.)
1. The Tree of Life
Terrence Malick, U.S.
2. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand/U.K./France/Germany
3. Melancholia
Lars von Trier, Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany
4. A Separation
Asghar Farhadi, Iran
5. A Dangerous Method
David Cronenberg, Canada/Germany
6. Mysteries of Lisbon
Raúl Ruiz, France/Portugal
7. Certified Copy
Abbas Kiarostami, France/Italy/Belgium
8. Meek’s Cutoff
Kelly Reichardt, U.S.
9. Hugo
Martin Scorsese, U.S.
10. Poetry
Lee Chang-dong, South Korea
11. Film Socialisme
Jean-Luc Godard, Switzerland
12. Le Havre
Aki Kaurismäki, Finland/France
13. The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu
Andrei Ujica, Romania
14. Le quattro volte
Michelangelo Frammartino, Italy/Germany/Switzerland
15. The Descendants
Alexander Payne, U.S.
16. Nostalgia for the Light
Patricio Guzmán, Chile/France/Germany
17. A Brighter Summer Day
Edward Yang, Taiwan/Japan
18. Midnight in Paris
Woody Allen, Spain/U.S.
19. Take Shelter
Jeff Nichols, U.S.
20. Margaret
Kenneth Lonergan, U.S.
21. Shame
Steve McQueen, U.K.
22. Drive
Nicolas Winding Refn, U.S.
23. Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Werner Herzog, U.S.
24. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Tomas Alfredson, U.K./France/Germany
25. To Die Like a Man
João Pedro Rodrigues, Portugal/France
26. The Interrupters
Steve James, U.S.
27. The Artist
Michel Hazanavicius, France
28. Tuesday, After Christmas
Radu Muntean, Romania
29. Aurora
Cristi Puiu, Romania
30. Weekend
Andrew Haigh, U.K.
31. The Skin I Live In
Pedro Almodóvar, Spain
32. City of Life and Death
Lu Chuan, China/Hong Kong
33. Contagion
Steven Soderbergh, U.S.
34. Of Gods and Men
Xavier Beauvois, France
35. Martha Marcy May Marlene
Sean Durkin, U.S.
36. Bridesmaids
Paul Feig, U.S.
37. The Trip
Michael Winterbottom, U.K.
38. Moneyball
Bennett Miller, U.S.
39. The Arbor
Clio Barnard, U.K.
40. The Future
Miranda July, U.S./Germany
41. Incendies
Denis Villeneuve, Canada/France
42. Super 8
J.J. Abrams, U.S.
43. United Red Army
Koji Wakamatsu, Japan
44. Road to Nowhere
Monte Hellman, U.S.
45. Tabloid
Errol Morris, U.S.
46. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Rupert Wyatt, U.S.
47. Terri
Azazel Jacobs, U.S.
48. J. Edgar
Clint Eastwood, U.S.
49. Jane Eyre
Cary Fukunaga, U.K.
50. Pina
Wim Wenders, Germany/France
BEST UNRELEASED FILMS OF 2011
(*Currently without U.S. distribution)
1. This Is Not a Film
Jafar Panahi & Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, Iran
2. The Turin Horse
Béla Tarr, Hungary/France/Switzerland/Germany
3. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey
4. The Kid with a Bike
Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, Belgium/France
5. The Loneliest Planet
Julia Loktev, U.S./Germany
6. Miss Bala
Gerardo Naranjo, Mexico
7. Footnote
Joseph Cedar, Israel
8. Kill List
Ben Wheatley, U.K.
9. Sleeping Sickness
Ulrich Koehler, Germany*
10. Play
Ruben Östlund, Sweden/France/Denmark*
11. Policeman
Nadav Lapid, Israel*
12. The Color Wheel
Alex Ross Perry, U.S.
13. Two Years at Sea
Ben Rivers, U.K.*
14. Alps
Yorgos Lanthimos, Greece
15. Goodbye First Love
Mia Hansen-Løve, France/Germany
16. 4:44 Last Day on Earth
Abel Ferrara, U.S.
17. Dreileben Parts 1-3
Christian Petzold, Dominik Graf & Christoph Hochhäusler, Germany*
18. The Return
Nathaniel Dorsky, U.S.
19. The Deep Blue Sea
Terence Davies, U.K.
20. Wuthering Heights
Andrea Arnold, U.K.
21. Corpo Celeste
Alice Rohrwacher, Italy/France/Switzerland
22. Oslo, August 31st
Joachim Trier, Norway*
23. The Student
Santiago Mitre, Argentina
24. Attenberg
Athena Rachel Tsangari, Greece
25. Elena
Andrei Zvyagintsev, Russia
26. You Are Not I
Sara Driver, U.S.
27. Words of Mercury
Jerome Hiler, U.S.
28. Crazy Horse
Frederick Wiseman, France/U.S.
29. Faust
Alexander Sokurov, Russia*
30. Seeking the Monkey
King
Ken Jacobs, U.S.
31. Disorder
Huang Weikai, China
32. Psychohydrography
Peter Bo Rappmund, U.S.
33. Patience (After Sebald)
Grant Gee, U.K.
34. Green
Sophia Takal, U.S.
35. We Can’t Go Home Again
Nicholas Ray, U.S.
36. Killer Joe
William Friedkin, U.S.
37. Damsels in Distress
Whit Stillman, U.S.
38. Slow Action
Ben Rivers, U.K.
39. Bonsai
Cristian Jimenez, Chile/France/Argentina/Portugal
40. Michael
Markus Schleinzer, Austria
41. A Simple Life
Ann Hui, Hong Kong*
42. Take This Waltz
Sarah Polley, Canada
43. Hors Satan
Bruno Dumont, France
44. Dark Horse
Todd Solondz, U.S.*
45. Curling
Denis Côté, Canada
46. Almayer’s Folly
Chantal Akerman, France/Belgium*
47. 20 Cigarettes
James Benning, U.S.
48. Polisse
Maïwenn, France
49. Without
Mark Jackson, U.S.*
50. The Innkeepers
Ti West, U.S.
