Welcome to Film Comment’s ninth annual critics’ poll. (It wasn’t broke, so we didn’t fix it.) Just as in years past, a small army of colleagues ranked their favorites in two categories: 1) those released theatrically, and 2) those that made their debuts elsewhere—which generally means on the festival circuit. Once again, the selection committee of the New York Film Festival, now in its 46th year, proved to be either cultural weather vane or tastemaker: 10 of the top 20 theatrical films, and 10 of the 20 undistributed titles, made their big-league debuts courtesy of the NYFF. A 100-plus chorus of critics responded with votes that spanned nearly 500 films. For each ballot, a first-place choice was allotted 20 points, 19 for second, and so on.
BEST FILMS OF 2008
1. Wendy and Lucy
Kelly Reichardt, U.S.
2. Flight of the Red Balloon
Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan/France
3. A Christmas Tale
Arnaud Desplechin, France
4. Happy-Go-Lucky
Mike Leigh, U.K.
5. WALL·E
Andrew Stanton, U.S.
6. Still Life
Jia Zhang-ke, Hong Kong/China
7. Paranoid Park
Gus Van Sant, France/U.S.
8. Waltz with Bashir
Ari Folman, Israel/France/Germany
9. My Winnipeg
Guy Maddin, Canada
10. Milk
Gus Van Sant, U.S.
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11. Let the Right One In
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12. The Duchess of Langeais |
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13. The Class |
14. Synecdoche, New York |
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15. Hunger |
16. Silent Light |
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17. Ballast |
18. Man on Wire |
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19. The Exiles |
20. Gomorrah |
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21. The Dark Knight |
22. Che |
23. The Wrestler |
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24. The Last Mistress |
25. Rachel Getting Married |
26. Trouble the Water |
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27. Momma’s Man |
28. Ashes of Time Redux |
29. In the City of Sylvia |
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30. Alexandra |
31. Encounters at the End of the World |
32. Gran Torino |
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33. The Romance |
34. The Curious Case |
35. La France |
36. Taxi to the Dark Side |
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37. The Edge of Heaven |
38. Slumdog Millionaire |
39. Vicky Cristina Barcelona |
40. The Silence Before Bach |
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41. Frost/Nixon |
42. Woman on the Beach |
43. Before I Forget |
44. Frozen River |
45. The Order of Myths |
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46. Heartbeat Detector (La Question Humaine) |
47. Tell No One |
48. Chop Shop |
49. Profit motive and the whispering wind |
50. Fengming: A Chinese Memoir |
BEST UNRELEASED FILMS OF 2008
1. The Headless Woman* Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/Spain/France/Italy
2. 24 City* Jia Zhang-ke, China/Hong Kong/Japan
3. Summer Hours Olivier Assayas, France
4. Still Walking Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan
5. Tulpan Sergey Dvortsevoy, Germany/Switzerland/Kazakhstan/Russia/Poland
6. RR James Benning, U.S.
7. 35 Shots of Rum* Claire Denis, France/Germany
8. Of Time and the City Terence Davies, U.K.
9. Tony Manero* Pablo Larrain, Chile/Brazil
10. Liverpool* Lisandro Alonso, Argentina
11. Sugar Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, U.S.
12. Tokyo Sonata Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan/Netherlands/Hong Kong
13. Birdsong* Albert Serra, Spain
14. The Hurt Locker Kathryn Bigelow, U.S.
15. United Red Army* Koji Wakamatsu, Japan
16. Night and Day* Hong Sang-soo, South Korea
17. Four Nights with Anna* Jerzy Skolimowski, France/Poland
18. Me and Orson Welles* Richard Linklater, U.K.
19. Il Divo Paolo Sorrentino, Italy/France
20. Chouga* Darezhan Omirbaev, Kazakhstan/France
21. Lorna’s Silence Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, Belgium/France/Italy/Germany
22. Treeless Mountain So Yong Kim, U.S./South Korea
23. A Time to Stir* Paul Cronin, U.S.
(tie) Goodbye Solo Ramin Bahrani, U.S.
24. Captain Ahab* Philippe Ramos, France/Sweden
(tie) Revanche Götz Spielmann, Austria
25. Everlasting Moments Jan Troell, Sweden/Denmark/Norway/Finland/Germany
(tie) I’m Gonna Explode* Gerardo Naranjo, Mexico
26. Afterschool* Antonio Campos, U.S.
27. Flame & Citron* Ole Christian Madsen, Denmark/Germany
28. Three Monkeys Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey/France/Italy
29. Itinéraire de Jean Bricard* Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet, France
30. Sparrow Johnnie To, Hong Kong
(*Currently without U.S. distribution)
Participants: Sam Adams, Thom Andersen, John Anderson, Melissa Anderson, David Ansen, Michael Atkinson, Saul Austerlitz, Miriam Bale, Margaret Barton-Fumo, Marjorie Baumgarten, Bruce Bennett, Nick Bradshaw, Richard Brody, John Caps, Michael Chaiken, Andrew Chan, Chris Chang, Tom Charity, Godfrey Cheshire, Travis Crawford, Gary Crowdus, Mike D’Angelo, Evan Davis, Sam Di Iorio, Lisa Dombrowski, Bilge Ebiri, Cheryl Eddy, David Edelstein, David Ehrenstein, David Fear, Paul Fileri, Scott Foundas, Patrick Friel, Graham Fuller, Susan Gerhard, Gary Giddins, Jason Gross, Larry Gross, Dennis Harvey, Molly Haskell, Logan Hill, J. Hoberman, Robert Horton, Johnny Ray Huston, Harlan Jacobson, J.R. Jones, Kent Jones, Kristin M. Jones, Dave Kehr, Glenn Kenny, Laura Kern, Stuart Klawans, Robert Koehler, Michael Koresky, Nathan Lee, Dennis Lim, Phillip Lopate, Cynthia Lucia, Scott Macaulay, Todd McCarthy, Maitland McDonagh, Don McMahon, Joe Milutis, Wesley Morris, Rob Nelson, Chris Norris, Geoffrey O’Brien, Mark Olsen, Mark Peranson, Jake Perlin, Tony Pipolo, Richard Porton, John Powers, James Quandt, Jed Rapfogel, Nicolas Rapold, Megan Ratner, Bérénice Reynaud, Jim Ridley, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Joshua Rothkopf, Andrew Sarris, Richard Schickel, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Gene Seymour, Gavin Smith, Vivian Sobchack, Chuck Stephens, Bob Strauss, Jim Supanick, Amy Taubin, José Teodoro, Kenneth Turan, Brynn White, Donald Wilson, Genevieve Yue, David Zuckerman
