FILM COMMENT’S END-OF-YEAR CRITICS’ POLL
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. We published the results for the Top 20 in the current issue and on the filmlinc blog in mid-December. Below are the Top 50.
BEST FILMS OF 2008 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 2008. We’ll print the results in our March/April issue and publish your comments on our website. To enter: send your ranked list of the year’s 20 best films along with your name, address, and phone number to
, by mail to Film Comment Readers’ Poll, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York NY 10023, or by fax to 212-875-5636. And feel free to send in any rants, raves, or insights on the movies of 2008. Deadline: February 13, 2009. 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, can select prizes, subject to availability, from the Criterion Collection catalogue (www.criterionco.com).
BEST FILMS OF 2008 (Released theatrically in the U.S.)
1. Wendy and Lucy Kelly Reichardt, U.S. 580 points
2. Flight of the Red Balloon Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan/France 564
3. A Christmas Tale Arnaud Desplechin, France 557
4. Happy-Go-Lucky Mike Leigh, U.K. 538
5. WALL·E Andrew Stanton, U.S. 534
6. Still Life Jia Zhang-ke, Hong Kong/China 521
7. Paranoid Park Gus Van Sant, France/U.S. 465
8. Waltz with Bashir Ari Folman, Israel/France/Germany 424
9. My Winnipeg Guy Maddin, Canada 406
10. Milk Gus Van Sant, U.S. 356
11. Let the Right One In Tomas Alfredson, Sweden 351
12. The Duchess of Langeais Jacques Rivette, France/Italy 335
13. The Class Laurent Cantet, France 334
14. Synecdoche, New York Charlie Kaufman, U.S. 297
15. Hunger Steve McQueen, U.K. 289
16. Silent Light Carlos Reygadas, Mexico/France/Netherlands 286
17. Ballast Lance Hammer, U.S. 283
18. Man on Wire James Marsh, U.K. 282
19. The Exiles Kent Mackenzie, U.S. 257
20. Gomorrah Matteo Garrone, Italy 253
21. The Dark Knight Christopher Nolan, U.S. 252
22. Che Steven Soderbergh, Spain/France/U.S. 237
23. The Wrestler Darren Aronofsky, U.S. 233
24. The Last Mistress Catherine Breillat, France/Italy 229
25. Rachel Getting Married Jonathan Demme, U.S. 215
26. Trouble the Water Carl Deal & Tia Lessin, U.S. 203
27. Momma’s Man Azazel Jacobs, U.S. 202
28. Ashes of Time Redux Wong Kar Wai, Hong Kong/China 201
29. In the City of Sylvia José Luis Guerín, Spain/France 200
30. Alexandra Alexander Sokurov, Russia/France 196
31. Encounters at the End of the World Werner Herzog, U.S. 195
32. Gran Torino Clint Eastwood, U.S. 189
33. The Romance of Astrea and Celadon Eric Rohmer, France/Spain/Italy 178
34. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button David Fincher, U.S. 172
35. La France Serge Bozon, France 167
36. Taxi to the Dark Side Alex Gibney, U.S. 163
37. The Edge of Heaven Fatih Akin, Germany/Turkey/Italy 161
38. Slumdog Millionaire Danny Boyle, U.S./U.K. 157
39. Vicky Cristina Barcelona Woody Allen, Spain 154
40. The Silence Before Bach Pere Portabella, Spain 141
41. Frost/Nixon Ron Howard, U.S. 140
42. Woman on the Beach Hong Sang-soo, South Korea 138
43. Before I Forget Jacques Nolot, France 137
44. Frozen River Courtney Hunt, U.S. 126
45. The Order of Myths Margaret Brown, U.S. 123
46. Heartbeat Detector (La Question Humaine) Nicolas Klotz, France 112
47. Tell No One Guillaume Canet, France 110
48. Chop Shop Ramin Bahrani, U.S. 108
49. Profit motive and the whispering wind John Gianvito, U.S. 106
50. Fengming: A Chinese Memoir Bing Wang, China 103
BEST UNRELEASED FILMS OF 2008
(*Currently without U.S. distribution)
1. The Headless Woman* Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/Spain/France/Italy 201
2. 24 City* Jia Zhang-ke, China/Hong Kong/Japan 171
3. Summer Hours Olivier Assayas, France 154
4. Still Walking Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan 102
5. Tulpan Sergey Dvortsevoy, Germany/Switzerland/Kazakhstan/Russia/Poland 84
6. RR James Benning, U.S. 83
7. 35 Shots of Rum* Claire Denis, France/Germany 78
8. Of Time and the City Terence Davies, U.K. 76
9. Tony Manero* Pablo Larrain, Chile/Brazil 74
10. Liverpool* Lisandro Alonso, Argentina 70
11. Sugar Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, U.S. 55
12. Tokyo Sonata Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan/Netherlands/H.K. 51
13. Birdsong* Albert Serra, Spain 48
14. The Hurt Locker Kathryn Bigelow, U.S. 47
15. United Red Army* Koji Wakamatsu, Japan 40
16. Night and Day* Hong Sang-soo, South Korea 36
17. Four Nights with Anna* Jerzy Skolimowski, France/Poland 33
18. Me and Orson Welles* Richard Linklater, U.K. 31
19. Il Divo Paolo Sorrentino, Italy/France 29
20. Chouga* Darezhan Omirbaev, Kazakhstan/France 28
21. Lorna’s Silence Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, Belgium/France/Italy/Germany 26
22. Treeless Mountain So Yong Kim, U.S./South Korea 24
23. A Time to Stir* Paul Cronin, U.S. 23 (tie)Goodbye Solo Ramin Bahrani, U.S. 23
24. Captain Ahab* Philippe Ramos, France/Sweden 22 (tie)Revanche Götz Spielmann, Austria 22
25. Everlasting Moments Jan Troell, Sweden/Denmark/Norway/Finland/Germany 21 (tie)I’m Gonna Explode* Gerardo Naranjo, Mexico 21
26. Afterschool* Antonio Campos, U.S. 20
27. Flame & Citron* Ole Christian Madsen, Denmark/Germany 19
28. Three Monkeys Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey/France/Italy 18
29. Itinéraire de Jean Bricard* Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet, France 16
30. Sparrow Johnnie To, Hong Kong 15
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
, by mail to Film Comment Readers’ Poll, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York NY 10023, or by fax to 212-875-5636. And feel free to send in any rants, raves, or insights on the movies of 2008. Deadline: February 13, 2009. 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, can select prizes, subject to availability, from the Criterion Collection catalogue (
