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The Big Picture: BEST FILMS OF 2004
A Film Comment Online Exclusive
For Film Commentâs 5th annual criticsâ poll we invited our contributors and colleagues to rank their 20 favorite films of the year, plus the top 10 unreleased films discovered on the festival circuit. In the latter category, all but two (2046 and Los Muertos) had their U.S. premiere at this yearâs 42nd New York Film Festival. (Spooky, or what?) In each ballot from the 80-plus critical chorus, a first-place choice was allotted 20 points, 19 for a second, and so on.
50 BEST FILMS OF 2004
(Released theatrically in the U.S.)
above: Sideways
1. Sideways (Alexander Payne, U.S.) 684 points
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, U.S.) 602
3. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater, U.S.) 593
4. Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood, U.S.) 471
5. Goodbye Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan) 462
6. Notre musique (Jean-Luc Godard, France) 460
7. Vera Drake (Mike Leigh, U.K.) 407
8. Kill Bill Vol. 2 (Quentin Tarantino, U.S.) 405
9. Dogville (Lars von Trier, Denmark) 388
10. Moolaadé (Ousmane Sembene, Senegal) 387
11. Bad Education (Pedro Almodóvar, Spain) 344
12. The Aviator (Martin Scorsese, U.S.) 336
13. The Incredibles (Brad Bird, U.S.) 310
14. Crimson Gold (Jafar Panahi, Iran) 305
15. Fahrenheit 9/11 (Michael Moore, U.S.) 286
16. I ♥ Huckabees (David O. Russell, U.S.) 283
17. Los Angeles Plays Itself (Thom Andersen, U.S.) 275
18. Collateral (Michael Mann, U.S.) 255
19. House of Flying Daggers (Zhang Yimou, China) 228
20. Tarnation (Jonathan Caouette, U.S.) 223
21. Distant (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey) 203
22. Hero (Zhang Yimou, China) 200
23. The Five Obstructions (Lars von Trier, Denmark) 197
24. The Return (Andrei Zvyagintsev, Russia) 194
25. Cowards Bend the Knee (Guy Maddin, Canada) 188
26. The Big Red One: The Reconstruction (Samuel Fuller, U.S.) 184
27. The Saddest Music in the World (Guy Maddin, Canada) 176
28. Kinsey (Bill Condon, U.S.) 174
29. Blissfully Yours (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand) 163
30. Maria Full of Grace (Joshua Marston, U.S./Colombia) 163
31. Since Otar Left (Julie Bertucelli, France) 160.5
32. Time of the Wolf (Michael Haneke, Austria) 160
33. The Brown Bunny (Vincent Gallo, U.S.) 156
34. Infernal Affairs (Alan Mak & Andrew Lau, Hong Kong) 154
35. Springtime in a Small Town (Tian Zhuangzhuang, China) 150
36. Birth (Jonathan Glazer, U.S.) 147
37. Bright Leaves (Ross McElwee, U.S.) 132
38. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter·and Spring (Kim Ki-duk, South Korea) 127
39. Primer (Shane Carruth, U.S.) 125
40. The Corporation (Jennifer Abbot & Mark Achbar,U.S.) 121
41. Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman (Takeshi Kitano, Japan) 121
42. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (Wes Anderson, U.S.) 119
43. The Motorcycle Diaries (Walter Salles, Brazil) 107
44. Osama (Siddiq Barmak, Afghanistan) 106
45. Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright, U.K.) 105
46. S21: Khmer Rouge Killing Machine (Rithy Panh, Cambodia/France) 104.5
47. Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
(Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky, U.S.) 104
48. Hotel Rwanda (Terry George, U.K.) 103 103
49. Napoleon Dynamite (Jared Hess, U.S.) 98
50. Team America: World Police (Trey Parker, U.S.) 90
30 BEST UNRELEASED FILMS OF 2004
(Seen last year but not yet released in the U.S.)
above: Café Lumière
1. Café Lumière (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Japan/Taiwan) 473
2. The World (Jia Zhangke, China) 393
3. The Holy Girl (Lucrecia Martel, Argentina) 335
4. Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand) 300
5. Kings and Queen (Arnaud Desplechin, France) 250
6. Keane (Lodge Kerrigan, U.S.) 239
7. Triple Agent (Eric Rohmer, France) 198
8. The 10th District Court: Judicial Hearings (Raymond Depardon, France) 185
9. 2046 (Wong Kar-wai, China/Hong Kong/France) 178.5
10. Los Muertos (Lisandro Alonso, Argentina) 166
11. Saraband (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden) 164
12. Woman Is the Future of Man (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea) 140
13. Nobody Knows (Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan) 135
14. Checkpoint (Yoav Shamir, Israel) 121.5
15. Old Boy (Chan-wook Park, South Korea) 120
16. Five (Abbas Kiarostami, Iran) 116.5
17. The Intruder (Claire Denis, France) 108
18. Mondovino (Jonathan Nossiter, U.S./France) 106
19. My Summer of Love (Pawel Pawlikowski, U.K.) 105
20. Look at Me (Agnès Jaoui, France) 104
21. Palindromes (Todd Solondz, U.S.) 99
22. Henri Langlois: Phantom of the Cinematheque (Jacques Richard, France) 97
23. 3-Iron (Kim Ki-duk, South Korea) 83
24. Vibrator (Ryuichi Haroki, Japan) 83
25. Le Monde vivant (Eugene Green, France) 81
26. Cinévardaphoto (Agnès Varda, France) 77
27. Chain (Jem Cohen, U.S.) 70
28. The Forest for the Trees (Maren Ade, Germany) 70
29. Une visite au Louvre
(Danièle Huillet & Jean-Marie Straub, France) 68
30. Kontroll (Nimród Antal, Hungary) 67
Participants: Sam Adams, Thom Andersen, John Anderson, Melissa Anderson, David Ansen, Tim Appelo, Paul Arthur, Michael Atkinson, Joumane Chahine, Michael Chaiken, Chris Chang, Tom Charity, Godfrey Cheshire, David Chute, Travis Crawford, Edward Crouse, Gary Crowdus, Darren DâAddario, Mike DâAngelo, Manohla Dargis, Justine Elias, David Fear, Scott Foundas, Graham Fuller, Chris Fujiwara, Larry Gross, Molly Haskell, Elizabeth Helfgott, Grady Hendrix, J. Hoberman, Robert Horton, Harlan Jacobson, Kent Jones, Kristin Marriott Jones, Dave Kehr, Lisa Kennedy, Glenn Kenny, Laura Kern, Kyung Hyung Kim, Stuart Klawans, Robert Koehler, Michael Koresky, Bill Krohn, Nathan Lee, Dennis Lim, Phillip Lopate, Alice Lovejoy, Tim Lucas, Cynthia Lucia, Guy Maddin, Todd McCarthy, Maitland McDonagh, Wesley Morris, Rob Nelson, Chris Norris, Geoffrey OâBrien, Mark Olsen, Mark Peranson, Tony Pipolo, Richard Porton, James Quandt, Alissa Quart, BŽrŽnice Reynaud, Rachel Rosen, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Joshua Rothkopf, Andrew Sarris, Paul Schrader, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Gavin Smith, Roger Smith, Chuck Stephens, David Sterritt, Bob Strauss, Amy Taubin, Anne Thompson, Desson Thomson, Michael Tolkin, Kenneth Turan, David Walsh, Armond White, Michael Wilmington
© 2004 by the Film Society of Lincoln Center
