Best Films – 2011

Juggling travel and work, I still managed to catch 175 films in 2011. Below is a list of the films I liked the most, organized chronologically – in the order that I saw some them along the year.

I was able to see a few films that have not been officially released in the US. By the way, most US annual “top ten” lists require that  a film must have had  a one week long release in the USA. Otherwise, it cannot be counted. So if one happens to catch a film that plays for a couple of days somewhere in the US, then that film cannot be added to any lists as it has not been “officially” released. I do not follow this criteria as it seems a bit dated for the digital era.

I also saw a few others that were officially released in the US this year although they were released last year or before in other countries. For this  set of films, I have added the year in which they were actually made in the lists below.

• Caves of Forgotten Dreams (3D) – Werner Herzog (2010, Germany)
• Le Quattro Volte – Michelangelo Frammartino (2010, Italy)
• The Time that Remains – Elia Suleiman (2009, Israel/France)
• Incendies  – Denis Villeneuve (Canada)
• Octubre / Octubre- Daniel  & Diego Vega Vidal (2010, Perú)
• City of Life and Death – Lu Chuan (2010, China)
• The Tree of Life – Terence Malick (USA)
• Senna – Asif Kapadia (2010, UK)
• Silent Souls – Aleksei Fedorchenko (2010 Russia)
• The Turin Horse – Bela Tarr  (Hungary)
• Margin Call – J.C. Chandor  (USA)
• Le Havre – Aki Kaurismaki  (Finland)
• Melancholia – Lars von Trier (Denmark)
• A Separation – Asghar Farhadi (Iran)

• Secret Sunshine / Milyang – Chang-dong Lee (2007, Korea)
• Biutiful –  Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu (Mexico)
• Bas-fonds – Islid Le Besco (2010,France)
• I saw the Devil –  Ji-woon Kim (2010, Korea)
• Even the Rain / También la lluvia – Icíar Bollaín (2010, Spain)
• The Princess of Montpensier – Dir. Bertrand Travernier (2010, France)
• The Student / El Estudiante –  Santiago Mitre – Argentina
• Sarah’s Key / Elle s’appelait Sarah – Gilles Paquet-Brenner (2010, France)
• The Guard – John Michael McDonagh (UK)
• The Help – Tate Taylor (USA)
• The Beast / La Bestia –  Pedro Ultreras (2010, Mexico)
• The Ides of March –  George Clooney (USA)
• The Siege / La Toma – Angus Gibson & Miguel Salazar (South Africa/Colombia)
• The Names of Love  / Le nom des gens – Dir. Michel Leclerc (2010, France)
• A Dangerous Method – David Cronenberg (Canada)

Catching up (seeing the ones I missed in the past):

• Silentium – Wolfgang Murnberger (2004, Austria)
• Charly –  Isild Le Besco (2007, France)
• Cargo 200 – Aleksey Balabanov (2007, Russia)
• Shadows in Paradise –  Aki Kaurismaki (1986, Finland)
• The Zone / La Zona –  Rodrigo Plá (2007, Mexico)
• Alamar –  Pedro González-Rubio (2008, Mexico)
• Little Soldier – Lille Soldat –  Annette K. Olesen (2008, Denmark)
• Teo’s Journey / El viaje de Teo –  Walter Doehner (2007, Mexico)
• The Infinite Border /La Frontera Infinita – Juan Manuel Sepulveda (2007, Mexico)
• Leningrad Cowboys go to America – Aki Kariusmaki (1989,  Finland)
• The King / El Rey –  José Antonio Dorado (2004, Colombia)

Classics revisited:

• The Liberation of LB Jones – William Wyler (1970, USA)
• Mississippi Mermaid –  Francois Truffaut (1969, France)
• Belle de Jour – Luis Buñuel (1967, Spain/France)
• The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner – Tony Richardson (1962, UK)
• Rififi – Du rififi chez les hommes –  Jules Dassin (1955, France)
• Gun Crazy – Joseph H. Lewis (1950, USA)
• The Home and the World –  Satyajit Ray (1985, India)
• Aguirre: The Wrath of God – Werner Herzog (1972, Germany)
• Mamma Roma –  Pier Paolo Pasolini (1962, Italy)
• The Leopard / Il Gatopardo –  Luchino Visconti (1960, Italy)
• Eclipse / L’eclisee –  Michelaneglo Antonioni (1962, Italy)
• Wanda –  Barbara Loden (1970, USA)

Did not manage to see but really wanted to:

• Mysteries of Lisbon – Raul Ruiz (Portugal)
• Nostalgia for the Light / Nostalgia de la Luz – Patricio Guzman (2010, Chile)
• A Bright Summer Day –Edward Yang (1991, Taiwan)
• Extraordinary Stories / Historias Extraordinarias – Mariano Llinás (2008, Argentina)
• World on a Wire – Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1973, Germany)

Cheers, Raúl