BEST FILMS OF 2009

  1. The Hurt Locker Kathryn Bigelow, U.S.

  2. The Headless Woman Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/Spain/France/Italy

  3. Summer Hours Olivier Assayas, France

  4. 35 Shots of Rum Claire Denis, France/Germany

  5. Fantastic Mr. Fox Wes Anderson, U.S.

  6. Police, Adjective Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania

  7. Inglourious Basterds Quentin Tarantino, U.S./Germany

  8. A Serious Man Joel & Ethan Coen, U.S./U.K./France

  9. The Beaches of Agnès Agnès Varda, France

  10. Lorna’s Silence Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, Belgium/France/Italy/Germany

BEST UNRELEASED FILMS OF 2009

  1. Wild Grass Alain Resnais, France/Italy
  2. 24 City Jia Zhangke, China/Hong Kong/Japan  
  3. The White Ribbon Michael Haneke, Austria/Germany/France/Italy
  4. The Limits of Control Jim Jarmusch, U.S./Japan
  5. The Sun Aleksandr Sokurov, Russia/Italy/Switzerland/France
  6. Bright Star Jane Campion, U.K./Australia/France
  7. Two Lovers James Gray, U.S.
  8. In the Loop Armando Iannucci, U.K.
  9. Tulpan Sergey Dvortsevoy, Germany/Switzerland/ Kazakhstan/Russia/Poland
  10. Coraline Henry Selick, U.S.
  11. Antichrist Lars von Trier, Denmark/Germany/ France/Sweden/Italy/Poland
  12. Public Enemies Michael Mann, U.S.
  13. Where the Wild Things Are Spike Jonze, U.S.
  14. Up Peter Docter & Bob Peterson, U.S.
  15. An Education Lone Scherfig, U.K.
  16. Night and Day Hong Sang-soo, South Korea
  17. Still Walking Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan
  18. Liverpool Lisandro Alonso, Argentina/ France/ Netherlands/ Germany/Spain
  19. Up in the Air Jason Reitman, U.S.
  20. Of Time and the City Terence Davies, U.K.
  21. Broken Embraces Pedro Almodóvar, Spain
  22. Me and Orson Welles Richard Linklater, U.K./U.S.
  23. Adventureland Greg Mottola, U.S.
  24. The Maid Sebastián Silva, Chile/Mexico
  25. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans Werner Herzog, U.S.
  26. The Informant! Steven Soderbergh, U.S.
  27. Duplicity Tony Gilroy, U.S./Germany
  28. La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet Frederick Wiseman, France/U.S.
  29. Beeswax Andrew Bujalski, U.S.
  30. The Messenger Oren Moverman, U.S.
  31. You, the Living Roy Andersson, Sweden/ Germany/ France/ Denmark/ Norway/Japan
  32. District 9 Neill Blomkamp, U.S./ New Zealand
  33. Hunger Steve McQueen, U.K.
  34. Frontier of Dawn Philippe Garrel, France
  35. Tokyo Sonata Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan/ Netherlands/ Hong Kong .
  36. Drag Me to Hell Sam Raimi, U.S.
  37. Treeless Mountain So Yong Kim, U.S./South Korea
  38. A Single Man Tom Ford, U.S.
  39. Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire Lee Daniels, U.S.
  40. Ponyo Hayao Miyazaki, Japan
  41. Goodbye Solo Ramin Bahrani, U.S.
  42. A Prophet Jacques Audiard, France/Italy
  43. Everyone Else Maren Ade, Germany
  44. White Material* Claire Denis, France
  45. Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl* Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal/Spain/France
  46. Around a Small Mountain Jacques Rivette, France/Italy
  47. To Die Like a Man* João Pedro Rodrigues, France/Portugal
  48. Vincere Marco Bellocchio, Italy/France
  49. Ne Change Rien* Pedro Costa, Portugal
  50. Trash Humpers* Harmony Korine, U.S./U.K.
  51. Bluebeard Catherine Breillat, France
  52. Mother Bong Joon-ho, South Korea
  53. Like You Know It All* Hong Sang-soo, South Korea
  54. City of Life and Death Lu Chuan, China/Hong Kong
  55. Ghost Town* Zhao Dayong, China
  56. Life During Wartime* Todd Solondz, U.S.
  57. Sweetgrass Ilisa Barbash & Lucien Castaing-Taylor, France/U.K./U.S.
  58. In Comparison* Harun Farocki, Austria/Germany
  59. Min Ye* Souleymane Cissé, Mali/France
  60. Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench* Damien Chazelle, U.S.
  61. Hadewijch Bruno Dumont, France
  62. Lebanon Samuel Maoz, Israel/France/Germany
  63. Le streghe, femmes entre elles* Jean-Marie Straub, France/Italy
  64. Father of My Children Mia Hansen-Løve, France/Germany
  65. Fish Tank Andrea Arnold, U.K. 
  66. Helsinki, Forever* Peter von Bagh, Finland
  67. Tales from the Golden Age Hanno Höfer, Razvan Marculescu, Cristian Mungiu, Constantin Popescu & Ioana Uricaru, Romania/France
  68. Let Each One Go Where He May* Ben Russell, U.S.
  69. Prodigal Sons Kimberly Reed, U.S.
  70. Soul Kitchen* Fatih Akin, Germany Participants: Sam Adams, Thom Andersen, John Anderson, Melissa Anderson, David Ansen, Mark Asch, Michael Atkinson, Miriam Bale, Margaret Barton-Fumo, Marjorie Baumgarten, Livia Bloom, Nick Bradshaw, Richard Brody, John Caps, Michael Chaiken, Andrew Chan, Chris Chang, Tom Charity, Godfrey Cheshire, Matthew Connolly, Travis Crawford, Gary Crowdus, Doug Cummings, Mike D’Angelo, Evan Davis, Nick Davis, Sam Di Iorio, Lisa Dombrowski, Bilge Ebiri, Cheryl Eddy, David Edelstein, David Ehrenstein, David Fear, Paul Fileri, Scott Foundas, Graham Fuller, Roger Garcia, Susan Gerhardt, Gary Giddins, Larry Gross, Haden Guest, Howard Hampton, Molly Haskell, Logan Hill, J. Hoberman, Robert Horton, Matthew Hubbell, Eric Hynes, Harlan Jacobson, J.R. Jones, Kent Jones, Kristin M. Jones, Danny Kasman, Glenn Kenny, Laura Kern, Robert Koehler, Michael Koresky, Nathan Lee, Dennis Lim, Phillip Lopate, Todd McCarthy, Don McMahon, Joe Milutis, Wesley Morris, Rob Nelson, Geoffrey O’Brien, Mark Olsen, Mark Peranson, Andrea Picard, Tony Pipolo, Richard Porton, John Powers, James Quandt, Jed Rapfogel, Nicolas Rapold, Megan Ratner, Bérénice Reynaud, Jim Ridley, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Joshua Rothkopf, Michael Rowin, Andrew Sarris, Richard Schickel, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Gene Seymour, Gavin Smith, Chuck Stephens, Bob Strauss, Chris Stults, Daniel Stuyck, Jim Supanick, Amy Taubin, Jose Teodoro, Kenneth Turan, Keith Uhlich, Brynn White, Genevieve Yue, David Zuckerman