Film Comment’s comprehensive best-of survey of the most plugged-in minds in film criticism inevitably includes many features that haven’t been released in the United States. In a nod to the best movies this year that warrant seeking out, with or without a distributor, Film Comment’s year-end coverage also includes the 50 Best Unreleased Films of the Year, many of which will hopefully make it to theaters in the coming year. Topping the list is This is Not a Film, Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s intimate and disarmingly hilarious portrait of his house arrest by Iranian authorities, who prosecuted him for vaguely defined crimes against the state. He has since been sent to prison. When the film screened at the New York Film Festival, Associate Program Director Scott Foundas said it begins as a documentary but then “becomes a much more complicated and playful kind of essay film about Panahi’s approach to filmmaking.” Smuggled out of Iran in a cake so that it could premiere at Cannes, the film opens in a limited run in February. The rest of the list features many titles familiar to NYFF attendees—Béla Tarr’s The Turin Horse, Miss Bala, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia—alongside a number of more obscure works that face a rockier path to theaters stateside. It joins a traditional sister list of the year’s 50 Best Released Films, which crowned Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life as the movie of the year. (That film begins a limited five-day run today at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center.) More than 120 film journalists contributed. The complete 50-film list is reproduced below, and don’t forget to check out the accompanying list of the best released films of the year. Film Comment Editor Gavin Smith and Associate Program Director Scott Foundas also sat down to discuss and contextualize the lists, a video of which is available to watch here. The Top 101. This Is Not a Film, directed by Jafar Panahi, Iran2. The Turin Horse, directed by Béla Tarr, Hungary/France/Switzerland/Germany3. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey4. The Kid with a Bike, directed by Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, Belgium/France5. The Loneliest Planet, directed by Julia Loktev, U.S./Germany6. Miss Bala, directed by Gerardo Naranjo, Mexico7. Footnote, directed by Joseph Cedar, Israel8. Kill List, directed by Ben Wheatley, U.K.9. Sleeping Sickness, directed by Ulrich Koehler, Germany10. Play, directed by Ruben Östlund, Sweden/France/Denmark The Next 2011. Policeman, directed by Nadav Lapid, Israel12. The Color Wheel, directed by Alex Ross Perry, U.S.13. Two Years At Sea, directed by Ben Rivers, U.K.14. Alps, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, Greece15. Goodbye First Love, directed by Mia Hansen-Løve, France/Germany16. 4:44 Last Day on Earth, directed by Abel Ferrara, U.S.17. Dreileben, directed by Christoph Hochhäusler, Christian Petzold & Dominik Graf, Germany18. The Return, directed by Nathaniel Dorsky, U.S.19. The Deep Blue Sea, directed by Terence Davies, U.K.20. Wuthering Heights, directed by Andrea Arnold, U.K.21. Corpo Celeste, directed by Alice Rohrwacher, Italy/France/Switzerland22. Oslo, August 31st, directed by Joachim Trier, Norway23. The Student, directed by Santiago Mitre, Argentina24. Attenberg, directed by Athena Rachel Tsangari, Greece25. Elena, directed by Andrei Zvyagintsev, Russia26. You Are Not I, directed by Sara Driver, U.S.27. Words of Mercury, directed by Jerome Hiler, U.S.28. Crazy Horse, directed by Frederick Wiseman, France/U.S.29. Faust, directed by Alexander Sokurov, Russia30. Seeking the Monkey King, directed by Ken Jacobs, U.S. The Rest31. Disorder, directed by Huang Weikei, China32. Psychohydrography, directed by Peter Bo Rappmund, U.S.33. Patience (After Sebald), directed by Grant Gee, U.K.34. Green, directed by Sophia Takal, U.S.35. We Can’t Go Home Again, directed by Nicholas Ray, U.S.36. Killer Joe, directed by William Friedkin, U.S.37. Damsels in Distress, directed by Whit Stillman, U.S.38. Slow Action, directed by Ben Rivers, U.K.39. Bonsai, directed by Cristian Jimenez, Chile/France/Argentina/Portugal40. Michael, directed by Markus Schleinzer, Austria41. A Simple Life, directed by Ann Hui, Hong Kong42. Take This Waltz, directed by Sarah Polley, Canada43. Hors Satan, directed by Bruno Dumont, France44. Dark Horse, directed by Todd Solondz, U.S.45. Curling, directed by Denis Côté, Canada46. Almayer’s Folly, directed by Chantal Akerman, France/Belgium47. 20 Cigarettes, directed by James Benning, U.S.48. Polisse, directed by Maïwenn, France49. Without, directed by Mark Jackson, U.S.50. The Innkeepers, directed by Ti West, U.S.
