Sight & Sound, January 2008 carries an article in which 50 critics around the world picked a Top 5 for 2008. Sight & Sound‘s team then worked out a ranking of 150 films to create an overall Top 10:
1. Hunger (UK)
2. There Will Be Blood
3. WALL•E
4. Gomorra (Italy)
=5. A Christmas Tale (France)
=5. The Class (France)
7. Of Time and the City (UK)
8. Happy-Go-Lucky (UK)
=9. The Headless Woman (Arg/Sp/Fra/It)
=9 Let the Right One In (Sweden)
Amazingly, I’ve seen the six films in the list that have been released in the UK. (I haven’t checked the other four yet, but I don’t think they’ve been released here.) Of those six, I can certainly see why five of them would figure in many lists. I didn’t really enjoy the Mike Leigh and I’m not a fan generally. Poppy was a truly irritating character, although overall the film was well made and there were pluses.
I don’t do ‘best of’ lists as such, especially because I don’t see all the films. But I’m happy to list the films that have made the most impact on me and that I enjoyed watching the most.
My top 5 (i.e. of the films I’ve seen this year) would be:
1. Couscous (France)
2. Auf der anderen Seite (Edge of Heaven) (Germany/Turkey)
3. Caramel (France/Lebanon)
4. El orfanato (France/Spain)
5. Faat Kiné (Senegal 2000)
So, what does everyone else think?
Interesting list, both of them. Wll check them out probably in the Bangalore International film fest next month…
Posted by Srikanth Srinivasan | December 2, 2008, 04:41