Top 10 Films of 2011

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*Click on the ‘Lists & Logs’ tab to see lists from previous years.

This is list will be updated each time I see a film that had its world premiere in 2011 that is better than at least one of the films already on the list.

  1. Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan)
  2. House of Tolerance (Bertrand Bonello)
  3. Melancholia (Lars von Trier)
  4. Once Upon A Time In Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
  5. Crazy Horse (Frederick Wiseman)
  6. The Future (Miranda July)
  7. small roads (James Benning)
  8. Moneyball (Bennett Miller)
  9. Buenas noches, España (Raya Martin)
  10. The Pettifogger (Lewis Klahr)

 

My Top 10 Discoveries During 2011 (applies to films made before the 21st century)

  1. Il Posto (1961, Ermanno Olmi)
  2. The Idiots (1998, Lars von Trier)
  3. The Wages of Fear (1953, Henri-Georges Clouzot)
  4. Rosemary’s Baby (1968, Roman Polanski)
  5. Dial M for Murder (1954, Alfred Hitchcock)
  6. Diabolique (1955, Henri-Georges Clouzot)
  7. Network (1976, Sidney Lumet)
  8. The Miracle Worker (1962, Arthur Penn)
  9. Exotica (1994, Atom Egoyan)
  10. Broadcast News (1987, James L. Brooks)

 

Other 2011 films I’ve seen

  • A Separation (Asghar Farhadi) – 7.4
  • Martha Marcy May Marlene (Sean Durkin) – 7.4
  • SEEKING THE MONKEY KING (Ken Jacobs) – 7.3
  • The Pettifogger (Lewis Klahr)
  • The Deep Blue Sea (Terence Davies) – 7.3
  • The Wise Kids (Stephen Cone) – 7.2
  • The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick) – 7.1
  • The Turin Horse (Béla Tarr) – 7.1
  • Elena (Andrey Zvyagintsev) – 7.1
  • Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols) – 7.0
  • Goodbye First Love (Mia Hansen-Løve) – 7.0
  • This is Not a Film (Jafar Panahi & Mojtaba Mirtahmasb) – 6.9
  • Drive (Nicholas Winding Refn) – 6.9
  • Play (Ruben Östlund) – 6.9
  • Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (Takashi Miike) – 6.8
  • The Prize (Paula Markovitch) – 6.8
  • Damsels in Distress (Whit Stillman) – 6.7
  • 4:44 Last Day On Earth (Abel Ferrara) – 6.7
  • Gerhard Richter Painting (Corinna Belz) – 6.7
  • Mildred Pierce (Todd Haynes) – 6.7
  • Low Life (Nicolas Klotz & Elisabeth Perceval) – 6.6
  • The Loneliest Planet (Julia Loktev) – 6.6
  • The Silver Cliff (Karim Aïnouz) – 6.6
  • The Unstable Object (Daniel Eisenberg) – 6.6
  • Into the Abyss (Werner Herzog) – 6.6
  • The Day He Arrives (Hong Sang-soo) – 6.5
  • The Kid With A Bike (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) – 6.5
  • Final Destination 5 (Steven Quale) – 6.5
  • Policeman (Nadav Lapid) – 6.5
  • A Burning Hot Summer (Philippe Garrel) – 6.5
  • Whore’s Glory (Michael Glawogger) – 6.5
  • Slow Action (Ben Rivers) – 6.5
  • Alps (Yorgos Lanthimos) – 6.4
  • Hugo (Martin Scorsese) – 6.4
  • Porfirio (Alejandro Landes) – 6.4
  • It’s the Earth Not the Moon (Gonçalo Tocha) – 6.4
  • A Mysterious World (Rodrigo Moreno) – 6.4
  • Century of Birthing (Lav Diaz) – 6.3
  • Almayer’s Folly (Chantal Akerman) – 6.3
  • Outside Satan (Bruno Dumont) – 6.3
  • Position Among the Stars (Leonard Retel Helmrich) – 6.3
  • Summer of Giacomo (Alessandro Comodin) – 6.2
  • People Mountain People Sea (Cai Shangjun) – 6.2
  • Good Bye (Mohammad Rasoulof) – 6.2
  • Amy George (Yonah Lewis & Calvin Thomas) – 6.2
  • This Must Be the Place (Paolo Sorrentino) – 6.1
  • Keyhole (Guy Maddin) – 6.1
  • Abendland (Nikolaus Geyrhalter) – 6.1
  • Green (Sophia Takal) – 6.1
  • Terri (Azazel Jacobs) – 6.1
  • Twenty Cigarettes (James Benning) – 6.1
  • Paranormal Activity 3 (Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman) – 6.0
  • Killer Joe (William Friedkin) – 6.0
  • Bernie (Richard Linklater) – 6.0
  • The Cat Vanishes (Carlos Sorin) – 6.0
  • Hard Labor (Juliana Rojas & Marco Dutra) – 6.0
  • Bobby Fischer Against the World (Liz Garbus) – 6.0
  • The Color Wheel (Alex Ross Perry) – 5.9
  • A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg) – 5.9
  • Weekend (Andrew Haigh) – 5.9
  • Project Nim (James Marsh) – 5.9
  • The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodóvar) – 5.9
  • Alms for a Blind Horse (Gurvinder Singh) – 5.9
  • Mark Lewis: Nowhere Land (Reinhard Wulf) – 5.9
  • My Little Princess (Eva Ionesco) – 5.9
  • Heat Wave (Jean-Jacques Jauffret) – ~5.9
  • Haywire (Steven Soderbergh) – 5.8
  • Back to Stay (Milagros Mumenthaler) – 5.8
  • Mushrooms (Vimukthi Jayasundara) – 5.8
  • Pariah (Dee Rees) – 5.8
  • Land of Oblivion (Michale Boganim) – 5.8
  • Kumaré (Vikram Gandhi) – 5.8
  • Hell and Back Again (Danfung Dennis) – 5.8
  • Dreileben: Beats Being Dead (Christian Petzold) – 5.7
  • The Silence of Pelešjan (Pietro Marcello) – 5.7
  • Wetlands (Guy Édoin) – 5.7
  • Tomboy (Céline Sciamma) – 5.7
  • Life Without Principle (Johnnie To) – 5.7
  • Cut (Amir Naderi) – 5.7
  • Pina (Wim Wenders) – 5.7
  • The Island (Kamen Kalev) – 5.7
  • Dreileben: One Minute of Darkness (Christoph Hochhäusler) – 5.6
  • The River Used to Be a Man (Jan Zabeil) – 5.6
  • The Ides of March (George Clooney) – 5.6
  • Snowtown (Justin Kurzel) – 5.6
  • Found Memories (Julia Murat) – 5.6
  • Scream 4 (Wes Craven) – 5.6
  • Hot Coffee (Susan Saladoff) – 5.6
  • The Bengali Detective (Philip Cox) – 5.6
  • Sleeping Beauty (Julia Leigh) – 5.5
  • Contagion (Steven Soderbergh) – 5.5
  • Goon (Michael Dowse) – 5.5
  • Jiro Dreams of Sushi (David Gelb) – 5.5
  • Harvest (Benjamin Cantu) – 5.5
  • Beauty Day (Jay Cheel) – 5.5
  • Poliss (Maïwenn) – 5.4
  • Attack the Block (Joe Cornish) – 5.4
  • Girl Walk // All Day (Jacob Krupnick) – 5.4
  • Nana (Valérie Massadian) – 5.4
  • Old Dog (Pema Tseden) – 5.4
  • Bridesmaids (Paul Feig) – 5.4
  • The Strawberry Tree (Simone Rapisarda Casanova) – 5.3
  • Familiar Ground (Stéphane Lafleur) – 5.3
  • We Have a Pope (Nanni Moretti) – 5.3
  • Young Adult (Jason Reitman) – 5.3
  • The Forgiveness of Blood (Joshua Marston) – 5.3
  • Dragonslayer (Tristan Patterson) – 5.3
  • Miss Bala (Gerardo Naranjo) – 5.2
  • There Is No Sexual Rapport (Raphaël Siboni) – 5.2
  • Lena (Christophe Van Rompaey) – 5.2
  • Super 8 (J.J. Abrams) – 5.2
  • Sauna On Moon (Zou Peng) – 5.2
  • Two Years at Sea (Ben Rivers) – 5.1
  • Winnie the Pooh (Stephen J. Anderson & Don Hall) – 5.1
  • Jane Eyre (Cary Fukunaga) – 5.1
  • Corpo Celeste (Alice Rohrwacher) – 5.1
  • Dreileben: Don’t Follow Me (Dominik Graf) – 5.1
  • The Interrupters (Steve James) – 5.1
  • Blood of My Blood [Extended Cut] (João Canijo) – 5.1
  • The Observers (Jacqueline Goss) – 5.1
  • Faust (Alexander Sokurov) – 5.0
  • Le Havre (Aki Kaurismäki) – 5.0
  • The Mill and the Cross (Lech Majewski) – 5.0
  • Target (Alexander Zeldovich) – 5.0
  • Memories of a Morning (José Luis Guerín) – 5.0
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (David Yates) – 5.0
  • Nuit #1 (Anne Émond) – 5.0
  • Michael (Markus Schleinzer) – 5.0
  • Café de Flore (Jean-Marc Vallée) – 5.0
  • Brian May’s Brief History of 3D (Julian Kemp) – 5.0
  • Monsieur Lazhar (Philippe Falardeau) – 5.0
  • The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher) – 4.9
  • The Minister (Pierre Schöller) – 4.9
  • Declaration of War (Valérie Donzelli) – 4.9
  • Breathing (Karl Markovics) – 4.9
  • Your Sister’s Sister (Lynn Shelton) – 4.9
  • Sleepless Night (Frédéric Jardin) – 4.9
  • Don’t Expect Too Much (Susan Ray) – 4.9
  • Fightville (Petra Epperlein & Michael Tucker) – 4.9
  • Fable of the Fish (Adolfo Borinaga Alix Jr.) – 4.9
  • The Innkeepers (Ti West) – 4.8
  • Tatsumi (Eric Khoo) – 4.8
  • Take This Waltz (Sarah Polley) – 4.8
  • Kill List (Ben Wheatley) – 4.8
  • Iris in Bloom (Valérie Mréjen & Bertrand Schefer) – 4.8
  • Upending (OpenEndedGroup) – 4.8
  • Restless (Gus Van Sant) – 4.8
  • Oslo, August 31st (Joachim Trier) – 4.7
  • Sleeping Sickness (Ulrich Köhler) – 4.7
  • The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye (Marie Losier) – 4.7
  • Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredson) – 4.7
  • In the Family (Patrick Wang) – 4.7
  • Beauty (Oliver Hermanus) – 4.7
  • Buck (Cindy Meehl) – 4.7
  • Samsara (Ron Fricke) – 4.6
  • Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (Brad Bird) – 4.6
  • Planet of Snail (Seung-jun Yi) – 4.6
  • Papirosen (Gastón Solnicki) – 4.6
  • Twixt (Francis Ford Coppola) – 4.6
  • Unforgivable (André Téchiné) – 4.6
  • Generation P (Victor Ginzburg) – 4.6
  • We Were Here (David Weissman & Bill Weber) – 4.6
  • ¡Vivan las Antipodas! (Victor Kossakovsky) – 4.5
  • Shame (Steve McQueen) – 4.5
  • The Grey (Joe Carnahan) – 4.5
  • Hobo with a Shotgun (Jason Eisener) – 4.5
  • Guilty of Romance (Sion Sono) – 4.5
  • Headhunters (Morten Tyldum) – 4.5
  • Rango (Gore Verbinski) – 4.5
  • Lung Neaw Visits His Neighbours (Rirkrit Tiravanija) – 4.4
  • Carré blanc (Jean-Baptiste Leonetti) – 4.4
  • Five Broken Cameras (Emad Burnat & Guy Davidi) – 4.4
  • The Slut (Hagar Ben Asher) – 4.4
  • POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (Morgan Spurlock) – 4.4
  • The Cardboard Village (Ermanno Olmi) – 4.3
  • The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius) – 4.3
  • The Fairy (Fiona Gordon, Dominique Abel, & Bruno Romy) – 4.3
  • All Divided Selves (Luke Fowler) – 4.2
  • Fatherland (Nicolás Prividera) – 4.2
  • The Giants (Bouli Lanners) – 4.2
  • Bonsái (Cristián Jiménez) – 4.2
  • 388 Arletta Ave. (Randall Cole) – 4.1
  • Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop (Rodman Flender) – 4.1
  • The Descendants (Alexander Payne) – 4.1
  • Twilight Portrait (Angelina Nikonova) – 4.0
  • Dark Horse (Todd Solondz) – 4.0
  • It May Be That Beauty Has Strengthened Our Resolve: Masao Adachi (Philippe Grandrieux) – 4.0
  • Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen) – 4.0
  • Carnage (Roman Polanski) – 4.0
  • Beloved (Christophe Honoré) – 4.0
  • Empire of Evil (George Kuchar) – 4.0
  • Crazy, Stupid, Love. (Glenn Ficarra & John Requa) – 3.9
  • The Other Side of Sleep (Rebecca Daly) – 3.9
  • The Ambassador (Mads Brügger) – 3.9
  • Volcano (Rúnar Rúnarsson) – 3.8
  • Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Rupert Wyatt) – 3.8
  • Young Pines (Ute Aurand) – 3.8
  • Starbuck (Ken Scott) – 3.8
  • We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay) – 3.7
  • Think of Me (Bryan Wizemann) – 3.7
  • Chicken with Plums (Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud) – 3.6
  • Las Acacias (Pablo Giorgelli) – 3.5
  • Code Blue (Urszula Antoniak) – 3.5
  • Like Crazy (Drake Doremus) – 3.5
  • The Student (Santiago Mitre) – 3.4
  • From Up on Poppy Hill (Goro Miyazaki) – 3.4
  • The Silence of Joan (Philippe Ramos) – 3.4
  • Thomas Ruff (Ralph Goertz) – 3.2
  • To the Devil (Claire Denis) – 3.2
  • Magic Trip (Alex Gibney & Alison Ellwood) – 3.1
  • Wuthering Heights (Andrea Arnold) – 3.0
  • Dust. A Sculptor’s Journey (Jeanne Pope) – 2.8
  • On the Plank (Leïla Kilani) – 2.7
  • Footnote (Joseph Cedar) – 2.7
  • Love and Bruises (Lou Ye) – 2.6
  • The National Parks Project (omnibus) – 2.5
  • The Law in These Parts (Ra’anan Alexandrowicz) – 2.3
  • Pater (Alain Cavalier) – 2.1
  • The Hunter (Bakur Bakuradze) – 1.9
  • The Source (Radu Miheileanu) – 1.8
  • Doppelgänger Paul (Kris Elgstrand & Dylan Akio Smith) – 1.6
  • Arirang (Kim Ki-duk) – 1.5