As various critics continue to reveal their top films of the year, I’m trying to post only about the ones worth mentioning — and this latest poll certainly fits that category.
Film Comment is a 63-year-old magazine that is essentially the U.S. equivalent of Cahiers du Cinéma or Sight and Sound. It’s the official publication of Film at Lincoln Center and tends to focus heavily on art-house and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world.
I always look forward to Film Comment’s year-end poll of critics, filmmakers, and curators. This year’s results — voted on by over 125 participants, including critics, curators, and film historians — are quite interesting to sift through. There are a lot of non-mainstream selections, as well as some obvious ones (check #1).
No big surprise: Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” topped the list. There are many titles from Cannes here (seven of the top ten premiered on the Croisette). At least six are in my own top ten. I also noticed that “Sentimental Value,” and “No Other Choice” did not show up here.
Here’s the Top 20:
1) One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
2) The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt)
3) The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendonça Filh)
4) It Was Just An Accident (Jafar Panahi)
5) Caught by the Tides (Jia Zhangke)
6) Afternoons of Solitude (Albert Serra)
7) Misericordia (Alain Guiraudie)
8) Sirat (Oliver Laxe)
9) The Shrouds (David Cronenberg)
10) If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (Mary Bronstein)
11) Sinners (Ryan Coogler)
2) Grand Tour (Miguel Gomes)
13) Peter Hujar’s Day (Ira Sachs)
14) Famiar Touch (Sarah Friedland)
15) By the Stream (Hong Sang-soo)
16) Henry Fonda For President (Alexander Horwath)
17) Blue Moon (Richard Linklater)
18) DIRECT ACTION (Russell/Cailleau)
19) Sound of Falling (Mascha Schilinski)
20) On Becoming Guinea Fowl (Rungano Nyoni)
Past winners of the poll include “All We Imagine As Light,” “May December,” “Crimes of the Future,” “Memoria,” “Parasite,” “Zama,” and “Good Time.”