Dan Sallitt's Favorite Films, by
International
Release Date
If you want to be notified when new films appear
here, send email
to sallitt at post dot harvard
edu.
I made these
lists at the request
of Theo
Panayides
for a project
of his. The authority
for year of release
is the Internet Movie
Database, which seems to
go by the film's first public
screening. Color
coding is used to give an
idea of how much I like each film, and
allows comparison between
films in different years. Unranked,
uncolored films
at the end of some years are
simply a reminder to myself of areas
to explore, and do not belong
on the lists.
Recent changes
(11 Apr 08 to 19 May 08):
2007 - DARLING added to ten-best list; CHARLY
added to runners-up
2006 - THE PAPER WILL BE BLUE added to ten-best list
2001 - STUFF AND DOUGH added to runners-up
1999 - BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS moved down among runners-up
1985 - ADELA added to runners-up
1980 - SNAPSHOT AROUND THE FAMILY TABLE added to runners-up
1965 - PIERROT LE FOU moved from runners-up to ten-best list
1962 - THE MAD FOX dropped from runners-up
1960 - MURDER IN YOSHIWARA moved down among runners-up
1959 - CHIKAMATSU'S LOVE IN OSAKA added to runners-up; LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES
moved from ten-best list to runners-up
1958 - UNE SIMPLE HISTOIRE added to runners-up
1955 - A HOLE OF MY OWN MAKING added to ten-best list
1933 - POLICEMAN added to ten-best list
Click for a history of changes.
2008
BALLAST (Lance Hammer, USA)
LEATHERHEADS (George Clooney, USA)
2007
1. MICHAEL
CLAYTON (Tony Gilroy, USA)
2. THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS (Bruce McDonald, Canada)
3. UNE
VIEILLE MAÎTRESSE (Catherine Breillat, France)
4. CRASHING (Gary Walkow, USA)
5. TOUT EST PARDONNE (Mia Hansen-Løve, France)
6. DARLING (Johan Kling, Sweden)
7. HAPPINESS (Hur Jin-ho, South Korea)
8. AVANT QUE J'OUBLIE
(Jacques Nolot, France)
9. THE DARJEELING LIMITED (Wes Anderson, USA)
10. WOLFSBERGEN
(Nanouk Leopold, Netherlands)
11. THE BANISHMENT (Andrei
Zyvagintsev, Russia)
12. LA SOLEDAD (SOLITARY FRAGMENTS)
(Jaime Rosales, Spain)
13. MUTUM (Sandra Kogut, Brazil)
14. CHARLY (Isild Le Besco, France)
15. CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR (Mike
Nichols, USA)
16. MADONNAS (Maria Speth,
Germany)
17. SILENT LIGHT
(Carlos Reygadas, Mexico)
18. HANNAH TAKES
THE STAIRS (Joe Swanberg, USA)
19. CORROBOREE (Ben Hackworth, Australia)
20. DEATH PROOF (Quentin Tarantino,
USA)
21. POOR BOY'S GAME (Clement Virgo, Canada)
22. BEAUFORT (Joseph Cedar, Israel)
23. IN THE CITY OF SYLVIA (José Luis Guerín,
Spain)
24. FOUR SHEETS TO
THE WIND (Sterlin Harjo, USA)
25. WE OWN THE NIGHT (James
Gray, USA)
2006
1. BLED NUMBER ONE (Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche,
Algeria/France)
2.
STILL LIFE (Jia Zhang-Ke, China)
3. RAIN DOGS (Ho Yuhang, Malaysia)
4. LADY CHATTERLEY (Pascale
Ferran, France/Belgium)
5. WOMAN
ON THE BEACH (Hong Sang-Soo, South Korea)
6. THE PAPER WILL BE BLUE
(Radu Muntean, Romania)
7. VANAJA (Rajnesh Domalpalli, India/USA)
8. SLUMMING (Michael
Glawogger, Austria)
9. FLANDRES (Bruno Dumont,
France)
10. EL CUSTODIO (Rodrigo Moreno, Argentina)
11. CHILDREN OF MEN (Alfonso Cuaron,
UK/USA)
12. FAMILY TIES (Kim
Tae-Yong, South Korea)
13. STEPHANIE DALEY (Hilary
Brougher, USA)
14. YOU CALLED ME (Sky Hirschkron, USA)
15.
FIREWORKS WEDNESDAY (Asghar Farhadi, Iran)
16. AS THE SHADOW (Marina
Spada, Italy)
17. DAY NIGHT DAY NIGHT
(Julia Loktev, USA)
18. SUMMER '04 (Stefan Krohmer, Germany)
19. QUINCEANERA (Wash Westmoreland
and Richard Glatzer, USA)
20. TRACES OF LOVE (Kim
Dae-Seung, South Korea)
21. DON'T
WORRY, I'M FINE (Philippe Lioret, France)
22. FLANNEL PAJAMAS (Jeff Lipsky,
USA)
23. LE DERNIER DES FOUS (Laurent
Achard, France)
24. OPERA JAWA (Garin Negroho, Indonesia)
25. DRAMA/MEX (Gerardo
Naranjo, Mexico)
26. SUELY IN THE SKY
(Karim Ainouz, Brazil)
27. ONE IN A MILLION (Nadine Khan,
Egypt)
28.
BUG (William Friedkin, USA)
29. HAMACA PARAGUAYA
(Paz Encina, Paraguay)
30. OFFSIDE (Jafar Panahi, Iran)
2005
1. THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU
(Cristi Puiu, Romania)
2. THE FORSAKEN
LAND (Vimukthi Jayasundara,
Sri Lanka/France)
3. SANGRE (Amat Escalante, Mexico)
4. THE WAYWARD CLOUD (Tsai Ming-Liang,
Taiwan)
5. GRAIN IN EAR (Zhang Lu, China/South Korea)
6. FORTY SHADES
OF BLUE (Ira Sachs, USA)
7. C.R.A.Z.Y.
(Jean-Marc Vallee, Canada)
8. JOHANNA (Kornel Mundruczo,
Hungary)
9. THE CHILD (Dardennes
Bros., Belgium/France)
10. A TALE
OF CINEMA (Hong Sang-Soo, South Korea)
11.
CINEMA, ASPIRIN AND VULTURES
(Marcelo Gomes, Brazil)
12. BRICK (Rian Johnson, USA)
13. IT'S
ONLY TALK (Ryuichi Hiroki, Japan)
14. SA-KWA (Yi-kwan Kang, South Korea)
15. YOU BET YOUR LIFE (Antonin
Svoboda, Austria)
16. TURKEY GIRL (Cristian Mungiu,
Romania)
17. POLICE BEAT (Robinson
Devor, USA)
18. BACKSTAGE (Emmanuelle Bercot,
France)
19. FRATRICIDE (Yilmaz
Arslan, Germany)
20. TIME OFF
(PARENTHESIS) (Francisca Schweitzer
and Pablo Solis, Chile)
21. A TRAVERS LA FORET (Jean-Paul
Civeyrac, France)
22. CAPOTE (Bennett Miller,
USA)
23. LES MATINES (Annick
Raoul, France)
24. GRIZZLY MAN (Werner Herzog, USA)
25. WHOLE NEW THING (Amnon
Buchbinder, Canada)
26. GUERNSEY
(Nanouk Leopold, Belgium/Netherlands)
27. WHAT IVA RECORDED ON OCTOBER 21st, 2003
(Tomislav Radic, Croatia)
28. WASSUP ROCKERS (Larry Clark,
USA)
29.
LA NEUVAINE (Bernard Emond, Canada)
JUNEBUG
(Phil Morrison, USA)
OLIVER
TWIST (Roman Polanski, UK)
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD
LUCK (George Clooney, USA)
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
(Joe Wright, UK)
2004
1. VERA DRAKE (Mike Leigh, UK)
2.
PRIMER (Shane Carruth, USA)
3, TRIPLE AGENT
(Eric Rohmer, France)
4. THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS
(Lech Majewski, UK/Italy/Poland)
5. OR
(MON TRESOR) (Keren Yedaya, Israel)
6. THE WORLD (Jia Zhang Ke, China)
7. HEAD-ON (Fatih
Akin, Germany/Turkey)
8. THE
TUNER (Kira Muratova,
Russia)
9. PALINDROMES (Todd
Solondz, USA)
10. WOMAN IS THE FUTURE
OF MAN (Hong Sang-Soo,
South Korea)
11. WAITING
(Sky Hirschkron, USA)
12. TONY TAKITANI
(Jun Ichikawa,
Japan)
13. KEANE (Lodge Kerrigan,
USA)
14. ENLIGHTENMENT
(Tanon Sattarujawong,
USA/Thailand)
15. SIDEWAYS (Alexander
Payne, USA)
16. BEAR
CUB (Luis Miguel Albaladejo,
Spain)
17. BEFORE SUNSET
(Richard Linklater, USA)
18. THE
LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE
ZISSOU (Wes Anderson, USA)
19. THE NIGHT OF TRUTH
(Fanta Regina Nacro, Burkina
Faso/France)
20. HEAD IN
THE CLOUDS (John Duigan,
USA/UK/Spain/Canada)
21. A HOLE IN ONE (Richard
Ledes, USA)
22. KINGS AND QUEEN
(Arnaud Desplechin, France)
2003
1. RAJA (Jacques Doillon,
France/Morocco)
2. LA FACE CACHEE
DE LA LUNE (Robert
Lepage, Canada)
3. ANA
AND THE OTHERS (Celina
Murga, Argentina)
4. VIBRATOR
(Ryuichi Hiroki, Japan)
5. ZERO DAY (Ben
Coccio, USA)
6.
TOUTES CES BELLES PROMESSES
(Jean-Paul
Civeyrac, France)
7. SHARA (Naomi
Kawase, Japan)
8. JESUS, YOU KNOW
(Ulrich Seidl, Austria)
9. CRIMSON GOLD (Jafar
Panahi, Iran)
10. NO
REST FOR THE BRAVE (Alain
Guiraudie, France)
11. THE RETURN (Andrei
Zvyagintsev, Russia)
12. QUI A TUE BAMBI?
(Gilles Marchand,
France)
13. THE LAST
TRAIN (Alexei German
Jr., Russia)
14. THE
HOURS
OF THE DAY (Jaime Rosales,
Spain)
15. STORMY WEATHER (Solveig
Anspach, Belgium/France/Iceland)
16. CHOKHER
BALI: A PASSION PLAY
(Rituparno Ghosh,
India)
17. DOWN WITH
LOVE (Peyton Reed, USA)
18. STRUGGLE
(Ruth Mader, Austria)
19. PAS
SUR LA BOUCHE (Alain Resnais,
France)
20. THE HUNTED
(William Friedkin,
USA)
21. AT FIVE IN THE AFTERNOON
(Samira Makhmalbaf,
Iran)
22. MEMORIES
OF MURDER
(Bong Joon-Ho, South Korea)
23.
THE COMPANY (Robert
Altman, USA)
24.
20h17 RUE DARLING
(Bernard Emond, Canada)
25. THE MAGIC
GLOVES (Martin Rejtman,
Argentina)
26. TWENTYNINE
PALMS (Bruno Dumont,
France)
27.
LES TRIPLETTES DE BELLEVILLE
(Sylvain Chomet,
France/Belgium/Canada/UK)
28.
GUEST ROOM (Skander Halim,
Canada)
29.
SOLDIER'S GIRL (Frank
Pierson, USA)
2002
1.
THE SON (Dardenne Bros.,
Belgium)
2. FAR
FROM HEAVEN (Todd Haynes,
USA)
3. JAPON (Carlos
Reygadas,
Mexico)
4. KEN PARK
(Larry Clark and Ed Lachman,
USA)
5. TEN (Abbas
Kiarostami, Iran)
6. JEALOUSY
IS MY MIDDLE NAME
(Park Chan-Ok, South
Korea)
7. TURNING
GATE (Hong Sang-Soo,
South Korea)
8.
THE EMBALMER (Matteo
Garrone, Italy)
9. RUSSIAN
ARK (Alexander
Sokorov, Russia)
10.
17 TIMES CECILE CASSARD
(Christophe Honore,
France)
11.
HUKKLE (Gyorgi Palfi,
Hungary)
12. OASIS (Lee Chang-Dong,
South Korea)
13. ABOUT SCHMIDT
(Alexander Payne,
USA)
14. FIVE YEARS
(Brett Wagner, USA)
15. SLAVES
OF THE LORD (Hadar
Friedlich, Israel)
16.
ALL OR NOTHING (Mike
Leigh, UK)
17. TALK TO HER
(Pedro Almodovar,
Spain)
18. PAPER ROUTE
(Robert Frank, Canada/Switzerland)
19. TERRA INCOGNITA (Ghassan Salhab, Lebanon/France)
20. L'AUBERGE ESPAGNOLE
(Cedric Klapisch,
France/Spain)
21.
DES PLUMES DANS LA TETE
(Thomas de Thier, Belgium/France)
22.
FACING THE
TRUTH (Nils Malmros, Denmark)
23.
IGBY GOES DOWN
(Burr Steers, USA)
24. C'EST LE BOUQUET
(Jeanne Labrune,
France)
25. ONE-HOUR PHOTO
(Mark Romanek, USA)
26. ANGEL ON
THE RIGHT (Jamshed
Usmonov, Tajikistan)
27. ZHOU
YU'S TRAIN
(Sun Zhou, China)
28. DOWN THE LABRADOR
(Brian Sullivan,
USA)
29. TEENAGE
CAVEMAN (Larry Clark,
USA)
2001
1. FAT
GIRL (Catherine Breillat,
France)
2. LATE MARRIAGE
(Dover Kosashvili,
Israel/France)
3. WAKING LIFE
(Richard Linklater,
USA)
4. BULLY (Larry
Clark, USA)
5. ROBERTO SUCCO
(Cedric Kahn,
France)
6. BE MY STAR (Valeska
Grisebach,
Germany)
7. PARIS: XY (Zeka
Laplaine, France)
8. THE BELIEVER
(Henry Bean, USA)
9. THE ROYAL
TENENBAUMS (Wes
Anderson, USA)
10. THE FLUFFER
(Richard Glatzer
and Wash West, USA)
11. DOG DAYS
(Ulrich Seidl,
Austria)
12. HARMFUL
INSECT (Akihiko
Shiota, Japan)
13. THE DAYS
BETWEEN (Maria
Speth, Germany)
14. BREVE
TRAVERSEE (Catherine
Breillat, France)
15.
NO SUCH THING (Hal
Hartley, Iceland/USA)
16. CE VIEUX
REVE QUI BOUGE
(Alain Guiraudie,
France)
17. MILLENNIUM
MAMBO (Hou Hsiao-Hsien,
Taiwan)
18. HUSH! (Ryosuke
Hashiguchi,
Japan)
19. GOSFORD
PARK (Robert Altman,
USA)
20. MANIC (Jordan
Melamed, USA)
21. MARGARITA
HAPPY HOUR (Ilya Chaiken,
USA)
22. DONNIE
DARKO (Richard Kelly, USA)
23.
Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN
(Alfonso Cuaron,
Mexico)
24. STUFF AND DOUGH (Cristi Puiu, Romania)
25. WESH WESH, QU'EST-CE QUI SE PASSE? (Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche, France)
26.
COMMENT J'AI TUE
MON PERE (Anne Fontaine,
France)
27. LA FEMME
QUI BOIT (Bernard
Emond, Canada)
28. RESURRECTION
(Taviani Bros.,
Italy)
29. SECRET
BALLOT (Babek Payami,
Iran)
THE SEAGULL'S LAUGHTER
(Agust Gudmundsson,
Iceland)
2000
1. ESTHER
KAHN (Arnaud Desplechin,
France)
2. THE HOUSE
OF MIRTH (Terence
Davies, UK/USA)
3. CHOPPER (Andrew
Dominic, Australia)
4. CATASTROPHE
(David Mamet,
Ireland)
5. THE VIRGIN
STRIPPED BARE BY
HER BACHELORS (Hong
Sang-Soo, South
Korea)
6. BEAT (Gary
Walkow, USA)
7. PLATFORM (Jia
Zhang Ke, China)
8. DU POIL SOUS
LES ROSES (Jean-Julien
Chervier and
Agnès Obadia,
France)
9. AMERICAN PSYCHO
(Mary Harron,
USA)
10. PEPPERMINT
CANDY (Lee Chang-Dong,
South Korea)
11. UNE VRAIE
JEUNE FILLE (shot
in 1976) (Catherine
Breillat, France)
12. SCARLET DIVA
(Asia Argento, Italy)
13. THE GOLDEN
BOWL (James Ivory,
UK)
14. ivansxtc.
(Bernard Rose, USA)
15. ALMOST FAMOUS
(Cameron Crowe,
USA)
16. HAMLET (Michael
Almereyda,
USA)
17. SLIDING OFF THE EDGE OF THE WORLD (Mark
Street, USA)
18. ESTATE
ROMANA (Matteo Garrone,
Italy)
19. LA CAPTIVE
(Chantal Akerman,
France)
20. WITH A FRIEND
LIKE HARRY (Dominic
Moll, France)
21. WAYDOWNTOWN
(Gary Burns, Canada)
22. CAST AWAY
(Robert Zemeckis,
USA)
23. RULES OF
ENGAGEMENT (William
Friedkin, USA)
24. CAMERA (David
Cronenberg, Canada)
25. KAZA-HANA (Shinji Somai, Japan)
26. DJOMEH (Hassan
Yektapanah,
Iran)
27. YI YI (Edward
Yang, Taiwan)
28. UNDER THE
SKIN OF THE CITY
(Rakhshan Bani Eternad,
Iran)
29. EUREKA (Shinji
Aoyama, Japan)