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 (3 Apr 10 to 24 Jul 10):
2009 - BARBE BLEUE moved down
on ten-best list; SHE, A CHINESE moved up on ten-best list; ANTON
CHEKHOV'S THE DUEL and THE TENANTS added to runners-up
2008 - ITINÉRAIRE
DE
JEAN
BRICARD
added
to
runners-up
2000 - LA CAPTIVE moved up among runners-up
1998 - WAIT AND SEE added to ten-best list
1997 - SAME OLD SONG moved up on ten-best list
1987 - HOUSEKEEPING
changes colors
1972 - MAYA DARPAN added to runners-up; WE WON'T GROW OLD TOGETHER
moved up on ten-best list
1968 - THE CHRONICLE OF ANNA MAGDALENA BACH added to runners-up; THE
PARTY moved from ten-best list to runners-up; KAKU AND
TSUNE/A TALE OF TWO YAKUZA no longer double-listed
1967 - TWO WIVES added to runners-up
1963 - LANDRU added to runners-up
1956 - NIGHTFALL moved down on ten-best list
1954 - VOYAGE IN ITALY moved down on ten-best list; THE SILENT RAIDERS
added to runners-up
1953 - THE NAKED SPUR moved from ten-best list to runners-up
1951 - DANCING GIRL added to ten-best list
1949 - ONLY A MOTHER moved up on ten-best list
1948 - PAGES OF LIFE added to ten-best list
1947 - SPRING'S AWAKENING added to ten-best list; T-MEN dropped from
runners-up
1945 - TWO PEOPLE added to runners-up
1943 - THIS LAND IS MINE dropped from ten-best list; MEN OF NOVGOROD
added to ten-best list
1941 - HIDEKO THE BUS CONDUCTOR added to ten-best list
1939 - EARTH added to ten-best list
1937 - GRAND ILLUSION moved down among runners-up
1936 - BURGTHEATER added to ten-best list; A DAY IN THE COUNTRY moved
from runners-up to ten-best list
1935 - THE GIRL FROM THE MARSH CROFT and APRIL, APRIL! added to
runners-up
1934 - MASKERADE moved up on ten-best list
1932 - LA NUIT DE CARREFOUR added to runners-up; BOUDU SAVED FROM
DROWNING moved down among runners-up
1923 - THE NORRTULL GANG added to ten-best list
1912 - CUSTER'S LAST FIGHT added to three-best list
Click for a history of changes.
2010
AUDREY THE TRAINWRECK (Frank V.
Ross, USA)
2009
1. LE
PÈRE DE MES ENFANTS (Mia Hansen-Løve, France)
2. THE
EXPLODING GIRL (Bradley Rust Gray, USA)
3. BARBE BLEUE
(Catherine Breillat, France)
4. FACE
(Tsai Ming-Liang, France/Taiwan)
5. LA DONATION (Bernard
Émond, Canada)
6. THE KING OF ESCAPE (Alain
Guiraudie, France)
7. SHE, A
CHINESE (Guo Xiaolu, UK/France/Germany)
8. BETWEEN
TWO WORLDS (Vimukthi Jayasundara, Sri Lanka)
9. MY
DAUGHTER (Charlotte Lay Kuen Lim, Malaysia)
10. BROKEN
EMBRACES (Pedro Almodovar, Spain)
11. ALEXANDER THE LAST (Joe Swanberg, USA)
12. LIFE DURING WARTIME (Todd
Solondz, USA)
13. HUACHO (Alejandro Fernández Almendras, Chile)
14. ANTON CHEKHOV'S THE DUEL (Dover Kosashvili,USA)
15. THE TENANTS (Sergio Bianchi, Brazil)
16. THE SEARCH (Pema Tseden, China)
17.
PARADISE (Michael Almereyda, USA)
18. BARKING WATER
(Sterlin Harjo, USA)
19. LES DERNIERS JOURS DU MONDE
(Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, France/Spain)
20. RESTLESS (Laurent Perreau, France)
21. CRACKIE (Sherry White, Canada)
22. BEESWAX (Andrew Bujalski, USA)
23. LA PIVELLINA (Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel, Italy/Austria)
24. AT THE END OF DAYBREAK (Ho
Yuhang, Malaysia)
25. BENA (Niv Klainer, Israel)
26. LONDON RIVER (Rachid Bouchareb, UK/France/Algeria)
THE CITY OF YOUR FINAL DESTINATION
(James Ivory, USA)
2008
1. NIGHT AND DAY (Hong
Sang-soo, South Korea)
2. STELLA (Sylvia
Verheyde,
France)
3. SITA
SINGS THE BLUES (Nina Paley, USA)
4. BALLAST
(Lance Hammer, USA)
5. A WEEK
ALONE (Celina Murga, Argentina)
6. ALL AROUND US (Ryosuke Hashiguchi, Japan)
7. NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS (Joe
Swanberg and Greta Gerwig, USA)
8. MID-AUGUST LUNCH (Gianni Di Gregorio, Italy)
9. MORPHIA (Alexei Balabanov, Russia)
10. BOOGIE (Radu Muntean, Romania)
11. FOUR NIGHTS WITH ANNA (Jerzy Skolimowski, Poland)
12. GOMORRA (Matteo Garrone, Italy)
13. ME AND ORSON WELLES (Richard Linklater, USA/UK)
14. JE VEUX VOIR (Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Lebanon)
15. THE WACKNESS (Jonathan Levine, USA)
16. DE OFRIVILLIGA (INVOLUNTARY) (Ruben Östlund, Sweden)
17.
CHELSEA ON THE ROCKS (Abel Ferrara, USA)
18. 40
DAYS (Juan Carlos Martín, Mexico)
19. MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY
(Barry Jenkins, USA)
20. BUY A SUIT (Jun Ichikawa, Japan)
21. LIVERPOOL (Lisandro Alonso,
Argentina)
22. LORNA'S SILENCE (Dardenne Bros., Belgium)
23. AMOROSA SOLEDAD (Martin Carranza and Victoria Galardi, Argentina)
24. LEATHERHEADS (George
Clooney, USA)
25. ENTRE LES
MURS (Laurent Cantet, France)
26. I'M GONNA EXPLODE (Gerardo Naranjo, Mexico)
27. TWO LOVERS (James Gray, USA)
28. ITINÉRAIRE DE JEAN BRICARD (Jean-Marie Straub and
Danièle Huillet, France)
29. THE NEW YORKIST (Dana
O'Keefe, USA)
30. ANICETO (Leonardo Favio, Argentina)
31. THE VANISHED EMPIRE (Karen Shakhnazarov, Russia)
2007
1. MICHAEL CLAYTON
(Tony Gilroy, USA)
2. THE
TRACEY FRAGMENTS (Bruce McDonald, Canada)
3. THE
SOPRANOS: "MADE IN AMERICA" (David Chase, USA)
4. SILENT LIGHT (Carlos Reygadas, Mexico)
5. UNE VIEILLE MAÎTRESSE (Catherine
Breillat, France)
6. CRASHING (Gary Walkow, USA)
7. TOUT EST PARDONNE (Mia Hansen-Løve, France)
8. DARLING (Johan Kling, Sweden)
9. HAPPINESS (Hur Jin-ho, South Korea)
10. AVANT QUE J'OUBLIE (Jacques Nolot, France)
11. THE DARJEELING LIMITED (Wes Anderson, USA)
12. WOLFSBERGEN (Nanouk Leopold,
Netherlands)
13. THE
BANISHMENT (Andrei Zyvagintsev, Russia)
14. MUTUM (Sandra Kogut, Brazil)
15. DESERT DREAM (Zhang Lu, China/South
Korea)
16. LA SOLEDAD (SOLITARY FRAGMENTS) (Jaime Rosales, Spain)
17. CHARLY (Isild Le Besco, France)
18. CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR (Mike Nichols,
USA)
19.
MADONNAS (Maria Speth, Germany)
20. HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS (Joe Swanberg, USA)
21.
CORROBOREE (Ben Hackworth, Australia)
22. SHADOWS FORMLESS (Ashish Avikunthak, India)
23. COCHOCHI (Israel Cárdenas and Laura Amelia Guzmán,
Mexico)
24. DEATH PROOF (Quentin
Tarantino, USA)
25. POOR BOY'S GAME (Clement Virgo, Canada)
26. BEAUFORT (Joseph Cedar, Israel)
27. IN THE CITY OF SYLVIA (José Luis Guerín, Spain)
28. PLAYING (Eduardo Coutinho, Brazil)
29. HOTEL CHEVALIER (Wes Anderson, USA)
30. FOUR SHEETS TO THE WIND (Sterlin Harjo, USA)
31. WE OWN THE NIGHT (James Gray, USA)
TAJNOSTI (LITTLE GIRL BLUE) (Alice Nellis, Czech Republic/Slovakia)
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. TARACHIME (Naomi Kawase, Japan)
18. DAY NIGHT DAY NIGHT (Julia Loktev, USA)
19. SUMMER '04 (Stefan Krohmer, Germany)
20. QUINCEANERA (Wash Westmoreland and
Richard Glatzer, USA)
21. TRACES OF LOVE (Kim Dae-Seung, South
Korea)
22. DON'T WORRY, I'M FINE (Philippe Lioret, France)
23. FLANNEL PAJAMAS (Jeff Lipsky, USA)
24. LE DERNIER DES FOUS (Laurent Achard, France)
25. OPERA JAWA (Garin Negroho, Indonesia)
26. DRAMA/MEX (Gerardo Naranjo, Mexico)
27. SUELY IN THE SKY (Karim Ainouz, Brazil)
28. ONE IN A MILLION (Nadine Khan, Egypt)
29. BUG (William Friedkin, USA)
30. HAMACA PARAGUAYA (Paz Encina, Paraguay)
31. SORRELE (Marco Bellocchio, Italy)
32. OFFSIDE (Jafar Panahi, Iran)
2005
1. THE DEATH OF MR.
LAZARESCU (Cristi Puiu, Romania)
2. THE CHILD (Dardennes Bros.,
Belgium/France)
3. THE FORSAKEN LAND (Vimukthi
Jayasundara, Sri Lanka/France)
4. SANGRE (Amat Escalante, Mexico)
5. THE WAYWARD CLOUD (Tsai Ming-Liang, Taiwan)
6.
GRAIN IN EAR (Zhang Lu, China/South Korea)
7. FORTY SHADES OF BLUE (Ira Sachs, USA)
8. C.R.A.Z.Y. (Jean-Marc Vallee, Canada)
9. JOHANNA (Kornel Mundruczo, Hungary)
10. A TALE OF CINEMA (Hong Sang-soo, South
Korea)
11. BRICK (Rian Johnson, USA)
12. CINEMA, ASPIRIN AND VULTURES
(Marcelo Gomes, Brazil)
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. THE SILENT HOLY STONES (Pema Tseden, China)
28. WHAT IVA RECORDED ON OCTOBER 21st,
2003 (Tomislav Radic, Croatia)
29. WASSUP ROCKERS (Larry
Clark, USA)
30. 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. CAMPFIRE (Joseph Cedar, Israel)
17. LE GRAND VOYAGE (Ismaël Ferroukhi, France/Morocco)
18. BEAR CUB (Luis Miguel Albaladejo, Spain)
19. BEFORE SUNSET (Richard Linklater,
USA)
20. THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU (Wes Anderson, USA)
21. THE NIGHT OF TRUTH (Fanta Regina Nacro, Burkina Faso/France)
22. HEAD IN THE CLOUDS (John Duigan, USA/UK/Spain/Canada)
23. A HOLE IN ONE (Richard Ledes, USA)
24. 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. SALT (Bradley Rust Gray, Iceland/USA)
28. LES TRIPLETTES DE BELLEVILLE (Sylvain Chomet,
France/Belgium/Canada/UK)
29. GUEST ROOM (Skander Halim, Canada)
30. 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. ALL OR NOTHING
(Mike Leigh, UK)
9.
THE
EMBALMER
(Matteo
Garrone,
Italy)
10. RUSSIAN ARK (Alexander Sokorov, Russia)
11. 17 TIMES CECILE CASSARD (Christophe Honore, France)
12. HUKKLE (Gyorgi Palfi, Hungary)
13. OASIS (Lee Chang-Dong,
South Korea)
14. ABOUT SCHMIDT (Alexander Payne, USA)
15. FIVE YEARS (Brett Wagner, USA)
16. SLAVES OF THE LORD (Hadar Friedlich, Israel)
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. PLATFORM (Jia
Zhang Ke, China)
5. CATASTROPHE (David Mamet, Ireland)
6. THE VIRGIN STRIPPED BARE BY HER BACHELORS
(Hong Sang-Soo, South Korea)
7. BEAT (Gary Walkow, USA)
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. LA CAPTIVE
(Chantal Akerman, France)
15.
ivansxtc. (Bernard Rose, USA)
16. ALMOST
FAMOUS (Cameron Crowe, USA)
17. HAMLET (Michael Almereyda, USA)
18. SLIDING OFF THE EDGE OF THE WORLD (Mark Street, USA)
19. ESTATE ROMANA (Matteo Garrone, Italy)
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)