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 (27 Apr 09
to 10 Jun 09):
2008 - A WEEK ALONE moved up on ten-best list; FOUR NIGHTS WITH ANNA added
to ten-best list
2005 - THE CHILD moved up on ten-best list
2004 - LE GRAND VOYAGE added to runners-up
1997 - BROTHER changes colors; PRONTO added to runners-up
1994 - UNCOVERED added to ten-best list
1987 - FALSCH added to runners-up
1982 - LEÇONS D'UNE UNIVERSITÉ VOLANTE: LEÇON
4 added to runners-up
1970 - DAYS AND NIGHTS IN THE FOREST dropped from
runners-up
1965 - RED LINE 7000 dropped from runners-up
1946 - CLUNY BROWN moved up on ten-best list
Click for a
history
of changes.
2009
THE EXPLODING
GIRL (Bradley Rust Gray, USA)
ALEXANDER THE LAST (Joe Swanberg, USA)
PARADISE (Michael Almereyda, USA)
BARKING WATER (Sterlin Harjo, USA)
2008
1. NIGHT AND DAY (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea)
2. BALLAST (Lance Hammer, USA)
3. A WEEK ALONE (Celina Murga, Argentina)
4. STELLA (Sylvia Verheyde, France)
5. NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS (Joe Swanberg and Greta Gerwig,
USA)
6. MID-AUGUST LUNCH (Gianni Di Gregorio, Italy)
7. BOOGIE
(Radu Muntean, Romania)
8. FOUR NIGHTS WITH ANNA (Jerzy Skolimowski, Poland)
9. GOMORRA (Matteo Garrone, Italy)
10. JE VEUX VOIR (Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige,
Lebanon)
11. THE WACKNESS (Jonathan Levine, USA)
12. MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY
(Barry Jenkins, USA)
13. LIVERPOOL (Lisandro Alonso, Argentina)
14. LEATHERHEADS (George Clooney, USA)
15. ENTRE LES MURS (Laurent Cantet, France)
16. I'M GONNA EXPLODE (Gerardo Naranjo, Mexico)
17. TWO LOVERS (James Gray, USA)
18. THE NEW YORKIST (Dana O'Keefe, USA)
19. ANICETO (Leonardo Favio, Argentina)
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. HOTEL CHEVALIER (Wes Anderson, USA)
29. FOUR SHEETS TO THE WIND (Sterlin
Harjo, USA)
30. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
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. 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)