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. 

This page contains only films of the 2000s.  Follow the links to films of the 1990s, 1980s, 1970s, 1960s, 1950s, 1940s, 1930s, or 1920s and 1910s.

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 (31 May 08 to 10 Aug 08):

2005 - THE CHILD moved up on ten-best list
2004 - CAMPFIRE added to runners-up
2002 - THE SON changes color
2001 - LATE MARRIAGE changes color
1999 - IDLE RUNNING moved from runners-up to ten-best list
1992 - EMBRACING added to runners-up
1982 - NIGHT OF THE SHOOTING STARS moved from runners-up to ten-best list
1969 - BOY moved up on ten-best list
1966 - EL GRECO moved from 1963 and added to ten-best list; VIOLENCE AT NOON dropped from ten-best list
1963 - EL GRECO moved to 1966
1962 - HATARI! moved from runners-up to ten-best list
1961 - THE EXILES added to ten-best list
1957 - SAIT-ON JAMAIS... and UNTAMED added to runners-up
1953 - ESCAPE FROM FORT BRAVO moved up among runners-up
1949 - KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS moved from ten-best list to runners-up
1916 - THE PILGRIM added to ten-best list

Click for a history of changes.

2008

BALLAST (Lance Hammer, USA)
LEATHERHEADS (George Clooney, USA)
THE NEW YORKIST (Dana O'Keefe, 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. THE CHILD (Dardennes Bros., Belgium/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. 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. CAMPFIRE (Joseph Cedar, Israel)
17. BEAR CUB (Luis Miguel Albaladejo, Spain)
17. BEFORE SUNSET (Richard Linklater, USA)
18. THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU (Wes Anderson, USA)
20. THE NIGHT OF TRUTH (Fanta Regina Nacro, Burkina Faso/France)
21. HEAD IN THE CLOUDS (John Duigan, USA/UK/Spain/Canada)
22. A HOLE IN ONE (Richard Ledes, USA)
23. 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)

Follow the links to films of the 1990s, 1980s, 1970s, 1960s, 1950s, 1940s, 1930s, or 1920s and 1910s.