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
(15 Oct 09 to 31 Dec 09):
2009 - BROKEN EMBRACES added to ten-best
list
2008 - SITA SINGS THE BLUES added to ten-best list; ME AND ORSON WELLES added
to runners-up
2003 - SALT added to runners-up
1998 - THE HOLE moved up on ten-best list
1994 - UNCOVERED moved up on ten-best list
1993 - THE TREE, THE MAYOR, AND THE MEDIATHEQUE moved up on ten-best list
1992 - THE OAK dropped from runners-up
1991 - THREE DAYS added to runners-up
1966 - THE WILD ANGELS added to runners-up
1965 - GAMPERALIYA (CHANGES IN THE VILLAGE)
added to runners-up
1964 - NADJA IN PARIS added to ten-best list
1963 - X - THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES added
to runners-up
1962 - THE TRIAL OF JOAN OF ARC moved from ten-best to runners-up
1960 - WILD RIVER moved down among runners-up
1959 - THE WRESTLER AND THE CLOWN moved to 1957
1957 - THE WRESTLER AND THE CLOWN moved from 1959 and added to runners-up;
THE TIN STAR moved from ten-best list to runners-up
1956 - THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH moved from runners-up to ten-best list
1940 - THE OLD JOCKEY added to ten-best list
1935 - THE GIRL IN THE RUMOR added to ten-best list
1932 - THE OLD DARK HOUSE moved up on ten-best list
1931 - WATERLOO BRIDGE moved from runners-up to ten-best list
1930 - THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BROADWAY changes colors
Click
for a history of changes.
2009
1. LE PÈRE DE MES ENFANTS (Mia Hansen-Løve, France)
2. BARBE-BLEUE (Catherine Breillat, France)
3, FACE (Tsai Ming-Liang, France/Taiwan)
4, LA DONATION (Bernard Émond, Canada)
5, THE EXPLODING GIRL (Bradley Rust Gray, USA)
6. BETWEEN TWO WORLDS (Vimukthi Jayasundara,
Sri Lanka)
7. SHE, A CHINESE (Guo Xiaolu, UK/France/Germany)
8. BROKEN EMBRACES
(Pedro Almodovar, Spain)
9. ALEXANDER THE LAST (Joe Swanberg, USA)
10. LIFE DURING
WARTIME (Todd Solondz, USA)
11. HUACHO (Alejandro Fernández Almendras, Chile)
12. THE SEARCH (Pema Tseden, China)
13. PARADISE
(Michael Almereyda, USA)
14. BARKING
WATER (Sterlin Harjo, USA)
15. LES DERNIERS
JOURS DU MONDE (Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, France/Spain)
16. CRACKIE (Sherry White, Canada)
17. BEESWAX (Andrew Bujalski, USA)
18. AT THE END
OF DAYBREAK (Ho Yuhang, Malaysia)
19. BENA (Niv Klainer, Israel)
20. LONDON RIVER (Rachid Bouchareb, UK/France/Algeria)
2008
1. NIGHT AND DAY (Hong Sang-soo,
South Korea)
2. SITA SINGS THE BLUES (Nina Paley, USA)
3. BALLAST (Lance
Hammer, USA)
4. A WEEK ALONE (Celina Murga, Argentina)
5. ALL AROUND US (Ryosuke Hashiguchi, Japan)
6. STELLA (Sylvia
Verheyde, France)
7. NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS (Joe Swanberg and
Greta Gerwig, USA)
8. MID-AUGUST LUNCH (Gianni Di Gregorio, Italy)
9. BOOGIE (Radu Muntean, Romania)
10. FOUR NIGHTS WITH ANNA (Jerzy Skolimowski, Poland)
11. GOMORRA (Matteo Garrone, Italy)
12. ME AND ORSON WELLES (Richard Linklater, USA/UK)
13. JE VEUX VOIR (Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Lebanon)
14. THE WACKNESS (Jonathan Levine, USA)
15.
CHELSEA ON THE ROCKS (Abel Ferrara, USA)
16. 40 DAYS (Juan Carlos Martín, Mexico)
17. MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY
(Barry Jenkins, USA)
18. BUY A SUIT (Jun Ichikawa, Japan)
19. LIVERPOOL (Lisandro Alonso, Argentina)
20. LORNA'S SILENCE (Dardenne Bros., Belgium)
21. AMOROSA SOLEDAD (Martin Carranza and Victoria Galardi, Argentina)
22. LEATHERHEADS (George Clooney,
USA)
23. ENTRE LES MURS (Laurent Cantet, France)
24. I'M GONNA EXPLODE (Gerardo Naranjo,
Mexico)
25. TWO LOVERS (James Gray, USA)
26. THE NEW YORKIST (Dana O'Keefe,
USA)
27. ANICETO (Leonardo Favio, Argentina)
28. 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)
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. 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. 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.
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)