IndieWire: Annual Critics Survey 2009

[oscar jubis]

Best Film

# Film Title Score Mentions

1 Summer Hours 260 38
2 The Hurt Locker 240 40
3 Inglourious Basterds 228 35
4 A Serious Man 226 33
5 35 Shots of Rum 206 29
6 The Headless Woman 199 27
7 Fantastic Mr. Fox 179 33
8 Two Lovers 121 17
9 Up 97 19
10 Still Walking 91 15
11 Police, Adjective 84 17
12 The Beaches of Agnes 81 12
13 24 City 80 13
14 The Limits of Control 77 13
15 In the Loop 75 14
16 Julia 72 13
17 The Sun 64 11
18 Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" By Sapphire 62 8
19 The White Ribbon 59 7
20 You, the Living 56 11

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Best Director

# Director Title Mentions

1 Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker 14
2 Lucrecia Martel, The Headless Woman 7
Olivier Assayas, Summer Hours 7
3 Claire Denis, 35 Shots of Rum 6
4 James Gray, Two Lovers 5
5 Michael Haneke, The White Ribbon 4
6 Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds 3
Wes Anderson, Fantastic Mr. Fox 3
7 Antonio Campos, Afterschool 2
Corneliu Porumboiu, Police, Adjective 2
Jane Campion, Bright Star 2
Joel & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man 2
Steve McQueen, Hunger 2

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Best Documentary

# Film Title Mentions

1 Anvil! The Story of Anvil 10
2 The Beaches of Agnes 8
The Cove 8
3 Of Time and the City 6
4 24 City 5
La Danse 5
5 Burma VJ 4
Forbidden Lie$ 4
Tyson 4
6 Collapse 3
7 Food, Inc. 2
Oblivion 2
Paradise 2

[Chris Knipp]

I thought it was a good idea to put all this lists in one thread, the National Board of Review one. But apparently not. As Manohla Dargis notes today, a lot are already on DVD. I can still see LA DANSE, the Paris Opera Ballet picture, in a theater in Berkeley. I have missed the chance to see BURMA VJ, FORBIDDEN LIES, OBLIVION and PARADISE that way. Just watched ANVIL! so I can list that and it is one of the best 2009 documentaries, though not quite as extraordinary as some think.

I have not seen JULIA but I see it's on Instant Play on Netflix.

SUMMER HOURS seems to be doing well, and also THE HEADLESS WOMAN. I understand about POLICE, ADJECTIVE. Most US viewers won't be able to see it in a theater, I'm guessing.

[oscar jubis]

*I watched LA DANSE on Friday. I think Fred Wiseman is magnificent. I met him a few years ago when he came to Miami to give a "Master Class". However, one has to be interested in ballet in all its aspects to enjoy the whole 2 hour, 40 minute film. There are a lot of scenes involving rehearsals, costume making, personnel, etc. It is not just ballet performances.

Two considerations as far as interpreting poll results.

*One thing I like to keep in mind about lists like this one is that some films don't do as well as others because those polled have not seen them. This concerns not only films that had not been released at the time of the deadline to submit ballots (Avatar, Imaginarium, The Last Station, Police,adjective, The White Ribbon etc.) but also films which had very limited/brief theatrical runs (35 Rhums, The Sun, The Headless Woman).

*Another thing to consider is that I believe some voters decided only to vote for a documentary in that specific category rather than include docs in their top 10. Otherwise docs would have done better in the general "film" poll. I speculate that the opposite is true. That some voters who put films like 24 CITY in the "film" category decided to vote for another doc in the doc category because they had already included it in their Top 10 list.

[Chris Knipp]

I guess I am interested in ballet in all aspects. At least I love ballet, so I wouldn't mind learning about all aspects.

That's a very important point you make that some voters in polls have not seen all the films. I am working on a post on the NYTimes critics' 2009 best lists, from today's (Dec. 19, 2009) paper, and I think these are valuable not only because of the prominence of these critics, but also the fact that, living in New York, they get to see everything in theaters. They often get to see them early, very early if they are at Cannes, Toronto etc., and twice.

The documentary vs. features question is a thorny one. Because in the post-Michael Moore era there are so many good documentaries that get made and distributed, I prefer to list them separately. They are very often full of valuable and important information -- why else would one want to watch them? -- but only rarely do they rise to the level of art and contain beauty as well as emotion . Two recent but not current ones in that category that come to mind are MY ARCHITECT and TO BE AND TO HAVE.

24 CITY is on the border line, as Jia's films often are, between documentary and fiction. I just watched Solondz's STORYTELLING for the first time and was fascinated with how he shows that documenarians exploit and manipulate lives, while real events can be recounted with straightforward accuracy as a "story" and self-appointed critics will announce that it is tasteless, racist, implausible, and pure shit.

[oscar jubis]

I like HAPPINESS and PALINDROMES a lot more than STORYTELLING but every film by Solondz is interesting. I agree with your comment about 24 City. By the way, Jia Zhang-ke is numero uno on my list of Best (or favorite) directors of the decade.

[Chris Knipp]

What about WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE? I am not rating Sonondz's films relative to each other, but I agree they're all interesting. It might be that the latest, LIFE DURING WARTIME, is the most beautifully made. I have found Roger Ebert, interestingly enough, a sensitive and appreciative reviewer of Solondz. He noted that as he watched STORYTELLING more times, he began to appreciate hod well and economically made it was. I was surprised -- though one shouldn't be -- that some critics reject Soldondz. I think I can quote J. Hoberman to show that he dismissed Solodz's work repeatedly on the grounds that it is glib, negative, and mean-spirited. Whereas I think Solondz is, as Ebert says, open-minded and brave. It's true of him as his surrogate Toby (Paul Giammati) says in STORYTELLING that he loves the people in his films. His work is so original that people don't know how to take it. Maybe they need to go back and look again. His work as seen by the public recalls Cocteau's remark that art is ugly at first and beautiful later, whereas fashion is beautiful at first and ugly later.

Jia is for me too an important discovery of the decade.