Sunday, May 1, 2011

Top Ten for '10

There is a definite silver lining to going through one of my periods of chastity. And that is film, Film, FILM. I noticed that up till now, four months into the year, I've already seen half as many films as last year. Swearing off "dating" gives me so much more luscious time to not only visit the alternate realities that film gives me, but it also saves me oh so much frustration!

I thought for most of the year that 2010 was really bad for film, but I'm seeing that it was just a year in which good films were slow to arrive to where I needed to see them. So it's time, finally, to do a top-10 list, while noting that many of the films in my 2011 list were actually released in 2010.

Here they are, representing 8 countries and 3 continents (none from Latinamerica this year). There's no particular order, except that Submarino is hands down my number one. Dane Thomas Vinterberg is truly a master of the dark side of the human psyche. There were two more (!) from Denmark, a country that produces relatively little film of tremendously high quality. And there are three very tough, very dynamic films from Africa, including the first feature-length film from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Submarino
Winter's Bone
Hævnen (In a Better World)
Ehky ya Scheherazade (Tell Me a Story)
State of Violence
Viva Riva!
Banksy: Exit Through the Gift Shop
We Were Here
Des Hommes et Dieux (Of Gods and Men)

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