Top 5 U.S. Films
“The Hurt Locker,” Kathryn Bigelow
“The Limits of Control,” Jim Jarmusch
“A Serious Man,” Joel and Ethan Coen
“Two Lovers,” James Gray
“The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” Wes Anderson
—Ray Pride
Top 5 Foreign Films
“Summer Hours,” Olivier Assayas
“The Headless Woman,” Lucrecia Martel
“35 Shots of Rum,” Claire Denis
“You, the Living,” Roy Andersson
“Night and Day,” Hong Sang-soo
—Ray Pride
Top 5 Films
“Where the Wild Things Are,” Spike Jonze
“A Serious Man,” Joel and Ethan Coen
“Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans,” Werner Herzog
“The Hurt Locker,” Kathryn Bigelow
“Up in the Air,” Jason Reitman
—Tom Lynch
Top 5 Lead Performances
Charlotte Gainsbourg, “Antichrist”
Tilda Swinton, “Julia”
Jeremy Renner, “The Hurt Locker”
Maria Onetto, “The Headless Woman”
Nicolas Cage, “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans”
—Ray Pride
Top 5 Supporting Performances
Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”
Mo’Nique, “Precious”
Paul Schneider, “Bright Star”
Peter Capaldi, “In the Loop”
Melanie Laurent, “Inglourious Basterds”
—Ray Pride
Top 5 Performances
Nicolas Cage, “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans”
Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”
Mo’Nique, “Precious”
Michael Stuhlbarg, “A Serious Man”
Sam Rockwell, “Moon”
—Tom Lynch
Top 5 Directors
Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”
Lucrecia Martel, “The Headless Woman”
Olivier Assayas, “Summer Hours”
Claire Denis, “35 Shots of Rum”
James Gray, “Two Lovers”
—Ray Pride
Top 5 Documentaries
“The Beaches Of Agnes,” Agnes Varda
“Of Time And The City,” Terence Davies
“Oblivion,” Heddy Honigmann
“24 City,” Jia Zhang Ke
“Forbidden Lie$,” Anna Broinowski
—Ray Pride
Top 5 First Features
Steve McQueen, “Hunger”
Barry Jenkins, “Medicine for Melancholy”
Armando Iannucci, “In the Loop”
Antonio Campos, “Afterschool”
Oren Moverman, “The Messenger”
Top 5 Films of Previous Years That I Finally Saw in 2009 (with one exception)
“The Bands Visit,” Eran Kolirin (2007)
“Hidden,” Hanna Heilborn (2002)
“The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello,” Anthony Lucas (2005)
“Paradise Now,” Hany Abu-Assad (2005)
“The Unmaking of I Am A Sex Addict,” Caveh Zahedi (2009!)
—Damien James
Related Stories
Newcity’s Top 5 of Everything 2017: Film Plus, cinematographers, directors and more.- Film Top 5 1 I Am Not Your Negro (Opens February 3) Of its moment but told in this moment, a present-tense captured in James Baldwin’s narration, from thirty pages of an incomplete manuscript, delivered by Samuel L. Jackson in one of his great performances. 2 I, Daniel Blake (Opens February 24) Ken Loach had retired from fiction filmmaking, but returned for his…
- Film Top 5 1 Veronika Voss (Chicago Film Society at Music Box, April 3) The last feature released in Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s lifetime, the black-and-white “Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss” (The Intense Longing of Veronika Voss), capturing the 1950s downfall of the last days of a retired film actress, is one of his most lustrous and beautiful. (Tragic, too.) 35mm. 2 Ugetsu (Siskel,…
- Film Top 5 1 Song To Song (Opens March 17) Terrence Malick’s Austin-set musical romantic comedy and reported dance with the devil, at least two years in the editing, stars Michael Fassbender, Rooney Mara, Natalie Portman, Ryan Gosling, Patti Smith and Iggy Pop. 2 Twentieth Annual European Union Film Festival (Siskel, March) Chicago’s essential annual film survey this year premieres feature films from…
- Film Top 5 1 Jean-Pierre Melville: Criminal Codes (Siskel) A breathtaking array of eleven exemplars of the French master’s astringently gorgeous work, including “Le Samouraï,” “The Red Circle,” “Bob The Gambler,” “Army of Shadows” and an extended digital restoration of “Léon Morin, Priest.” I know where I’m going to be eleven nights in June. 2 It Comes At Night (Opens Friday, June 9) Two…
- Film Top 5 1 Northwest Chicago Film Society (Music Box; NEIU) Three knockout attractions this month: at the Music Box on July 9, Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts” on 70mm with magnetic sound; Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo’s 1964 newsreel-like imagining of life in Britain if Hitler had invaded after Dunkirk, “It Happened Here,” July 12 at NEIU; and July 19 at NEIU, Claudia…
