Whereas 2006 seemed, from what I saw, to be a bit of a thin year for film, 2007 overflowed with great titles (it was also a strong year for that most adept of script-pickers, Cillian Murphy, and one of the brightest years for Hollywood in a dog’s age). It was hard to narrow this list down to a mere 10 faves, but after struggling for several weeks I had them pegged. Many of the movies below aren’t any better than some I left off; choice often boiled down to mere whim.
As always, movies are listed in alphabetical order, and ‘year’ is determined over at InRO by a movie’s first US release, limited or wide (not festivals or exclusive screenings).
12:08 East of Bucharest, directed by Corneliu Porumboiu (Romania)
After the Wedding, directed by Susanne Bier (Denmark)
The Curse of the Golden Flower, directed by Zhang Yimou (China)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, directed by Julian Schnabel (France)
Death Proof, directed by Quentin Tarantino (US)
No Country For Old Men, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen (US)
Sunshine, directed by Danny Boyle (UK)
Syndromes and a Century, directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand)
There Will Be Blood, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (US)
The Wind that Shakes the Barley, directed by Ken Loach (Ireland)
Also: Ten Favourite Films of 2000; Ten Favourite Films of 2001; Ten Favourite Films of 2002; Ten Favourite Films of 2003; Ten Favourite Films of 2004; Ten Favourite Films of 2005; Ten Favourite Films of 2006; Ten Favourite Films of 2008; Ten Favourite Films of 2009.
(List originally published on In Review Online, on March 11, 2010.)
Roughen 