The Best Films of 2011

I saw fewer movies in the calendar year 2011 (141) than any year since I have been keeping count, yet I really don't feel like I missed much good stuff (I've subsequently watched more films and have now seen 154 films total). I am shocked by how many movies are merely average (2 or 2.5 stars). I will say that when it came to making this Top Ten list, I struggled a bit to get it down to only ten titles... so I cheated....

I have a tie in 10th place, not only because I felt bad about cutting the list down further, but also because a set of film seemed to deal with material a similar way, Breillat's The Sleeping Beauty and Sciamma's Tomboy. Both of these deal with either child sexuality or pre-sexuality, that translates as sexuality, in an interesting way. I think both of these women directors imbue their works with film theory in a Freudian context and neither one is as easy as it might seem on the surface.

Some interesting statistics: There are two Iranian films on the list (even though Certified Copy was made in Europe and is mostly in English), there are two Romanian films (and a third on the honorable mentions list), there are two French films and a Portuguese film. There are two documentaries and three American movies (plus a Germanish movie... where Werner speaks English and riffs on Hollywood 3D movies of old). There are two films that clock in at three hours each and one that clocks in at four-and-a-half hours.

I think The Tree of Life is one of the best films ever made. I recently had to make up a list of the greatest 100 films of all time and I strongly considered putting this on that list (I only didn't because such an inclusion requires a bit more time to marinate, digest and live with). I can't think of another film that is so beautiful thematically and technically and moves the audience along in a similar way. This movie is really in a category entirely by itself and to compare it to anything else would be silly.

I also know it's a bit silly to have so many films in the "honorable mention" category, but I didn't want them to go unmentioned. Amid all the terrible movies, there were lots of good movies in 2011 and they should all be seen and enjoyed.

1) The Tree of Life
2) The Cave of Forgotten Dreams 3D
3) Aurora
4) Meeks Cutoff
5) The Future
6) Mysteries of Lisbon
7) The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu
8) A Separation
9) Certified Copy
10) The Sleeping Beauty and Tomboy

Honorable Mentions:

* Beginners
* Drive
* Hesher
* The Kid with a Bike
* The Muppets
* Over Your Cities Grass Will Go
* Le Quattro Volte
* Nostalgia for the Light
* Pina 3D
* A Screaming Man
* The Skin I Live In
* Super
* Take Shelter
* Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
* Tuesday, After Christmas
* Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
* Weekend