2009 IN FILM

My favourite films released in the U.S. in 2009! Top 30 & many many honorables. Also, my 2009 ballot at the Wandering Image; highlighting the year's best in film.


Here's the countdown:





30.   THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL

.

29.           TOKYO SONATA

.

28.         THE HURT LOCKER

.

27.              BRIGHT STAR

.

26.      OF TIME AND THE CITY

.

25.          LORNA'S SILENCE

.

24.                    JULIA

.

23.     CRANK: HIGH VOLTAGE

.

22.          DRAG ME TO HELL

.

21.          SUMMER HOURS

20.          YOU, THE LIVING

.

19.               SPARROW

.

18.  ANGRY MAN [SINNA MANN]

.

17.   THE HEADLESS WOMAN

.

16.             TAXIDERMIA

.

15.                  FADOS

.

14.   HALLOWEEN II [Director's cut]

.

13.               BRONSON

.

12.   EVERLASTING MOMENTS

.

11.                     UP

.

10.          A SERIOUS MAN

.

9.                    TETRO

.

8.                    MOON

.

7.                    PONYO

.

6.             STILL WALKING

.

5.                A PROPHET

.

4.   INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

.

3.          35 SHOTS OF RUM

.

2.         FANTASTIC MR. FOX

.

-tie- 2.          CORALINE

.

1.               TWO LOVERS

*****

ALSO ESSENTIAL. NOT RANKED. 

(Other 2009 titles I loved that could've placed)

GOODBYE SOLO

.

PUBLIC ENEMIES

.

SYMBOL

.

NIGHT AND DAY

.

THE ENGLISH SURGEON

.

LIVERPOOL

.

AVATAR

.

EXTRACT

.

IL DIVO

.

ORPHAN

.

ONG BAK 2: THE BEGINNING

.

CASTAWAY ON THE MOON

.

THE BOX

.

WHIP IT

.

PONTYPOOL

.

THE COVE

.

BIG MAN JAPAN

.

ADVENTURELAND

.

MONSTERS VS. ALIENS

.

BRÜNO

.

LA DANSE: 
THE PARIS OPERA BALLET

.

MUNYURANGABO

.

THE LIMITS OF CONTROL

.

STAR TREK

.

FISH STORY

.

A TOWN CALLED PANIC

.

CARGO 200

  
.

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

.

THE SUN

SOMERS TOWN

.

9

.

IN THE LOOP

 .

MARY AND MAX

.

TREELESS MOUNTAIN

 

.

I'M GONNA EXPLODE

.

BEESWAX

.

LAND OF THE LOST

.

THE BROTHERS BLOOM

  

 .
THE IMAGINARIUM

OF DR. PARNASSUS

.

ST. NICK

.

IN SEARCH OF BEETHOVEN

.

RAGING SUN, RAGING SKY

.

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'

.

THE WINDOW

.

FUNNY PEOPLE

.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

.

TONY MANERO

.

THE BEACHES OF AGNES

.

WHICH WAY HOME

 .

LAKE TAHOE

.

TULPAN

.

FIGHTING

 .

THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123

.

THIRST

THE HAUNTED
WORLD OF EL SUPERBEASTO

.

DEAD SNOW

.

THE ESCAPIST

.

SHERLOCK HOLMES

.

ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL

.

SUGAR

.

THE MILK OF SORROW

.
INVICTUS

.

ARMORED

 

.

DUPLICITY

.

IMPORT/EXPORT

.

RED CLIFF
[International cut]

.

POLICE, ADJECTIVE

.

GAMER

.

JENNIFER'S BODY

.

LOVE THE BEAST

.

SERAPHINE

*****

2009 recap

TOP 30

1. TWO LOVERS (Gray)
2. CORALINE (Selick)                                                        -tie- FANTASTIC MR. FOX (Wes Anderson)
3. 35 SHOTS OF RUM (Claire Denis)
4. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (Tarantino)
5. A PROPHET (Audiard)
6. STILL WALKING (Koreeda)
7. PONYO (Miyazaki)
8. MOON (Duncan Jones)
9. TETRO (Coppola)
10. A SERIOUS MAN (Coen Bros.)
11. UP (Docter)
12. EVERLASTING MOMENTS (Troell)
13. BRONSON (N.Winding Refn)
14. HALLOWEEN 2 (Zombie)
15. FADOS (Saura)
16. TAXIDERMIA (Pálfi)
17. THE HEADLESS WOMAN (Lucrecia Martel)
18. ANGRY MAN (Anita Killi)
19. SPARROW (To)
20. YOU, THE LIVING (Andersson)
21. SUMMER HOURS (Assayas)
22. DRAG ME TO HELL (Raimi)
23. CRANK: HIGH VOLTAGE (Neveldine/Taylor)
24. JULIA (Zonca)
25. LORNA'S SILENCE (Dardenne Bros.)
26. OF TIME AND THE CITY (Davies)
27. BRIGHT STAR (Jane Campion)
28. THE HURT LOCKER (Kathryn Bigelow)
29. TOKYO SONATA (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
30. THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL (Ti West)

RUNNER UP:

GOODBYE SOLO (Bahrani), PUBLIC ENEMIES (Mann), SYMBOL (Matsumoto), NIGHT & DAY (Sang-soo), ENGLISH SURGEON (G.Smith), LIVERPOOL (Alonso), AVATAR (Cameron), EXTRACT (Judge), IL DIVO (Sorrentino), ORPHAN (Collet-Serra), ONG BAK 2 (Rittikrai), CASTAWAY ON THE MOON (Hae-jun Lee), THE BOX (Kelly), WHIP IT (Drew Barrymore), PONTYPOOL (B.McDonald), THE COVE (Psihoyos), BIG MAN JAPAN (Matsumoto), ADVENTURELAND (Mottola), MONSTERS VS. ALIENS (Letterman), BRÜNO (L.Charles), LA DANSE (Wiseman), MUNYURANGABO (Lee Chung), LIMITS OF CONTROL (Jarmusch), STAR TREK (JJ Abrams), FISH STORY (Yoshihiro Nakamura), TOWN CALLED PANIC (Aubier), CARGO 200 (Balabanov), WHERE WILD THINGS ARE (Spike Jonze), THE SUN (Sokurov), SOMERS TOWN (Meadows), 9 (Acker), IN THE LOOP (Ianucci), MARY & MAX (A.Elliot), TREELESS MOUNTAIN (So Yong Kim), I'M GONNA EXPLODE (Naranjo), BEESWAX (Bujalski), LAND OF THE LOST (Silberling), BROTHERS BLOOM (R.Johnson), IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS (Gilliam), ST. NICK (Lowery), IN SEARCH OF BEETHOVEN (Grabsky), RAGING SUN RAGING SKY (Julian Hernandez), CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' (Nemescu), THE WINDOW (Sorin), FUNNY PEOPLE (Apatow), CHRISTMAS CAROL (Zemeckis), TONY MANERO (Larraín), BEACHES OF AGNES (Varda), WHICH WAY HOME (Rebecca Cammisa), LAKE TAHOE (Eimbcke), TULPAN (Dvortsevoy), FIGHTING (Montiel), TAKING OF PELHAM 123 (Tony Scott), THIRST (Chan-Wook), HAUNTED WORLD OF EL SUPERBEASTO (Zombie), DEAD SNOW (Wirkola), THE ESCAPIST (Wyatt), SHERLOCK HOLMES (Ritchie), ANVIL! (Gervasi), SUGAR (Boden/Fleck), MILK OF SORROW (Claudia Llosa), INVICTUS (Eastwood), ARMORED (Antal), DUPLICITY (Gilroy), IMPORT/EXPORT (Seidl), RED CLIFF (Woo), POLICE ADJECTIVE (Porumboiu), GAMER (Neveldine/Taylor), JENNIFER'S BODY (Karyn Kusama), LOVE THE BEAST (Bana), SERAPHINE (Provost)

 (I want to hear what everybody's Top films for '09 were. Post them below)