2015 IN FILM

Of the 800+ titles I saw this year, these were my most favourite. A Top 30 & many many honorables. Also, my 2015 ballot at the Wandering Image, highlighting the year's best in film by category.


here's the countdown:





30.             TANGERINE

.

29.            IT FOLLOWS

.
                LI'L QUINQUIN 

28. [Roadshow version]

.

27.                    TAXI

.

26.             GIRLHOOD

.
                    GETT: THE
25. TRIAL OF VIVIANE AMSALEM

.
                     WHAT WE
24.      DO IN THE SHADOWS

.

23.       THE PEARL BUTTON

.

22.       MISTRESS AMERICA

.

21.                   JAUJA

.

20.               BLACKHAT

.

19.               WESTERN

.

18.       BONE TOMAHAWK

.

17.                PHOENIX

.

16.         HEART OF A DOG

.

15.           THE ASSASSIN

.

14.         MEDITERRANEA

.

13.    CLOUDS OF SILS MARA

.

12.     HEAVEN KNOWS WHAT

.

11.        QUEEN OF EARTH

.
      A PIGEON SAT ON A BRANCH
10. REFLECTING ON EXISTENCE

.

.

9.                    CAROL

.

8.     WORLD OF TOMORROW

.

7.       THE FORBIDDEN ROOM

.

6.             HORSE MONEY

.

5.      THE LOOK OF SILENCE

.

4.         HARD TO BE A GOD

.

3.    THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY

.

2.               ANOMALISA

.

1.      MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

***** 

 ALSO ESSENTIAL. NOT RANKED. 

 (the other titles of 2015 I loved that could've placed) 

GÜEROS

LOVE & MERCY

CRIMSON PEAK

FIELD NIGGAS

OF MEN AND WAR

IN JACKSON HEIGHTS

COP CAR

THE SALVATION

PRINCE

BIG GAME

SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE

EDEN

COBAIN: MONTAGE OF HECK

BROOKLYN

WYRMWOOD: 

ROAD OF THE DEAD

ROOM

GANGS OF WASSEYPUR

PART 1 & 2

MAGIC MIKE XXL

GIUSEPPE MAKES A MOVIE

THE LIFE AND
 MIND OF MARK DEFRIEST

PADDINGTON

MUSTANG

THE GOOD DINOSAUR

THE GIFT

ZARAFA

YOUTH

CHARLIE'S COUNTRY

WHAT HAPPENED NINA SIMONE?

THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

TWO MEN IN TOWN

CREEP

CHI-RAQ

THE PRINCESS OF FRANCE

EX MACHINA

THE HATEFUL EIGHT

[70mm roadshow version]

JOURNEY TO THE WEST

ABOUT ELLY

THE TRIBE

JAMES WHITE

CREED

’71

WELCOME TO NEW YORK

[Director's cut]

BRIDGE OF SPIES

THE VISIT:
AN ALIEN ENCOUNTER

SUNSHINE SUPERMAN

THE GREEN INFERNO

REALITY

MAPS TO THE STARS

THE WOLFPACK

THE HUNTING GROUND

RUN THE JEWELS: CLOSE
YOUR EYES (& COUNT TO FUCK)

ENTERTAINMENT

TOKYO TRIBE

STRAY DOG

EXPERIMENTER

DOOMSDAYS

MATT SHEPARD

IS A FRIEND OF MINE

KUMIKO,
THE TREASURE HUNTER

IN THE BASEMENT

CRUMBS

MAD GOD: PART 2

.

GOODNIGHT MOMMY

JUNUN

THE NIGHTMARE

CYMBELINE [ANARCHY]

CHEATIN'

THE LAST 

DAYS OF CONEY ISLAND

HITCHCOCK / TRUFFAUT

YAKUZA APOCALYPSE

****

2015

TOP 30

1. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (G.Miller)
2. ANOMALISA (C.Kaufman, D.Johnson)
3. DUKE OF BURGUNDY (Strickland)
4. HARD TO BE A GOD (German)
5. LOOK OF SILENCE (Oppenheimer)
6. HORSE MONEY (Costa)
7. THE FORBIDDEN ROOM (Maddin)
8. WORLD OF TOMORROW (Hertzfeldt)
9. CAROL (Haynes)
10. PIGEON SAT ON A BRANCH (Andersson)
11. QUEEN OF EARTH (A.Ross Perry)
12. HEAVEN KNOWS WHAT (Safdie)
13. CLOUDS OF SILS MARA (Assayas)
14. MEDITERRANEA (Carpignano)
15. THE ASSASSIN (Hsiao-hsien)
16. HEART OF A DOG (L.Anderson)
17. PHOENIX (Petzold)
18. BONE TOMAHAWK (Zahler)
19. WESTERN (Ross bros.)
20. BLACKHAT (Mann)
21. JAUJA (Alonso)
22. MISTRESS AMERICA (Baumbach)
23. THE PEARL BUTTON (Guzmán)
24. WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS (Waititi/Clement)
25. GETT (Elkabetz)
26. GIRLHOOD (Sciamma)
27. TAXI (Panahi)
28. LI'L QUINQUIN (Dumont)
29. IT FOLLOWS (D. Robert Mitchell)
30. TANGERINE (Baker)

RUNNER-UP 

GÜEROS (Ruizpalacios), LOVE & MERCY (Pohlad), CRIMSON PEAK (G.del Toro), FIELD NIGGAS (Allah), OF MEN & WAR (Bécue-Renard), IN JACKSON HEIGHTS (Wiseman), COP CAR (J.Watts), THE SALVATION (Kristian Levring), PRINCE (de Jong), BIG GAME (Helander), SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE (M.Burton/Starzak), EDEN (Mia Hansen-Løve), MONTAGE OF HECK (Morgen), BROOKLYN (Crowley), WYRMWOOD (Roache-Turner), ROOM (Abrahamson), GANGS OF WASSEYPUR (Kashyap), MAGIC MIKE XXL (Jacobs), GIUSEPPE MAKES A MOVIE (Rifkin), LIFE & MIND OF MARK DEFRIEST (Gabriele London), PADDINGTON (P.King), MUSTANG (Deniz Gamze Ergüven), GOOD DINOSAUR (Sohn), THE GIFT (Edgerton), ZARAFA (Bezançon/Lie), YOUTH (Sorrentino), CHARLIE'S COUNTRY (de Heer), WHAT HAPPENED NINA SIMONE? (Liz Garbus), MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. (Ritchie), TWO MEN IN TOWN (Bouchareb), CREEP (Brice), CHI-RAQ (Spike Lee), PRINCESS OF FRANCE (Piñeiro), EX MACHINA (Garland), HATEFUL 8 (Tarantino), JOURNEY TO THE WEST (Ming-liang), ABOUT ELLY (Farhadi), THE TRIBE (Slaboshpitsky), JAMES WHITE (Mond), CREED (Coogler), ’71 (Demange), WELCOME TO NY (Ferrara), BRIDGE OF SPIES (Spielberg), VISIT: AN ALIEN ENCOUNTER (Madsen), SUNSHINE SUPERMAN (Strauch), GREEN INFERNO (Eli Roth), REALITY (Dupieux), MAPS TO THE STARS (Cronenberg), THE WOLFPACK (Crystal Moselle), THE HUNTING GROUND (K.Dick), CLOSE YOUR EYES & COUNT TO FUCK (A.G. Rojas), ENTERTAINMENT (Alverson), TOKYO TRIBE (Sono), STRAY DOG (Debra Granik), EXPERIMENTER (Almereyda), DOOMSDAYS (Mullins), MATT SHEPARD IS A FRIEND OF MINE (Michele Josue), KUMIKO TREASURE HUNTER (Zellner bros), IN THE BASEMENT (Siedl), CRUMBS (Llansó), MAD GOD PT. II (Tippett), GOODNIGHT MOMMY (Severin Fiala/Veronika Franz), JUNUN (P.T. Anderson), THE NIGHTMARE (Ascher), CYMBELINE (Almereyda), CHEATIN' (Plympton), LAST DAYS OF CONEY ISLAND (Bakshi), HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT (Jones), YAKUZA APOCALYPSE (Miike)

THE WITCH (Robert Eggers) 2016 release

HIGH-RISE (Wheatley) 2016 release

GREEN ROOM (Saulnier) 2016 release
UNCLE KENT 2 (Rohal) 2016 release

STRESSFUL ADVENTURES OF BOXHEAD & ROUNDHEAD (Cowan) 2016 release

(festival films I loved that got no 2015 theatrical release & no distribution deal. 12/19/15)

HER WILDERNESS (Frank Mosley), AMOUR FOU (Hausner), WHITE GOD (Mundruczó), JOY (O. Russell), UNCERTAIN TERMS (Nathan Silver), EASTERN BOYS (Robin Campillo), SON OF SAUL (Laszlo Nemes), TU DORS NICOLE (Stéphane Lafleur), MISTRESS AMERICA (Baumbach), DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL (Marielle Heller), STATIONS OF THE CROSS (Brüggemann), LISTEN TO ME MARLON (Stevan Riley), FORT TILDEN (Sarah-Violet Bliss/Charles Rogers), SLOW WEST (John Maclean), TOM AT THE FARM (Xavier Dolan), THE WONDERS (Alice Rohrwacher), ARABIAN NIGHTS (Gomes), SUMMER OF SANGAILE (Alanté Kavaïté), CENSORED VOICES (Mor Loushy), THE VOICES (Satrapi), THE MEND (Magary), THE CUT (Akin), EMBRACE THE SERPENT (Guerro), REGULAR SHOW THE MOVIE (JG Quintel), PEACE OFFICER (B.Barber/Christopherson), INGRID BERGMAN IN HER OWN WORDS (Stig Björkman), BODY (Dan Berk, Robert Olsen), LAST JOURNEY OF MADAM PHUNG (Tham Nguyen Thi), SALVATION ARMY (Abdellah Taia), JANIS LITTLE GIRL BLUE (Amy Berg), PROPHET'S PREY (Amy Berg), AN OPEN SECRET (Amy Berg), 45 YEARS (Andrew Haigh), LOST & BEAUTIFUL (Pietro Marcello), BLEAK STREET (Arturo Ripstein), FINAL GIRLS (Strauss-Schulson), RUNOFF (Kimberly Levin), COUNTING (Jem Cohen), WINDS THAT SCATTER (Christopher Jason Bell), THE SECOND MOTHER (Anna Muylaert), ONE & TWO (Andrew Droz Palermo), BAAHUBALI: THE BEGINNING (S.S. Rajamouli), COURT (Chaitanya Tamhane), THE KEEPING ROOM (Daniel Barber), DEMOCRATS (Camilla Nielsson), IRIS (Maysles), CARTEL LAND (Matthew Heineman), SAINT LAURENT (Bertrand Bonello), SOUL BOYS OF THE WESTERN WORLD (George Hencken), THE SEARCH (Hazanavicius), WHEN EVENING FALLS ON BUCHAREST METABOLISM (Corneliu Porumboiu), PIXADORES (Amir Escandari), LADY IN THE CAR W/GLASSES & A GUN (Joann Sfar), HOME FROM HOME: CHRONICLE OF A VISION (Edgar Reitz), FAR FROM MEN (David Oelhoffen), NED RIFLE (Hal Hartley), LA SAPIENZA (Eugene Green), APPROACHING THE ELEPHANT (Amanda Wilder), QUEEN & COUNTRY (Boorman), GLASS CHIN (Noah Buschel), WOLF TOTEM 3D (Annaud), A MURDER IN THE PARK (Christopher S. Rech, Brandon Kimber), DELI MAN (Erik Greenberg Anjou), 1971 (Johanna Hamilton), AGAINST THE SUN (Brian Falk), THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER (Lapid), WE COME AS FRIENDS (Sauper), STILL LIFE (Uberto Pasolini), LA ULTIMA PELICULA (Raya Martin, Mark Peranson), TIME OUT OF MIND (Oren Moverman)

(I want to hear what your favorite films of 2015 were. do kindly post them below)