Best Films of 2009

While the Academy focuses its attention on primarily American fare, I'd like to broaden the spectrum a bit for my final list of impressive films from the 2009 cinematic season, and to acknowledge some of the unjustly snubbed standout films, even with the return of the expanded ten-nominee Best Picture category. The list also expanded enough to require a separation between narrative and documentary films with the former category having an un-ranked grouping of ten best, as well as some other very worthy and memorable contenders.

Overall the year was well-varied in styles, themes and genres, with even the most sentimental of them managing to significantly challenge our ways of thinking, and still others producing some of the most memorable images and acting in recent memory. One common thread that weaves through many of these stories can be found in the shadow of The Great Recession — the effects of which still plague much of the world more than a year later, and will continue to do so for years to come. Characters such as Solo (Goodbye Solo), Larry (A Serious Man), Steve and Robb (Anvil!) and the family in Summer Hours all come to discover in some way what are truly the most important parts of their lives and how easy it can be to lose sight of them.

With all this in mind, I hope this list provides at least a rough gauge for the cinematic talent that was on display this past year, and hopefully a barometer for what we can expect in years to come.



Narrative Films

Top 10:
Revanche
The White Ribbon
Moon
The Headless Woman
A Serious Man

Summer Hours
In the Loop
Inglorious Basterds
The Hurt Locker
Goodbye Solo

14 More Worthy of Mention:
District 9
Antichrist
Precious: Based on the novel "Push" by Sapphire
Police, Adjective
Lorna's Silence
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans
35 Shots of Rum
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
A Single Man
Up In the Air
Sugar
Avatar
Up
Big Fan



Documentaries:

The Way We Get By
Burma VJ
Daniel Ellsberg: The Most Dangerous Man in America
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
The Beaches of Agnès