20 of the best in no particular order:
2023
1. POOR THINGS (Yorgos Lanthimos)
2. PAST LIVES (Celine Song)
3. CLOSE (Lukas Dhont)
4. THE BEASTS (Rodrigo Sorogoyen)
5. ANATOMY OF A FALL (Justine Triet)
6. THE ZONE OF INTEREST (Jonathan Glazer)
7. DUNE: PART TWO (Dennis Villeneuve)
8. CAPTAIN VOLKONOGOV ESCAPED (Natalya Merkulova, Aleksey Chupov)
9. MONSTER (Hirokazu Koreeda)
10. 20,000 SPECIES OF BEES (Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren)
11. RIMINI (Ulrich Seidl)
12. GODLAND (Hlynur Palmason)
13. FALLEN LEAVES (Aki Kaurismaki)
14. FULL TIME (Eric Gravel)
15. ALL OF US STRANGERS (Andrew Haigh)
16. KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (Martin Scorsese)
17. FREMONT (Babak Jalali)
18. IO CAPITANO (Matteo Garrone)
19. THE INNOCENT (Louis Garrel)
20. ENYS MEN (Mark Jenkin)
Honorable mentions:
AMERICAN FICTION (Cord Jefferson)
EL CONDE (Pablo Larrain)
ABOUT DRY GRASSES (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
PERFECT DAYS (Wim Wenders)
LIMBO (Ivan Sen)
20 of the best in no particular order:
2022
1. TAR (Todd Field)
2. AFTERSUN (Charlotte Wells)
3. THIS IS NOT A BURIAL, IT’S A RESURRECTION (Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese)
4. THE QUIET GIRL (Colm Bairéad)
5. EO (Jerzy Skolimowski)
6. YOU WON’T BE ALONE (Goran Stolevski)
7. RETURN TO DUST (Li Ruijun)
8. THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN (Martin McDonagh)
9. NO BEARS (Jafar Panahi)
10. VORTEX (Gaspar Noé)
11. FABIAN: GOING TO THE DOGS (Dominik Graf)
12. ONODA: 10,000 NIGHTS IN THE JUNGLE (Arthur Harari)
13. THE FABELMANS (Steven Spielberg)
14. EARWIG (Lucile Hadzihalilovic)
15. GREAT FREEDOM (Sebastian Meise)
16. THE TALE OF KING CRAB (Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis)
17. FLUX GOURMET (Peter Strickland)
18. UTAMA (Alejandro Loayza Grisi)
19. HAPPENING (Audrey Diwan)
20. PACIFICTION (Albert Serra)
Honorable mentions:
DOS ESTACIONES (Juan Pablo Gonzalez)
COMPARTMENT NO. 6 (Juho Kuosmanen)
ANAIS IN LOVE (Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet)
MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS (Anthony Fabian)
POSER (Ori Segev, Noah Dixon)
20 of the best in no particular order:
2021
1. DRIVE MY CAR (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
2. AZOR (Andreas Fontana)
3. PASSING (Rebecca Hall)
4. THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (Joachim Trier)
5. THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH (Ethan Coen)
6. C’MON C’MON (Mike Mills)
7. THE POWER OF THE DOG (Jane Campion)
8. ATLANTIS (Valentyn Vasyanovych)
9. PETITE MAMAN (Céline Sciamma)
10. A HERO (Asghar Farhadi)
11. MEMORIA (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
12. SLOW MACHINE (Joe Denardo, Paul Felten)
13. ANNE AT 13,000 FT. (Kazik Radwanski)
14. THE FRENCH DISPATCH (Wes Anderson)
15. UNDINE (Christian Petzold)
16. RED MOON TIDE (Lois Patiño)
17. RED ROCKET (Sean Baker)
18. NITRAM (Justin Kurzel)
19. IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE (Hong Sang-soo)
20. THE RESCUE (Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi)
Honorable mentions:
LIMBO (Ben Sharrock)
PIG (Michael Sarnoski)
SLALOM (Charlène Favier)
ECHO (Runar Runarsson)
DUNE (Denis Villeneauve)
THE GREEN KNIGHT (David Lowery)
2020
1. THE FATHER (Florian Zeller)
2. ABOUT ENDLESSNESS (Roy Andersson)
3. NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS (Eliza Hittman)
4. FIRST COW (Kelly Reichardt)
5. MINARI (Lee Isaac Chung)
6. VITALINA VARELA (Pedro Costa)
7. QUO VADIS AIDA? (Jasmila Zbanic)
8. SOUL (Pete Docter)
9. NOMADLAND (Chloe Zhao)
10. THE ASSISTANT (Kitty Green)
11. TOMMASO (Abel Ferrara)
12. SAINT MAUD (Rose Glass)
13. MANK (David Fincher)
14. THE WOMAN WHO RAN (Hong Sang-soo)
15. FIRE WILL COME (Oliver Laxe)
16. FOURTEEN (Dan Sallitt)
17. SORRY WE MISSED YOU (Ken Loach)
18. PINNOCCHIO (Matteo Garrone)
19. DEAD PIGS (Cathy Yan)
20. THE VAST OF NIGHT (Andrew Patterson)
Honorable mentions:
A WHITE WHITE DAY (Hlynur Palmason)
DAVID BYRNE’S AMERICAN UTOPIA (Spike Lee)
TEST PATTERN (Shatara Michelle Ford)
ANOTHER ROUND (Thomas Vinterberg)
THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD VERSION (Radha Blank)
2019
1. UNCUT GEMS (Bennie and Josh Safdie)
2. THE SOUVENIR (Joanna Hogg)
3. PARASITE (Joon Ho Bong)
4. THE IRISHMAN (Martin Scorsese)
5. LITTLE WOMEN (Greta Gerwig)
6. MARRIAGE STORY (Noah Baumbach)
7. JOKER (Todd Phillips)
8. PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (Celine Sciamma)
9. BIRDS OF PASSAGE (Ciro Guerra/Cristina Gallego)
10. THE FAREWELL (Lulu Wang)
11. IN FABRIC (Peter Strickland)
12. THE LIGHTHOUSE (Robert Eggers)
13. RAY & LIZ (Richard Billingham)
14. PAIN AND GLORY (Pedro Almodovar)
15. THE BURIAL OF KOJO (Blitz Bazawule)
16. BAIT (Mark Jenkin)
17. TOO LATE TO DIE YOUNG (Dominga Sotomayor Castillo)
18. BACURAU (Kleber Mendonça Filho/Juliano Dornelles)
19. HIGH LIFE (Claire Denis)
20. BOOKSMART (Olivia Wilde)
Honorable mentions:
CORPUS CHRISTI (Jan Komasa)
WOMAN AT WAR (Benedikt Erlingsson)
THE TWO POPES (Fernando Meirelles)
US (Jordan Peele)
2018
1. ROMA (Alfonso Cuáron)
2. THE RIDER (Chloe Zhao)
3. SHOPLIFTERS (Hirokazu Koreeda)
4. FIRST REFORMED (Paul Schrader)
5. MADELINE’S MADELINE (Josephine Decker)
6. HAPPY AS LAZZARO (Alice Rohrwacher)
7. BORDER (Ali Abbasi)
8. THE FAVOURITE (Yorgos Lanthimos)
9. FIRST MAN (Damien Chazelle)
10. DOGMAN (Matteo Garrone)
11. BURNING (Chang Dong-lee)
12. ZAMA (Lucrecia Martel)
13. LET THE SUNSHINE IN (Claire Denis)
14. EIGHTH GRADE (Bo Burnham)
15. COLD WAR (Pawel Pawlikowski)
16. CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? (Marielle Heller)
17. LEAVE NO TRACE (Debra Granik)
18. WE THE ANIMALS (Jermiah Zagar)
19. CAPERNAUM (Nadine Labaki)
20. I AM NOT A WITCH (Rungano Nyoni)
Honorable mentions:
WIDOWS (Steve McQueen)
THE WILD PEAR TREE (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
THE OLD MAN & THE GUN (David Lowery)
AN ELEPHANT SITTING STILL (Hu Bo)
2017
1. LADYBIRD (Greta Gerwig)
2. A GHOST STORY (David Lowery)
3. PHANTOM THREAD (Paul Thomas Anderson)
4. THE SHAPE OF WATER (Guillermo Del Toro)
5. DUNKIRK (Christopher Nolan)
6. THE FLORIDA PROJECT (Sean Baker)
7. CALL ME BY YOUR NAME (Luca Guadagnino)
8. LADY MACBETH (William Oldroyd)
9. THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI (Martin McDonagh)
10. THE DEATH OF LOUIS XIV (Albert Serra)
11. GRADUATION (Cristi Piui)
12. ENDLESS POETRY (Alejandro Jodorowsky)
13. ON THE BEACH AT NIGHT ALONE (Hong Sang-soo)
14. THE DISASTER ARTIST (James Franco)
15. THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE (Aki Kaurismaki)
16. LOVELESS (Andrey Zvyagintsev)
17. THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER (Yorgos Lanthimos)
18. MUDBOUND (Dee Rees)
19. THE HAPPIEST DAY IN THE LIFE OF OLLI MAKI (Juho Kuosmanen)
20. BLADE RUNNER 2049 (Denis Villeneuve)
Honorable mentions:
IT COMES AT NIGHT (Trey Edward Shuts)
HOUNDS OF LOVE (Ben Young)
I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO (Raoul Peck)
A QUIET PASSION (Terence Davies)
2016
1. TONI ERDMANN (Maren Ade)
2. PATERSON (Jim Jarmusch)
3. AQUARIUS (Kleber Mendonça Filho)
4. ELLE (Paul Verhoeven)
5. CERTAIN WOMEN (Kelly Reichardt)
6. I, DANIEL BLAKE (Ken Loach)
7. HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE (Taika Waititi)
8. LAND AND SHADE (Cesar Augusto Acevedo)
9. INDIGNATION (James Schamus)
10. MANCHESTER BY THE SEA (Kenneth Lonergan)
11. MOONLIGHT (Barry Jenkins)
12. THE SALESMAN (Asghar Farhadi)
13. KRISHA (Trey Edward Schults)
14. HELL OR HIGH WATER (David Mackenzie)
15. OUR LITTLE SISTER (Hirokazu Koreeda)
16. IXCANUL (Jayro Bustamante)
17. THINGS TO COME (Mia Hansen-Love)
18. LITTLE MEN (Ira Sachs)
19. ARRIVAL (Denis Villeneuve)
20. THE HANDMAIDEN (Park Chan-wook)
Honorable mentions:
EVERYBODY WANTS SOME (Richard Linklater)
LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP (Whit Stillman)
2015
1. 45 YEARS (Andrew Haigh)
2. SPOTLIGHT (Tom McCarthy)
3. THE REVENANT (Alejandro Iñarritu)
4. AFERIM! (Radu Jude)
5. TU DORS NICOLE (Stephane Lafleur)
6. TAXI (Jafar Panahi)
7. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (George Miller)
8. TANGERINE (Sean Baker)
9. BROOKLYN (John Crowley)
10. QUEEN OF EARTH (Alex Ross Perry)
11. ROOM (Lenny Abrahamson)
12. HORSE MONEY (Pedro Costa)
13. EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT (Ciro Guerra)
14. CAROL (Todd Haynes)
15. PHOENIX (Christian Petzold)
16. 99 HOMES (Ramin Bahrani)
17. BRIDGE OF SPIES (Steven Spielberg)
18. THE END OF THE TOUR (James Ponsoldt)
19. EX MACHINA (Alex Garland)
20. THE BIG SHORT (Adam McKay)
Honorable mentions:
THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL (Marielle Heller)
LOVE AND MERCY (Bill Polhad)
ANOMALISA (Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson)
ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL (Alfonso Gomez-Rejon)
THE FORBIDDEN ROOM (Guy Maddin)
2014
1. BOYHOOD (Richard Linklater)
2. UNDER THE SKIN (Jonathan Glazer)
3. WINTER SLEEP (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
4. IDA (Pawel Pawlikowski)
5. LEVIATHAN (Andrey Zvyagintsev)
6. STRAY DOGS (Tsai Ming Liang)
7. WHIPLASH (Damien Chazelle)
8. MR. TURNER (Mike Leigh)
9. LOVE IS STRANGE (Ira Sachs)
10. FOXCATCHER (Bennett Miller)
11. GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (Wes Anderson)
12. BIRDMAN (Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu)
13. NIGHTCRAWLER (Dan Gilroy)
14. WILD (Jean Marc-Valleé)
15. TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT (Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne)
16. THE DANCE OF REALITY (Alejandro Jodorowsky)
17. STAND CLEAR OF THE CLOSING DOORS (Sam Fleischner)
18. SELMA (Ava DuVernay)
19. SNOWPIERCER (Joon Ho-Bong)
20. TIMBUKTU (Abderrahmane Sissako)
Honorable mentions:
CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA (Olivier Assayas)
A MOST VIOLENT YEAR (J.C. Chandor)
THE MISSING PICTURE (Rithy Panh)
JACK STRONG (Wladyslaw Pasikowski)
GONE GIRL (David Fincher)
2013
1. THE GREAT BEAUTY (Paolo Sorrentino)
2. NEBRASKA (Alexander Payne)
3. INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS (Coen Brothers)
4. BEFORE MIDNIGHT (Richard Linklater)
5. 12 YEARS A SLAVE (Steve McQueen)
6. FRUITVALE STATION (Ryan Coogler)
7. BLACKFISH (Gabriela Cowperthwaite)
8. SHORT TERM 12 (Destin Daniel Cretton)
9. GRAVITY (Alfonso Cuaron)
10. BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR (Abdel Kechiche)
11. ILO ILO (Anthony Chen)
12. A TOUCH OF SIN (Jia Zhang-ke)
13. CHILD'S POSE (Calin Peter Netzer)
14. HER (Spike Jonze)
15. THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (Martin Scorsese)
16. DALLAS BUYERS CLUB (Jean Marc-Valleé)
17. ALL IS LOST (J.C. Chandor)
18. LET THE FIRE BURN (Jason Osder)
19. A FIELD IN ENGLAND (Ben Wheatley)
20. GLORIA (Sebastian Lelio)
Honorable Mentions:
BLUE RUIN (Jeremy Saulnier)
ENEMY (Dennis Villeneuve)
STILL LIFE (Uberto Pasolini)
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON (Hirokazu Koreeda)
2012
1. AMOUR (Michael Haneke)
2. BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (Benh Zeitlin)
3. ZERO DARK THIRTY (Kathryn Bigelow)
4. THE MASTER (Paul Thomas Anderson)
5. SOUTHWEST (Eduardo Nunes)
6. ARGO (Ben Affleck)
7. LORE (Cate Shortland)
8. THE HUNT (Thomas Vinterberg)
9. AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY (Alison Klayman)
10. SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN (Malik Bendjelloul)
11. LIFE OF PI (Ang Lee)
12. THE SIGHTSEERS (Ben Wheatley)
13. OUR CHILDREN (Joachim Lafosse)
14. STORIES WE TELL (Sarah Polley)
15. DJANGO UNCHAINED (Quentin Tarantino)
16. SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (David O. Russell)
17. UPSTREAM COLOR (Shane Carruth)
18. NIGHT ACROSS THE STREET (Raoul Ruiz)
19. LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE (Abbas Kiarostami)
20. NEIGHBORING SOUNDS (Kleber Mendonça Filho)
Honorable Mentions:
NO (Pablo Larraín)
PORFIRIO (Alejandro Landes)
REALITY (Matteo Garrone)
LINCOLN (Steven Spielberg)
TABU (Miguel Gomes)
THE FIFTH SEASON (Peter Brosens, Jessica Woodworth)
2011
1. A SEPARATION (Asghar Farhadi)
2. THE TREE OF LIFE (Terrence Malick)
3. ELENA (Andrey Zvyagintsev)
4. THE TURIN HORSE (Bela Tarr)
5. THE KID WITH A BIKE (Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne)
6. I WISH (Hirokazu Koreeda)
7. SHAME (Steve McQueen)
8. BLOOD OF MY BLOOD (João Botelho)
9. MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE (Sean Durkin)
10. THE DAY HE ARRIVES (Hong Sang-soo)
11. ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
12. A SIMPLE LIFE (Ann Hui)
13. PLAY (Ruben Ostlund)
14. MICHAEL (Markus Schleinzer)
15. OSLO 31 AUGUST (Joachim Trier)
16. HARA-KIRI: DEATH OF A SAMURAI (Takashi Miike)
17. INTO THE ABYSS (Werner Herzog)
18. WEEKEND (Andrew Haigh)
19. THIS IS NOT A FILM (Jafar Panahi)
20. LE HAVRE (Aki Kaurismaki)
Honorable Mentions:
THE ARTIST (Michel Hazanavicius)
HOUSE OF TOLERANCE (Bertrand Bonello)
MELANCHOLIA (Lars Von Trier)
DRIVE (Nicolas Winding Refn)
THE GUARD (John Michael McDonagh)
HEADHUNTERS (Martin Tyldum)