I’ve been avoiding making any year-end “Best of 2009″ list and have been waiting for the flood of other people’s lists to pass me by, but now, goaded by TSS co-founder and now-just-occasional contributor Jay Kerr, I’ve decided to draw attention to some of the best films I saw in 2009 in my own unique way. No simple Top Ten for me. No way. I’m far too afraid of getting the order wrong, and besides, I’m not a professional film critic. I don’t see most of the major releases. In fact, if I don’t want to see a certain film, I don’t see it. And if I see it and don’t feel like reviewing it, I don’t review it. So I’m not really qualified to come up with a comprehensive list. Instead, enjoy a whole bunch of non-ranked lists from my filmgoing experiences of 2009. Films marked with an * actually appeared on my 2008 list as well.
P.S. I also get confused as to which films are actually eligible for these lists. Some films I saw in 2009 haven’t been released theatrically yet, while others that were released theatrically I actually saw in 2008 or before. And sometimes things that come out in the US have different release dates in Canada, or vice versa. It makes my head hurt.
Favourite Documentary Films of 2009
- Afghan Star (review)
- The Age of Stupid (review)
- Big River Man (review)
- The Cove
- October Country (review)
- The September Issue (review)
- Sergio
- The Way We Get By
- Winnebago Man
Favourites from TIFF 2009
- Air Doll (review)
- Antichrist (review)
- Dogtooth (review)
- The Father of My Children (review)
- Hadewijch (review)
- Police, Adjective (review)
- A Prophet (review)
- The White Ribbon
Favourite Non-Festival Films from 2009
- (500) Days of Summer
- Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
- The Damned United
- District 9
- Fantastic Mr. Fox
- Humpday (review)
- The Hurt Locker (review)
- In The Loop (review)
- A Serious Man
Favourite Films from 2008 That Are Appearing on a Lot of 2009 Lists
- 24 City (review)
- Anvil! The Story of Anvil (review)*
- The Brothers Bloom (review)
- The Class (review)*
- Food Inc. (review)*
- Hunger (review)*
- Lorna’s Silence (review)*
- Pontypool
- Silent Light (review)
- Summer Hours (review)
Favourite Undistributed Films of 2009 (no known distribution in US or Canada)
- The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle
- I’m Glad My Mother is Alive
- October Country (review)
- Sergio
- Winnebago Man
Perhaps this next list is most important, because it tells you that I’m far from qualified to judge 2009’s best films when I haven’t seen many which are being considered for awards and are on other critics’ lists.
Biggest Omissions in My Filmgoing in 2009
- Avatar
- Bright Star
- An Education
- The Informant!
- Inglourious Basterds
- Moon
- Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
- Public Enemies
- The Road
- A Single Man
- Up in the Air
- Watchmen
- Where The Wild Things Are
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