#1 – Black Swan Directed by Darren Aronofsky Darren Aronofsky does not have a medium setting. However one might feel about any of this films – from the agitated anti-drug parable Requiem for a Dream to the time-bending metaphysical sci-fi mini-epic The Fountain to working-man’s tragedy The Wrestler – it’s difficult to argue that he …
It’s always tricky for the Sound On Sight staff to choose their favourite films each year. Since we have contributors across the globe and because many movies have different release dates in various countries, their is always a few movies that not everyone on our team has the opportunity to watch. These films have a …
La Quattro Volte Directed by Michelangelo Frammartino The academic film magazine Sight & Sound has for recent years been charting the emergence of a so called ‘slow’ cinema on the world stage, a type of cinema exemplified by the likes of Bruno Dumont, Bela Tarr or Carlos Reygadas, a strand of film-making where the emphasis …
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul Though often difficult to decipher, the quiet pace and gentle touch of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s newest film, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, makes for a spiritual and meditative film experience like no other. The film is largely deceptive, and it is …
Splice Directed by Vincenzo Natali From the director of Cube comes a film about the terrors of messing with science. Adrian Brody and Sarah Polley star as two scientists who combine human and animal DNA in order to create a new being. However, the result is more than they bargained for. It looks to be …
Castaway On The Moon Directed by Hae-jun Lee Being as it is a deserted island picture, you would think Castaway On The Moon would seem derivative of previous work – and while picking up on some influences from Robert Zemeckis’ Cast Away and Pen-ek Ratanaruang’s Last Life in the Universe, Castaway On The Moon offers …
Greenberg Directed by Noah Baumbach Noah Baumbach has made another movie ostensibly about sad white people, but what he shows us is just plain human. It’s about how we change, or don’t, when the world changes around us. It’s about how we react to tenderness, and how we perceive, or don’t perceive, ourselves in those moments. Roger and …
Dogtooth Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos It’s important to note that Dogtooth entered on our top ten list in 2009 at number 3. We have contributors across the globe and since movies are released at different times (sometimes different years) not everyone had a chance to see the film last year. It is somewhat amazing Dogtooth …
Winter’s Bone Directed by Debra Granik A critical darling since its Sundance debut, Debra Granik’s second feature (following the touching drug-addiction drama Down to the Bone) cements her, along with Kelly Reichardt and Andrea Arnold, as one of the most skilled female directors of the new century. Winter’s Bone is a genuine triumph, a great …
Rabbit Hole Directed by John Cameron Mitchell Making a major change of pace, director John Cameron Mitchell shifts away from profiling the eccentric characters that populated Hedwig & The Angry Inch and Shortbus with Rabbit Hole, and delivers an emotionally powerful film about a couple dealing with the death of their young son. Mitchell is …
Monsters Directed by Gareth Edwards Monsters has already been pigeonholed as this year’s District 9, a somewhat lazy comparison as although they share similar aesthetics, the film is far more of a companion piece to Duncan Jones’s similarly acclaimed Moon from last year. Whilst District 9 was a solid, entertaining example of genre engineering despite …
Inception Directed by Christopher Nolan Many will question Nolan’s need for having quite so many rules and restrictions for the film’s version of the subconscious, and by extension the film’s occasionally tiresome opening stretch. While Nolan’s screenplay (his first since Memento) could certainly use some streamlining in that regard, and some of the plot mechanics …
The Social Network Directed by David Fincher The comparisons to Citizen Kane and other similar “rise to the top” filmic narratives are not entirely unwarranted, at least on a thematic level Fincher’s film seems to be a natural progression of their ideas brought into the computer age. How the film departs from these original models …
Before we move on to the top three films of the year, I thought we should list off a few honorable mentions. The following films appeared on some of the top 10 lists from our staff, but didn’t receive enough points to make the final cut. 1- Carnancho 2- Certified Copy 3- Gasland 4- The …
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Directed by Edgar Wright Edgar Wright’s wildly innovative film adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s series of graphic novels should more than satisfy fanboys while engaging adventurous newcomers. Wright does a terrific job establishing and adhering to the tone of the book while providing a faithful adaptation of O’Malley’s six-part series. …
In Orson Welles’ sleight-of-hand manifesto F for Fake, the notoriously puckish writer-director took on the notion of “expertise” – ostensibly in the world of high-class art, but really as a general concept, as a way of subtly lashing out at his detractors, as well as repositioning the very concept of moviemaking as a kind of …
Black Swan Directed by Darren Aronofsky Written by Darren Aronofsky 2010, USA Darren Aronofsky does not have a medium setting. However one might feel about any of this films – from the agitated anti-drug parable Requiem for a Dream to the time-bending metaphysical sci-fi mini-epic The Fountain to working-man’s tragedy The Wrestler – it’s difficult …
Marwencol Directed by Jeff Malmberg One of the more downright inspirational films here is Marwencol, the story of accidental artist Mark Hogencamp. After being targeted and beaten outside of a club one night, Hogencamp came out of a coma with severe physical and mental damage. His personal attempt at recuperation was to construct a 1/6th …
Let Me In Directed by Matt Reeves Based on the best-selling Swedish novel “Let The Right One In” by John Ajvide Lindqvist, and the highly-acclaimed film of the same name, Let Me In is a haunting, provocative thriller and in many ways is better than the original. While originally pegged as their own vision of …
Valhalla Rising Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn Nicolas Winding Refn, who made the underrated Bronson in England and the striking Pusher series in Denmark creates a brutal, yet thoughtful, re-envisioning of the Viking saga. This Malick/Jodorowsky hybrid is one of the best looking films in recent memory. It’s breathtaking digital photography across the bleak and …
Incendies Directed by Denis Villeneuve Canada’s submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category for this year’s Academy Awards comes in the shape of a rather atypical piece of Quebecois cinema – a mostly Arabic language war drama. Originating as a coup de foudre that director Denis Villeneuve had for Wadji Mouawad’s play of the …
Wild Hunt Directed by Alexandre Franchi It’s been a great year for Canadian cinema, and The Wild Hunt is one of the best and strangest of the year. Social decay, crippling urbanism and rampant narcissism are ideas explored through LARPING (Live Action Role Playing for those of you not in the know). Wickedly funny, the …
A Serbian Film Directed by Srdjan Spasojevic Srpski Film (A Serbian Film) may just be the most controversial and disturbing movie ever made. The film that pivots around a scene of self-styled “newborn porn” was pulled from the schedule of London’s FrightFest film festival after Westminster council ruled it could not be shown in its …