The Best Films of 2011

As usual per the year in movies, I started off thinking this was the worst year ever. But, by the fall, I began to see an extraordinary collection of largely contemplative films that were, this year, in one way or another, pining for the past. Nostalgia is the dominant theme in 2011's movies: one could lump Midnight in Paris, The Tree of Life, The Artist, War Horse, Hugo, General Orders No. 9, and George Harrison: Living in the Material World all into a category wanting for bygone eras, presumably because the present is so trying. Also, the prevalence of end-of-the-world scenarios in films like Melancholia, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Another Earth, Contagion, Take Shelter and 4:44: Last Day on Earth is related to worldwide discord being felt by all. But I also found 2011's films also to be filled with a shining love of life, nature and humanity. It was a resolutely extraordinary year in film, and many of these in my top 25 will deserve to be studied again and again in the assured future. By the way, me and my esteemed MOVIE GEEKS UNITED cohorts Jamey Duvall and Jerry Dennis discuss our top ten of 2011 here on the 8 January 2012 podcast, so check it out if you desire more commentary and variety!

My top 25 films from 2011:

1) The Tree of Life (US, Terrence Malick)

2) Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Thailand, Apiachapong Weerasethakul)

3) Melancholia (Denmark, Lars Von Trier)

4) A Separation (Iran, Asghar Farhedi)

5) Moneyball (US, Bennett Miller)

6) The Artist (France, Michel Hazanavicius)

7) General Orders No. 9 (US, Robert Persons)

8) We Need to Talk About Kevin (UK, Lynne Ramsay)

9) Bridesmaids (US, Paul Feig)

10) Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (US, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky)

11) Tuesday, After Christmas (Romania, Radu Muntean)

12) Of Gods and Men (France, Xavier Beauvois)

13) George Harrison: Living in the Material World (US, Martin Scorsese)

14) Heartbeats (Les Amours Imaginaires) (Canada, Xavier Dolan) 

15) Pina (Germany, Wim Wenders)

16) A Little Help (US, Michael J. Weithorn)

17) The Future (US, Miranda July)

18) Contagion (US, Steven Soderburgh)

19) Silent Souls (Russia, Aleksei Fedorchenko) 

20) Buck (US, Cindy Meehl)

  21) Martha Marcy May Marlene (US, Sean Durkin)

22) Win Win (US, Tom McCarthy)

23) The Autobiography of Nicolai Ceausescu (Romania, Andrei Ujica)

24) The Devil’s Double (Belgium/Netherlands, Lee Tamahori)

25) Aurora (Romania, Christi Puiu)

OF NOTE: 50/50, Beginners, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Certified Copy, A Dangerous Method, The Descendants, Film Socialisme, The Guard, Hanna, The Help, The Interrupters, Into The Abyss, Jane Eyre, Meek’s Cutoff, Midnight in Paris, My Week With Marilyn, Pariah, Project Nim, Le Quattro Volte, Reagan, The Skin I Live In, Source Code, Successful Alcoholics, Take Shelter, The Trip, Tyrannosaur, War Horse, Warrior, Winnie The Pooh

BEST UNRELEASED MOVIES: 4:44: Last Day on Earth, Corman's World, Disabled but Able to Rock, Footnote, Goodbye First Love, Habemus Papum, The Kid with a Bike, Margaret, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Play, Sleeping Sickness

GUILTY PLEASURES: The Beaver, Crazy Stupid Love, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, The Muppets, Red State

OKAY, I GUESS: Captain America: The First Avenger, Carnage, Cold Weather, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Page One: Inside the New York Times, Paul, Rango, Texas Killing Fields, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Water for Elephants

OVERRATED: Cinema Verite, Drive, Hugo, The Ides of March, The Iron Lady, Margin Call, Shame, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Rampart, Too Big to Fail

WORST OF THE YEAR: Larry Crowne, We Can't Go Home Again, Chillerama, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, J. Edgar, Bad Teacher, Albert Nobbs, Super 8, Frankie and Alice, 30 Minutes or Less, Horrible Bosses, The Sunset Limited, The Conspirator, Our Idiot Brother, Conan O'Brien Can't Stop, Another Earth

NEED TO SEE: Attack the Block, Immortals, Mildred Pierce, Mysteries of Lisbon, Poetry, Senna, Submarine

FAVORITE NON-2011 FILMS I DISCOVERED THIS YEAR: On The Bowery (Lionel Rogosin, 57), "I Know Where I’m Going!" (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 45), K Street (Steven Soderburgh, 2003), Brewster McCloud (Robert Altman, 70), Encounters at the End of the World (Werner Herzog, 2007), A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson, 56), King of New York (Abel Ferrara, 90), The Constant Nymph (Edmund Goulding, 43), The Edge of Heaven (Fatih Akin, 2007), River of Grass (Kelly Reichardt, 94), Enter the Void (Gaspar Noe, 2009), High School (Frederick Wiseman, 68), Storytime (Terry Gilliam, 68)

Best Picture: The Tree of Life
Best Director: Terrence Malick -- The Tree of Life
Best Actor: Brad Pitt -- Moneyball and The Tree of Life
Best Actress: Kirsten Dunst - Melancholia
Best Supporting Actor: Jonah Hill -- Moneyball
Best Supporting Actress: Sareh Bayat -- A Separation
Best Original Screenplay: Asghar Farhedi -- A Separation
Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zallian-- Moneyball
Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki -- The Tree of Life
Best Production Design: Jack Fisk -- The Tree of Life
Best Costume Design: Rolf Borzik and Marion Cito -- Pina
Best Editing: Hank Corwin, Jay Rabinowitz, Daniel Rezende, Billy Weber, Mark Yoshikawa -- The Tree of Life
Best Sound: Akritchalerm Kalayanamitz -- Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Best Music Score: Ludovic Bource -- The Artist
Best Special Effects: The Tree of Life
Best Thriller: The Devil's Double
Best Comedy: Bridesmaids
Best Documentary: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Best Animation: Winnie The Pooh
Best Action Film: Source Code
Best Entertainment: The Artist
Most Promising New Director:  Aleksei Fedorchenko  -- Silent Souls
Most Promising Actor: Jean Dujardin -- The Artist
Most Promising Actress: Elizabeth Olsen -- Martha Marcy May Marlene
Most Underrated Films: Contagion and General Orders No. 9
Most Neglected Films: A Little Help, Silent Souls and Tuesday After Christmas
Best Re-Discovery: Birth (Jonathan Glazer, 2004)
Most Imaginative Film: The Tree of Life