Sight & Sound Ten Best of 2010

Seasons Greetings, and as the mad rush of the holidays are now upon us, so are the end of the year film sweepstakes, which will start with a seemingly never-ending, perhaps exhilarating, sometimes highly irritating bang next week with the announcement of the National Board of Review winners.  I love this time of year; I hate this time of year-- mostly however I obsess upon it, ever hopeful.

Sight and Sound, the highbrow British film magazine that's been around since 1932 named it top ten (or specifically twelve) of 2010.  It's a master list consisting of 85 credited film critics including Amy Taubin (Film Comment) and Kenneth Turan (The Los Angeles Times).

1) The Social Network (David Fincher)
2) Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
3) Another Year (Mike Leigh)
4) Carlos (Olivier Assayas)
5) The Arbor (Clio Barnard)
6) Winter's Bone (Debra Granik)
(tie) I Am Love (Luca Guadagnino)
8) The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu (Andrei Ujica)
(tie) Film Socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard)
(tie) Nostalgia for the Light (Patricio Guzman)
(tie) Poetry (Lee Chang-dong)
(tie) A Prophet (Jacques Audiard)

• A nice coup for The Social Network, which holds the notable distinction of being Sight & Sound's first American film to top the list in five years; the last American film to do so was Brokeback Mountain (2005.)  Asides from David Fincher's Facebook movie, the others on the list with prominent Oscar chances are Another Year and Winter's Bone.   

• Uncle Boonme (rated second on the list) is Thailand's submission for the Academy Awards this year; the film previously won the top prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival; is it wrong that I hope the film gets in just for the awkward sight of watching a famous guy or gal mangle the filmmaker's name.

Tilda Swinton

• I hope I Am Love (a film I haven't written about, but hope to elaborate on soon) gets something, if not from the Academy, then from some cooler, less establishment film governing body-- the sumptuous look of the film, as well as Tilda Swinton's blistering performance (showcasing even more versatility from that strange, radiant, alien actress by fully being performed in Italian) are too grand to go unnoticed...of course I felt the same way about Swinton's last blistering turn, in last year's Julia, which got diddily-squat.

• Also notably, the fourth tied film for eight place was A Prophet, nominated last year for the foreign-language Oscar, which interesting was the number one choice on Sight and Sound's poll last year; which raises the question that plagues numerous foreign language and independent films: exactly what year do they belong too?  A Prophet was eligible for Academy Awards last year, however it's American release was in 2010, thus it's repeat on the list.  My head hurts thinking about these matters...I wish it didn't bother me so...