Sight & Sound's Top Films of 2011

The official release of the Sight & Sound poll for the top films of the year is yet to revealed, but the top ten (or in this case, eleven) are already available.  It's one of the most interesting polls of the year, because it's likely the broadest in terms of the most relevant films of any given year, given the amount of international critics that participate and an early signal of the critical trend in cinema of the year.

1- The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)
2- A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)
3- The Kid With the Bike (Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne)
4- Melancholia (Lars von Trier)
5- The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius)
6- Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Blige Ceylan)
-- The Turin Horse (Bella Tarr)
8- We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsey)
9- Le Quattro Volte (Michelangelo Frammartino)
10- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredson)
-- This is Not a Film (Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmash)

The Tree of Life, with its Palme D'Or and Gotham win already in play has a little more to celebrate.  Perhaps an obvious choice, but further proof that the critics will indeed go big (I strongly believe), however I'd love a little variety-- hopefully that will come as the NY Film Critics (who controversially moved up their voting) will come through when they announce shortly.  The rest is full of two pleasant and enriching films, two of my favorites of the year-- The Artist and Melancholia.  A Separation, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia and The Turin Horse all in contention for the Foreign Film race, and We Need to Talk About Kevin and Tinker Tailor Solider Spy will get limited release spots in the coming weeks.

Last year, Oscar bridesmaid, The Social Network topped the list and in a rare move, an American film is on top two years running.