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Sight & Sound’s Best Film of 2011 Goes To ‘The Tree of Life’

It is almost December, which means the onslaught of year-end lists have begun. I’ve already posted a list of our favourite horror films/thrillers of 2011 as well as our favourite documentaries. I’ll be posting a list of the best soundtracks and scores later this week. For now, I turn the spotlight to Sight & Sound magazine’s annual critics’ poll, who have revealed their top ten list, which comes from 100 different critics, who all submitted their personal top five. Its 100 contributors range from writers on their staff as well as others including Peter Bradshaw and Armond White. Topping the list, with no surprise, is Terrence Malick‘s The Tree of Life, which editor Nick James reports won by a landslide. Its runner-up, Asghar Farhadi‘s A Separation received only half as many votes. We will be posting our own list sometime between Christmas and New Years. Our lists are always interesting and tend to lean more towards genre films, and I promise that you are sure to find some unusual recommendations. So be sure to visit our site throughout the month of December. Here are the films chosen by Sight & Sound. I would safely recommend any of the films myself. It’s nice to know that although we are an independent online film magazine, we somehow manage to stay ahead of the curve. We were among the first to list such films as Let The Right One In, The Hurt Locker and Dogtooth a year before any other site. This year I take pride in knowing that we included Michelangelo Frammartino’s Le Quattro Volte one year ahead of the venerable British mag.

 

1. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)

2. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)

3. The Kid With a Bike (Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne)

4. Melancholia (Lars von Trier)

5. The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius)

(tie) 6. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)

(tie) 6. The Turin Horse (Béla Tarr)

8. We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay)

9. Le Quattro Volte (Michelangelo Frammartino)

(tie) 10. This Is Not a Film (Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmash)

(tie) 10. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredson)

 

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