Year-End Lists

IndieWire Poll: Top 50 Films of 2012 (as voted by 204 critics)

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2011]

1. Holy Motors
   Leos Carax
2. Zero Dark Thirty
   Kathryn Bigelow
3. The Master
   Paul Thomas Anderson
4. Amour
   Michael Haneke
5. Moonrise Kingdom
   Wes Anderson
6. This is Not a Film
   Jafar Panahi & Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
7. Beasts of the Southern Wild
   Benh Zeitlin
8. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
   Nuri Bilge Ceylan
9. Lincoln
   Steven Spielberg
10. The Turin Horse
    Béla Tarr & Agnes Hranitzky
11. Tabu
    Miguel Gomes
12. Argo
    Ben Affleck
13. The Deep Blue Sea
    Terence Davies
14. Oslo, August 31st
    Joachim Trier
15. Silver Linings Playbook
    David O. Russell
16. Django Unchained
    Quentin Tarantino
17. The Kid with a Bike
    Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
18. Cosmopolis
    David Cronenberg
19. Looper
    Rian Johnson
20. The Loneliest Planet
    Julia Loktev
21. Life of Pi
    Ang Lee
22. Killer Joe
    William Friedkin
23. Barbara
    Christian Petzold
24. Magic Mike
    Steven Soderbergh
25. Bernie
    Richard Linklater
26. Killing Them Softly
    Andrew Dominik
27. Cloud Atlas
    Lana & Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer
28. Elena
    Andrey Zvyagintsev
29. Compliance
    Craig Zobel
30. Wuthering Heights
    Andrea Arnold
31. Anna Karenina
    Joe Wright
32. The Imposter
    Bart Layton
33. The Raid: Redemption
    Gareth Evans
34. Almayer’s Folly
    Chantal Akerman
35. Neighboring Sounds
    Kleber Mendonça Filho
36. Skyfall
    Sam Mendes
37. The Cabin in the Woods
    Drew Goddard
38. How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS
    David France
39. Rust and Bone
    Jacques Audiard
40. It’s Such a Beautiful Day
    Don Hertzfeldt
41. Footnote
    Joseph Cedar
42. Goodbye First Love
    Mia Hansen-Løve
43. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
    Stephen Chbosky
44. Keep the Lights On
    Ira Sachs
45. Take This Waltz
    Sarah Polley
46. Room 237
    Rodney Ascher
47. Alps
    Yorgos Lanthimos
48. Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present
    Matthew Akers
49. The Gatekeepers
    Dror Moreh
50. Miss Bala
    Gerardo Naranjo