Cinema Scope: Top Ten Films of 2011

1. This is Not a Film – Jafar Panahi & Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
2. The Turin Horse – Béla Tarr
3. House of Pleasures [L'Apollonide: Souvenirs de la maison close] [House of Tolerance] – Bertrand Bonello
4. Dreileben – Christian Petzold, Dominik Graf, Christoph Hochhäuser
5. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia – Nuri Bilge Ceylan
6. The Tree of Life – Terrence Malick
7. Kill List – Ben Wheatley
8. It’s the Earth Not the Moon – Gonçalo Tocha
9. Sleeping Sickness – Ulrich Köhler
10. The Kid with a Bike [Le gamin au vélo] – Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne

Special Mentions

• 4:44 Last Day on Earth – Abel Ferrara
• The Color Wheel – Alex Ross Perry
• Drive – Nicolas Winding Refn
• Outside Satan [Hors Satan] – Bruno Dumont
• Take Shelter – Jeff Nichols
• Margaret – Kenneth Lonergan
• Policeman – Nadav Lapid
• Target – Alexander Zeldovich
• Two Years at Sea – Ben Rivers

Dennis Harvey: Favorite Films of 2011 [as published by San Francisco Bay Guardian], alphabetically

Documentaries

• American Teacher – Vanessa Roth & Brian McGinn
• The Arbor – Clio Barnard
• Buck – Ciny Meehl
• The Last Lions – Dereck Joubert
• My Perestroika – Robin Hessman [pictured]
• Nostalgia for the Light – Patricio Guzmán
• Pianomania – Robert Cibis & Lilian Franck
• Pina – Wim Wenders
• Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure – Matthew Bate
• Vigilante Vigilante: The Battle for Expression – Max Good
• We Were Here – David Weissman & Bill Weber)

Narrative Features

• The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius
• Ceremony – Max Winkler
• Certified Copy – Abbas Kiarostami
• The Descendants – Alexander Payne
• Drive – Nicolas Winding Refn
• Happy, Happy – Anne Sewitsky
• Hugo – Martin Scorsese
• I’m Glad My Mother Is Alive – Claude Miller & Nathan Miller
• Incendies – Denis Villeneuve
• Machotaildrop – Corey Adams & Alex Craig
• The Mill and the Cross – Lech Majewski
• The Names of Love – Michel Leclerc
• Oka! – Lavinia Currier
• Rango – Gore Verbinski
• A Separation – Asghar Farhadi
• The Strange Case of Angelica – Manoel de Oliveira
• Tucker and Dale vs. Evil – Eli Craig
• Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives – Apichatpong Weerasethakul
• Weekend – Andrew Haigh
• Young Adult – Jason Reitman

Sean Burns: Top 10 Films of 2011 [as published by Philadelphia Weekly]

1. Drive – Nicolas Winding Refn
2. Hugo – Martin Scorsese
3. Carnage – Roman Polanski
4. Melancholia – Lars von Trier
5. Meek’s Cutoff – Kelly Reichardt
6. Shame – Steve McQueen
7. Certified Copy – Abbas Kiarostami
8. Martha Marcy May Marlene – Sean Durkin
9. We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lynne Ramsay
10. Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen

Matt Prigge: Top Ten Films of 2011 [as published by Philadelphia Weekly] [more commentary]

1. House of Pleasures (aka House of Tolerance) – Bertrand Bonello
2. Margaret – Kenneth Lonergan
3. A Separation – Asghar Farhadi
4. Drive – Nicolas Winding Refn
5. The Tree of Life – Terrence Malick
6. Certified Copy – Abbas Kiarostami
7. Rubber – Quentin Dupleux
8. Martha Marcy May Marlene – Sean Durkin
9. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives – Apichatpong Weerasethakul
10. Tuesday, After Christmas – Radu Muntean

Almost!

• Meek’s Cutoff – Kelly Reichardt
• Putty Hill – Matthew Porterfield
• The Arbor – Clio Barnard
• Hugo – Martin Scorsese
• Contagion – Steven Soderbergh
• The Future – Miranda July
• Cold Weather – Aaron Katz
• Bellflower – Evan Glodell
• Shit Year – Cam Archer
• maybe Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – Brad Bird

Empire: Top 20 Films of 2011 [by UK release date]

1. Drive – Nicolas Winding Refn
2. Senna – Asif Kapadia
3. The King’s Speech – Tom Hooper
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 – David Yates
5. The Artist – Michel Hazanivicius
6. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Tomas Alfredson
7. True Grit – Joel & Ethan Coen
8. Bridesmaids – Paul Feig
9. Rise of the Planet of the Apes – Rupert Wyatt
10. Black Swan – Darren Aronofsky
11. Blue Valentine – Derek Clanfrance
12. The Fighter – David O. Russell
13. Hanna – Joe Wright
14. We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lynne Ramsay
15. The Inbetweeners Movie – Ben Palmer
16. Super 8 – J.J. Abrams
17. Incendies – Denis Villeneuve
18. The Tree of Life – Terrence Malick
19. The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn – Steven Spielberg
20. Fast Five – Paul Lim

Reverse Shot: The 10 Best Films of 2011

1. The Tree of Life – Terrence Malick
2. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives – Apichatpong Weerasethakul
3. Certified Copy – Abbas Kiarostami
4. Nostalgia for the Light – Patricio Guzmán
5. Meek’s Cutoff – Kelly Reichardt
6. Mysteries of Lisbon – Raoul Ruiz
7. The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceauşescu – Andrei Ujica
8. Take Shelter – Jeff Nichols
9. The Arbor – Clio Barnard
10. Historias extraordinarias – Mariano Llinás

Les Inrockuptibles: 20 Best Films of 2011 [also: albums and songs]

1. House of Pleasures [L'Apollonide: Souvenirs de la maison close] [House of Tolerance] – Bertrand Bonello
2. The Strange Case of Angelica [L'Etrange Affaire Angélica]– Manoel de Oliveira
3. How Do You Know [Comment savoir] – James Brooks
4. The Skin I Live In [La pile que habito] – Pedro Almodóvar
5. Declaration of War [La guerre es déclarée] – Valérie Donzelli
6. Last Screening [Dernière séance] – Laurent Achard
7. Pater – Alain Cavalier
8. Super 8 – J.J. Abrams
9. Essential Killing – Jerzy Skolimowski
10. Midnight in Paris [Minuit à Paris] – Woody Allen
11. Melancholia – Lars von Trier
12. Attenberg – Athina Rachel Tsangari
13. Bridesmaids [Mes meilleures amies] – Paul Feig
14. The Tree of Life – Terrence Malick
15. Hahaha – Hong Sang-soo
16. The Beloved [Les bien-aimés] – Christophe Honoré
17. Black Swan – Darren Aronofsky
18. Sweetgrass – Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Ilisa Barbash
19. Le Havre – Aki Kaurismäki
20. We Have a Pope [Habemus papam] – Nanni Moretti
20. [tie] Outside Satan [Hors Satan] – Bruno Dumont

As we gather these year-end lists, we sometimes come across pieces that don’t fit neatly into our linear structure of “Best Whatnots of 2011.” Usually our scouring, list-seeking rover just moves on to listier terrain.

But sometimes we flag such entries for ourselves, and maybe we ought to share them from time to time. Here’s a gem. Please see Bang Bang, a compilation of short posts that look back at the movies and other enthusiasms of twenty-bang-bang, curated by noted cinephiles Ryland Walker Knight and Brian Darr.

J.R. Jones: 10 Best Films of 2011 [as published by The Chicago Reader]

Ben Sachs: 20 Best Films of 2011 [as published by The Chicago Reader] [more commentary]

1. Aurora – Cristi Puiu
2. Secret Sunshine – Lee Chang-dong
3. Film Socialisme – Jean-Luc Godard
4. Goodbye, First Love – Mia Hansen-Løve
5. Poetry – Lee Chang-dong
6. The Strange Case of Angelica – Manoel de Oliveira
7. Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame – Tsui Hark
8. Target – Alexander Zeldovich
9. 13 Assassins – Takashi Miike
10. And Everythign is Going Fine – Steven Soderbergh
11. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart – Johnnie To & Wai Ka-fai
12. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia – Nuri Bilge Ceylan
13. The Tree of Life – Terence Malick
14. Mysteries of Lisbon – Raoul Ruiz
15. The Skin I Live In – Pedro Almodóvar
16. Restoration – Joseph Madmony
17. Another Year – Mike Leigh
18. Ne Change Rien – Pedro Costa
19. Miss Bala – Gerardo Naranjo
20. The Turin Horse – Béla Tarr & Agnes Hranitzky