Now for something completely different. We’re nothing if not completionists.
1. Habemus Papam (We Have a Pope), Nanni Moretti
2. L’Etrange affaire Angélica (The Strange Case of Angelica), Manoel de Oliveira
- The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick
4. Hors Satan (Outside Satan), Bruno Dumont
- Essential Killing, Jerzy Skolimowski
6. Melancholia, Lars von Trier
- Un été brûlant (A Burning Hot Summer), Philippe Garrel
8. Super 8, JJ Abrams
- L’Apollonide (Souvenirs de la maison close) (House of Tolerance), Bertrand Bonello
- Meek’s Cutoff, Kelly Reichardt
For perspective and comparison’s sake, Cahiers’ Top Ten of 2010, after the cut.
- Lung Boonmee Raluek Chat (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
- Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (Werner Herzog)
- Film Socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard)
- Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich)
- Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson)
- A Serious Man (Ethan & Joel Coen)
- Morrer Como Um Homem (Joao Pedro Rodrigues)
- The Social Network (David Fincher)
- Shuga (Darezhan Omirbaev)
- Mother (Joon-ho Bong)
At last some ranatoility in our little debate.
Jeremie, you forgot Rohmer!
I’ve just finished the Six Moral Tales. They were probably my filmic highlight of 2011.
Cahiers have always been a bunch of elite snob filmmaker wannabees.
You mean like Truffaut, Rivette, Godard, Chabrol, Téchiné, Léos Carax or Assayas?
Oh those people who can’t help themselves to say some BS without having a clue about what they’re talking about…
Cahiers have always been a bunch of elite snob filmmaker wannabees. The intelectual take on film, even more pretentious than the films they celebrate.
But that’s my opinion, feel free to defend these guys. They just started a spanish edition of their magazine, which I’m happy to skip.
Love that list. I’d swap Habemus Papam and Un été brulant (I think Garrel and Moretti did better previously, was slightly disappointed by both) with A Separation, Snowtown, Le Quattro Volte, Wuthering Heights or Into the abyss, but my top 15 of this year will probably look like this. I still have to see Shame, Hugo, Take Shelter a few more.
And I feel sad for everybody who thinks that Super 8 is a failure. I wish I could be bothered to translate the wonderful article Les cahiers wrote about it, but it’d probably be wasted on anybody who didn’t appreciate it anyway. (Also by the way, this list might seem surprising for those unfamiliar with Les Cahiers, but I can assure you it really isn’t for the true cinephiles who’ve been following them for years and know about their tastes and politics).
Un ete brulant?!!!
That movie is CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!
And tying with Melancholia?! That’s like saying, “For fifth place, we couldn’t choose between Lost in Translation or From Justin to Kelly, so we put both.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoTR8sBGfyY
A present for you, Tero 😛 😉
Plus, here’s a little list of fantastic genre movie that are better than Super 8, this year: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows, The Adventures of Tintin, Melancholia, Another Earth, THOR (yes, Thor), Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Attack The Block, Paul, Contagion, Captain America: The First Avenger, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, Source Code, Troll Hunter, The Adjustment Bureau & In Time
FAIR ENOUGH?
Tero, Super 8 is a shameless Goonies vs. Aliens. Attack the Block is proof enough to point out how bland it resulted.
HP8 is the adaptation of a book, in exchange, and has plenty of cinematic moments (Snape’s memories, Longbottom’s final hit, well, actually the whole battle for Hogwarths).
Next time you INSULT (I thought there were rules for that in this site, Ryan), bear in mind this: Super 8 is a failure. A big one. It’s still a good film, of course, but in no way, even good art. And that’s coming from one who loves Abrams’ take on Star Trek, but Super 8 is just a mix of appealing factors with little sense. It’s a movie designed to be another Spielberg clone, and it’s nothing more than that. That ending was particularly embarrassing, desperately trying to be a “letting go” metaphore which obviously is the theme of the movie, but it’s just too lost among visual effects and an underdeveloped screenplay based upon nostalgia, to make you actually CARE for the characters.
And how can you consider me a troll? Come on, it seems that Metacritic, IMDB and RT are full of trolls also, that decided HP is better than Super 8?
So, SHUT UP, Tero and focus on what I was talking about. Habemus Papam at #1, is a pretty good pick.
I haven’t seen the French films. Are they available with English subtitling? My French has gone rusty to say the least in the last few years.
Boy, oh Boy, I love that they put Super 8 on their top ten – also Meek’s Cutoff . Even if there is 99,9% to that not happen, I will fight for this movie on the election of my film critics association in December 20th.
Happy to see Outside Satan get a little recognition – the movie was unsettling in a way that few films are, including von Trier’s. Also, I enjoyed Meek’s Cutoff a lot more than most viewers did. I think that the visual style of the film both eluded and bothered some people – the way Kelly Reichardt never let us see things head on, put up small obstacles and so forth. But the film was essentially about that, so it worked marvelously. Oh well.
Maybe one day Nanni Moretti’s movies will actually be distributed in the US…
There is a big difference between commenting on something “Hmm, I don’t agree with this list” and freaking out “WTF??? SUPER 8 IS ON THE LIST? OH NO!”
It’s a top ten list. I just don’t see how it’s worth flipping out over. It’s interesting to see what other people think is their top ten movies of the year. The list could have Transformers 3 on it, I’m still not gonna lose any sleep over it.
The worst is people complaining about the lack of a movie appearing on a list that is by someone they don’t know! C’mon!
Please don’t give me the “it’s a comments section” nonsense. I’ve been an AD reader for about seven years now and for the most part there is some pretty good discussion going on in the comments sections of the articles. But lately, I’ve just noticed way too many overreactions to the most trivial things. I know it’s only going to get worse as we get closer to the Oscars so I’m just trying to brace myself.
I mean yeah Super 8 is a very derivative movie, but I don’t think it’s completely unreasonable for anyone to like it. Anyway, I’m sorry if I sounded like a douche.
They’re typically cray but whatever. Didn’t they put War of the Worlds on the best of the last decade? At least it’s…honest.
This list should be titled “High Expectation Movies from the Summer”
I liked Super 8, I liked Tree of Life.
I want more than “liked” though.
@Ken I don’t think anyone was particularly harsh but this is a comment section, meaning comment on the posted article. No one said they had to agree with us. I quite liked Super 8 but the idea that it makes a top ten list from people who’ve had access to all the movies I haven’t is kinda bad news to me. I’d hope there are at least 20 movies better than it this year, even if I think it’s pretty good. I’ve seen a measly 26 movies this year and it’s my 16th favorite. lol
I got chewed out recently for criticizing a trailer that was posted on this site. I don’t understand that. Why post it if we’re not supposed to comment on it? By the same token, if I see something I like then I’ll praise it. I thought that was the whole point of commenting. It’d be really boring if we all lined up to comment on every article “I read it.” 🙂
Jesus Alonso.
Super 8 is at least 4 times better than HP8 can even hope to be. So, shut up, troll!
I, too, shall criticize this list because it may or may not contain a film I disliked.
Everyone must share the same opinions as me!
I swear the AD comments section have become more and more insufferable over the last year or so. Ryan, Sasha, still love you guys.
Thank God. I was looking at the original list like WTF? With this new list I’m still like wtf? but it’s not as confounding now that Tree of Life has jumped all the way to the number 2 spot.
SUPER 8???? WTF that thing sucked.
Super 8 being on that list explains the whole Jerry Lewis thing. The French just aren’t as fancy as we give them credit for.
One of these things is not like the other…
Could it be “Super 8”?
This list is not correct. You’ve only put the movies in the order they appear in the cover, but that’s not the real placement. They have a lot of ties.
Cahiers du Cinéma’s Top Ten list for 2011
1. Habemus Papam (We Have a Pope), Nanni Moretti
2. L’Etrange affaire Angélica (The Strange Case of Angelica), Manoel de Oliveira
The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick
4. Hors Satan (Outside Satan), Bruno Dumont
Essential Killing, Jerzy Skolimowski
6. Melancholia, Lars von Trier
Un été brûlant (A Burning Hot Summer), Philippe Garrel
8. Super 8, JJ Abrams
L’Apollonide (Souvenirs de la maison close) (House of Tolerance), Bertrand Bonello
Meek’s Cutoff, Kelly Reichardt
cal roth,
Thanks. Didn’t realize.
I’ll adjust the post accordingly.
Lol, Cahiers.
All the kuddos I was going to add for watching “Habemus Papam” at #2 (it’s #3 on my list, so far) are drowned for the inclusion of the just really good Super 8 which wins another extra points for the most embarrassangly overrated film of the year. I mean, Super 8, better than Attack the Block or Harry Potter or Tintin? What did they smoke and why they didn’t share it, hahaha 😉
Ryan:
#1 is a Portuguese movie, O ESTRANHO CASO DE ANGÉLICA, by Manoel de Oliveira.
Love the inclusion of Super 8! One of my favorites this year along with Hugo, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. X-Men: First Class and Drive! 🙂
I like the list, even though I haven’t seen the French movies. However, it’s nice to see Super 8 and Meek’s Cutoff recognized. They’re among my favorite movies of the year, yet nobody mentions them…
Didn’t A Burning Hot Summer get absolutely panned? Is this some kind of loyalty thing to Philippe Garrel?
LOL Super 8.
thank you for sharing ryan…. you guys sure make it easy to keep up this time of year! thank you!
Here’s a fantastic resource.
All Cahiers’ Top 10 lists dating back to 1951
Cahiers du Cinéma
Habemus Papam is just not a very good film. The idea behind it is a good one, but the overall execution lacks the usual finesse of Nanni Moretti.
The inclusion of Meek’s Cutoff and Super 8 should make the AMPAS take notice, though. There ARE worthy candidates outside the november/december release calendar…!
Melancholia sure rules the critics’ list this year. It’s basically everywhere, isn’t it?
I finally caught up with The Strange Case of Angelica the other night, and while very good, certainly not the best of the year.
This Cahiers list is as obnoxious as it usually is in recent years, but at least they decided to pull their heads out of IT Eastwood’s ass time.
Oh, who am I kidding? They probably haven’t seen J. Edgar yet and it will be on their 2012 list.
it’s a darling list. goofy as always.
Oh. My. God.
Usually their lists are pretty good but this is garbage. I have seen half of these and I disliked 4!
Super 8 came and went like a ghost. Wasn’t there buzz for Dakota Fanning’s sister at one point?
Felicitations a tous les films. However, I am questioning the credibility of that list because of the inclusion of un ete brulant. It looks like they are trying to raise of profiles of french movies released this year and not necessarily awarding the best. Won’t be the first now would it? *shrugs* Felicitations regardless.
Yeah, these people watch everything.
This is the kind of list I like. It’s futile to accuse Cahiers of being snobbish about their choices, because their respect for popular American filmmaking is clear – as clear as their respect for international arthouse filmmaking. You get the feeling that they’ve seen every available choice and made an honest decision, rather than watching only what they think might most appeal to them and making a tactical decision (in other words, what AMPAS does year after year).
Super 8? Really? Is it that French people don’t get to see American movies like Americans don’t get to see French movies? Is that why that made it?
Has there ever been a DAY when nothing was posted? That’s the reason people keep coming back. 1-10 posts a day or so.
Man, did they love Super 8. I did, too – it was one of the best Summer movies.
Where’s Harry Potter? No, seriously. It’s great that you post all kinds of lists, even if they are from artier groups like this.
it’s Awards DAILY, goddammit.
over the course 365 days, I think we’ve got room to respect the roots of modern film theory and criticism.
I am so glad that Cahiers is still around and that they are still bringing attention to obscure foreign films.