Film 2010: Top Tens

No single film emerged as a runaway favorite in SF360.org's survey of critics, exhibitors, cinephiles and filmmakers. Instead, the lists below reflect the diversity of opinion that characterizes the region. Surprised? Last I checked, we still have no idea who will emerge as the next mayor of San Francisco. We suggest you relax and enjoy this chaotic collection of well-loved films. Don't forget to look elsewhere in this year-end package for Bay Area best lists, memorable moments and thoughts on the film trends of 2010. As always, we welcome your own Top 10s in the comments section below.

(Films are from the U.S. unless otherwise stated and listed in no particular (or alphabetical) order unless numbered. Many films may not have yet been released for long runs in the Bay Area but have been seen in other cities or have played in one-off events or festivals.)

Cheryl Eddy, Senior Editor Arts and Entertainment, SF Bay Guardian
Winter's Bone (Debra Granik)
Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, UK/Netherlands)
Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky)
The Social Network (David Fincher)
True Grit (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)
The Two Escobars (Jeff and Michael Zimbalist, Colombia/USA)
The Tillman Story (Amir Bar-Lev)
The Ghost Writer (Roman Polanski, France/Germany/UK)
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Edgar Wright, USA/UK/Canada)
Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich, USA)

Jonathan Marlow, San Francisco Cinematheque/Fandor/Canyon Falls Observatory
Arbitrary rules: feature-length; must be released theatrically in the U.S. in 2010 (otherwise 'Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives' would be at the top of the list)... A handful of titles, such as Claire Denis' 'White Material,' were disqualified since they prematurely appeared on the list last year...
Narrative
The Illusionist (Sylvain Chomet, UK/France)
Everyone Else (Maren Ade, Germany)
Dogtooth (Giorgos Lanthimos, Greece)
The Portuguese Nun (Eugène Green, Portugal/France)
A Prophet (Jacques Audiard, France/Italy)
Double Take (Johan Grimonprez, Belgium/Germany, Netherlands)
The Social Network (David Fincher)
Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then (Brent Green)
Let Each One Go Where He May (Ben Russell)
Amer (Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani, France/Belgium)
Documentary
Sleep Furiously (Gideon Koppel)
Ne Change Rien (Pedro Costa)
Ruhr (James Benning)
Marwencol (Jeff Malmberg)
Disco & Atomic War (Jaak Kilmi)
And Everything is Going Fine (Steven Soderbergh)
Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (Michèle Hozer & Peter Raymont)
Boxing Gym (Frederick Wiseman)
Henri-George Clouzot’s Inferno (Serge Bromberg & Ruxandra Medrea)
Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy, UK)

Lynn Hershman Leeson, filmmaker, Hotwire Productions
Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy, UK)
The Oath (Laura Poitras)
Inside Job (Charles Ferguson)
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand/UK/Germany/France/Spain)

Bill Banning, Roxie Releasing
Narrative
The Social Network (David Fincher)
Inception (Christopher Nolan)
The King’s Speech (Tom Hooper, UK/Australia)
Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich)
The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko)
The Town (Ben Affleck)
Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton)
The Fighter (David O. Russel)
Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik)
Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky)
127 Hours (Danny Boyle, USA/UK)
Casino Jack (George Hickenlooper, Canada)
Rabbit Hole (John Cameron Mitchell)
Carlos (Olivier Assayas, France/Germany)
Fair Game (Doug Liman, USA/United Arab Emirates)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Niels Arden Oplev, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Norway)
Made in Dagenham (Nigel Cole, UK)
Howl (Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman)
Conviction (Tony Goldwyn)
Documentary
Restrepo (Tim Hetherington, Sebastian Junger)
The Tillman Story (Amir Bar-Lev)
Inside Job (Charles Ferguson)
Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (Alex Gibney)
Exit Through The Gift Shop (Banksy, USA)
Armadillo (Janus Metz Pedersen, Denmark)
Waiting for Superman (Davis Guggenheim)
Gasland (Josh Fox)
Secrets of the Tribe (Jose Padilha, UK/Brazil)
Freedom Riders (Stanley Nelson)
Presumed Guilty (Roberto Hernandez, Geoffrey Smith, Mexico)
Waste Land (Lucy Wlker, Karen Harley, Joao Jardim, Brazil/UK)
Catfish (Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman)
Enemies of the People (Rob Lemkin, Thet Sambath, UK/Cambodia)
Budrus (Julia Bacha, Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territory, USA)
Marwencol (Jeffrey Malmberg)
Making the Boys (Crayton Robey)
Men Who Swim (Dylan Williams, UK/Sweden)
Into Eternity (Michael Madsen, Denmark/Finland/Sweden/Italy)
A Film Unfinished (Yael Hersonski, Germany/Israel)
Barbershop Punk (Georgia C. Archer, Kristin Armfield)
The Kids Grow Up (Doug Block, USA/Netherlands/Germany/UK)
Utopia in Four Movements (David Cerf, Sam Green)
American: The Bill Hicks Story (Matt Harlock, Paul Thomas, UK)
L’Amour Fou (Neel Eargood)
The People vs. George Lucas (Alexandre O. Philippe, USA/UK)
Talhotblond (Barbara Schroeder)
Rise, Rise, Roar (Hillman Curtis)
Casino Jack and the United States of Money (Alex Gibney)
Feathered Cocaine (Orn Marino Arnarson, Thorkell S. Hardarson, Iceland)
Family Affair (Chico Colvard)
Farewell (Ditteke Mensink, Netherlands)

Michael Guillén, critic, The Evening Class
Altiplano (Peter Brosens and Jessica Hope Woodworth, Belgium)
The Milk of Sorrow (Claudia Llosa, Peru)
Mysteries of Lisbon (Raúl Ruiz, Portugal)
Nostalgia for the Light (Patricio Guzmán, France & Chile)
Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky)
Animal Kingdom (David Michôd, Australia)
A Useful Life (Federico Veiroj, Uruguay)
Guest (José Luis Guerín, Spain)
The Silence (Baran bo Odar, Germany)
Undertow (Javier Fuentes-León, Peru)

Debra Granik's 'Winter's Bone' was a Sundance winner that also won over the Bay Area.

Marc Capelle, musician
1. Alamar (Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio, Mexico)
2. Somewhere (Sofia Coppola)
3. The American (Anton Corbijn)
4. The Social Network (David Fincher)
5. La Prima Cosa Bella (Paolo Virzi, Italy)
6. Rejoice and Shout (Don McGlynn)
7. Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him?)  (John Schienfeld)
8. Restrepo (Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington)
9. You Think You Are The Prettiest But You Are The Sluttiest (Che Sandoval, Chile)
10. Simonal (Micael Langer, Calvito Leal, Claudio Manoel, Brazil)

Gary Meyer, Co-director, Telluride Film Festival, Theater Operator, Balboa Theatre
I do not like being boxed in to only 10 films. And I am not happy cutting to this short a list. Plus there are films I have yet to see. So sue me. In alphabetical order.
Animal Kingdom (David Michod, Australia)
Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance)
Carlos (Olivier Assayas, France/Germany)
Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy, UK)
Inside Job (Charles Ferguson)
The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko)
The King’s Speech (Tom Hooper, UK/Australia)
Poster Girl (Sara Nesson)
Red Riding Trilogy (Julian Jarrold, James Marsh, Anand Tucker, U.K.)
The Social Network (David Fincher)
Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich)
Vision (Margarethe von Trotta, Germany/France)
Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik)
127 Hours (Danny Boyle)
Films that would be on my top list if they had opened here would include:
Another Year (Mike Leigh, UK)
Biutiful (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Spain/Mexico)
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (Craig McCall, UK)
Poetry (Chang-dong Lee, South Korea)
The Princess of Montpensier (Bertrand Tavernier, France/Germany)
The Way Back (Peter Weir)

Mike Keegan, Roxie Theater
Inception (Christopher Nolan)
Daddy Longlegs (Josh & Ben Safdie)
Greenberg (Noah Baumbach)
Carlos (Oliver Assayas, France)
Lovers of Hate (Bryan Poyser)
Red Riding Trilogy (Julian Jarrold, James Marsh, Anand Tucker)
Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy, UK)
Littlerock (Mike Ott)
The Social Network (David Fincher)
Big River Man (John Maringouin)

Brian Darr, HELLonFRISCObay.blogspot.com
Lourdes (Jessica Hausner, Austria/France/Germany)
The Father of My Children (Mia Hansen-Løve, France/Germany)
The Portuguese Nun (Eugène Green, Portugal/France)
Mundane History (Anocha Suwichakornpong, Thailand)
I Love You, Phillip Morris (Glenn Ficarra & John Requa, USA/France)
Alamar (Pedro González-Rubio, Mexico)
Wild Grass (Alain Resnais, France/Italy)
Dogtooth (Giorgos Lanthimos, Greece)
Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl (Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal/Spain/France)
Marwencol (Jeff Malmberg)

Michael Fox, SF360.org, SF Weekly, KQED.org/arts
Life During Wartime (Todd Solondz)
Ajami (Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani, Israel)
White Material (Claire Denis, France)
The White Meadows (Mohammad Rasoulof, Iran)
The Tillman Story (Amir Bar-Lev)
Lebanon (Samuel Maoz, Israel)
Carlos (Olivier Assayas, France/Germany)
Inside Job (Charles Ferguson)
Anton Chekhov’s The Duel (Dover Koshashvili)
The Killer Inside Me (Michael Winterbottom)

Sean Uyehara, Programmer, San Francisco Film Society
Double Take (Johan Grimonprez, Belgium/Germany/Netherlands)
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Edgar Wright)
Zef Side (Sean Meterlerkamp, South Africa) 
Insane Clown Posse music video: Miracles (Psychopathic Records, USA)
Chairlift music video: Evident Utensil (Ray Tintori, England)
Drunk History: Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas (Derek Waters, USA)
To Die Like a Man (João Pedro Rodrigues, Portugal)
Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy, UK)
Restrepo (Tim Hetherington, Sebastian Junger)
Bill Cunningham New York (Richard Press)

Steven Jenkins, Deputy Director, San Francisco Film Society
Alamar (Pedro González-Rubio, Mexico)
The Father Of My Children (Mia Hansen-Løve, France)
I Am Love (Luca Guadagnino, Italy)
Leap Year (Michael Rowe, Mexico)
Making Plans For Lena (Christophe Honore, France)
Marwencol (Jeff Malmberg)
The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town (Thom Zimny)
To Die Like A Man (João Pedro Rodriguez, Portugal)
Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich)
Winter's Bone (Debra Granik)

Dennis Harvey, Variety, SF Bay Guardian, SF360.org
Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, Greece/France)
The Tillman Story (Amir Bar-Lev)
The Killer Inside Me (Michael Winterbottom)
City Island (Raymond De Felitta)
OSS 177: Lost in Rio (Michel Hazanavicius, France)
I Spit on Your Grave (Steven R. Monroe)
The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko)
Let It Rain (Agnes Jaoui, France)
Babies (Thomas Balmes, France)
Life During Wartime (Todd Solondz)


 

Toronto International's 'Nostalgia for the Light' earned respect among Bay Area cinephiles who got the chance to view it.

Marc Huestis, impresario/filmmaker
The Social Network (David Fincher)
127 Hours (Danny Boyle)
Rabbit Hole (John Cameron Mitchell)
We Were Here: Voices From The AIDS Years (David Weissman, Bill Weber)
Mad Men (TV Series)
You Don’t Know Jack (TV series)
Trapped in the Closet
All About Evil (Peaches Christ)
The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko)
Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik)

Joel Shepard, Film/Video Curator, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Sawako Decides (Yuya Ishii, Japan)
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand/UK/Germany/France/Spain)
The Social Network (David Fincher)
Everyone Else (Maren Ade, Germany)
I, Popeye (Takeshi Murata)
Salt (Phillip Noyce)
Oki's Movie (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea)
Carlos (Olivier Assayas, France/Germany)
Wednesday Morning Two A.M. (Lewis Klahr)
Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese)

Chistopher Upham, filmmaker
Conviction (Tony Goldwyn)
Queen of the Sun (Taggart Siegel)
Short on Dog Cloning (Amanda Micheli)
Social Network (David Fincher)
Winter's Bone (Debra Granik)
Un Prophet (Jacques Audiard France)
The Kids are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko)
The White Ribbon (Michael Haenke, Germany)
The Ghost Writer (Roman Polanski, France/Germany/UK)
Fair Game (Doug Liman)

Max Goldberg, critic, SF Bay Guardian, SF360.org
The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu (Andrei Ujica, Romania)
Boxing Gym (Frederick Wiseman)
Cold Weather (Aaron Katz)
Foreign Parts (Verena Paravel and J.P. Sniadecki)
In the Shadows (Thomas Arslan, Germany)
The Oath (Laura Poitras)
The Social Network (David Fincher)
Uncle Boomee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand/UK/Germany/France/Spain)
You Are All Captains (Olivier Laxe, Spain/France)
Wednesday Morning Two A.M. (Lewis Klahr)

Leo Wong, Larsen Associates
Four Lions (Christopher Morris, UK)
The Art of the Steal (Don Argott)
White Material (Claire Denis, France/Cameroon)
Last Train Home (Lixin Fan, Canada/China/UK)
Animal Kingdom (David Michod, Australia)
The Social Network (David Fincher)
Mid-August Lunch (Gianni Di Gregorio, Italy)
May I Be Frank (Gregg Marks, Ryland Engelhart, Conor Gaffney, Cary Mosier)

Kathleen McNamara, Academy Avenue Films
I Am Love (Luca Guadagnino, Italy)
The Ghost Writer (Roman Polanski, France/Germany/UK)
The Disappearance of Alice Creed (J Blakeson, UK)
It’s Kind of a Funny Story (Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck)
Prodigal Sons (Kimberly Reed)
The Topp Twins (Leanne Pooley, New Zealand)
Unstoppable (Tony Scott)

James T. Hong, filmmaker
Choneggyecheon Medley (Kelvin Kyung Kun Park, South Korea)
Enter the Void (Gaspar Noe, France/Germany/Italy)
Jackass 3D (Jeff Tremaine)
The Human Centipede (Tom Six, Netherlands)
Aftershock (Feng Xiaogang, China)
Agrarian Utopia (Uruphong Raksasad, Thailand)
Great Migrations (TV Series)

Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Hereafter (Clint Eastwood)
Somewhere (Sofia Coppola)
Vincere (Marco Bellocchio, Italy/France)
White Material (Claire Denis, France/Cameroon)
The Ghost Writer (Roman Polanksi, France/Germany/UK)
Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl (Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal/Spain/France)
Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky)
The Social Network (David Fincher)
True Grit (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)
I Am Love (Luca Guadagnino, Italy)

Michael Hawley, film-415
Gainsbourg (Je t'aime, moi non plus) (Joann Sfar, France)
The Milk of Sorrow (Claudia Llosa, Peru)
Mother (Bong Joon-ho, South Korea)
Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky, USA)
Dogtooth (Giorgos Lanthimos, Greece)
I Killed My Mother (Xavier Dolan, Canada)
The Social Network (David Fincher, USA)
About Elly (Asghar Farhadi, Iran)
Domain (Patric Chiha, France/Austria)
La Pivellina (Tizza Covi & Rainer Frimmel, Italy/Austria)

George Rush, Law Offices of George Rush
Armadillo (Janus Metz Pedersen, Denmark)
Myth of the American Sleepover (David Robert Mitchell)
Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy, U.K.)
Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik)
Inside Job (Charles Ferguson)
Life During Wartime (Todd Solondz)
Thunder Soul (Mark Landsman)
Carlos (Olivier Assayas, France/Germany)
Last Train Home (Lixin Fan, Canada/China/UK)

DJ Bad Vegan (aka Brant Smith), filmmaker
Monga (Niu Doze, Taiwan)
Pepperminta (Pipilloti Rist, Switzerland/Austria)
The Taqwacores (Eyad Zahra)
The American (Anton Corbijn)
Loose Cannons (Ferzan Ozpetek, Italy)
Inception (Christopher Nolan)
The Silence Beneath the Bark (Joanna Lurie)