Matt Riviera compiled a list of Sydney Film Critics: Best of 2009 on his blog, tallying rankings to come up with two lists of Sydney film reviewers' favourite released and unreleased films of 2009- one of my favourite Let the Right One In took out number 1 spot- results and full lists can be found at Last Night with Riviera
Here is my contribution;
BEST RELEASED
1. The Class (Laurent Cantet, France)
2. Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, Sweden)
3. Rachel Getting Married (Jonathan Demme, USA)
4. Balibo (Robert Connolly, Australia)
5. Genova (Michael Winterbottom, UK)
6. Where the Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze, USA)
7. The French Kissers (Riad Sattouf, France)
8. (500) Days of Summer (Marc Webb, USA)
9. The Wrestler (Darren Aronofski, USA)
10.Bright Star (Jane Campion, Australia)
BEST UNRELEASED
1. Altiplano (Peter Brosens, Jessica Hope Woodworth, Belgium)
2. Septembers (Carlos Bosch, Spain)
3. In the Loop (Armando Ionnucci, UK)
4. The Fall (Tarsem Singh, USA / UK / India)
5. Heart of Jenin (Leon Geller, Marcus Vetter, Germany)
6. The Shame (David Planell, Spain)
7. Five Minutes of Heaven (Oliver Hirschbiegel, UK)
8. Missing Water (Khoa Do, Australia)
9. Still Walking (Kore-Eda Hirokazu, Japan)
10.All's Well That Ends Well (NT Live, UK)
In a year that gave us drivel like Transformers 2 and Surrogates, with ever colossal American films dominating the Australian box office, it is lovely to remember we also had Let the Right One In and The Class too. Fantastic foreign-language films fighting back with quality over quantity, with French cinema putting on a particularly good show this year.
Living in Sydney I’m always amazed by the number of film festivals we have. With their clever use of marvellous venues to exhibit films from every corner of the globe, it is this incredible diversity in cinema that has given me some of the best film-going experiences this year.
The standout film of 2009- the hauntingly beautiful and exquisitely sorrowful Altiplano. It is a travesty that so few people will get to see it, but thanks to the Sydney Film Festival at least some of us did
