by Sam Juliano
My Top 10 Films of 2015 (and the runners-up)
I saw nearly 170 movies in theaters over the past year, though 36 were at Tribeca. My list of 10 is really a list of 12 as I have an-impossible-to-break three-way tie for Number 10. My runners-up list includes films I really liked a lot as well. I have seen every last awards contender, so the ones that are missing are films I just didn’t care for or were indifferent towards. 2015 marks the first time I have ever included a TV mini-series since I started making lists in 1970, but I felt I had good reason to this time
Top Ten:
1. Brooklyn (Ireland/UK)
2. Wolf Hall (UK; mini-series)
3. Phoenix (Germany)
4. Carol (USA)
5. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (Sweden)
6. 45 Years (UK)
7. Son of Saul (Hungary)
8. The Revenant (USA)
9. Youth (Italy/UK/USA)
10. The Tribe (Ukraine)
The Hateful Eight (USA)
The Assassin (Taiwan) -three way tie-
Runners-Up:
Room
A Woman in Gold
Anomalisa
Bridge of Spies
The Clouds of Sils Maria
It’s Me Marlon
The Lady in the Van
Sicario
Slow West
Spotlight
The Danish Girl
Lucille and I saw one film in the theaters this past week – In the Shadow of Women, a French film by Phillip Gerrel at the IFC:
In the Shadow of Women *** (Saturday night) IFC
New links will go up next Monday. With the completion of the Caldecotts and the composition of the list I was unable to do anything with them today. But next week they will definitely return.
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Writers/Founders
Remarkable list Sam. You always manage to find a lovely balance between different genres and film styles in your list. There is always a nice cross-section of commercial, indie, arthouse, foreign films in your list. And this year, an expected surprise with a TV series.
I have to admin that I am a bit shocked. A month ago, I expected BROOKLYN would be your top film but after CAROL came out, I was certain that CAROL would edge out BROOKLYN. Not only that, I didn’t expect to see CAROL at #4. Incredibly, I have not heard of the UK TV-series you placed at #2. How did I miss something like that? 🙂
As usual, your energy and dedication to see these many films in a cinema is remarkable. Plus, there are quite a few films in your runners-up list that I have not seen. I need to catch up on them.
oops, meant to say ‘admit that I am a bit shocked’
Sachin, that is a Guiness World Book of Records comment as far as I am concerned, and I thank you many times over for it! You, of course two weeks back started the ball rolling here with the definitive Top Ten list, and mine inst anywhere near as comprehensive. Still, I did find much to celebrate this year both in the arthouses and in the more general sphere. hence that combination appeared on the list. You do seem to have my taste figured out though, as per your accurate predictions on how I’d react to BROOKLYN and CAROL. Though the latter did place at #4, it is an absolute masterpiece, and it depends on what day of the week I am asked the question, it could be higher. WOLF HALL will no doubt grab you by the throat, and I look forward to talking about it with you in the future. Allan thinks the same way on it, and I credit him for alerting me earlier in 2015 as to its greatness. Thanks again my friend! Very much appreciated!
Tremendous work Sam! I knew Brooklyn has the top spot, but some surprises like Pigeon, Wolf Hall and The Tribe. What a distinguished and diverse list and honorable mentions.
Thanks as always for your unwavering support for both films and books my great friend. Yes, some late additions have certainly rounded it out better.
Great list Sam.
I’m still scrambling to catch a few more 2015 releases before attempting to compile my own list.
Your list also makes me want to reconsider A PIGEON SAT ON A BRANCH… which I had started to watch, but just couldn’t stay interested.
Off to see THE REVENANT later today, and CAROL tomorrow night.
Pat, I do hope you get another shot at PIGEON, a film of wit and dark humor, and a bevy of engaging vignettes. I can understand how and why it wouldn’t grab you immediately though. Looking forward to your responses to both CAROL and THE REVENANT!! 🙂 Thank you my friend!
A great list, Sam — many thanks! I’ve made a copy to use as a guide to what to look out for when these babies start appearing on cable/DVD.
Thanks so much John! There are other ways, and I will attend to that pronto! 🙂 As always your support and enthusiasm is much appreciated on these grounds!
Fantastic list Sam! Love the inclusion of Christian Petzold’s magnificent Phoenix, which might have been the best film I saw in theaters this year. This along with his magnificent entry in the Dreileben trilogy and his Barbara from 2013, a film I remember us not seeing eye to eye on, makes me believe Petzold is one of the best directors of the decade thus far. Also love the inclusions of Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s The Assassin and Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight.
Anu, my friend, I am so thrilled to hear you are such a fervent fan of PHOENIX!! I have to agree with what you have concluded on Petzold! And yes, both the Hsiao-Hsien and Tarantino well deserve to be on any year-end list! I’d really like to see YOUR list if you are releasing one, and I’d be honored to give it a full post here at Wonders in the Dark, if you are willing. I know well of the kind of exceeding quality you are reliable for. Thank you!
A fantastic offer, though I haven’t seen enough great films from 2015. But I would love to do a post in the future!
Hi Sam,
It’s been a few weeks since I stopped in and I hope that things are well with you. As always, you deliver a comprehensive list filled with films that will take a while for me to track down. I’ve seen many films on your runners up list, but not many in your top 10. Since we last talked, I have seen a few near-masterpieces to my mind…
Slow West- A mostly brilliant and taut western that satisfies on many levels. Terrifically well done and really a surprise.
Sicario – Another tremendous work from Villaneuve. Seriously this guy knows how to make a good thriller.
Mommy- A tough film to watch at times, but a very all-consuming kind of film in the vein of Cassavetes. Dolan’s film is not quite as good as Laurence,Anyways but this is a director to keep an eye on.
Well we’re finally getting our cold and snow, however we’re enjoying our day off in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Hope you and your family are doing great!
Sam what a fine list and 170 films – another amazing list. I did 145 books in 2014 but only 66 for 2015 – 6 books I read I did not review I could not pick a favorite for me, But THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN…I thought was too boring and infantile to include on my list- a waste of funds. Thank you for all your comments on my reviews for December and January. Without you, Laurie Buchanan and Hilary I might feel extremely lonely. I am so relieved when my dashboard confirms 300 readers to the blog.
I did see The Martian and I am still hoping to see YOUTH…it is coming to the film society later this spring. I read Wolf Hall and was disappointed not to see the series (Maybe on Netflix or Prime soon?)
Missing the Caldecott Series already….that was so wonderful, I am just so pleased you do that series too.
Always fun to come here and make such discoveries. 5 FB friends have just published books, will squeeze those in – need to get reading to stay on pace… Thank you for you interesting posts and reviews. Nice Work Big Guy!
Thanks so much for that Patricia! As I say that 170 number was inflated because of the Tribeca Film Festival which I hit hard every year. Doing 145 books in one year is frankly far more remarkable for a number of reasons, but 66 is also incredible! Comments are only part of the blogging experience, and your page view totals confirm that most nicely! I will be checking out your new posts very soon as well, and am most interested in all your work! Yes the Caldecott series is done but for a variety of reasons I have several more picture reviews coming over the next few weeks, with a significant new release set for this Saturday. I think WOLF HALL is on netflix?! And you must see YOUTH absolutely! Thanks as ever for the very kind words and for all you have done at this site and on FB over the past months. Just incredible!
Hello Sam and everyone!
First of all, congrats on a stellar top 10, many worthy choices. Which reminds me that my top 20 of 2015 is closed and I’m just finishing writing it up, and I shall send it to you soon enough. In the meantime, here are some films I watched last week:
– The Babadook (2014, Jennifer Kent) ****1/2 I had to rewatch this movie for my new job.
– Man with a Movie Camera (1929, Dziga Vertov) ****1/2 Maybe the most beautiful image ever put on film is that sliver of light that comes out of the projector, when the music starts and the movie starts to play and that dolly-in to a window in a Russian city starts to lead us into the idea of how we’re going to see both the private and the public lives of the people. Maybe a bit too de-personalized in terms of how much times the imagery makes seem as if the people are just accessories to the frame instead of the soul and the final intent of the film, but this is a genius work of reflexive documentary filmmaking, the presence of the camera as both a peeping tom and as the only way of expressing ideas and to capture the daily life of everything that was happening at the time. A wonderful time capsule that is still among the best, most wonderful and ultimately captivating films of all time.
– The Games of Angels (1964,Walerian Borowczyk) ***1/2 Even the first Borowczyk has some boobs on it.
– Knight of Cups (2015, Terrence Malick) ****1/2 What I first thought was: “people are insane when thinking that anyone has mastered digital filmmaking as art until they see this movie”.
Then I thought: “what is this? I don’t even like Tree of Life and I’m feeling transported by this?”
Then I was just wondering what it all meant, and then I realized that it didn’t really matter, and then I was asking myself why did I like this way way way more than the other recent Malick films and the only thing I could think of was focus.
This movie is focused on its intents and it doesn’t want to put the whole history of the universe in it. This one contains multitudes, contains an ocean, contains a universe inside of it, but it doesn’t really attempt to do it, it achieves that through the continuum of the life of the main character.
Wonderful.
– The Orphanage (2007, J.A. Bayona) **** I had to rewatch this film for work.
I remember liking it more, but this is a well made picture that is incidentally about ghost children, and that makes it more interesting than anything else.
– Tales of Halloween (2015, Various Directors) *** Not even the presence of John Landis and Joe Dante can fix this mess that contains a couple of interesting shorts, surrounded by completely mediocre and bad ones. Now, that might seem just like your average movie of this sort, but I have some high tolerance for this kind of thing, and beyond Bousman’s short (strange since I hate Bousman in general) and the concept of “Trick” and “The Weak and the Wicked” has some kick to it, but beyond that, and the nerve of Neill Marshall of not actually doing something truly good, makes me dismiss this one beyond the things mentioned.
That’s all, have a great week everyone!
Well Jaimie, your Top 10 and beyond will be standing tall at this place very soon! And a diverse and eclectic presentation it is! We do have a few instances of agreement. MAN WITH THE MOVIE CAMERA is an absolute masterpiece, and like you I do consider THE BABADOOK a very fine horror film, with terrific bookends. I completely agree on that 4 star rating for THE ORPHANAGE absolutely! Ha, I love the way you describe the first Borowczyk! I am waiting for my Region 2 blu-ray of KNIGHT OF CUPS to arrive! Great to hear that great response to it, even with the difficulty with saying what it is actually about! Thanks a million as always my friend. have a great weekend!
Fabulous list Sam! As always your list includes some works I still need to see. My own movie watching this week was all at home.
Shockproof (***1/2) With a screenplay by Sam Fuller and direction by Douglas Sirk the film has a bit of a cross breed feel to it. The false happy ending leaves you with a bad taste but overall a film worth seeing.
The Letter (***1/2) Jeanne Eagels electrifying performance makes this film a must see. The ending is unforgettable. Eagels performance is raw, masterful and overpowering.
/
Also re-watched The Professionals (****1/2) and Sleeper (****)
Have a great week!!!
John, your own list is truly exceptional and showed how diligently you worked this year to take in anything and everything that is essential. Towards that end you don’t have many left to catch up with. Thanks for the kind words. Agrred on THE LETTER, which I even went higher on, and I do adore SLEEPER and have a very high regard for THE PROFESSIONALS. SHOCK PROOF isn’t greater Fuller, but as you say still solid. Have a great weekend my friend. We have a ton of snow heading our way in the NYC area on Saturday.
Sam — We always look forward to printing your annual Top 10 Film list, putting it on our refrigerator as a wonderful resource, and then checking off films as we see them. The fact that you include bonus and runner up titles is delicious icing on the cake!
thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU!
Laurie, thanks so very much for that! Yes, this year I found it too hard to limit the list to just the Top 10 or Top 12 in this case. I can’t thank you enough for your confidence my friend!
Sam, we have had the good fortune to do a little theatre movie watching recently during our time in Victoria. We have seen both BROOKLYN and THE DANISH GIRL. I was impressed with them both but must confess that THE DANISH GIRL was my personal top film of the year for its raw emotion and intimate engagement, empathy and frankness about a topic that is still hard for me to comprehend on many levels. The painterly tones and film’s setting didn’t hurt either. However, BROOKLYN made me laugh when she meets her boyfriend’s family and broke my heart when she is told about her sister. These decisions to move away and then always be pulled between places are something that many of us know in our mobil world. A high five for both of these movies from us.
Terrill, you may not have done a ton of movie-watching, but with these two viewings you have ably and passionately caught the pulse of 2015! Can’t blame you for the strong response to THE DANISH GIRL, which featured two of the year’s most extraordinary and moving performances by Eddie Redmayne and perhaps especially by Alicia Vikander who may well win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a heart wrenching portrayal. Yes I too appreciated those painterly tones and the lovely locales. How true you are in assessing the difficulties in making a decision that involves relocation and how that was so brilliantly explored in the magisterial BROOKLYN. Great hearing from you my friend, and getting this banner response!! 🙂
Phenomenal list Sam. You always show an amazing range of appreciation, and regularly choose films that are very hard to shake.
Thanks so very much Peter!
Sam – after all these years I’m still puzzled by your loathing of Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds yet love for his entries since then, with Hateful Eight even making your top ten here.
Also, after all these years, I’m still in awe by how many films you see a year and your breadth of diversity in your year end lists.
A little surprised Brooklyn was number one (it was a nice, safe movie for me – with a great lead performance for sure, but there were better films and better performances). But love that you have Phoenix (my film of the year) so high!
Anyways – stay safe during this blizzard!
And here was my year-end round-up:
http://theschleicherspin.com/2016/01/10/the-10th-annual-davies-awards-in-film/
David, I’ll admit when it comes to Tarantino I am not easy to figure out. To be sure I have warmed up a bit to IB, but yes the last two impressed me the most. Thanks so much for the very kind words about the movie going and the lists. You do quite well on both counts my friend. Thrilled that you have PHOENIX in poll position as it is a very great film indeed! Thanks for posting your year-end round-up which of course I will investigate. We both had some battle with nature the last few days. Thank you my friend.
Sam, I love your yearly round-ups, they’ll allow me to catch up on some of the forgotten films from the year and will go one my hit list to find once my project winds down. Surprised by the inclusion of ‘Wolf Hall’ – is it right that it’s your first TV choice to be included in any of your lists since 1970? Looking for to you more detailed breakdowns of the films.
Thanks so much for stopping by Bobby, it is always a treat my friend! Yes WOLF HALL is indeed the very first TV item to make my film list. I finally succumbed to Allan’s urgings, but this is a very great series. I do need to elaborate further absolutely. Thanks again!
Sam, it’s always an event to see your annual best of the year list. I enjoyed Brooklyn and Saoirse Ronan gave a sweetheart of a performance. Phoenix was extraordinary (I’m looking forward to the Criterion blu-ray so I can see it again). I just saw Carol today, a gorgeous, exquisite, delicate affair. I also liked The Revenant and The Hateful 8, still mulling them over. The Assassin is very nearly perfect but I was somewhat disappointed with Youth. The others on your top 10 + 2 list I haven’t yet seen. As for Wolf Hall, I seldom find the time for TV.
I still need to track down a couple more films (45 Years, for sure) before I can complete my list. It will be a few more weeks, shortly after the oscars, I hope. Anyway, not nearly as late as last year.
Thanks so much Duane! Thrilled to hear you love many of the films that placed on my list! I didnt realize you loved PHOENIX that much! Wow! I know YOUTH has some dissenters, and completely understand. I knew you’d really like CAROL and THE ASSASSIN. Thanks again. I am sending you an e mail!
Sam, what a tremendous list this year. We share certain favorites of course but there are a number on your list I still to run down.
I am starting to see a little more lately. This week I took in the docs NAS: TIME IS ILLMATIC and REGARDING SUSAN SONTAG. If you are a fan of hip-hop I think you will enjoy the former and the latter taught me a great deal about the life of Sontag. I thoroughly enjoyed them both.
Hope you are having a great week! Thanks so much, Sam, for all that you do!
Brooklyn – Nice movie . Very good performance otherwise way over praised .Where were all you people last year when Harvey Weinstein destroyed The Immigrant . I was more moved by The Immigant’s themes of faith , redemption and forgiveness than anything in Brooklyn . To me Brooklyn was also about a selfish young woman who leaves her mother to die alone so she could go home to her husband without ever asking her mother if she would like to come to America .