2015

The order and the categorization of the movies are very arbitrary. There aren't any linear value systems to judge what's most beautiful so putting all these different movies in one hierarchical order is very much an injustice to them all. Moreover, I saw most of the movies only once and in many cases it's the first time I see that specific director's work so I might be making a lot of hasty judgements. This isn't meant to be a list of the best movies made in 2015, but a list of the new films that are still in the festival circuit or in theatres that I've seen in 2015. I'd like to think of it as a diary of sorts, which is partly why I rarely go back and change my lists for previous years, even if I feel I was completely wrong about it at the time, nor do I add movies to my previous lists. I keep the movies I was involved with out of the list. The movies I don't like are also out of the list. So, here it is, the new movies I liked in 2015:


Sublime
The Assassin (刺客聶隱娘) / Hou Hsiao Hsien

Very Great
L'aquarium et la Nation / Jean-Marie Straub

Great
Blackhat / Michael Mann
Horse Money (Cavalo Dinheiro) / Pedro Costa
Um Século de Energia / Manoel de Oliveira

Very Good
Inherent Vice / Paul Thomas Anderson
Saint Laurent / Bertrand Bonello
said the fish to the mountain / Jake Barningham
Aferim! / Radu Jude
Junun / Paul Thomas Anderson

Good
Phoenix / Christian Petzold
Listen Up Philip / Alex Ross Perry
2015 Rolling / Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Heaven Knows What / Joshua & Ben Safdie
Over the Years / Nicolas Geyrhalter
Ah Geceler! / Can Eskinazi
Kalandar Soğuğu / Mustafa Kara
Macbeth / Justin Kurzel 
Court / Chaitanya Tamhane
Toz Ruhu / Nesimi Yetik
Mountains May Depart / Jia Zhang Ke

Worth Seeing
La princesa de Francia (The Princess of France) / Matías Piñeiro
Red Amnesia / Wang Xiaoshuai

Memorable Screenings of Older Films
Les Vampires / Feuillade (Bluray, unfortunately)
Big Sleep / Howard Hawks (35mm)
The Good, the Bad, the Ugly / Sergio Leone (Good DCP)
Los Muertos / Lisandro Alonso (35mm)