All films mentioned in Film Comment's "Final Cut 2009" lists
Sphinx on the Seine by Paul Clipson, K-CoreaINC.K (section a) by Ryan Trecartin and Plato’s Atlantis by Alexander McQueen are not currently listed on IMDb. All three are at the time of writing freely available online to view.
The films mentioned here are from the "Editors' Choice" lists, these were mostly top 10s but some naughty people snuck some more in. There were 4 movies in the "20 Best Unreleased Films of 2009" list that weren't in any of the Editors' Choice list, I have appended these at the end of the list.
The individual ballots that made up the "20 Best Films of 2009" and "20 Best Unreleased Films of 2009" were unpublished. All those 40 movies are in this list. They were chosen by "100 North American colleagues" each asked for a top 20.
The films mentioned here are from the "Editors' Choice" lists, these were mostly top 10s but some naughty people snuck some more in. There were 4 movies in the "20 Best Unreleased Films of 2009" list that weren't in any of the Editors' Choice list, I have appended these at the end of the list.
The individual ballots that made up the "20 Best Films of 2009" and "20 Best Unreleased Films of 2009" were unpublished. All those 40 movies are in this list. They were chosen by "100 North American colleagues" each asked for a top 20.
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- DirectorGreg MottolaStarsJesse EisenbergKristen StewartRyan ReynoldsIn the summer of 1987, a college graduate takes a 'nowhere' job at his local amusement park, only to find it's the perfect course to get him prepared for the real world.
- DirectorAdam CurtisStarsH. Rap BrownNikita KhrushchevRichard NixonThe story of America's rise to power starting with 1959; it uses archive footage and American pop music to highlight the consequences to the rest of the world and in the peoples' minds.
- DirectorWes AndersonStarsGeorge ClooneyMeryl StreepBill MurrayAn urbane fox cannot resist returning to his farm raiding ways and then must help his community survive the farmers' retaliation.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsBrad PittDiane KrugerEli RothIn Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers coincides with a theatre owner's vengeful plans for the same.
- DirectorManoel de OliveiraStarsRicardo TrêpaCatarina WallensteinDiogo DóriaA young man falls helplessly in love with a mysterious blonde woman who turns his life upside down.
- DirectorJim JarmuschStarsIsaach De BankoléAlex DescasJean-François StéveninThe story of a mysterious loner, a stranger in the process of completing a criminal job.
- DirectorSion SonoStarsTakahiro NishijimaHikari MitsushimaSakura AndôA bizarre love triangle forms between a young Catholic upskirt photographer, a misandric girl and a manipulative cultist.
- DirectorBong Joon HoStarsKim Hye-jaWon BinJin GooA mother desperately searches for the killer who framed her son for a girl's horrific murder.
- DirectorDeborah StratmanA meditation on freedom and technological approaches to manifest destiny.
- DirectorJ.J. AbramsStarsChris PineZachary QuintoSimon PeggThe brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful Romulan from the future creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time.
- DirectorClaire DenisStarsIsabelle HuppertChristopher LambertIsaach De BankoléAmidst turmoil and racial conflict in a Francophone African state, a white French woman fights for her coffee crop, her family and ultimately for her life.
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsAndré DussollierSabine AzémaAnne ConsignyA quirky woman who spends her free time as a pilot has her purse stolen; when a mysterious man finds her wallet, they embark on a peculiar romance.
- DirectorJames CameronStarsSam WorthingtonZoe SaldanaSigourney WeaverA paraplegic Marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home.
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsAgnès VardaAndré LubranoBlaise FournierAgnès Varda explores her memories, mostly chronologically, with photographs, film clips, interviews, reenactments, and droll, playful contemporary scenes of her narrating her story.
- DirectorHenry SelickStarsDakota FanningTeri HatcherJohn HodgmanWandering her rambling old house in her boring new town, an 11-year-old Coraline discovers a hidden door to a strangely idealized version of her life. In order to stay in the fantasy, she must make a frighteningly real sacrifice.
- DirectorBruno DumontStarsJulie SokolowskiKarl SarafidisYassine SalimeA young nun is expelled from a convent because of her extreme devoutness and forms a relationship with a radical Muslim.
- DirectorHarun FarockiIn Comparison revisits issues explored in the director's 2007 two channel installation Comparison Via a Third. Spanning continents and cultures, the film focuses on the brick in its many contexts, from the collective efforts of a community building a clinic in Burkina Faso, through semi industrialized moldings in India, to industrial production lines in Germany, France, Austria and Switzerland. Through its notable structure and its captivating rhythms, In Comparison presents various methods of labor production, allowing for an assessment that changes with every layer and goes well beyond a simple binary divide.
- DirectorTodd SolondzStarsShirley HendersonAllison JanneyAlly SheedyFriends, family, and lovers struggle to find love, forgiveness, and meaning in an almost war-torn world riddled with comedy and pathos.
- DirectorCorneliu PorumboiuStarsDragos BucurVlad IvanovIon StoicaA police officer refuses to arrest a young man for offering drugs to his friends.
- DirectorJoão Pedro RodriguesStarsChandra MalatitchJohn Jesus RomãoIvo BarrosoA transgender woman tries to erase any past history of herself as a male. Struggling with a young male lover and a problematic son.
- DirectorMichael HanekeStarsChristian FriedelErnst JacobiLeonie BeneschStrange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. Who is responsible?
- DirectorKathryn BigelowStarsJeremy RennerAnthony MackieBrian GeraghtyDuring the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his work.
- DirectorTom FordStarsColin FirthJulianne MooreMatthew GoodeAn English professor, one year after the sudden death of his boyfriend, is unable to cope with his typical days in 1960s Los Angeles.
- DirectorLars von TrierStarsWillem DafoeCharlotte GainsbourgStorm Acheche SahlstrømA grieving couple retreat to their cabin in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage, but nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.
- DirectorCary Joji FukunagaStarsPaulina GaitanMarco Antonio AguirreLeonardo AlonsoA young Honduran girl and a Mexican gangster are united in a journey across the U.S. border.