Au Revoir 2010 - Time For The Obligatory Lists

Although generally I abhor end of year lists, it has come to my attention that this year's collection of articles on the subject matter have been unnecessarily pessimistic - it seems as if every year people are clambering all over themselves to declare the year a dud - to say it was one of the worst and how glad they are that it is finally over.
And although most of the time I'd be tempted to keep my mouth shut and just let them rant and foam , this year I feel particularly inspired to sit down and share my very own end of the year list.
One of the trends I noticed at this juncture in time is that even in the best of 2010 discovery lists, people seem to have missed out on a lot of titles.
Now I understand that a lot of films do not receive the sort of promotion or release they deserve - that it can be excessively hard for the general audience to discover certain titles.
However by the same token anyone who calls himself/herself a film critics should be going beyond the efforts of the average audience member: if this is an occupation, then the care and attention bestowed upon it must be fairly high. If 'so-called' critics cannot be relied upon to sift through millions of films and bring forth the discoveries then who on earth is supposed to?
Of all the best of or discovery lists I've read this month, I've only come across a small amount of films which had slipped under the radar - now ~I'd like to think this is because I'm an amazingly adept and very clever follower of news and releases and that I am very good at tracking down movies but in reality the it's merely that the writers have not really looked very deep or tried very hard.
In short 2010 was not a disappointing year for film, it was a disappointing year for critics whose standards have continue to slip.

Without further ado 20 films from 2010 that I adored.

1)AMER (2010): The U.K. cinema release is scheduled for January. The French DVD is available to buy now. It's available on V.O.D. in America. However, whatever method of viewing you choose to encounter 'Amer', the only thing that matters is that you encounter it somehow.
Perhaps the most audacious and experimental debut I've seen for a while, 'Amer' is a n almost silent love letter to perversion written with the lexicon of the gialli of yesteryear. To experience it is to fall in love with cinema all over again - bold, daring and simply beautiful.

2)WE ARE WHAT WE ARE: Jorge Grau's feature debut is a divisive film: for some the dissection of family politics within Mexico's microcosmic societies is one of the most satisfying films of the year whilst others are put off by the deliberate pacing and mood. However you look at it, 'We Are What We Are' is still one of the most significantly off-beat and intriguing films to emerge this year. A definite must-see.

3)RED HILL: From Australia comes the revival of the western. Beautifully shot landscapes, an intriguing plot and the most emotionally harrowing single line in any film this year, 'Red Hill' proves that the western is still alive.

4)A SERBIAN FILM: It's shocking, it's brutal and it's frighteningly well-made. The most controversial film of 2010 certainly has enough shock moments in its' runtime to deserve the bad press - however dig under the surface and what greets you is an heartfelt and primal protest scream as timely and disturbing as any heard from the annals of history.

5)DREAM HOME: Hong Kong Cat III comes of age - in this nifty package not only do we get the usual excess of nudity and elaborate violence but also a scathing satire on Chinese consumerism delivered as brutally as possible. A must-see for anyone who thinks the horror genre is stale.

6)BLACK SWAN: So the script is fairly conventional and the setup familiar - the emotional hysteria Aronosfky captures in his latest masterpiece is nothing short of brilliant: the last twenty minutes take the cinematic excess to a whole new level. Brilliant.

7)LA QUATRE VOLTE: A stunning work in the vein of Depardon's 'Modern Life', 'La Quatre Volte' is a wordless meditation on nature and life. Carefully paced and beautifully slow, if any film can make you appreciate the life around you, this is it.

8)HOW I ENDED THIS SUMMER: From Alexei Popogrebsky comes a tale that is mystifying, frustrating and brilliant in equal measure - the frightening landscape of the Arctic Ocean melds with the already disturbed nature of men creating a menace all too familiar and completely alien at the same time.

9)MY JOY: A terrifying journey into the dark heart of modern Russia, this foray into the violence lurking under the surface of every day life is frightening and enticing in equal measure.

10)THE PEDDLER: The best documentary of 2010, hands down. The subject is cinema - more specifically a man with a cinematic aim - a wandering one-man studio who creates custom features based around the villages he stays - charming, heart-warming and utterly hypnotizing. A wonder, a gem.

PART 2 of the list will be published later on in the week,