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So the next film in my Most Overlooked Films of the Decade list was about to be Jia Zhangke’s Platform, which arguably is the greatest ever film of the decade but it seems that the Toronto International Film Festival gave the film its due in a rating system earlier this year. The list in general is quite exquisite, with foreign films dominating the proceedings, so I’ll post it here -

1. Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand).
2. Platform (Jia Zhang-ke, Hong Kong, China/China/Japan/France)
3. Still Life (Jia Zhang-ke, China).
4. Beau travail (Claire Denis, France).
5. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, China),
6. Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, France/Thailand/Germany/Italy).
7. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu, Romania); Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr, Hungary).
8. Éloge de l’amour (Jean-Luc Godard, Switzerland/ France).
9. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, Romania).
10. Silent Light (Carlos Reygadas, Mexico/France/Netherlands).
11. Russian Ark (Alexander Sokurov, Russia/Germany).
12. The New World (Terrence Malick, U.S.)
13. Blissfully Yours (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, France/Thailand).
14. Le Fils (Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, Belgium/France).
15. Colossal Youth (Pedro Costa, Portugal/France/Switzerland).
16. Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse (Agnès Varda, France); In Vanda’s Room (Pedro Costa, Portugal/Germany/Italy/Switzerland); Songs from the Second Floor (Roy Andersson, Sweden/Denmark/Norway).
17. Caché (Michael Haneke, France/Austria/Germany/Italy); A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, classified as a U.S. film despite the director’s Canadian nationality.); Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, France/USA); Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan).
18. Rois et reine (Arnaud Desplechin, France).
19. Elephant (Gus Van Sant, U.S.)
20. Talk to Her (Pedro Almodóvar, Spain).
21. The Wind Will Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami, Iran/France); Yi Yi (A One and a Two) (Edward Yang, Taiwan/Japan).
22. Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, Spain).
23. L’Enfant (Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, Belgium/France); The Heart of the World (Guy Maddin, Canada); I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone (Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan/France/Austria); Star Spangled to Death (Ken Jacobs, U.S.)
24. The World (Jia Zhang-ke, China/Japan/France).
25. Café Lumière (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Japan); The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/Spain/France/Italy); L’Intrus (Claire Denis, France); Millennium Mambo (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan/France); My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin, Canada); Saraband (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden); Spirited Away (Hiyao Miyazaki, Japan); I’m Not There (Todd Haynes, U.S.)
26. Gerry (Gus Van Sant, U.S.).
27. Distant (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey); Dogville (Lars von Trier, Denmark/Sweden/UK/France/Germany); The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, U.S.);
28. Alexandra (Alexander Sokurov, Russia/France); Demonlover (Olivier Assayas, France).
29. Atanarjuat, The Fast Runner (Zacharias Kunuk, Canada); Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan).
30. Longing (Valeska Grisebach, Germany); Secret Sunshine (Lee Chang-dong, South Korea); Vai e Vem (João César Monteiro, Portugal); Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes, U.S./France).

This is by far the most unpredictable and exciting Best Of list that I’ve seen. Bravo, Toronto! Oh, wait, I’ll make this personal . . . my favorites of the above . . .

Syndromes & a Century, Platform, In the Mood for Love, Werckmeister Harmonies, The New World, Songs from the 2nd Floor, Cache, YiYi, I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone, The World, Millenium Mambo, My Winnipeg, Spirited Away, I’m Not There, Goodbye Dragon Inn, . . . and whoa, that’s about half the list I just named!

Watch these movies. All of them. Movies fucking rule!