Richard Linklater’s one-of-a-kind boy’s life and Jean-Luc Godard’s eye-boggling 3-D foray seemed to bring a new sense of wonderment to movies for our poll respondents, making for a commanding winner and runner-up. Thereafter, familiar faces (Jarmusch, Leigh, the Dardennes, Wes and Paul Thomas Anderson) were joined by some surprising new contestants in our annual derby: Jonathan Glazer with Under the Skin and Alain Guiraudie with Stranger by the Lake, as well as Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure and, extraordinarily, Lav Diaz’s 250-minute opus, Norte, The End of History. Nonfiction was robust and varied between Poitras–Sensory Ethnography Lab–Wiseman, and, smack in the middle of the list, The Immigrant’s arduous voyage continues. A note on the poll’s workings: over 100 North American colleagues ranked their favorites in two categories: 1) those that received theatrical runs and 2) those viewed this year but currently with no announced plans for U.S. theatrical distribution. For each ballot, a first-place choice was allotted 20 points, 19 for second, and so on.
1. Boyhood
Richard Linklater, U.S.
2. Goodbye to Language
Jean-Luc Godard, France
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel
Wes Anderson, U.S.
4. Ida
Pawel Pawlikowski, Poland
5. Under the Skin
Jonathan Glazer, U.K.
6. Stranger by the Lake
Alain Guiraudie, France
7. CITIZENFOUR
Laura Poitras, U.S.
8. Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, U.S.
9. Inherent Vice
Paul Thomas Anderson, U.S.
10. The Immigrant
James Gray, U.S.
11. Two Days, One Night
Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, Belgium
12. Only Lovers Left Alive
Jim Jarmusch, U.S.
13. Mr. Turner
Mike Leigh, U.K.
14. Force Majeure
Ruben Östlund, Sweden
15. Norte, The End of History
Lav Diaz, Philippines
16. Whiplash
Damien Chazelle, U.S.
17. Stray Dogs
Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan
18. National Gallery
Frederick Wiseman, U.S.
19. Manakamana
Stephanie Spray & Pacho Velez, U.S.
20. Snowpiercer
Bong Joon-ho, South Korea
21. Listen Up Philip
Alex Ross Perry, U.S.
22. Gone Girl
David Fincher, U.S.
23. Selma
Ava DuVernay, U.S.
24. The Missing Picture
Rithy Panh,
Cambodia/France
25. We Are the Best!
Lukas Moodysson,
Sweden
26. The Strange
Little Cat
Ramon Zürcher,
Germany
27. Jealousy
Philippe Garrel, France
28. The Last of the
Unjust
Claude Lanzmann,
France
29. Foxcatcher
Bennett Miller, U.S.
30. Leviathan
Andrey Zvyagintsev,
Russia
31. Nightcrawler
Dan Gilroy, U.S.
32. The Babadook
Jennifer Kent, Australia
33. Love Is Strange
Ira Sachs, U.S.
34. What Now?
Remind Me
Joaquim Pinto, Portugal
35. Life Itself
Steve James, U.S.
36. A Girl Walks
Home Alone
at Night
Ana Lily
Amirpour, U.S.
37. A Summer’s Tale
Eric Rohmer, France
38. Winter Sleep
Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey
39. Closed Curtain
Jafar Panahi, Iran
40. Night Moves
Kelly Reichardt, U.S.
41. Interstellar
Christopher Nolan, U.S.
42. Locke
Steven Knight, U.K.
43. It Felt Like Love
Eliza Hittman, U.S.
44. Guardians of the Galaxy
James Gunn, U.S.
45. The Homesman
Tommy Lee Jones, U.S.
46. Like Father, Like Son
Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan
47. Level Five
Chris Marker, France
48. A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness
Ben Rivers & Ben Russell, U.S./U.K.
49. A Most Violent Year
J.C. Chandor, U.S.
50. Gebo and the Shadow
Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal
Don’t see your favorite here? Proceed to the Best Unreleased Films of 2014.