Something vaguely resembling a blog.
Looking at this list it strikes me how dark and sombre many of my choices are. Mental instability, death and suicide feature all over the place (I guess it's been that kind of year) but ultimately I've gone for the films that moved me the most.
Just missing out on this list: Super 8; The King's Speech; Inside Job
Overrated: Tyrannosaur (oddly flat; plot holes); We Need To Talk About Kevin (un-engaging; idiotic "red splash" gimmick); Cave of Forgotten Dreams (the 3D works but ultimately incredibly boring).
10. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (France/UK/Germany, dir. Tomas Alfredson)
If a bit more excitement and pace was injected into the first half of the film, this would rank higher. Still, both Gary Oldman and Tom Hardy (pictured above) are brilliant and the final sequence - complete with Julio Iglesias' French language backing track - is pleasingly audacious.
9. Senna (UK, dir. Asif Kapadia)
A film that confronts politics, religion and death as much as it does cars, engines and speed. A brilliant achievement with excellent use of archive footage.
8. The Ides of March (USA, dir. George Clooney)
A top political thriller with a deeply cynical edge. Economical in length, often brilliantly tense and with an excellent, un-showy performance from Ryan Gosling.
7. Black Swan (USA, dir. Darren Aronofsky)
Darren Aronofsky's tight, claustrophobic film works well if not taken too seriously. Possibly the best out-and-out entertainment on this list.
6. Norwegian Wood (Japan, dir. Anh Hung Tran)
This adaptation (featuring Ken'ichi Matsuyama, above) conveys all the complexity and confusion of Haruki Murakami's novel. Deep, still and rich with love and grief.
5. Melancholia (Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany, dir. Lars von Trier)
What starts as a slightly irritating comedy of manners quickly turns into the kind of psycho-dramatic bonkersness only Lars von Trier can conjure. The ending is staggering.
4. Oslo, August 31st (Norway, dir. Joachim Trier)
This Norwegian film about a day in the life of a disaffected drug addict really took me by surprise and stayed with me long afterwards. A superb, understated central performance by Anders Danielsen Lie (pictured below) and some incredibly beautiful set-piece sequences.
3. The Interrupters (USA, dir. Steve James)
Excellent and hugely moving documentary about street violence and how to combat it. A skilful and beautiful film with incredible access.
2. Submarine (UK/USA, dir. Richard Ayoade)
Richard Ayoade's terrific debut based on the novel by Joe Dunthorne is a dark, funny and very unusual boy-meets-girl story with French New Wave undercurrents, title cards inspired by Godard and some amazing songs by Alex Turner. Class from top to bottom.
1. Wuthering Heights (UK, dir. Andrea Arnold)
This radical reworking of the Emily Brontë novel by director Andrea Arnold (featuring Shannon Beer, below), is brilliantly daring and completely captivating - at least until it reaches its somewhat bloated final third. No matter, there's so much to love about this that it sneaks off with my number one spot for 2011.
LIKE ANYONE CARES WHAT I THINK ABOUT MUSIC. Here goes anyway:
10. Tyler the Creator - Goblin (XL)
The ultimate nervous breakdown/voices in your head party record. The psychotic Yonkers is the obvious highlight.
9. Radiohead - TKOL RMX 1234567 (Ticker Tape/XL)
OK so it doesn't really hang together as an album but it's unsurpassed as a collection of music by some of the most exciting electronic producers of the moment. Blawan's reworking of Bloom is frankly terrifying, while Modeselektor somehow turn Good Morning Mr Magpie into a techno floorfiller.
8. Rustie - Glass Swords (Warp Records)
Glasgow-based Rustie takes "maximalism" to its logical conclusion with this dubsteppy, trancey, hip-hoppy, Daft Punkish melange that somehow manages not to feel massively wrong. And in fact ends up being the opposite. Of that.
7. Steve Mason and Dennis Bovell - Ghosts Outside (Double Six Recordings)
Turns Steve Mason's unspeakably sad album from 2010 into an otherworldly feast of weird echoes and deep, rumbling bass. The sort of musical exercise that I wholeheartedly encourage.
6. Modeselektor - Monkeytown (Monkeytown Records)
Zeitgeisty.
5. FaltyDL - You Stand Uncertain (Planet Mu)
Manages to sound incredibly fresh despite decidedly retro rave and garage influences.
4. Radiohead - The King of Limbs (Ticker Tape/XL)
Not the most penetrable of records but very richly textured and with some surprisingly warm moments. Brass ensemble on Codex FTW, plus this:
3. Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx - We're New Here (Young Turks/XL)
This has some really amazingly fun and clever moments, not least the inspired sampling of Rui da Silva's Touch Me on Ur Soul and Mine.
2. Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact (4AD)
Lush, enigmatic, woozy, fun. I'm not really sure how to describe this one other than generally amazing.
1. Arctic Monkeys - Suck it and See (Domino)
It was obviously tempting to go for something more outlandish as first choice but I really, really love this record. Alex Turner is my God and I hereby proclaim this my album of the year.
A personal weblog of words and pictures by Manchester-based journalist and filmmaker David Quinn.
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