Here's a link to the RYM list:

http://rateyourmusic.com/films/chart?page=1&chart_type=top&type=film&year=2002&genre_include=1&genres=&include=both&limit=none&countries=

The vote will close on Saturday May 25th at midnight.

You can list 5 to 20 movies. You can list more than 20, but only 20 will be counted. For movies with multiple release dates, we will go by the original release date which should be found on RYM.

Just glancing at the list, 2002 was an incredible year for movies.

The first year I don't have an absolutly favorite film. The choice of the first three film can change all the days.
1. Cidade de Deus (Fernando Meirelles)
2. Hable Con ella (Pedro Almodovar)
3. The Pianist (Roman Polanski)
4. Ken Park (Larry Clark)
5. 8 femmes (François Ozon)
6. L'auberge espagnole (Cédric Klapisch)
7. Astérix et Obélix : Mission Cléopatre (Alain Chabat)
8. 28 days later (Danny Boyle)
9. Le fils (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)
10. Irréversible (Gaspar Noé)
11. Se souvenir des belles choses (Zabou Breitman)
12. The Bourne Identity (Doug Liman)
13. Laissez-Passer (Bertrand Tavernier)
14. Far from Heaven (Todd Haynes)
15. The Hours (Stephen Daldry)
16. Embrassez qui vous voudrez (Michel Blanc)
17. Ice Age (Chris Wedge)

1. Far From Heaven
2. Lilja 4-ever
3. Elsker dig for evigt [Open Hearts]
4. Mies vailla menneisyyttä [The Man Without a Past]
5. Hable con ella [Talk to Her]
6. Cidade de Deus [City of God]
7. 8 Mile
8. Bang Bang You're Dead
9. The Pianist
10. 無間道 [Infernal Affairs]
11. De Tweeling [Twin Sisters]
12. Bowling for Columbine
13. 英雄 [Hero]
14. Adaptation.
15. Punch-Drunk Love
16. Secretary
17. Bend It Like Beckham
18. The Hours
19. The Ring
20. Catch Me If You Can

Some films I wish I had seen before making this list:
Bloody Sunday
Chicago
Être et avoir [To Be and to Have]
Los lunes al sol [Mondays in the Sun]
The Magdalene Sisters
Irréversible
8 femmes [8 Women]
Phone Booth
Dirty Pretty Things
Rabbit-Proof Fence [Long Walk Home]
たそがれ清兵衛 [The Twilight Samurai]
오아시스 [Oasis]
Uzak [Distant]

ドールズ [Dolls] just missed my top 20. It is the most beautiful film I have ever seen, but unfortunately I didn't enjoy the story as much as the photography.

1. Cidade de Deus (Fernando Meirelles)
2. Ying Xiong / Hero (Yimou Zhang)
3. Adaptation. (Spike Jonze)
4. Mou Gaan Dou / Infernal Affairs (Wai-Kaung Lau & Alan Mak)
5. Hable con Ella (Pedro Almodovar)
6. In This World (Michael Winterbottom)
7. The Pianist (Roman Polanski)
8. Lilja 4-ever (Lukas Moodysson)
9. Far from Heaven (Todd Haynes)
10. All or Nothing (Mike Leigh)
11. Bloody Sunday (Paul Greengrass)
12. Rabbit-Proof Fence (Phillip Noyce)
13. Elsker Dig for Evigt (Susanne Bier)
14. Chicago (Rob Marshall)
15. Solaris (Steven Soderbergh)
16. 25th Hours (Ang Lee)
17. The Hours (Stephen Daldry)
18. Dirty Pretty Things (Stephen Frears)
19. About Schmidt (Alexander Payne)
20. Russkiy Kovcheg / Russian Ark (Aleksandr Sokurov)

1. Hable con ella [Talk to Her]
2. The Hours
3. ドールズ [Dolls]
4. The Pianist
5. Cidade de Deus [City of God]
6. たそがれ清兵衛 [The Twilight Samurai]
7. Le fils [The Son]
8. Elina - Som om jag inte fanns [Elina: As If I Wasn't There]
9. Adaptation.
10. Aleksis Kiven elämä [The Life of Aleksis Kivi]
11. 복수는 나의 것 [Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance]
12. Bowling for Columbine
13. 25th Hour
14. About Schmidt
15. Mies vailla menneisyyttä [The Man Without a Past]
16. Minority Report
17. Occident [West]
18. Spider
19. Ripley's Game
20. 藍色大門 [Blue Gate Crossing]

What recommendations do people have for films to see before I submit my final list? Right now my list will probably comprise in some order:

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Pianist
City of God
Talk to Her
Adaptation
About Schmidt
Minority Report (Despite the horrible Spielberg ending)
25th Hour
Punch Drunk Love
The Bourne Identity
Catch Me If You Can
28 Days Later

And I've already added Russian Ark and Spider to my Netflix queue. (And I've seen Far From Heaven and Hero). Is there anything else I really need to see before making up the list?

Mies vailla menneisyyttä [The Man Without a Past] was very praised at least in Europe. I prefer Kaurismäki's earlier works (Varjoja paratiisissa, Kauas pilvet karkaavat) but Man without... is also a very good (and very similar to his other works). So if you have seen at least one of his works you know what to expect.
Same with Le Fils. If you have seen movies by Dardenne brothers this will look the same (the story is still different). If you haven't seen any you should definitely check this out. Kaurismäki and Dardenne bros make one of the most unique movies of today.

Like Henrik said Dolls is the most beautiful movie ever. If that's enough for you I really recommend to check it out. I mean it's a very slow art movie from Japan but I think it's not only one of the most beautiful movies ever it's also the best Takeshi Kitano movie.

Occident is like Short Cuts from Romania (directed by Cristian Mungiu (director of 4 months...)).

If you have any interest to Japanese Samurai movies Twilight Samurai is one of the best ever.

2002 was indeed a very good year for movies.
My list:

1.Cidade de deus
2.The Pianist
3.Far from Heaven
4.Punch-Drunk Love
5.About Schmidt
6.Adaptation
7.Russian Ark
8.Etre et Avoir
9.Ten
10.Le Fils
11.Spider
12.The Hours
13.Minority Report
14.Femme Fatale
15.Bourne Identity
16.Insomnia
17.Frida
18.Secretary
19.L'Auberge Espagnole
20.About A Boy
21.Solaris
22.28 Days Later...
23.Road to Perdition
24.Catch Me if you Can
25.Narc
26.Dirty Pretty Things
27.The Quiet American
28.Voices of A Distant Star
29.Phone Booth
30.Changing Lanes
31.Ice Age
32.Dolls

Cidade de deus is probably my movie of the decade. If Martin Scorsese had made this movie, he would have gotten the "best film" oscar for it.

I'm having no trouble at listing 30 or so movies I like of each year. I can't do this for CD's. Maybe I love the movies more than I love music, and I'm on the wrong forum.

I second everything Petri said re: Kaurismaki and the Dardennes

Definitely check out Infernal Affairs and Lilja 4-ever.

May 25th is a Tuesday.

1. Minority Report – Steven Spielberg
2. Road to Perdition – Sam Mendes
3. Catch Me If You Can – Steven Spielberg
4. À la folie... pas du tout (He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not) – Laetitia Colombani
5. Signs – M. Night Shyamalan
6. The Bourne Identity – Doug Liman
7. La caja 507 (Box 507) – Enrique Urbizu
8. Ararat – Atom Egoyan
9. Chicago – Rob Marshall
10. 8 femmes (8 Women) – François Ozon
11. Panic Room – David Fincher
12. Ripley’s Game – Liliana Cavani
13. Far From Heaven – Todd Haynes
14. The Hours – Stephen Daldry
15. Solaris – Steven Soderberg
16. Four Feathers – Shekhar Kapur
17. Smoking Room – Julio Wallowits / Roger Gual
18. Men in Black II – Barry Sonnenfeld
19. The Quiet American – Phillip Noyce
20. Ice Age – Chris Wedge

21. Blood Work – Clint Eastwood
22. Murder by Numbers – Barbet Schroeder
23. About Schmidt – Alexander Payne
24. Evelyn – Bruce Beresford
25. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – Chris Columbus

I was definitely not thinking when I mixed up Spike and Ang. Very different directors of course.

See my list for recommendations.

Indeed. Which is why it closes on May 22nd, and not May 25th.

Try "L'auberge espagnole", "8 femmes" and "Le fils". The first is a romantic comedy, the second, a pure comedy and the third his a drama.

1. City of God
2. Adaptation
3. Talk to Her
4. Far from Heaven
5. Dirty Pretty Things
6. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
7. Gangs of New York
8. Road to Perdition
9. The Hours
10. One Hour Photo

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers / Peter Jackson / New Zealand
2. 25th Hour / Spike Lee / U.S.
3. The Man Without a Past / Aki Kaurismaki / Finland
4. Blissfully Yours / Apichatpong Weerasethakul / Thailand
5. Unknown Pleasures / Jia Zhang-ke / China
6. Distant / Nuri Bilge Ceylan / Turkey
7. The Son / Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne / Belgium
8. Punch-Drunk Love / Paul Thomas Anderson / U.S.
9. Far From Heaven / Todd Haynes / U.S.
10. Minority Report / Steven Spielberg / U.S.

1. Gangs of New York
2. About a Boy
3. The Bourne Identity
4. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
5. Lord of Rings: Two Towers
6. Rules of Attraction
7. Adaptation
8. The Ring
9. Punch Drunk Love
10. Spellbound
11. Igby Goes Down
12. One Hour Photo
13. Roger Dodger
14. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
15. Bowling For Columbine

Gangs of New York is easily my favorite Scorsese movie, and one of my favorites of all time. In a great body of work, it also stands out to me as Daniel Day Lewis's finest performance.

1. Cidade de Deus [City of God] (Fernando Meirelles)
2. The Pianist (Roman Polanski)
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Peter Jackson)
4. Road To Perdition (Sam Mendes)
5. 25th Hour (Spike Lee)
6. Equilibrium (Kurt Wimmer)
7. Mou Gaan Dou [Infernal Affairs] (Wai-keung Lau / Alan Mak)
8. Lilja 4-ever (Lukas Moodysson)
9. Hablo Con Ella [Talk To Her] (Pedro Almodóvar)
10. Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes)

Would it kill you guys to vote for some comedies? It's like everyone's an Academy Awards voter...

1 Adaptation
2 Bubba Ho-Tep
3 Undercover Brother
4 25th Hour
5 Catch Me If You Can
6 The Ring
7 28 Days Later
8 Bourne Identity
9 Jackass The Movie
10 Ali G Indahouse

The one big movie I wanted to see but still haven't is City of God

There's a lot of comedies I like, but I'm not a fan of the 'Misadventures of crass stupid guys/dirty for the sake of dirty' style of humor that predominated 00's comedies. I'm more a parody/satire guy.

Not a good year for comedy. I'm with you that comedies don't get their due, and I'll vote for what I like instead of what was the best piece of art, but this year wasn't a great year for comedies.

I put 5 comedies in my list of 17 films. I found the lists interesting right now for the first three years because they mix mainstream and more difficults movies.

If only the Academy Award nominations looked as great as our top 10's.

The only way this won't be my final list is if Netflix finally decides to send me Russian Ark which has been #1 in my queue since the 2002 poll started.

Cidade de Deus (City of God)
Hable con Ella (Talk to Her)
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Pianist
Punch Drunk Love
25th Hour
Minority Report
Spider
Adaptation
28 Days Later
Catch Me If You Can
Le Fils (The Son)
The Bourne Identity
About Schmidt
Panic Room

Comments:

-The Pianist is the movie I hoped Schindler's List would be. It shows the Nazis as the sort of cold, systematic evil you read about in books. Whereas in Schindler's List they talk like Colonel Clink and cackle like cartoon villains. The former is far more terrifying.

-My first reaction to Punch Drunk Love: 'Adam Sandler can act?!' (Just like my first reaction to Requiem For A Dream was the same thing about Marlon Wayans.) I love these short simple emotionally driven character study movies.

-Minority Report would be higher if it had the darker ending the story demanded, or at least that approached the philosophical question of pre-crime in a more nuanced way.

Beef Supreme: I think one reason the strong mainstream films don't do as well on these polls is that half the voters are cinephiles, and cinephiles have seen so many movies it makes them bored with genre flicks.

How about this: I'll watch a recommended art house movie I haven't seen... and everyone who hasn't seen Undercover Brother watches that and we'll all adjust our lists accordingly.

The AA voters comment was way too harsh, sorry.

1. Der Felsen - Graf, Dominik
2. The Quiet American - Noyce, Phillip
3. 25th Hour - Lee, Spike
4. Rabbit-Proof Fence - Noyce, Phillip
5. 11'09"01 - Various
6. Ten - Kiarostami, Abbas
7. Halbe Treppe - Dresen, Andreas
8. Le fils - Dardenne, Jean-Luc & Pierre
9. Far from Heaven - Hayes, Todd
10. Japon - Reygadas, Carlos
11. Saenghwalui balgyeon / Turning Gate - Hong Sang-soo
12. Lilja 4-ever - Moodyson, Lukas
13. Cidade de Deus - Mereilles, Fernando
14. Monster's Ball - Forster, Marc
15. Bowling For Coumbine - Moore, Michael
16. Insomnia - Nolan, Christopher
17. Solino - Akin, Fatih
18. Trilogy - Belvaux, Lucas
19. The Man Without a Past - Kaurismäki, Aki
20. Hero - Zhang Yimou
+ Owning Mahoney - Kwietniowski, Richard

Charlie: Monster's Ball is 2001. Because there are multiple release dates for a lot of movies we're using the RYM year.

If you don't send a correction I'll just shift everything you placed beneath it up by one.

Owning Mahowny and Ken Park (#4 in Romains list) are from 2003 (won't be in my top 20 but at least Owning Mahowny will be in my top 50 of 03).

The AA voters comment was also a bit odd because our lists are almost opposite of US mainstream movies that Oscar movies mostly are (and isn't Chicago a comedy).
I'm not going to buy or rent (and I'm sure it won't be shown in Helsinki Film Archive) Undercover Brother. But if I'll have a chance to see it legally (and at least in dvd quality) for free I will check it out.

I have another friend who I totally trust when it comes to movies- he watches everything good and bad and so I go to him when asking about action and comedy since there is no middle ground with those genres and I don't want to waste my time watching horrible movies. Anyway, the point is that he said Undercover Brother was pretty good. But, I've never taken his advice and watched it since it looks so bad but I will one of these days.

Ken Park (#4 in Romains list) are from 2003


I found 2002 in all the source I look (imdb, wiki...).

If you removed the film of the list, can you tell me ?! Thanks.

Yes it's actually a 2002 movie. Sorry about that. I'm going to correct RYM year today (if no one else does it before). It was shown in many festivals in 2002.

The results. Points are Total/Votes/#1 votes.

1. Cidade de Deus (City Of God) 353/9/6
2. Hable Con Ella (Talk To Her) 229/7/1
3. The Pianist 207/7/0
4. Adaptation 198/8/1
5. Far From Heaven 176/8/1
6. Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers 165/5/1
7. 25th Hour 163/7/0
8. The Bourne Identity 94/6/0
9. Minority Report 93/5/1
10. Punch Drunk Love 91/5/0

Just Missed:
Le Fils (The Son) 87/6/0
Road To Perdition 86/3/0
The Hours 83/7/0
Lilja 4-ever 81/4/0

City Of God expectedly dominates, then there's a major drop after #7. Almost anything could have probably landed in those final three spots if they'd just gotten one more major fan to vote.

Eight of the ten qualifiers are english language films for this year. Whether this is a trend that will continue or this was just a very good year for American films, I don't know.

Yes, but the first thre are not
Not a good year for me. Except maybe Cidade de deus, none of these film are "chef d'oeuvre" contrary to previous years.
Pity to "The Hours" that I particularly liked !
Whatever, more the time passed, more I loved these lists.

I love this game! But I'm a little sad that neither The Son, Lilja 4-ever or The Man Without a Past made the top 10.

1) Chicago
2) 8 Mile
3) The Ring
4) Bend It Like Beckham
5) The Pianist
6) Spiderman
7) The Good Girl
8) Goldmember
9) Snow Dogs
10) The Guru