Same rules as before. You can give points to from 5 to 20 movies from 2006. Year of release is decided by RYM. A link to the RYM list of movies is here:

http://rateyourmusic.com/films/chart?page=1&chart_type=top&type=film&year=2006&genre_include=1&genres=&include=both&limit=none&countries=

Vote closes midnight eastern time on Saturday, July 17.

This is a fantastic year for me. Tons of good scifi/fantasy. I've already got 14, and there are at least two by directors I know I like I need to see. Plus a few more I might want to see. I might even get to 20 this year.

My personal foreign recommendations: Pan's Labyrinth, Lives of Others. And I haven't seen Babel which is by the same guy as Amores Perros and 21 Grams or Volver which is Almodovar.

1. Kunsten at græde i kor [The Art of Crying] - Peter Schønau Fog - Denmark
2. Das Leben der Anderen [The Lives of Others] - Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck - Germany
3. El laberinto del fauno [Pan's Labyrinth] - Guillermo del Toro - Spain, Mexico
4. Little Miss Sunshine - Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris - USA
5. Salvador - Manuel Huerga - Spain
6. Volver - Pedro Almodóvar - Spain
7. Marie Antoinette - Sofia Coppola - USA
8. Reprise - Joachim Trier - Norway
9. パプリカ [Paprika] - Satoshi Kon - Japan
10. INLAND EMPIRE - David Lynch - USA
11. The Living And the Dead - Simon Rumley - UK
12. La science des rêves [The Science of Sleep]- Michel Gondry - France, UK
13. Jesus Camp - Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady - USA
14. Laitakaupungin valot [Lights in the Dusk] - Aki Kaurismäki - Finland
15. The Road to Guantanamo - Michael Winterbottom - UK
16. The Prestige - Chritopher Nolan - USA
17. Börn [Children] - Ragnar Bragason - Iceland
18. Rescue Dawn - Werner Herzog -USA
19. Fountain - Darren Aronofsky - USA
20. Zwartboek [Black Book] - Paul Verhoeven - Netherlands

According to RYM Du levande (You the Living) by Roy Anderson is a 2006 movie. That's incorrect (and I corrected it yesterday but the movie is still in the 2006 list). The world premiere was in Cannes Film Festival in 2007 and after that the first normal premiere was in Sweden in September 07 (and before that it was showed in several festivals but nowhere before Cannes.)
If we decide that Du levande is 2006 movie (because of RYM) it's my #1 of the year.

My shortest list, until now:
1. Das Leben der Anderen
2. The Departed
3. Half Nelson
4. Inside Man
5. United 93
6. The Queen
7. The Fall
8. Children of Men
9. The Prestige
10.Last King Of Scotland
11.Little Miss Sunshine
12.Lucky Number Slevin
13.Cars
14.Casino Royale
15.Paprika


"Reprise" by Joachim Trier is from 2007, according to RYM

Rescue Dawn is listed as 2007 on RYM, but it should be 2006

1. Still Life / Jia Zhang-ke / China
2. I Don't Want to Sleep Alone / Tsai Ming-liang / Taiwan
3. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts / Spike Lee / U.S.
4. Paraguayan Hammock / Paz Encina / Paraguay
5. Rescue Dawn / Werner Herzog / U.S.
6. Climates / Nuri Bilge Ceylan / Turkey
7. The Boss of It All / Lars von Trier / Denmark
8. Dreams of Dust / Laurent Salgues / Burkina Faso
9. Daratt / Mahamet Saleh-Haroun / Chad
10. In Between Days / So Yong Kim / U.S.

We had a discussion about what to consider the release year right when we started and decided on RYM. The only way I would overturn an RYM year is if:

1) It was not even released in festivals until a later year.
2) It was released widely in an earlier year.

And there is conclusive evidence of such.

Forget what I said in a previous thread about putting less effort into this game. Screw Mubi. They don't really care about watching good movies, they just like being able to say they've seen more obscure ones then you have. So I'll be trying to watch Babel, Volver, A Scanner Darkly, Half Nelson, and Army of Darkness for this.

Why is it so hard to find message boards where people see stuff that isn't mainstream, but aren't giant pricks about it?

But we should steal their idea for Director's Cup and apply it to a musical artist's competition here.

How do you guys hear about the more obscure films? For example, greg, your #1 film is a chinese film, which i've never heard of (although admittedly i'm quite ignorant about films). Where did you hear about it? Did you watch it in a cinema? I can't imagine chinese films being particularly "mainstream", so would you find it in your local movie store?

Army of Darkness?

Err. Army of Shadows.

@Zorg: Do you live near a big city? There's a chain of art house theaters called Landmark which has theaters in: Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New York City, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, St Louis, Washington DC.

Other than that, ones from Western Europe and Eastern Asia you can probably get on Amazon or through Netflix. Movies from anywhere else are hard to find in the US.

Maybe these films are not SO "obscure" that you think outside the United-States ?

1 - Little Miss Sunshine - Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
2 - El laberinto del fauno - Guillermo del Toro
3 - Children of Men - Alfonso Cuarón
4 - Lady Chatterley - Pascale Ferran
5 - Volver - Pedro Almodóvar
6 - OSS 117 : Le Caire, nid d'espion - Michel Hazanavicius
7 - Ne le dis à personne - Guillaume Canet
8 - 괴물 [The Host] - Bong Joon-ho
9 - The Departed - Martin Scorcese
10 - The Prestige - Chritopher Nolan
11 - The Fountain - Darren Aronofsky
12 - Babel - Alejandro González Iñárritu
13 - La science des rêves - Michel Gondry
14 - Lady in the water - M. Night Shyamalan
15 - Je vous trouve très beau - Isabelle Mergault
16 - Das Leben der Anderen - Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
17 - Je vais bien, ne t'en fais pas - Philippe Lioret
18 - Little Children - Todd Field
19 - Inside Man - Spike Lee
20 - Indigènes - Rachid Bouchareb

Excellent films this year, some of my top ten of the decade.

That's what I thought, but just because it was re-released in 2006 doesn't make it a 2006 film, does it? If it does, it's by far my favorite of 2006.

According to IMDB: "Release Date: 8 September 2006 (Norway)" and before premiere in Norway it was showed in Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in Czech Republic in 3 July 2006. I think RYM isn't the best place to check the release dates because it seems that there are people who incorrects the correct dates etc. (I think this guy had checked the nearest release date from IMDB and it was in April 07 (in Germany)).
So Reprise should be a 2006 movie (and it was in RYM before latest "correction".)


I watch movies in Film Festivals and in Film Archive (and of course in normal cinema shows + dvd's + tv). Then I read some movie forums (in Finnish). But there's always some movies in Greg's list that I haven't seen (actually 2006 I have seen only 3 of them) or even heard of.

And like Stephan said Army of Shadows is a 1969 movie. The re-release in 2006 wasn't a new movie. But of course it's worth of watching if you haven't seen it.

I know some of them aren't so obscure outside the US, but I somehow doubt 'I Am Love' is tearing up the box office in Italy.

Ugh. Movie websites are LYING to me about release dates!

Well I go to the public library around the corner, where they have 4 decent film magazines (in dutch), and where they also have DVD's for rent (1 euro for 4 weeks). This is where I also rent CD's by the way.
Also, in Belgium, where you can receive TV channels from Great Britain, France, Netherlands, they show these movies on TV, with subtitles.

"Once" is another film that's from 2006 according to IMDB, but 2007 according to RYM.

IMDB says
Ireland, 15 July 2006 (Galway Film Fleadh)
Czech Republic, 25 July 2006 (Summer Film School)

I suppose these dates are correct. How do we handle this case?

From Wikipedia:
A rough cut premiered at the 2006 Galway Film Fleadh, but the film was subsequently turned down by several prestigious European film festivals.

My rulings:
Reprise: Released in Norway in 2006. 2006 movie.
Rescue Dawn: Originally scheduled for December 2006 release, didn't come out until 2007. RYM year stands.
Once: Wasn't released widely in any country until 2007. RYM year stands.
You The Living: Released in the 2007 Cannes festival. 2007 movie.

If you think Reprise should be considered 2007 because it wasn't released in other countries until 2007, we need a rule change. But by the rules currently decided on, it counts as 2006.

1. Inside Man
2. This is England
3. Children of Men
4. Nacho Libre
5. Pan's Labyrinth
6. Tenacious D: Pick of Destiny
7. Borat
8. Little Miss Sunshine
9. The Fountain
10. A Prairie Home Companion
11. Casino Royale
12. This Film is Not Yet Rated
13. Art School Confidential
14. Mission Impossible III


I need to see Inland Empire but I never get around to it.

1. Inside Man – Spike Lee
2. The Departed – Martin Scorsese
3. The Good Shepherd – Robert de Niro
4. Lady in the Water – M. Night Shyamalan
5. Letters From Iwo Jima – Clint Eastwood
6. El laberinto del fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth) – Guillermo del Toro
7. The Illusionist – Neil Burger
8. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer – Tom Tykwer
9. Apocalypto – Mel Gibson
10. Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
11. The Fountain – Darren Aronofsky
12. Children of Men – Alfonso Cuarón
13. Mon meilleur ami (My Best Friend) – Patrice Leconte
14. The Pursuit of Happyness – Gabriele Muccino
15. United 93 – Paul Greengrass
16. Babel – Alejandro González Iñárritu
17. The Hoax – Lasse Hallström
18. The Painted Veil – John Curran
19. The History Boys – Nicholas Hytner
20. Red Road – Andrea Arnold

21. Volver – Pedro Almodóvar
22. The Queen – Stephen Frears
23. Coeurs (Private Fears in Public Places) – Alain Resnais
24. Superman Returns – Sam Raimi
25. Scoop – Woody Allen
26. L’heros de la famile (Family Hero) – Thierry Klifa
27. Tristan + Isolde – Kevin Reynolds
28. X-Men. The Last Stand – Brett Ratner
29. Half Nelson – Ryan Fleck
30. Jindabyne – Ray Lawrence

OK, then I give one point to Grbavica (from Bosnia & Herzegovina) directed by Jasmila Zbanic. (Maybe I should give one point to Departed but I'm 100 % sure that it will be in the final.)

1. Children of Men
2. The Departed
3. Pan's Labyrinth
4. The Lives of Others
5. Little Miss Sunshine
6. Half Nelson
7. United 93
8. Letters from Iwo Jima
9. Borat
10. The Queen

That will be my top four, but in a different order. Unless Half Nelson or Volver really wows me.

I'm a bit disappointed by Babel. I wanted to like it because I like the multilinear storytelling style, but some of the plot is just too big a stretch. At some points, it's like the characters asked themselves, "What's the stupidest possible thing we could do in this situation?", and then did it.

01. The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky)
02. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron)
03. Babel (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
04. Das Leben der Anderen (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)
05. Inland Empire (David Lynch)
06. The Departed (Martin Scorsese)
07. A Prairie Home Companion (Robert Altman)
08. Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris)
09. The Wind that Shakes the Barley (Ken Loach)
10. Efter Brylluppet (Susanne Bier)

11. United 93 (Paul Greengrass)
12. The Road to Guantanamo (Mat Whitecross & Michael Winterbottom)
13. El Laberinto del Fauno (Guillermo del Toro)
14. The Queen (Stephen Frears)
15. Inside Man (Spike Lee)
16. A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater)
17. Cashback (Sean Ellis)
18. Zwartboek (Paul Verhoeven)
19. Il Caimano (Nanni Moretti)
20. The Last King of Scotland (Kevin Macdonald)

Not a lot of foreign films, somehow. Again, a couple of English-language films by foreign directors are doing really well. I guess Children of Men is the best film, but The Fountain is my favorite.

Edit: So Rescue Dawn is a 2007 film? Alright, then my number 11 is gone and a new number 20 enters.

1) Borat
2) Little Miss Sunshine
3) For Your Consideration
4) Pan’s Labyrinth
5) This Is England
6) Idiocracy
7) The Break-Up
8) United 93
9) Big Nothing
10) Wedding Daze

1. Children Of Men
2. Pan's Labyrinth
3. The Lives Of Others
4. Letters From Iwo Jima
5. Volver
6. The Departed
7. Stranger Than Fiction
8. Inland Empire
9. Paprika
10. Half Nelson
11. This Is England
12. The Queen
13. Little Miss Sunshine
14. Blood Diamond
15. Away From Her
16. Casino Royale
17. Clerks II

Clerks II was borderline to give points, because in general I don't like movies that rely on grossout jokes and shock laughs.

1. Babel
2. Little Miss Sunshine
3. United 93
4. An Inconvenient Truth
5. Scoop
6. The Departed
7. El laberinto del fauno [Pan's Labyrinth]
8. Volver
9. Das Leben der Anderen [The Lives of Others]
10. Stranger Than Fiction
11. The Prestige
12. The Last King of Scotland
13. Little Children
14. Away from Her
15. När mörkret faller [When Darkness Falls]

A few films I should have seen:
AzulOscuroCasiNegro [Dark Blue Almost Black]
Letters from Iwo Jima
Grbavica [Esma's Secret: Grbavica]
This Is England

1. Das Leben Der Anderen (F.H. von Donnersmarck)
2. The Departed (Martin Scorsese)
3. Letters From Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood)
4. Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton / Valerie Faris)
5. Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro)
6. Children Of Men (Alfonso Cuarón)
7. The Prestige (Christopher Nolan)
8. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Larry Charles)
9. Flags Of Our Fathers (Clint Eastwood)
10. 300 (Zack Snyder) - Can't help but enjoy it.

And the results.

1. El laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) (276/10/0)
2. Das Lebel der Anderen (The Lives Of Others) (266/9/2)
3. Little Miss Sunshine (265/12/1)
4. Children Of Men (255/8/2)
5. The Departed (234/8/0)
6. Inside Man (138/5/2)
7. United 93 (110/6/0)
8. Letters From Iwo Jima (106/4/0)
9. Babel (99/4/1)
10. Borat (98/4/1)

Just missed:

Volver (86/4/0)
The Fountain (84/4/1)

Eastwood and Inarritu become the first directors to qualify three non-connected solo-directed films. Spike Lee qualifies his second. It's interesting how close the top five finished in points, and then how big a drop there was after them. Also, Pan's Labyrinth becomes the first film to come in first without a single first place vote.

On a personal note, the last ballot made me very unhappy.

Sorry about that.