The Best Movies I Saw in 2011
This list has a very simple set of criteria: I include all movies that I watched for the first time in 2011, and have given a rating of 9 or 10. These movies do not necessarily have to be new releases as of my viewing, and most of them weren't. I have listed these movies in chronological order as I saw them.
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- DirectorMarco Tullio GiordanaStarsLuigi Lo CascioAlessio BoniJasmine TrincaAn Italian epic that follows the lives of two brothers from the 1960s to the 2000s.This is the best movie I saw in 2011.
- DirectorClaude LanzmannStarsSimon SrebnikMichael PodchlebnikMotke ZaïdlClaude Lanzmann's epic documentary recounts the story of the Holocaust through interviews with witnesses - perpetrators as well as survivors.
- DirectorPreston SturgesStarsJoel McCreaVeronica LakeRobert WarwickHollywood director John L. Sullivan sets out to experience life as a homeless person in order to gain relevant life experience for his next movie.
- DirectorAng LeeStarsTony Leung Chiu-waiTang WeiJoan ChenDuring World War II era, a young woman, Wang Jiazhi, gets swept up in a dangerous game of emotional intrigue with a powerful political figure, Mr. Yee.
- StarsArtur BarcisOlgierd LukaszewiczOlaf LubaszenkoTen television drama films, each one based on one of the Ten Commandments.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsLaurence OlivierMichael CaineAlec CawthorneA man who loves games and theater invites his wife's lover to meet him, setting up a battle of wits with potentially deadly results.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsSilvia PinalJacqueline AndereEnrique RambalThe guests at an upper-class dinner party find themselves unable to leave.
- DirectorBruce RobinsonStarsRichard E. GrantPaul McGannRichard GriffithsIn 1969, two substance-abusing, unemployed actors retreat to the countryside for a holiday that proves disastrous.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsWerner HerzogScott RowlandStefan PashovFilm-maker Werner Herzog travels to the McMurdo Station in Antarctica, looking to capture the continent's beauty and investigate the characters living there.
- DirectorMike LeighStarsTimothy SpallBrenda BlethynPhyllis LoganFollowing the death of her adoptive parents, a successful young black optometrist establishes contact with her biological mother -- a lonely white factory worker living in poverty in East London.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsTatsuya NakadaiAkira IshihamaShima IwashitaWhen a ronin requesting seppuku at a feudal lord's palace is told of the brutal suicide of another ronin who previously visited, he reveals how their pasts are intertwined - and in doing so challenges the clan's integrity.
- DirectorGaspar NoéStarsMonica BellucciVincent CasselAlbert DupontelEvents over the course of one traumatic night in Paris unfold in reverse-chronological order as the beautiful Alex is brutally raped and beaten by a stranger in an underpass tunnel.I cringe at the fact that I'm including this. I've seen thousands of movies, and this is on the shortlist for 'most brutal movies I've ever seen, the most difficult movies to get through.' This is a movie that doesn't **** around. I will give it a qualified recommendation. It is one of the most effective movies I've ever seen. It's very well done, but not for the casual viewer. It is a good movie, but it is not a fun movie.
I have given it a rating of 9 because it's so effective. And the way that it's effective is the reason that I have not given it a 10. - DirectorJohn HustonStarsSean ConneryMichael CaineChristopher PlummerIn 1880s India, two former British soldiers decide to set themselves up as Kings in Kafiristan, a land where no white man has set foot since Alexander the Great.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsBruno S.Walter LadengastBrigitte MiraA young man named Kaspar Hauser suddenly appears in Nuremberg in 1828, barely able to talk or walk, and bearing a strange note.
- DirectorMichael HanekeStarsChristian FriedelErnst JacobiLeonie BeneschStrange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. Who is responsible?
- DirectorElem KlimovStarsAleksey KravchenkoOlga MironovaLiubomiras LauceviciusAfter finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.
- DirectorDebra GranikStarsJennifer LawrenceJohn HawkesGarret DillahuntAn unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her drug-dealing father while trying to keep her family intact.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsIrène JacobJean-Louis TrintignantFrédérique FederA model discovers a retired judge is keen on invading people's privacy.
- DirectorLee DanielsStarsGabourey SidibeMo'NiquePaula PattonIn New York City's Harlem circa 1987, an overweight, abused, illiterate teen who is pregnant with her second child is invited to enroll in an alternative school in hopes that she can re-route her life in a better direction.
- DirectorWill GluckStarsEmma StoneAmanda BynesPenn BadgleyWhen Olive lies to her best friend about losing her virginity to one of the college boys, a girl overhears their conversation. Soon, her story spreads across the entire school like wildfire.
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsMatt DamonTony HalePatton OswaltThe U.S. government decides to go after an agro-business giant with a price-fixing accusation, based on the evidence submitted by their star witness, vice president-turned-informant Mark Whitacre.
- DirectorJohn G. BlystoneBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonNatalie TalmadgeJoe KeatonA man returns to his Appalachian homestead. On the trip, he falls for a young woman. The only problem is her family has vowed to kill every member of his family.
- DirectorJohn McNaughtonStarsMichael RookerTracy ArnoldTom TowlesArriving in Chicago, Henry moves in with ex-con acquaintance Otis and starts schooling him in the ways of the serial killer.Like 'Irreversible' above, this one deserves an amendment. It's not quite as rough as that movie, but I don't think I'll ever see anything that rough again. Anyway, both movies are very well done, and very unpleasant.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsVictor MooreBeulah BondiFay BainterAn elderly couple are forced to live hundreds of miles apart when they lose their house and none of their five children will take both parents in.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsKlaus KinskiClaudia CardinaleJosé LewgoyThe story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an extremely determined man who intends to build an opera house in the middle of a jungle.The whole movie had a haphazard, "rough around the edges" feel to it. But somehow, that's part of what made it so great. It was such a good movie that I watched "Burden of Dreams," the documentary about it, which I also included in this list.
- DirectorClaude BerriStarsYves MontandEmmanuelle BéartDaniel AuteuilA beautiful but shy shepherdess plots vengeance on the men whose greedy conspiracy to acquire her father's land caused his death years earlier.This is the sequel to 'Jean de Florette.' I watched them back to back. The buildup is good, but the payoff is better.
- DirectorAdam ElliotStarsToni CollettePhilip Seymour HoffmanEric BanaIn 1976 Melbourne, a lonely 8-year-old girl strikes up a correspondence with an unlikely pen pal: a severely obese 44-year-old New Yorker with Asperger's syndrome.
- StarsAdam CurtisRobert ReichAnn BernaysA documentary about the rise of psychoanalysis as a powerful means of persuasion for both governments and corporations.
- DirectorLes BlankStarsWerner HerzogKlaus KinskiClaudia CardinaleA documentary following German auteur Werner Herzog as he deals with difficult actors, bad weather and getting a boat over a mountain, all in an effort to make his film Fitzcarraldo (1982).I will recommend this as a great companion piece to anyone who really liked 'Fitzcarraldo.'
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsDeborah KerrDavid FarrarFlora RobsonA group of nuns struggle to establish a convent in the Himalayas, while isolation, extreme weather, altitude, and culture clashes all conspire to drive the well-intentioned missionaries mad.