“Atonement”: Assured and deeply moving, it gives a superb novel the film it deserves.
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”: Simultaneously uplifting and melancholy, graced with an unexpected sense of possibility.
“Into Great Silence” and “Terror’s Advocate”: Two exceptional documentaries, one sacred, the other profane. Just as good are “No End in Sight,” which despairs of America, and “In the Shadow of the Moon,” which celebrates it.
“Lady Chatterley” and “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”: A French version of a British novel and a multi-prize-winning Romanian effort are the best of the under-the-radar foreign films. Also deserving are the Danish “After the Wedding” and the Bosnian “Grbavica.”
“Lars and the Real Girl”: A Frank Capra-style tribute to the joys of community constructed around one of contemporary culture’s most salacious items.
“Lust, Caution”: A psychologically intricate and sexually explicit film that’s further proof of director Ang Lee’s skills.
“Michael Clayton”: This smart and suspenseful legal thriller pulls you through its story, no stragglers allowed. Hollywood should be making this movie all the time instead of once a year.
“No Country for Old Men”: Something this violent shouldn’t be on the list, but the Coen brothers’ impeccable filmmaking and despairing point of view made the difference.
“Once”: An unpretentious slice of musical and romantic charm that mixes music and story the way the much-faster-paced Beatles classics did.
“Ratatouille”: A tale of an upwardly mobile rat shows once again that we’re in a golden age of animation.
If there were another slot, I’d give it to either Daniel Day Lewis’ one-of-a-kind epic “There Will Be Blood,” or “Breach,” starring Chris Cooper.
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