Our top 10 picks are pictured above. If you'd like to read more about them, please click through the gallery; our writers have prepared fresh new notes about each one.
(Note that the number after the title indicates the number of writers who selected the film in their top 10.)
Honorable Mention:
11. A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting on Existence (dir. Roy Andersson, Sweden/Germany/Norway/France) (5) (pictured above)
11. Arabian Nights (dir. Miguel Gomes, Portugal/France/Germany/Switzerland) (5)
13. Mistress America (dir. Noah Baumbach, USA/Brazil) (4)
13. Inside Out (dir. Pete Docter, Ronnie Del Carmen, USA) (4)
13. The Revenant (dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu, USA) (4)
13. Tangerine (dir. Sean Baker, USA) (4)
17. 45 Years (dir. Andrew Haigh, UK) (3)
17. Girlhood (dir. Céline Sciamma, France) (3)
17. Mustang (dir. Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Turkey/France/Qatar/Germany) (3)
17. Phoenix (dir. Christian Petzold, Germany/Poland) (3)
17. Room (dir. Lenny Abrahamson, Ireland/Canada) (3)
17. Son Of Saul (dir. László Nemes, Hungary) (3)
17. Steve Jobs (dir. Danny Boyle, USA) (3)
17. Taxi (dir. Jafar Panahi, Iran) (3)
17. What We Do In The Shadows (dir. Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, New Zealand/USA) (3)
9. THE ASSASSIN (dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Taiwan/China/Hong Kong/France) (6)
By James Marsh, Asian Editor
To say that the films of Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao Hsien are an acquired taste is something of an understatement, but the director of A City of Sadness, Millennium Mambo and Café Lumière achieved something of a mainstream breakthrough this year with his immaculate wuxia drama The Assassin.
That is not to say that the director compromised his style in any way; many will still find his glacial pacing, aversion to traditional narrative and the film’s almost total lack of action an agonising ordeal, but for those willing to open themselves up to Hou’s cinematic majesty, the results are intoxicating and mesmerising in a way no other film could accomplish in 2015.
Hou’s frequent muse, the radiant Shu Qi, stars as the eponymous Yinniang - a young woman raised to be a cold-blooded killer. Agile, silent and chillingly proficient at her trade, Yinniang’s resolve is called into question when she refuses to murder a target in front of his children. With her reputation at stake, Yinniang is tasked with travelling to Weibo and murdering governor Tian Jian (Chang Chen), her cousin to whom she was previously betrothed.
What follows is a beautifully staged and achingly romantic story of duty, honour and love, which also dissects the wuxia genre and the psychology of the professional killer. Presented in a full-frame 1.41:1 aspect ratio that masterfully captures the cavernous landscapes and silver birch forests of Northern China, The Assassin is as beautiful a portrayal of poetry through cinema as one could hope to conceive.
Years in the making and Hou’s most expensive production by far, this Cannes Best Director winner (which absolutely should have taken home the Palme D’Or) is the Best Asian Film of 2015 and a gift to cinephiles the world over.
9. IT FOLLOWS (dir. David Robert Mitchell, USA) (6)
By Daniel Rutledge, Contributing Writer
This is a shining example of a simplistic, original horror idea, executed superbly well. The killer in It Follows is an evil entity that takes the form of any human it chooses to relentlessly pursue a single victim at a time. It can only ever move at a walking pace, cannot be seen by anybody apart from the victim and won't stop until they are dead -- unless they pass the curse on.
From this primal, basic premise is built an experience of masterfully eerie dread that often explodes into full-on terror. There's a unique peculiarity to It Follows that put some viewers off, but those of us who got on-board were thrilled with this deliciously disturbing oddity.
Filmmaker David Robert Mitchell does a marvelous job of capturing the feel of being an adolescent. Adults don't really feature in the film and are dismissed casually by the teen leads, who are primarily interested in -- but also very scared of -- sex. Filmed in a sleepy Detroit, there's an '80s feel to It Follows, and when it's not terrifying it's dreamy and wondrous.
While a highly sexualised and very sexy film, it's far from sleazy, and the frequent nudity is often itself made scary with Mitchell's direction. It's easy to read allegorical meaning and a lot of viewers chose to see it as a statement on casual sex and STDs. I choose not to and enjoy the film far more as a straightforward, supernatural horror.
Maika Monroe gives a sterling lead performance, but perhaps the strongest character is the soundtrack by Disasterpeace. A low-fi, synth-heavy work of art as weird as the film itself, it adds enormous menace to almost every scene.
A true modern classic of the genre.
6. SPOTLIGHT (dir. Tom McCarthy, USA) (7)
By Michele "'Izzy" Galgana, Associate Editor
Spotlight follows a special investigative department of the same name of The Boston Globe, my area’s major metropolitan paper, and honestly, the last bastion of real, old school news reporting in New England. I’m glad that this film found its way onto our top ten films of the year, and it’s not just because I live here. While that is a very definite part of why the film is one of the most effective pieces of cinema I’ve ever seen, I’m glad it’s being noticed because of the very real issue that it tackles -- hidden pedophilia within the Catholic Church.
Directed by Tom McCarthy, the film follows Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schrieber, and John Slattery as they look into the allegations against John Geoghan, a defrocked priest accused of molesting more than 80 boys. If that is too disturbing to you, stop reading. That travesty is what starts off the initial investigation. The more the news team digs, the more they find absolutely atrocious acts of the Church -- specifically, cover ups of problematic priests as they are moved from parish to parish. Swept under the rug, these acolytes are the ones given good treatment -- as well as fresh victims for their inherent sickness.
In its very best forms, art and media act as mirror to hold up the truths of the world. As frightening though they may be, we need them to expose crime and corruption. Spotlight shines a light on the people who kicked the lid off the cover-ups that lead from Boston’s Archdiocese and went all the way to the Vatican. The end reveals some information that will chill you. People were abused and both individuals and families were emotionally destroyed. Some victims didn’t make it and committed suicide.
Spotlight never treats its subject in an exploitative way; rather, the survivors portrayed in this story are treated with care… Quite unlike what actually happened. The plot unravels bit by bit, but you never feel as if the film is slow, because it is riveting and horrifying. Names, information, and eventually, horrifying yet vital key confessions are discovered, resulting in a film that builds a tense momentum that grips and never lets go. Spotlight deserves a place among other newsroom dramas such as All The President’s Men, Citizen Kane, and Frost/Nixon.
This film shook me. I was born into a Catholic family in a suburb very close to Boston. My stepfather did and still works for The Boston Globe. I have been in that great pressroom on Morrissey Boulevard where the papers are cranked out by the thousands, where plates and ink turn blank newsprint from nothing into a document of our local municipality. When I was 8 years old, I was given a choice as to whether I wanted to continue attending parochial school, and I immediately choose public school. I recognized that religion was a way to control people, and I wanted no part of it. Nothing about it made sense to me. Just two years earlier, I took my first communion and hugged a priest for a photo. Boston is my town. The survivors are the people I live among. As a child attending church, Spotlight could have been me. I know at least one person who wasn’t so lucky. We need more films like this.
6. STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (dir. J.J. Abrams, USA) (7)
By Jim Tudor, Featured Critic
There has been a convergence in the Force. Fans and filmgoers have united in their desire for an unspoiled Star Wars experience in a way unseen since before the Internet. Even now, as I type this blurb to proclaim The Force Awakens as one of the ten best films of 2015, I'm still not sure what I should or shouldn't mention. Is it fair game to say that newcomers Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac make a terrific galactic splash? Can I let the cat out of the bag that old man Han Solo steals the show? Is it too much to simply state that the fact that this film didn't get screwed up, coupled with the stratospheric frenzy surrounding its reception, has been one of most positive fan experiences in movie history?
If Star Wars had always been George Lucas' love letter to cinema's past, then it makes some sense that The Force Awakens, the first in the franchise that its creator was not involved with, be a love letter to Star Wars past. Director J.J. Abrams, carrying the weight of the inherited galaxy on his shoulders with natural finesse, has crafted a film that, while as imperfect as most any Star Wars movie, properly echoes its roots rather than parroting them. Complaining about the fact that The Force Awakens structurally resembles 1977's A New Hope is like complaining that Paul McCartney's band sounds like The Beatles when they play “Get Back.” Star Wars is nothing if not thematically repetitive by design. The success of this entry lies in many of the new ways it varies the familiar chords.
As this 'most anticipated film of all time' is being digested by a populace that's proven impossibly hungry for it, early responses have been wildly varying. For every 'finally, a Star Wars with characterization!,” there's a refrain of “this Star Wars lacks any believable human beings.” One will accuse it of being 'nothing but a hollow, pandering cash machine,' another will recognize it as 'a film with heart and soul, as told by a true fan.' A curious phenomenon, indeed. Much like the Force itself, the seventh episode is whatever you look for it to be. The funny thing about it is, most of the commenters, in one way or another, have considerate points.
Meanwhile, box office records are being struck down, only to reemerge more powerful than we'd possibly imagined. We knew that The Force Awakens would eclipse all else, and that it would inspire discussion and debate for lightyears to come. But there's something else that was not a given, and is now true as far as ScreenAnarchy is concerned, this is the Star Wars you're looking for.
6. CAROL (dir. Todd Haynes, UK/USA) (7)
By Kurt Halfyard, Contributing Writer
One of the most beautifully shot films of year, Carol is an exceptional proof of why shooting on film still matters. The subtle re-creation of the early 1950s with all the requisite cars, typesetting, and baubles of the era, serves Patricia Highsmith's novel of two women who fall in love but have precious little social framework to aid their relationship.
As beautiful as the film looks, it essays a time of harsh conformity and misplaced morality, when divorce is a rarity, even amongst wealthy New York socialites. Cate Blanchett essays the title role, a fashionable, confident woman whose lifestyle is at odds with her husbands', and his wealthy parents', sense of patriarchy (Kyle Chandler, wicked but believable) comes into play as a war attrition in the proceedings of their crumbling marriage over their daughter's custody.
This is told, however, through the eyes of a young shop-girl, in perhaps the performance of the year by Rooney Mara. Her essaying of young Therese, whose gift of photography and observation, flowers with her earnest youth, but her lack of confidence of her elder soulmate. The empathy that trickles out of this film is extraordinary.
The two women tentatively court one another into vaguely defined territory over a Christmas holiday road-trip. Even away from the city, they have to deal with not only the men in their lives, but also the moral judgment of their day. Haynes shoots the picture through glass surfaces, many of which are covered with droplets of moisture or streaks of dirt, to show the kind of invisible prison in which these women are contained.
And yet, this is still New York, and there is space outside the glass prison, in the privacy of tiny, thickly painted apartments or restaurant booths. Reaction shots and close-ups communicate much louder than words. A touch on the shoulder tells us everything we need to know. And things are, thankfully not without hope. Todd Haynes doesn't have to bang us over the head to make us pay attention, he only has to offer a sense of the beautiful and heartbreaking to make us lean in.
5. EX MACHINA (dir. Alex Garland, UK) (8)
By Ard Vijn, Associate Editor, Features
Alex Garland had made his mark in science fiction movie-land already by writing the damn clever scripts for 28 Days Later, Sunshine, Dredd and Never Let Me Go, but that his debut as a director would turn out be this good came as a surprise. Marketed as an intelligent rumination about artificial intelligence, Ex Machina actually carries a mean exploitation streak: it uses science fiction as a lure for nerds, but halfway through the film suddenly switches sides to explore a few older and darker issues.
I'm not even sure it tackles the whole issue of artificial intelligence or consciousness in any way, shape or form. You never get to know if the “female” robot in the film is just a mindless machine, or if she has actual emotions. Is there a ghost in this shell or not? The only answer you get from this film is that men are easily blinded assholes, especially when it comes to something which even remotely looks like a pretty woman. In languorous shots of nudity (surrounded by mirrors no less, in case you'd miss a bit) Garland dares the viewer to be titillated, while having made it very clear that what is on the inside is all metal and plastic. Do we, as humans, care? Is perception the only thing which matters, and is perceived humanity only skin-deep? Does it even matter if an AI is self-conscious or not, if it can play it believably enough to the perception of us, shallow humans?
That is what's at the heart of Ex Machina. And in a decade where we saw several examples of intelligent science fiction already, it still managed to stand out spectacularly, unfettered by its low budget or any crowd expectations.
3. THE MARTIAN (dir. Ridley Scott, USA/UK) (9)
By James Marsh, Asian Editor
Andy Weir’s literary experiment - channeling hardcore speculative astrophysics into a coherent narrative - was a surprise bestseller when it was first (self) published in 2011, thanks in large part to the self-deprecating and affable lead character, marooned astronaut Mark Watney.
From this source text, Drew Goddard (Buffy, Cabin in the Woods, Daredevil) fashioned one of the year’s best screenplays, brilliantly balancing the day-to-day mundanity of Watney’s solitary Martian existence, with the managerie of boffins dealing with the PR disaster back home, and the remainder of Watney’s crew caught halfway between a red rock and a hard place.
Armed with such an impressive piece of writing, Ridley Scott shows us just what a masterful filmmaker he can be, delivering his best work in many years. From the pitch-perfect casting of Matt Damon as Watney - amidst an incredible supporting cast that includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jeff Daniels, Jessica Chastain, Michael Pena and Donald Glover - to the expert application of 70s disco on the soundtrack (a crucial element of Weir’s original story that could never be fully realised on the page), Scott is on tip-top form.
While the Golden Globes’ decision to categorise The Martian as a comedy is baffling, the film is undeniably hilarious throughout, when it is not edge-of-your-seat thrilling or genuinely life-affirming - and sometimes during those moments too. Sure, changing Ejiofor’s character from an Indian to a “half-Hindu, half-Baptist” black man was an odd choice, yet in no way does it work to the film’s detriment.
The Martian is exactly the kind of grand-scale popcorn entertainment Hollywood excels at, but has recently lost sight of in this age of self-consuming franchise saturation, and it absolutely deserves its place here as one’s of the year’s best films.
3. VICTORIA (dir. Sebastian Schipper, Germany) (9)
By Ben Umstead, U.S. Editor
The less said about Victoria the better.
Without a doubt, it is a film I’d recommend going into totally cold. No trailers, no synopses, no reviews. The best thing you can do is know that it’s ranked this damn high on our top ten, so you should just go and rent it. Except, now that I’ve said as such, you don’t want me to just leave it at that do you?
Six months after my first viewing (with two consecutive watches since) I am still reeling at the kinetic brilliance of Victoria. Shot in one continuous take through an early morning streets of Berlin, director Sebastian Schipper’s film is digital veritie at its absolute best; an exquisite endurance test for the mind, body and soul, ticking along at not the speed of light, but at the speed of life.
We follow the effervescent Laia Costa as our titular heroine, first at a club, then on the streets where she meets some “real Berlin guys”, including the charming Sonne (Frederick Lau). While the one-take approach may feel like an audacious stunt at 140 minutes, it actually opens the film up to startling emotional depths. Since we never cut away from Victoria or Frederick our heart connection is never severed. It stays tight and taught through a morning of ever escalating events. It is this seemingly simple, wholly tactile and totally engrossing approach that makes the film so alive and singular. Sometimes we walk with them. Sometimes we laugh with them. Sometimes we hold our breath, just as they are. Sometimes we gasp. And sometimes we run.
See, the less said about Victoria the better.
2. SICARIO (dir. Denis Villeneuve, USA) (12)
By Jason Gorber, Featured Critic
Ever since its debut as part of last May’s Cannes competition, I’ve been joking that there are two people in the world that think Sicario is Denis Villeneuve’s best work: me, and the director. It’s gratifying to me to see it showing up on our end of the year list, as by almost any measure it’s one of the finest films of 2015.
Ignored by most audiences, this is a subtle, sublime work that merges the best of Villeneue’s craft -- his arch, noir tendencies from Prisoners, his level of detail exhibited with Polytechnique, his sense of complexity beautifullly realized in Incendies, and even some of the morose surrealism of Enemy. In Sicario, then, we get an action cop drama with artistic underpinings, that perfect collision between arthouse and grindhouse that’s my dream every time I see a film of this nature.
Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin and a slew of others help make the story far more than a run-of-the-mill procedural. The film bathes in its ambivalence, undercutting notions of protagonists and antagonist throughout, ending up with a kind of wizened nihilism with the closing shots. Yet the film isn’t needlessly morose, it’s penetrating and powerful, shining a very bright light at the complexity of the situation involving the cartels and America’s addictions, twisting the very notion of a war film as elegantly as masterpieces like Apocalypse Now have done in the past.
Gloriously captured images by Roger Deakins up the ante even further, with the opening shots particularly breathtaking. Yet it’s a tour-de-force sequence involving a convoy of SUVs that’s easily this year’s finest moment of cinema, a mix of sterling photography, assured direction and intense performances that simply amaze. Sicario may not have found its deserved audience in 2015, but I believe it to be a future classic that will enthrall for generations to come.
1. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (dir. George Miller, Australia/USA) (24)
By Shelagh Rowan-Legg, Associate Editor
Mad Max: Fury Road goes far beyond what today's cinema culture of reboots, rehashes, reformulations attempts to do but few achieve: it succesfully updates its story, and enhances it both in narrative and style. With an incredible crew behind him, not least his editor Margaret Sixel, and a stellar cast up front, writer and director George Miller has created the kind of film rarely seen today, one with an incredible story, pumping action, and breathtaking cinematography. It is the whole package.
The story is deceptively complex, not only dealing with how humans would survive in this wasteland, but how individuals and groups would rise above the barest of existence to create a new society. This is not just about making sure that we don't fall back into a tribal, patriarchal existence with women and the weak as mere chattel, but what we mean as humans, our bodies and ourselves.
And like the past Mad Max films, it is about Max coming into a conflict and helping out. This time around, he is helping Furiosa, a female character that I have been waiting for for a long time: strong, capable, equal in skill and intelligence, and Max has no problem with that. Not only are women at the heart of the story, but Miller, Sixel and cinematographer John Seale frame them in a way to show the audience how women's bodies are negatively portrayed; these women have agency and bodies of their own, and we root for them to succeed in their escape.
While the story might have come later than the action in the initial conception, the craziness of the execution and its careening style is in service of a story to which our hearts and minds respond, even as jaws drop and hands grip the armrests white-knuckle-tight.
The following films received two (2) votes each. Listed alphabetically.
100 Yen Love
A Most Violent Year
Anomalisa
The Big Short
Cartel Land
Chappie
Clouds of Sils Maria
Crimson Peak
Dope (pictured above)
The Duke of Burgundy
Embrace of the Serpent
Entertainment
Everest
The Hateful Eight
Liza the Fox Fairy
The Lobster
The Look of Silence
Louder Than Bombs
Love and Mercy
Macbeth
Our Little Sister
Predestination
Right Now, Wrong Then
Shaun the Sheep Movie
Straight Outta Compton
The Tribe
Whiplash
The following films received one (1) vote each. Listed alphabetically.
0.5 mm
12 Golden Ducks
20,000 Days on Earth
99 Homes
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
A War
Alive
American Sniper
Amy
An (Sweet Bean)
Assassination
Assassination Classroom
Baahubali: The Beginning
Badlapur
Beasts of No Nation
Brand New Testament
Brooklyn
Cemetery of Splendour
Chi-Raq
Come Back, Africa
Court
Deathgasm (pictured above)
Demon
DePalma
El Clan / The Clan
End of the Tour
Far From the Madding Crowd
Finders Keepers
Fury
Heaven Knows What
Heavenly Nomadic
Helios
Housebound
I Am a Hero
Inherent Vice
James White
Janun
Jian Bing Man
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Leviathan
Li Wen at East Lake
Li'l Quinquin
Lost in Hong Kong
Lost Soul
Love and Peace
Madonna
Magic Mike XXL
Men and Chicken
Meru
Monsters Hunt 3D
My Golden Days
My Love, Don't Cross That River
NH10
Nightcrawler
On the Rim of the Sky
One and Two
Our Times
Pale Moon
River
Selma
SPL 2
Spy
Suburra
Tag
Tale of Tales
The Babadook
The Boers at the End of the World
The Emperor in August
The Final Girls
The Ground We Won
The Pearl Button
The Salt of the Earth
The Seven Five
The Taking of Tiger Mountain
The Wound and the Gift
They Look Like People
Turbo Kid
Veteran
Violator
Violet
We Are Still Here
When Marnie Was There
Wild City
Wild Tales
World of Tomorrow
Young Sophie Bell
Youth
Z for Zachariah