My Top 20 by Year - 2009
by miran_kor | created - 26 Oct 2022 | updated - 13 Nov 2022 | PublicUnder construction and always in progress.
The Best films from this year (according to IMDb) I've seen (so far).
Out of 523 films 'seen' (ie rated at IMDb).
(Nov 2022)
Notes:
- Features, shorts, docs and TV movies eligible ("A film is a film is a film.").
- TV mini-series are NOT (unless stated otherwise).
- My humble rates added (for films with the same rate just once or twice though).
- Films with the same rate are ordered arbitrarily. Feel free to re-order them at your will.
- When I saw more than 20 excellent films (9/10 or above in my book) from a certain year I'll try and list them ALL. That would make some lists much longer but all the excellentia deserves to be mentioned.
Cinema = cinema (big screen) viewing TV = TV viewing PC = download OL = online viewing VHS = VHS viewing DVD = DVD viewing
Yet to see (among many):
Los abrazos rotos (Broken Embraces, Almodóvar, 2009) Enter the Void (Noé, 2009) White Material (C. Denis, 2009) Dom zly (The Dark House, Smarzowski, 2009) La teta asustada (The Milk of Sorrow, C. Llosa, 2009) Orphan (Collet-Serra, 2009) Moon (D. Jones, 2009) Madeo (Mother, Bong Joon Ho, 2009) Nanjing! Nanjing! (City of Life and Death, C. Lu, 2009) Bakjwi (Thirst, Park Chan-wook, 2009) Sin nombre (Fukunaga, 2009) Ruzhaye sabz (Green Days, H. Makhmalbaf, 2009) La Nana (The Maid, S. Silva, 2009) Io sono l'amore (I Am Love, Guadagnino, 2009) Welcome (Lioret, 2009) Katalin Varga (Strickland, 2009) À l'origine (In the Beginning, Giannoli, 2009) Bright Star (Campion, 2009) Desert Flower (Hormann, 2009) L'uomo che verrà (The Man Who Will Come, Diritti, 2009) Yeo-haeng-ja (A Brand New Life, O. Lecomte, 2009) Gui tu lie che (Last Train Home, L. Fan, 2009) Samson and Delilah (W. Thornton, 2009) Anita (Carnevale, 2009) Korkoro (Freedom, Gatlif, 2009) John Rabe (Gallenberger, 2009) Storm (H.-C. Schmid, 2009) La fille du RER (The Girl on the Train, Téchiné, 2009) Splice (Natali, 2009) Unmade Beds (A. Dos Santos, 2009) Whatever Works (W. Allen, 2009)
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1. Logorama (2009)
R | 16 min | Animation, Short, Action
Police chase an armed criminal in a version of Los Angeles comprised entirely of corporate logos.
Directors: François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy, Ludovic Houplain | Stars: Bob Stephenson, Sherman Augustus, Aja Evans, Joel Michaely
Votes: 6,281
OL. 9/10.
2. Partly Cloudy (2009)
G | 6 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
Babies both human and beast are created up in the stratosphere, by the clouds themselves. One cloud specializes in "dangerous" babies, creating a challenge for his loyal stork that has to deliver them.
Director: Peter Sohn | Stars: Tony Fucile, Lori Richardson
Votes: 23,442
OL.
3. About Elly (2009)
TV-PG | 119 min | Drama, Mystery
The mysterious disappearance of a kindergarten teacher during a picnic in the north of Iran is followed by a series of misadventures for her fellow travelers.
Director: Asghar Farhadi | Stars: Taraneh Alidoosti, Golshifteh Farahani, Shahab Hosseini, Merila Zare'i
Votes: 57,207 | Gross: $0.11M
TV.
4. Mr. Nobody (2009)
R | 141 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A boy stands on a station platform as a train is about to leave. Should he go with his mother or stay with his father? Infinite possibilities arise from this decision. As long as he doesn't choose, anything is possible.
Director: Jaco Van Dormael | Stars: Jared Leto, Sarah Polley, Diane Kruger, Linh-Dan Pham
Votes: 245,952 | Gross: $0.00M
TV.
5. The Cove (2009)
PG-13 | 92 min | Documentary, Biography, Crime
Using state-of-the-art equipment, a group of activists, led by renowned dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry, infiltrate a cove near Taijii, Japan to expose both a shocking instance of animal abuse and a serious threat to human health.
Director: Louie Psihoyos | Stars: Richard O'Barry, Louie Psihoyos, Hardy Jones, Michael Illiff
Votes: 51,461 | Gross: $0.87M
TV.
6. Trains Are for Dreaming (2009)
Not Rated | 7 min | Short
A montage of image and sound representing the dreams of a light sleeper whilst travelling on a train.
Director: Jennifer Todd Reeves
Votes: 40
OL.
7. Cell 211 (2009)
113 min | Action, Crime, Drama
The story of two men on different sides of a prison riot -- the inmate leading the rebellion and the young guard trapped in the revolt, who poses as a prisoner in a desperate attempt to survive the ordeal.
Director: Daniel Monzón | Stars: Luis Tosar, Alberto Ammann, Antonio Resines, Manuel Morón
Votes: 70,806
TV.
8. Plastic Bag (2009)
18 min | Short, Drama
A plastic bag, thrown out in the trash, attempts to find his way back to his owner and along the way discovers the world.
Director: Ramin Bahrani | Stars: Werner Herzog, Barbara Weetman
Votes: 1,374
OL.
9. Metastases (2009)
82 min | Crime, Drama, Sport
Four friends from the neighborhood grapple with maintaining their relationships amid the challenges of alcohol, drugs, hooliganism, crime, and the shadows of their country's history.
Director: Branko Schmidt | Stars: Rene Bitorajac, Franjo Dijak, Robert Ugrina, Rakan Rushaidat
Votes: 4,555
TV.
10. The Spine (2009)
11 min | Animation, Short
Uses a twisted, beautiful and highly original visual aesthetic to look at the ways individuals evolve, adapt and break.
Director: Chris Landreth | Stars: Gordon Pinsent, Alberta Watson, Patrice Goodman, Robert McCarrol
Votes: 229
OL.
11. Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair (2009)
7 min | Short
A woman sent is sent to an electric chair that reads the images of her mind.
Director: Guy Maddin | Stars: Isabella Rossellini, Darcy Fehr, Brent Neale, David Evans
Votes: 229
OL.
12. Phantoms of Nabua (2009)
11 min | Short
A fluorescent tube illuminates an empty playground in the evening. Nearby a flash of light is projected on a makeshift screen. This outdoor movie is a portrait of a village repeatedly ... See full summary »
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul | Stars: Phetmongkol Chantawong, Kumgieng Jittamaat, Miti Jittamaat, Nuttapon Kemthong
Votes: 286
OL.
14. The Lady and the Reaper (La dama y la muerte) (2009)
TV-G | 8 min | Animation, Short, Action
On her deathbed, a sad, white-haired woman yearns to reunite with her beloved late husband. However, the road to the afterlife can be long, and today's modern medicine works miracles.
Director: Javier Recio Gracia | Stars: Miguel Angel Perez, Eva Molina
Votes: 2,697
OL.
15. Mary and Max (2009)
Not Rated | 92 min | Animation, Comedy, Drama
In 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.
Director: Adam Elliot | Stars: Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Eric Bana, Barry Humphries
Votes: 186,885
TV. 9/10.
16. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
R | 152 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A journalist is aided by a young female hacker in his search for the killer of a woman who has been dead for forty years.
Director: Niels Arden Oplev | Stars: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Ewa Fröling, Lena Endre
Votes: 223,396 | Gross: $10.10M
TV. 8.5/10.
17. Dogtooth (2009)
Not Rated | 97 min | Drama, Thriller
A controlling, manipulative father locks his three adult offsprings in a state of perpetual childhood by keeping them prisoner within the sprawling family compound.
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos | Stars: Christos Stergioglou, Michele Valley, Angeliki Papoulia, Christos Passalis
Votes: 110,595 | Gross: $0.11M
PC. 8/10.
18. The Shock Doctrine (2009)
Not Rated | 79 min | Documentary, History
An investigation of "disaster capitalism", based on Naomi Klein's proposition that neo-liberal capitalism feeds on natural disasters, war and terror to establish its dominance.
Directors: Mat Whitecross, Michael Winterbottom | Stars: Janine Huard, Ewen Cameron, Naomi Klein, Milton Friedman
Votes: 3,116
TV.
19. The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)
R | 129 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A retired legal counselor writes a novel hoping to find closure for one of his past unresolved homicide cases and for his unreciprocated love with his superior - both of which still haunt him decades later.
Director: Juan José Campanella | Stars: Ricardo Darín, Soledad Villamil, Pablo Rago, Carla Quevedo
Votes: 222,543 | Gross: $6.39M
TV.
20. A Prophet (2009)
R | 155 min | Crime, Drama
A delinquent Muslim man struggles to get by in prison until he is taken under the wing of a powerful mob boss. But his gradual rise through the mob's ranks brings him in conflict with his mentor.
Director: Jacques Audiard | Stars: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif, Reda Kateb
Votes: 102,223 | Gross: $2.08M
TV.
21. I Killed My Mother (2009)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama, Romance
A semi-autobiographical story about Hubert as a young homosexual at odds with his mother.
Director: Xavier Dolan | Stars: Anne Dorval, Xavier Dolan, François Arnaud, Suzanne Clément
Votes: 31,424
TV. 8/10.
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