indieWIRE CRITICS’ POLL ’08 | David Fear

This is the latest ballot in indieWIRE’s 2008 Critics Poll, continuing the tradition of a national survey of critics by calling attention to the year’s best — and, in many cases, most overlooked — films, providing a meaningful counterpoint to much of the year-end hoopla. Note that some lists are unranked at the discretion of the critic. For all categories except Best Undistributed Film, eligible feature films had first-run theatrical engagements in the U.S. during 2008. Films without a U.S. distributor, screened anywhere (festival circuit, one-off screenings, etc.), are eligible in the Best Undistributed Film category. The full list of critics poll ballots is available here at indieWIRE and tabulated results are being published by indieWIRE later this month.

David Fear
Time Out New York

Best Film
1 – Happy-Go-Lucky
2 – Ballast
3 – The Secret of the Grain
4 – Man on Wire
5 – Waltz with Bashir
6 – WALL-E
7 – The Pool
8 – Let the Right One In
9 – Reprise
10 – Alexandra

Best Performance
1 – Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
2 – Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
3 – Sean Penn, Milk
4 – Michael Shannon, Shotgun Stories
5 – Jeanne Balibar, The Duchess of Langeais

Best Supporting Performance
1 – Robert Downey, Jr., Tropic Thunder
2 – James Franco, Pineapple Express
3 – Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
4 – Mathieu Amalric, A Christmas Tale
5 – Hafsia Herzi, The Secret of the Grain

Best Director
Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky

Best Screenplay
Arnaud Desplechin and Emmanuel Bourdieu, A Christmas Tale

Best First Feature
Ballast

Best Documentary
Man on Wire

Best Undistributed Film
1 – 35 Rhums
2 – United Red Army
3 – Paper Soldier
4 – Birdwatchers
5 – Voy a Explotar (I’m Going to Explode)
6 – Tony Manero
7 – Sad Vacation
8 – Sparrow
9 – Shirin
10 – Import/Export
Note: NOT RANKED

Comments
Viva la France!

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