indieWIRE CRITICS’ POLL ’08 | Mark Olsen

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.

Mark Olsen
Freelance/Los Angeles Times/Film Comment

Best Film
1 – A Christmas Tale
2 – The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
3 – Che
4 – The Wrestler
5 – Gomorrah
6 – Rachel Getting Married
7 – Milk
8 – Synecdoche, New York
9 – Man On Wire
10 – Wendy And Lucy

Best Performance
1 – Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
2 – Benicio Del Toro, Che
3 – Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
4 – Michelle Williams, Wendy And Lucy
5 – Mathieu Amalric, A Christmas Tale

Best Supporting Performance
1 – Josh Brolin, Milk
2 – Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married
3 – John Malkovich, Burn After Reading
4 – Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
5 – Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

Best Director
David Fincher, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

Best Screenplay
Charlie Kaufman, Synecdoche, New York

Best First Feature
Hunger

Best Documentary
Man On Wire

Best Undistributed Film
1 – Goodbye Solo
2 – The Headless Woman
3 – Genova
4 – Finally, Lillian And Dan
5 – Afterschool
6 – Me And Orson Welles
7 – Your Name Here
Note: NO RANK

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