Throughout the year, members of Indiewire’s Criticwire Network — comprised of nearly 500 critics from around the world — have been adding their grades and reviews to our database of film pages. Below is a collection of those films released in theaters during that time that have a) received 15 or more reviews and b) maintained a grade average of “B+” or higher.
Averages and totals are subject to change, but we’ll update the list with new additions as notable titles make their way onto theaters or VOD screens across the country. But for now, here are the films from 2015 that the Criticwire Network has collectively selected as the year’s upper echelon.
For a similarly-updated breakdown of the latest additions and other notable upcoming films, see our analysis on the Criticwire blog.
The Best Films of 2015, According to the Criticwire Network
(last updated: December 31st)
1. Carol
A / 66 reviews
dir. Todd Haynes
2. The Look of Silence
A / 48 reviews
dir. Joshua Oppenheimer
3. Clouds of Sils Maria
A- / 76 reviews
dir. Olivier Assayas
4. It Follows
A- / 73 reviews
dir. David Robert Mitchell
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5. Ex Machina
A- / 70 reviews
dir. Alex Garland
6. Spotlight
A- / 64 reviews
dir. Tom McCarthy
7. Timbuktu
A- / 59 reviews
dir. Abderrahmane Sissako
8. Brooklyn
A- / 55 reviews
dir. John Crowley
8. Wild Tales
A- / 55 reviews
dir. Damián Szifrón
10. Love & Mercy
A- / 48 reviews
dir. Bill Pohlad
11. Room
A- / 47 reviews
dir. Lenny Abrahamson
11. Tangerine
A- / 47 reviews
dir. Sean Baker
13. The Tribe
A- / 46 reviews
dir. Myroslav Slaboshpytsky
14. Phoenix
A- / 45 reviews
dir. Christian Petzold
14. Son of Saul
A- / 45 reviews
dir. László Nemes
16. The End of the Tour
A- / 44 reviews
dir. James Ponsoldt
17. The Assassin
A- / 42 reviews
dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien
18. The Duke of Burgundy
A- / 41 reviews
dir. Peter Strickland
19. Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck
A- / 38 reviews
dir. Brett Morgen
19. What We Do in the Shadows
A- / 38 reviews
dir. Taika Waititi & Jemaine Clement
21. Amy
A- / 37 reviews
dir. Asif Kapadia
22. Listen to Me Marlon
A- / 36 reviews
dir. Stevan Riley
23. Best of Enemies
A- / 35 reviews
dir. Morgan Neville & Robert Gordon
23. The Diary of a Teenage Girl
A- / 35 reviews
dir. Marielle Heller
25. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
A- / 34 reviews
dir. Roy Andersson
26. Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
A- / 32 reviews
dir. Alex GIbney
27. James White
A- / 31 reviews
dir. Josh Mond
28. Anomalisa
A- / 30 reviews
dir. Duke Johnson & Charlie Kaufman
29. 45 Years
A- / 28 reviews
dir. Andrew Haigh
29. Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
A- / 28 reviews
dir. Ronit & Shlomi Elkabetz
31. About Elly
A- / 27 reviews
dir. Asghar Farhadi
31. The Revenant
A- / 27 reviews
dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu
33. In Jackson Heights
A- / 25 reviews
dir. Frederick Wiseman
34. Cartel Land
A- / 24 reviews
dir. Matthew Heineman
34. The Forbidden Room
A- / 24 reviews
dir. Guy Maddin & Evan Johnson
36. Hard to Be a God
A- / 23 reviews
dir. Aleksei German
36. Heart of a Dog
A- / 23 reviews
dir. Laurie Anderson
36. The Salt of the Earth
A- / 23 reviews
dir. Juliano Ribeiro Salgado & Wim Wenders
36. Tales of the Grim Sleeper
A- / 23 reviews
dir. Nick Broomfield
40. Blind
A- / 20 reviews
dir. Eskil Vogt
40. Taxi
A- / 20 reviews
dir. Jafar Panahi
40. Victoria
A- / 20 reviews
dir. Sebastian Schipper
43. Güeros
A- / 19 reviews
dir. Alonso Ruizpalacios
43. Horse Money
A- / 19 reviews
dir. Pedro Costa
45. Arabian Nights
A- / 18 reviews
dir. Miguel Gomes
46. Finders Keepers
A- / 17 reviews
dir. Bryan Carberry & Clay Tweel
47. Breathe
A- / 16 reviews
dir. Mélanie Laurent
47. Dior and I
A- / 16 reviews
dir. Frederic Tcheng
47. Janis: Little Girl Blue
A- / 16 reviews
dir. Amy Berg
47. The Second Mother
A- / 16 reviews
dir. Anna Muylaert
47. (T)ERROR
A- / 16 reviews
dir. Lyric R. Cabral & David Felix Sutcliffe
47. Welcome to Leith
A- / 16 reviews
dir. Michael Beach Nichols & Christopher K. Walker
53. The Russian Woodpecker
A- / 15 reviews
dir. Chad Gracia
54. Mommy
B+ / 61 reviews
dir. Xavier Dolan
55. While We’re Young
B+ / 54 reviews
dir. Noah Baumbach
56. Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
B+ / 51 reviews
dir. David Zellner
57. Sicario
B+ / 48 reviews
dir. Denis Villeneuve
58. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
B+ / 47 reviews
dir. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
59. Heaven Knows What
B+ / 46 reviews
dir. Josh & Benny Safdie
60. ’71
B+ / 43 reviews
dir. Yann Demange
60. Beasts of No Nation
B+ / 43 reviews
dir. Cary Fukunaga
62. Mistress America
B+ / 41 reviews
dir. Noah Baumbach
63. Slow West
B+ / 40 reviews
dir. John Maclean
64. 99 Homes
B+ / 37 reviews
dir. Ramin Bahrani
65. Girlhood
B+ / 36 reviews
dir. Céline Sciamma
66. Red Army
B+ / 35 reviews
dir. Gabe Polsky
66. Seymour: An Introduction
B+ / 35 reviews
dir. Ethan Hawke
68. Dope
B+ / 34 reviews
dir. Rick Famuyiwa
68. Eden
B+ / 34 reviews
dir. Mia Hansen-Løve
68. Experimenter
B+ / 34 reviews
dir. Michael Almereyda
71. Appropriate Behavior
B+ / 32 reviews
dir. Desiree Akhavan
71. Jauja
B+ / 32 reviews
dir. Lisandro Alonso
71. Mississippi Grind
B+ / 32 reviews
dir. Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck
74. The Voices
B+ / 31 reviews
dir. Marjane Satrapi
75. Queen of Earth
B+ / 29 reviews
dir. Alex Ross Perry
76. The Wolfpack
B+ / 29 reviews
dir. Crystal Moselle
77. Chi-Raq
B+ / 28 reviews
dir. Spike Lee
77. Saint Laurent
B+ / 28 reviews
dir. Bertrand Bonello
79. Far from the Madding Crowd
B+ / 27 reviews
dir. Thomas Vinterberg
79. Grandma
B+ / 27 reviews
dir. Paul Weitz
79. Tom at the Farm
B+ / 27 reviews
dir. Xavier Dolan
82. Spring
B+ / 26 reviews
dir. Justin Benson & Aaron Scott Moorhead
83. Buzzard
B+ / 25 reviews
dir. Joel Portykus
83. Iris
B+ / 25 reviews
dir. Albert Maysles
83. Sleeping with Other People
B+ / 25 reviews
dir. Leslye Headland
83. The Stanford Prison Experiment
B+ / 25 reviews
dir. Kyle Patrick Alvarez
87. The Wonders
B+ / 24 reviews
dir. Alice Rohrwacher
88. The Hunting Ground
B+ / 23 reviews
dir. Kirby Dick
89. Hitchcock/Truffaut
B+ / 22 reviews
dir. Kent Jones
89. I’ll See You in My Dreams
B+ / 22 reviews
dir. Brett Haley
89. Queen and Country
B+ / 22 reviews
dir. John Boorman
92. The Mend
B+ / 21 reviews
dir. John Magary
92. Mustang
B+ / 21 reviews
dir. Deniz Gamze Ergüven
94. Amour Fou
B+ / 20 reviews
dir. Jessica Hausner
94. Faults
B+ / 20 reviews
dir. Riley Stearns
94. Sunshine Superman
B+ / 20 reviews
dir. Marah Strauch
94. What Happened, Miss Simone?
B+ / 20 reviews
dir. Liz Garbus
94. Beloved Sisters
B+ / 20 reviews
dir. Dominik Graf
99. Stray Dog
B+ / 19 reviews
dir. Debra Granik
100. Ballet 422
B+ / 18 reviews
dir. Jody Lee Lipes
100. La Sapienza
B+ / 18 reviews
dir. Eugène Green
102. The Kindergarten Teacher
B+ / 17 reviews
dir. Nadav Lapid
102. Man from Reno
B+ / 17 reviews
dir. Dave Boyle
102. Meru
B+ / 17 reviews
dir. Jimmy Chin & E. Chai Vasarhelyi
105. Christmas, Again
B+ / 16 reviews
dir. Charles Poekel
105. Welcome to New York
B+ / 16 reviews
dir. Abel Ferrara
107. Far From Men
B+ / 15 reviews
dir. David Oelhoffen
107. An Honest Liar
B+ / 15 reviews
dir. Justin Weinstein & Tyler Measom
107. Human Capital
B+ / 15 reviews
dir. Paolo Virzi
107. Stations of the Cross
B+ / 15 reviews
dir. Dietrich Brüggemann
If you’re curious to see the top films from previous years, be sure to check out the best of 2013 and 2014.
READ MORE: The Criticwire Network’s Best Documentaries of 2015
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