Sight & Sound Names ‘The Assassin’ Its Film of the Year
READ MORE: Watch: Intense Full-Length ‘The Assassin’ Trailer Will Get Your Blood Pumping
Sight & Sound has announced that their heavily anticipated annual Films of the Year poll has awarded Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s “The Assassin” with its top spot. The film was voted on by 168 UK and international film critics, who nominated their top five picks for best films of the year. The full list will be published in the January 2016 issue of Sight & Sound online.
Other films recognized by the poll this year include Todd Haynes’ “Carol” and George Miller’s “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Pete Docter’s “Inside Out,” Joshua Openheimer’s “The Look of Silence” and David Robert Mitchell’s festival favorite “It Follows” also broke into the top twenty list.
Sight & Sound’s decisions for this year’s most noteworthy features highlight strong female leads, including a total of seven films with women as protagonist in the final top ten. In addition, Asif Kapadia’s “Amy” and Chantal Akerman’s “No Home Movie” also showcase female perspective in this year’s group.
The full top twenty list is as follows:
1. “The Assassin,” Hou Hsiao-Hsien
2. “Carol,” Todd Haynes
3. “Mad Max: Fury Road,” George Miller
4. “Arabian Nights,” Miguel Gomes
5. “Cemetery of Splendour,” Apichatpong Weerasethakul
6. “No Home Movie,” Chantal Akerman
7. “45 Years,” Andrew Haigh
8. “Son of Saul,” Laszlo Nemes
9. “Amy,” Asif Kapadi
10. “Inherent Vice,” Paul Thomas Anderson
11. “Anomalisa,” Duke Johnson & Charlie Kaufman
= “It Follows,” David Robert Mitchell
13. “Phoenix,” Christian Petzold
14. “Girlhood,” Celine Sciamma
= “Hard to Be a God,” Aleksei German
= “Inside Out,” Pete Docter
= “Tangerine,” Sean Baker
= “Taxi,” Jafar Panahi
19. “Horse Money,” Pedro Costa
= “The Look of Silence,” Joshua Oppenheimer
Last year’s winner was Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood.”
Click here for this month’s issue.
