Michael Koresky Top Tens

All of these lists are by NYC release year.

2003 [Film Comment]

1. The Son (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)
2. Dogville (Lars von Trier)
3. Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-liang)
4. Kill Bill Vol. 1 (Quentin Tarantino)
5. Love & Diane (Jennifer Dworkin)
6. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola)
7. Since Otar Left (Julie Bertuccelli)
8. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Peter Jackson)
9. Angels in America (Mike Nichols)
10. Irréversible (Gaspar Noé)

2004 [Film Comment]

1. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater)
2. Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
3. Nobody Knows (Koreeda Hirokazu)
4. Twentynine Palms (Bruno Dumont)
5. The Village (M. Night Shyamalan)
6. Notre musique (Jean-Luc Godard)
7. Crimson Gold (Jafar Panahi)
8. Primer (Shane Carruth)
9. Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood)
10. Funny Ha Ha (Andrew Bujalski)

2005 [Village Voice]

1. 2046 (Wong Kar-wai)
2. Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
3. The New World (Terrence Malick)
4. L'Intrus (Claire Denis)
5. Caché (Michael Haneke)
6. Kings and Queen (Arnaud Desplechin)
7. Breakfast on Pluto (Neil Jordan)
8. Nobody Knows (Koreeda Hirokazu)
9. Junebug (Phil Morrison)
10. War of the Worlds (Steven Spielberg)

2006 [IndieWire]

1. L'Enfant (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)
2. Letters From Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood)
3. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu)
4. Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
5. A Prairie Home Companion (Robert Altman)
6. A Lion in the House (Julia Reichert & Steven Bognar)
7. The Departed (Martin Scorsese)
8. Clean (Olivier Assayas)
9. Fast Food Nation (Richard Linklater)
10. Inland Empire (David Lynch)

2007 [Village Voice]

1. Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
2. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)
3. I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (Tsai Ming-liang)
4. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu)
5. Offside (Jafar Panahi)
6. No Country for Old Men (Joel & Ethan Coen)
7. Regular Lovers (Philippe Garrel)
8. Death Proof (Quentin Tarantino)
9. Flandres (Bruno Dumont)
10. Colossal Youth (Pedro Costa)

2008 [Indiewire]

1. Flight of the Red Balloon (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
2. Waltz With Bashir (Ari Folman)
3. A Christmas Tale (Arnaud Desplechin)
4. Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman)
5. Silent Light (Carlos Reygadas)
6. Still Life (Jia Zhangke)
7. Ballast (Lance Hammer)
8. The Last Mistress (Catherine Breillat)
9. The Class (Laurent Cantet)
10. Before I Forget (Jacques Nolot)

2009 [Indiewire]

1. The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel)
2. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
3. 35 Shots of Rum (Claire Denis)
4. Summer Hours (Olivier Assayas)
5. Lorna's Silence (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)
6. Still Walking (Koreeda Hirokazu)
7. Of Time and the City (Terence Davies)
8. Drag Me to Hell (Sam Raimi)
9. Coraline (Henry Selick)
10. A Serious Man (Joel & Ethan Coen)

Decade [Film Comment]

1. Mulholland Dr. (2001, David Lynch)
2. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001, Steven Spielberg)
3. The Son (2002, Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)
4. Syndromes and a Century (2006, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
5. Before Sunset (2004, Richard Linklater)
6. Flight of the Red Balloon (2007, Hou Hsiao-hsien)
7. The House of Mirth (2000, Terence Davies)
8. L'Intrus (2004, Claire Denis)
9. Bamboozled (2000, Spike Lee)
10. What Time Is It There? (2001, Tsai Ming-liang)

2010 [Indiewire]

1. Mother (Bong Joon-ho)
2. Alamar (Pedro González-Rubio)
3. Another Year (Mike Leigh)
4. White Material (Claire Denis)
5. Everyone Else (Maren Ade)
6. Secret Sunshine (Lee Chang-dong)
7. The Strange Case of Angelica (Manoel de Oliveira)
8. Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl (Manoel de Oliveira)
9. Dogtooth (Yorgos Lanthimos)
10. Hadewijch (Bruno Dumont)

2012 [Unknown via CriticsTop10]

1. The Deep Blue Sea (Terence Davies)
2. This Is Not a Film (Jafar Panahi & Mojtaba Mirtahmasb)
3. Kill List (Ben Wheatley)
4. The Kid With a Bike (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)
5. Lincoln (Steven Spielberg)
6. Almayer's Folly (Chantal Akerman)
7. Tabu (Miguel Gomes)
8. I Wish (Koreeda Hirokazu)
9. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
10. You Are Here (Daniel Cockburn)

2013 [Unknown via CriticsTop10]

1. Beyond the Hills (Cristian Mungiu)
2. To the Wonder (Terrence Malick)
3. Before Midnight (Richard Linklater)
4. Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel & Ethan Coen)
5. Post Lenebras Lux (Carlos Reygadas)
6. In the Fog (Sergei Loznitsa)
7. Museum Hours (Jem Cohen)
8. Like Someone in Love (Abbas Kiarostami)
9. Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach)
10. Passion (Brian De Palma)

2014 [Unknown via CriticsTop10]

1. Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
2. Stranger by the Lake (Alain Guiraudie)
3. Closed Curtain (Jafar Panahi)
4. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch)
5. Stray Dogs (Tsai Ming-liang)
6. Manakamana (Stephanie Spray & Pacho Velez)
7. The Missing Picture (Panh Rithy)
8. Maidan (Sergei Loznitsa)
9. National Gallery (Frederick Wiseman)
10. The Babadook (Jennifer Kent)

2015 [Village Voice]

1. The Look of Silence (Joshua Oppenheimer)
2. In Jackson Heights (Frederick Wiseman)
3. Carol (Todd Haynes)
4. The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
5. Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako)
6. Eastern Boys (Robin Campillo)
7. Taxi (Jafar Panahi)
8. Bridge of Spies (Steven Spielberg)
9. Clouds of Sils Maria (Olivier Assayas)
10. La Sapienza (Eugène Green)

2016 [Film at Lincoln Center]

1. Aquarius (Kleber Mendonça Filho)
2. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)
3. Cameraperson (Kirsten Johnson)
4. Cemetery of Splendour (Apichatpong Weereasethakul)
5. No Home Movie (Chantal Akerman)
6. Sunset Song (Terence Davies)
7. Silence (Martin Scorsese)
8. Certain Women (Kelly Reichardt)
9. Moonlight (Barry Jenkins)
10. The Other Side (Roberto Minervini)

2017 [Film Comment]

• 120 BPM (Beats Per Minute) (Robin Campillo)
• By the Time It Gets Dark (Anocha Suwichakornpong)
• A Ghost Story (David Lowery)
• The Human Surge (Eduardo Williams)
• The Lost City of Z (James Gray)
• Personal Shopper (Olivier Assayas)
• Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson)
• The Post (Steven Spielberg)
• A Quiet Passion (Terence Davies)
• Wonderstruck (Todd Haynes)

2018 [Film Comment]

• The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Joel & Ethan Coen)
• Bisbee '17 (Robert Greene)
• Burning (Lee Chang-dong)
• Happy as Lazzaro (Alice Rohrwacher)
• Hereditary (Ari Aster)
• If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins)
• Let the Sunshine In (Claire Denis)
• Roma (Alfonso Cuarón)
• Shoplifters (Koreeda Hirokazu)
• Zama (Lucrecia Martel)

2019 [Film Comment]

• Ash Is Purest White (Jia Zhangke)
• Atlantics (Mati Diop)
• End of the Century (Lucio Castro)
• The Irishman (Martin Scorsese)
• Pain and Glory (Pedro Almodóvar)
• Parasite (Bong Joon-ho)
• Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma)
• The Souvenir (Joanna Hogg)
• 3 Faces (Jafar Panahi)
• Uncut Gems (Josh & Benny Safdie)

Decade [Film Comment]

1. The Tree of Life (2011, Terrence Malick)
2. Another Year (2010, Mike Leigh)
3. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
4. The Souvenir (2019, Joanna Hogg)
5. Boyhood (2014, Richard Linklater)
6. A Quiet Passion (2017, Terence Davies)
7. Beyond the Hills (2012, Cristian Mungiu)
8. Toni Erdmann (2016, Maren Ade)
9. Zama (2017, Lucrecia Martel)
10. By the Time It Gets Dark (2016, Anocha Suwichakornpong)