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THE ESSENTIALS:

ANOTHER YEAR
(Mike Leigh)

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WHITE MATERIAL
(Claire Denis)

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CARLOS
(Olivier Assayas)

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INSIDE JOB
(Charles Ferguson)

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THE REST:

LIFE DURING WARTIME
(Todd Solonz)

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WINTER’S BONE
(Debra Granik)

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BOXING GYM
(Frederick Wiseman)

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HEREAFTER
(Clint Eastwood)

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A PROPHET
(Jacques Audiard)

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THE ILLUSIONIST
(Sylvain Chomet)

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MID-AUGUST LUNCH
(Gianni DiGregorio)

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TINY FURNITURE
(Lena Dunham)

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THE SOCIAL NETWORK
(David Fincher)

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MOTHER AND CHILD
(Rodrigo Garcia)

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HONORS:

I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS
(Glenn Ficarra & John Requa)

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YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER
(Woody Allen)

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BLUE VALENTINE
(Derek Cianfrance)

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MY DOG TULIP
(Paul and Sandra Fierlinger)

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UNLIKE ANY OTHERS:

DOGTOOTH
(Giorgos Lanthimos)

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ENTER THE VOID
(Gaspar Noe)

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BEAUTIFULLY MADE BUT SUSPICIOUSLY (OR NOT SO SUSPICIOUSLY) ELITIST:

I AM LOVE
(Luca Guadagnilo)

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QUINTESSENTIAL HOLLYWOOD:

TRUE GRIT
(Ethan and Joel Coen)

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OVERRATED:

ALMOST ALL THE FILMS THAT HAVE BEEN FESTOONED WITH “YEAR’S BEST†AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS (THE USUAL SUSPECTS: Â  TOY STORY 3, BLACK SWAN, THE FIGHTER, THE KING’S SPEECH, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, ETC., ETC., ETC.)

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SOME OF THE MANY REALLY GOOD PERFORMANCES THAT COULD BE SEEN IN 2010:

LESLEY MANVILLE (Another Year)

MICHELLE WILLIAMS Â  and RYAN GOSLING (Blue Valentine)

ISABELLE HUPPERT (White Material)

JOHN HAWKES and JENNIFER LAWRENCE (Winter’s Bone)

EDGAR RAMIREZ (Carlos)

NELS ARESTRUP and TAHAR RAHIM (A Prophet)

EDDIE MARSDEN (The Disappearance of Alice Creed)

JIM CARREY and EWAN MacGREGOR (I Love You Phillip Morris)

JAMES FRANCO (Howl)

CHRISTIAN BALE, AMY ADAMS and MELISSA LEO (The Fighter)

ANNETTE BENNING (Mother and Child/The Kids Are All right)

SHIRLEY HENDERSON and CHARLOTTE RAMPLING (Life During Wartime)

SHAREEKA EPPS, KERRY WASHINGTON, NAOMI WATTS, SAMUEL L. JACKSON and JIMMY SMITS (Mother and Child)

IMELDA STAUNTON and DAVID BRADLEY (Another Year)

TILDA SWINTON (I Am Love)

JACKIE WEAVER and BEN MENDELSOHN (Animal Kingdom)

GRETA GERWIG (Greenberg)

GEMMA JONES (You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger)

ROSAMUND PIKE (Barney’s Version)

JEFF BRIDGES, HALLIE STEINFELD and MATT DAMON (True Grit)

MATT DAMON (Hereafter)

MARINA CACCIOTTI (Mid-August Lunch)

KEVIN COSTNER and CHRIS COOPER (The Company Men)

JESSE EISENBERG, ANDREW GARFIELD and JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE (The SocialNetwork)

COLIN FIRTH and CLAIRE BLOOM (The King’s Speech)

MARK RUFFALO (The Kids Are All Right)

GERARD DEPARDIEU (Inspector Bellamy)

MILA KUNIS, BARBARA HERSHEY and NATALIE PORTMAN (Black Swan)*

*The addition of the last three makes me feel a bit queasy, but maybe that is precisely what those performances were intended to do.

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harveyperr @ stageandcinema.com

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