The 25 best films of 2012: 15 through 11

ParaNorman

15: Amour, Michael Haneke.

After I saw this at the New York Film Festival I called my wife, from whom I have a not insubstantial age difference, and sincerly apologized to her for ruining her life. So, you know, another feel-good classic from Haneke. But seriously…yes, indeed, "but seriously," because there's a certain sense in which this movie does satisfy a conventional jones for "serious" film. I don't think such a thing is to be deplored, but it's also not really (as far as I know in my self-searching) a component in my commendation for the film. It is harrowing, it is tender, it is troubling, it is compelling, and Haneke is working with a technical mastery that comes within spitting distance of Bergman's, and those are the components in my commendation of the film. 

14: Hello, I Must Be Going, Todd Louiso, reviewed here.

13: ParaNorman, Chris Butler and Sam Fell, reviewed here.

12) Once Upon A Time In Anatolia, Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

I've blown hot and cold on Ceylan's films for a long time. While the peanut-choking bit in Climates nearly made me a convert for life, the schematics of Three Monkeys (yep, THOSE KIND) turned me back around. With this commited, tense, claustrophobic near-epic, he nails both atmosphere and content in what seems an effortless exhalation. Nice. 

11) This Is Not A Film, Jafar Panahi.

I'm sorry that I didn't get to review this, and in a sense I'm not. It's a movie that's so perfectly self-contained that a description/exegesis would seem at least mildly insulting. It should be seen, is really all I've got to say about it.