It's December 1st, which means we're just weeks away from 2013, and critics will be compiling their 'Best of 2012' lists over the next few weeks. The Cahiers Du Cinema already got the ball rolling with their selection of the best films of the year, and now another venerated cinema magazine has unveiled their choices.
Decided by a poll of around 100 critics, Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master" has topped Sight & Sound's Best Of 2012. American cinema made a particularly strong showing, with Benh Zeitlin's "Beasts Of The Southern Wild" and Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom" also making the grade. Leos Carax, Miguel Gomes and David Cronenberg continue to get international love as "Holy Motors," "Tabu" and "Cosmopolis" all find slots here, as they did on the Cahiers Du Cinema list. The lone UK film is "Berberian Sound Studio" which is a nice boost for the little thriller.
Do you like this selection? Check out the full slate below courtesy of Film Detail.
"Sight & Sound" Best Of 2012
1. The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson, USA) (review)
2. Tabu (Miguel Gomes, Portugal/Germany/France) (review)
3. Amour (Michael Haneke, France/Germany/Austria) (review)
4. Holy Motors (Leos Carax, France/Germany) (review)
5. Beasts of the Southern Wild (Benh Zeitlin, USA) (review)
= Berberian Sound Studio (Peter Strickland, UK/Germany) (review)
7. Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, USA) (review)
8. Beyond the Hills (Christian Mungiu, Romania/France/Belgium) (review)
= Cosmopolis (David Cronenberg, Canada/France/Portugal/Italy) (review)
= Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey/Bosnia & Herzegovina) (review)
= This is Not A Film (Jafar Pahani & Mojtaba Mirtahmaseb, Iran) (review)
Argo is a good movie but best picture of the year i don't think so. Beast of the southern wild, The Masters, are better than it. But today everything about anti Islam wins the Oscar. In 2010 Hurt Locker won best picture because it support the American Propaganda of war against Iraq as they show three man Explosive Ordnance Disposal team a hero and Iraq civilians an antagonist who are responsible for terror and anarchy in country .Argo is another western supportive movie which is based on the Canadian Caper that took place during the Iran hostage crisis in 1979 and 1980. Mass destructive weapons were just an excuse to cover their greediness everybody knows that the U.S invaded Iraq in order to conquer oil and natural gas there. Now a dayâs Academy and BAFTA are doing the same thing, covering their dirt by rewarding such kind of movies .
Argo should be on this list
The Master ..gonna buy it on region 1 dvd
Amour …too depressing
Holy Motors… too weird
Beasts of the Southern Wild …gonna watch it this week
Berberian Sound Studio …the kind of film depalma used to make
Moonrise Kingdom …saw it weeks ago loved it
Beyond the Hills …too boring
Cosmopolis …saw it last week loved it
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia… gonna buy it on dvd next week
This is Not A Film …too dull
Nice list: plenty of interesting choices without the pretensions bias to established-auteurs that Cahiers' list was full of.
As long as the Master is on the top spot. It's all good.
Big joke
That's because The Master is the best film of the year and deserves to be number 1 and deserves to win Best Picture and most of the other awards, espicially acting. But It won't because some self celebratory conventional explain everything to the audience crap like Lincoln or sing-along Les Miserables. Ugh. Cinema is going to die people.
For me The Master had the makings of a "masterpiece" but never quite got there, it was all so nebulous and remote. However, I give PTA credit because he at least tries to make something exciting. There are so few American, and especially Hollywood, directors who try to make daring masterpieces anymore. Beasts gets too "obvious" on repeated viewings and becomes preachy. I enjoyed Holy Motors, but sometimes it just went too far down the rabbit hole and lost structural coherence. I didn't get Cosmopolis at all. Moonrise is enjoyable, but not a great film. The only film I thought was really great here is Amour, but even that film isn't especially daring in the way I've come to expect from Haneke. Anatolia and This Is Not a Film are excellent, but I saw both in 2011. Honestly, 2012 seemed like a weak year for cinema.
Can I get a +1 from anyone that S&S shouldn't be seen as a credible authority on movies? "Mulholland Dr." being in the top 30 movies of all-time? lulztown
Rob pattinson Oscar for the film cosmopolis
in my list The Master and Cosmopolis are the best, simply because sometimes you need to see the Acting rather than special effects which is a rare thing nowadays. whoever says Cosmopolis is full of himself should try to see past all the sophisticated bs written by critics.
The Master is great. It sounds like a cheap excuse but you really have to see it more than once to fully appreciate it. I hope we won't have to wait as long for Inherent Vice though.
This film will be on my Top Ten List too. American audiences didn't get it but it is doing well overseas. Paul Thomas Anderson is an auteur and his films are masterworks.
The Master is kinda slow and boring.
Beasts of the Southern Wild? Really?! Cheesy movie.
How is Tabu number 2 and Amour 3? Blood of My Blood(portuguese as well) is so much better than Tabu anyways.
And Cosmopolis? wow – now that's crazy
Very intellectual.
The salt from these responses is delicious, please keep it up
ALL HAIL THE MASTER!!! In my mind it is the best of the year. Huge P.T. Anderson fan.
Those are the top 10 most pretentious movies of the year, right?
Had to just roll my eyes at The Master being selected as Number 1, as if there were any doubt. Critics love meandering, non-linear storytelling,unique acting and flashly cinematography to be easily pleased these days. No doubt this overrated film will continue to sweep the critics awards as the weeks pass.
This group didn't screen the The Hobbit, Django Unchained, etc… I can't take this list seriously.
America cinema reigns again.