Here is the current (but occasionally updated) list of my favorite films from 2002.
In order to understand the purpose and meaning of this list, please read my introduction to the Looking Closer Favorite Films lists here.
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Red = Treasures
Purple = Favorites
Blue = Achievements
Gray = Decent/Noteworthy
Green = Unseen or Undecided
* = This film was discovered after the year in question and added in a list revision.
- The Son*
- Punch-drunk Love
- Stevie*
- In America*
- Hero*
- Naked*
- The Pianist
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
- Distant*
- Italian for Beginners*
- The Rookie
- 28 Days Later…* (review)
- Dirty Pretty Things*
- Catch Me If You Can
- Adaptation (review)
- Spellbound*
- Whale Rider
- To Be and To Have
- Stone Reader*
- The Quiet American
- The Man on the Train
- Infernal Affairs*
- The Bourne Identity
- City of God*
- Russian Ark
- Personal Velocity: Three Portraits
- The Lady and the Duke*
- Signs
- Gangs of New York
- Bus 174
- Far from Heaven
- The Man Without a Past
- Springtime in a Small Town
- 25th Hour
- About a Boy
- Sunshine State
- In This World
- The Hours
- Ice Age
- The Secret Lives of Dentists
- Bowling for Columbine
- OT: Our Town
- Changing Lanes
- Derrida
- Frida
- Raising Victor Vargas
- I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
- Insomnia
- Lilo and Stitch
- Morvern Callar
- Minority Report
- All or Nothing
- 8 Women
- Spider-man
- Star Wars, Episode Two: Attack of the Clones
- Max
- Panic Room
- Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary
- Rabbit-Proof Fence
- Road to Perdition
- Roger Dodger
- Ripley’s Game
- The Good Girl
- Enemy at the Gates
- The Truth About Charlie
- 24 Hour Party People
- Solaris (dir. Soderbergh)
As-yet Unseen or Unratable Films of 2002
*Corpus Callosum
Almost Peaceful
An Amazing Couple
Ararat
Balseros
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
Bear’s Kiss
Below (David Twohy)
Bend It Like Beckham
Better Luck Tomorrow
Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary
Blissfully Yours (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Blood Work (Clint Eastwood)
Bloody Sunday (Paul Greengrass)
Blue Car
Carnage for the Destroyer
Charlotte Sometimes
Comedian
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (George Clooney)
Daughter from Danang
Decasia (Bill Morrison)
demonlover (Olivier Assayas)
Devdas (Sanjay Leela Bhansali)
Divine Intervention
Dolls (Takeshi Kitano)
Elsker dig for evigt
Femme Fatale (Brian De Palma)
Friday Night (Claire Denis)
Führer Ex
Funny Ha Ha (Andrew Bujalski)
Gerry
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
House of Fools
In My Skin (Marina de Van)
Irreversible
Japon (Carlos Reygadas)
Jealousy is My Middle Name (Park Chan-ok)
Ken Park (Larry Clark)
Killing Me Softly (Chen Kaige)
La Forza del passato
Les Chemins de l’oued
Lilya 4-ever (Lukas Moodysson)
Love Liza
Manito
May (Lucky McKee)
Meili shiguang
Mondays in the Sun
Mother Ghost
My Mother’s Smile (Marco Bellocchio)
My Sister Maria
Nearest to Heaven
Nha fala
Nicholas Nickleby
Oasis (Lee Chang-dong)
On the Run
Only the Strong Survive
Porn Theater (Jacques Nolot)
Prisoner of Paradise
Pumpkin
Real Women Have Curves
Reflections of Evil (Damon Packard)
Safe Conduct
Secret Things (Jean-Claude Brisseau)
Secretary (Steven Shainberg)
Sex is Comedy (Catherine Breillat)
Skins
Standing in the Shadows of Motown
Suddenly
Sweet Sixteen
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (Park Chan-wook)
Talk to Her
Tangos volés
Ten (Abbas Kiarostami)
The Crime of Padre Amaro
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
The Eye
The Good Thief (Neil Jordan)
The Healer
The Kid Stays in the Picture
The Uncertainty Principle (Manoel de Oliveira)
The Weather Underground
Together (Chen Kaige)
Turning Gate (Hong Sang-soo)
Twilight Samurai (Yôji Yamada)
Twin Sisters
Un Viaggio chiamato amore
Velocità massima
White Oleander
XX/XY
Looking Closer
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