For some reason making a list of my Top 10 Movies of the year was a bit harder than usual this go around.  I usually like having a list that mixes the best of (more mainstream) American cinema with the art/foreign films that I truly adored. Last year I was able to put together such a list, with films ranging from There Will Be Blood, The Assassination of Jesse James and Sweeney Todd to After the Wedding, Syndromes and a Century and Regular Lovers.

However this year I wasn’t as taken with the end of the year films that usually fill up a few spots on my annual Top 10.   The two I’ve liked the best, Milk and Revolutionary Road, while good, just aren’t good enough to warrant taking a film off of the list I am going to present to you below.   This is probably a good place to mention that I haven’t yet seen The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Doubt, Slumdog Millionare or Frost/Nixon - but I am fairly confident that they too will be unable to beat any of the films on my current list.

A few quick notes about how I chose the films.   Everything on the list below was released in a movie theater sometime in 2008.   Some of them only came out in NY or LA and some had a week long run at an alternative theater (like MOMA or Anthology Film Archives) but they were all available for a larger group of people to see for at least a week.  Being that many people don’t live in NY or LA, the list below also mentions where you can find the films now and in the future.  My last note is that while the first film list is without a doubt my top film of the year,  the rest of the list is not ranked.  I’ve been futzing with an order for a week now and nothing seems right, so I just plopped them down randomly.

And be sure to stay tuned to TakePart for more movie lists.  I’ve already posted my Top 10 Movie Performances of 2008 and a Top 10 Movies That Inspired People to TakePart list is right around the corner.

And be sure to takepart and let us know your favorite movie this year in the comments.

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Still Life (Jia Zhangke)

Jia’s beautiful mix of fiction and non-fiction filmmaking was by far the best thing I saw all year and now stands as one of my favorite films of all time.  His story of a man and a woman searching for their missing spouses near the Yangtze River in town of Fengjie is a hypnotizing meditation on the modernization of China.  More than just a story of two specific people though,  the characters drift through the town and their individual quests quickly give way to their surroundings making Still Life a film about place as much as people. The surroundings in this case are about to be submerged in water due to the creation of the Three Gorges Dam.   This is a daring, lyrical film about where our world is headed and the reality and fantasy that encompass that progress.

- Still Life is now available on DVD from New Yorker Films.  You can buy it at HERE or rent it on Netflix.

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Hunger (Steve McQueen)

This film has stuck with me since I saw it at the NYFF this year.  The three parts of Hunger are all very different and could easily stand on their own but together they create a phenomenal meditation on direct action, protest and the importance of never giving in.  Director Steve McQueen also gives his film a visual look that beautifully and honestly captures the immediacy of the issues at hand.

- Hunger will be released in theaters by IFC starting in New York this March, hopefully it will go on to many many places.  I imagine it will also be available on IFC’s Video on Demand.

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In the City of Sylvia (José Luis Guerín)

Guerin’s film exemplifies what cinema is.  He has constructed a series of moving images that intoxicate the viewer and remind you of the power of sitting in a dark room with a film.  Those images concern a young man in an unnamed city in search of a young woman named Sylvie.  This is not a film about plot though, it’s a film about moments and the building of those moments.

- At the moment you can get In the City of Sylvia only for region free DVD players, you can get it HERE.  Hopefully this will change soon.  Also, the film just had a small run in NYC - perhaps it will start to creep into other cities as well.

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Silent Light (Carlos Reygadas)

Reygadas takes inspiration from Carl Th. Dreyer and brings it to a Mennonite community in Mexico to create a simple film about relationships and faith. I don’t know what I can say about Silent Light other than to try your best to see it in a movie theater - you won’t see human faces or landscapes as beautiful and clear anywhere else.

- Silent Light will receive another run in NYC this January at Film Forum and will hopefully visit other theaters across the country and then be put on DVD.

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Wall-E (Andrew Stanton)

No film made me as genuinely happy as Wall-E did this year - it made me happy the way old moves make me happy, and that is something that is truly special. Also, not only did I get to see a story that preaches anti-consumerism but I got to see a film that promoted showing instead of telling.  I think this may be the only film on my list that also made me cry both times that I saw it.

- Wall-E is now available on DVD and if it gets a lot of award nominations it should find its way back to the theaters.

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Wendy and Lucy (Kelly Reichardt)

A rich film about people who are anything but, Wendy and Lucy manages to not only tell the story of a young woman and her struggle to keep her and her dog afloat, but also of America and how when times are tough (as they are now) people start falling through the cracks.   Michelle Williams’s restraint (as Wendy) and Kelly Reichardt’s ability to create a quiet atmosphere of despair make this the American film of the year.

- Wendy and Lucy is currently playing in New York City and California and will slowly start playing across the country.

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La France (Serge Bozon)

A haunting and yet somehow fun story of a group of French WWI deserters, La France displays the truly surreal feeling of war.  Director Serge Bozon uses random outbreaks of song and music to help create this mood that surrounds the story of Sylvie Testud’s Camille, a woman who infiltrates the deserters group in an attempt to find her soldier husband.  A truly original war film.

- As far as I can tell, La France is not available on DVD in the US - you can however order a French DVD from French Amazon (but you’ll need a multi-region DVD player).

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The Duchess of Langeais (Jacques Rivette)

Rivette creates a masterful film about a would-be courtship that is never consummated.  His stars, Guillaume Depardieu and Jeanne Balibar, are perfectly paired and help to make a film that is at once a formal essay on courtship and performance and is at the same time a dynamic, emotional story about love never fulfilled.

- The Duchess of Langeais is now available to watch on IFC Video on Demand - more information is available HERE.

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Encounters at the End of the World (Werner Herzog)

The funniest film I saw all year, Werner Herzog’s trip to Antarctica had me in awe and laughing for the entire journey.  The best moment by far comes when Herzog interviews a penguin expert and goes on to introduce us to a deranged penguin (see the clip below).   When you aren’t laughing however you are are left to stare at the wonder and beauty of the place on the screen.

- Encounters at the End of the World is now available on DVD.

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Boarding Gate (Olivier Assayas)

Olivier Assayas’s film was one people either loved or hated and I happened to love it.  It is glossy and distant in its dark depiction of capitalism and globalization but with Asia Argento at the center of all, it’s a film that goes beyond the money, drugging and sex.   The look on her face and the last shot in general wowed me like none other.

-Boarding Gate is now available on DVD.

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Honorable Mentions (I liked these films quite a bit and seriously considered putting them on my list) : Standard Operating Procedure, Rachel Getting Married, Summer Palace, Flight of the Red Balloon, Woman on the Beach and The Last Mistress.