Top 10 Films of 2010 – Brandi’s Picks

December 30th, 2010 | POSTED BY Brandi Sperry

2. A Prophet
directed by Jacques Audiard
written by Jacques Audiard; Thomas Bidegain; Abdel Raouf Dafri; Nicolas Peufaillit

Since I saw A Prophet, I’ve been recommending it to anyone who will listen. Audiard’s film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar last year, but was released in the U.S. in 2010. It tells the story of a young man named Malik (new incredible talent Tahar Rahim), a Frenchman of North African descent who is sent to prison after an altercation with police officers. Against his will, Malik is pulled into the web of the Corsican gang that essentially runs the prison. Audiard manages to present the nuances of the often terribly brutal situations Malik faces without ever glorifying or romanticizing them. I would compare this film to something like City of God, which is really the highest praise I can give.

1. The Social Network
directed by David Fincher
screenplay by Aaron Sorkin

While drafting this list, for a while I had placed A Prophet at #1. Much has been said by people more passionate about the subject than me about how arbitrary rankings are when discussing the best of the best, but I still try to take it seriously. I had to change my top pick after listening to an interview with Aaron Sorkin about the script and having a long chat with a friend about what we most appreciated about the film (and how neither of us finds it remotely sexist—a post within itself, if anyone’s still talking about that). These discussions reminded me about everything I’d said about the film when I reviewed it during its release (you can read that here). It really was my favorite film of the year, and I hope to see it take home the Oscar for Best Picture.

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A Prophet, Black Swan, Harry Potter, I Am Love, Joan Rivers, Restrepo, The King's Speech, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, Winter's Bone