criterionforum.org

Can you add Borat to the list?

It’s in there, you just have to spell out the full title to find it (or at least more than “Borat”)

therewillbeblus wrote: Tue Sep 01, 2026 1:54 am It’s in there, you just have to spell out the full title to find it (or at least more than “Borat”)

Ok thanks

Or search by the director Larry Charles. Or I just added "Borat" as an alternative title so it's more easily searchable now

swo17 wrote: Sun Aug 30, 2026 2:36 am

denti alligator wrote: Sun Aug 16, 2026 1:28 pm Shorts and experimental recs?

One more: Cântico das Criaturas (Miguel Gomes) - an extra on the Cinema Guild and Second Run releases of Our Beloved Month of August

Three more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5tLqb8T5xU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRu_OabW6Sk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwRlt1XyOg0

I think Sorrentino’s L’amico di famiglia is missing. Came out in theatres in Italy in 2006.

Someone asked for a little more time so I'll post results later today or tomorrow

Have you already tabulated submitted lists & if not can you give us a specific time beyond which changes won't be registered? I have 2 titles out from the library & was going to watch today before returning. Thanks for your transparency!

No, I won't tabulate until this last list is submitted so feel free to submit a new list or to edit your already submitted lists in the meantime. If you need a link to your list to be able to edit it, PM me

Posting results soon

The 2006 List



##. Film (Director) points/votes(top 5 placements, aka likely votes in decade list)/highest ranking

01. Inland Empire (David Lynch) 276/15(9)/1(x3)
02. แสงศตวรรษ [Sang sattawat] [Syndromes and a Century] (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) 237/12(8)/1
03. Das Leben der Anderen [The Lives of Others] (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck) 227/11(7)/1(x3)
04. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón) 217/13(6)/1(x2)
05. 三峡好人 [San xia hao ren] [Still Life] (Jia Zhangke) 204/11(6)/1
06. Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan) 200/11(5)/1
07. Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola) 198/12(4)/1
08. Volver (Pedro Almodóvar) 197/10(4)/1
09. El laberinto del fauno [Pan's Labyrinth] (Guillermo del Toro) 179/11(2)/2
10. The Departed (Martin Scorsese) 176/13(3)/1(x2)
11. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Larry Charles) 152/10(3)/1
12. آفساید [Afsaid] [Offside] (Jafar Panahi) 134/9(2)/3(x2)
13. 黑眼圈 [Hei yan quan] [I Don't Want to Sleep Alone] (Tsai Ming-liang) 128/8(3)/4
14. The Prestige (Christopher Nolan) 127/8(3)/4(x3)
15. Zwartboek [Black Book] (Paul Verhoeven) 125/9(1)/5
16. The Wind That Shakes the Barley (Ken Loach) 123/7(1)/1
17. Old Joy (Kelly Reichardt) 121/8(1)/5
18. パプリカ [Papurika] [Paprika] (Satoshi Kon) 114/9(2)/2
19. Letters from Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood) 107/8(2)/3
20. Little Children (Todd Field) 105/5(4)/1
21. Juventude em Marcha [Colossal Youth] (Pedro Costa) 100/5(3)/1(x2)
22. 괴물 [Goemul] [The Host] (Bong Joon-ho) 99/8(1)/1
23. Miami Vice (Michael Mann) 92/4(4)/2(x2)
24. It's Such a Beautiful Day (2006-2011) (Don Hertzfeldt) 89/5(2)/4
(tie) Brand upon the Brain! (Guy Maddin) 89/8/6
26. La Science des rêves [The Science of Sleep] (Michel Gondry) 87/5(2)/2
27. United 93 (Paul Greengrass) 83/4(2)/2
28. Idiocracy (Mike Judge) 80/6(1)/1
29. Inside Man (Spike Lee) 77/7(1)/4
30. 放‧逐 [Fong juk] [Exiled] (Johnnie To) 75/5(1)/1
(tie) Apocalypto (Mel Gibson) 75/6(1)/2
32. The Fall (Tarsem Singh) 72/5(2)/5(x2)
33. The Queen (Stephen Frears) 71/5(1)/4
34. 해변의 여인 [Haebyeoneui yeoin] [Woman on the Beach] (Hong Sang-soo) 68/5/8
(tie) A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater) 68/6(1)/4
36. Rescue Dawn (Werner Herzog) 67/5/6
37. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (Spike Lee) 62/4(1)/3
38. Bug (William Friedkin) 58/4/6
(tie) Casino Royale (Martin Campbell) 58/6(1)/4
40. Efter brylluppet [After the Wedding] (Susanne Bier) 53/3/7
41. A fost sau n-a fost? [12:08 East of Bucharest] (Corneliu Porumboiu) 52/5/9
42. Cœurs [Private Fears in Public Places] (Alain Resnais) 49/3(1)/3
43. Changement d'adresse [Change of Address] (Emmanuel Mouret) 48/3(1)/2
44. Déjà vu (Tony Scott) 47/3(1)/3
45. Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris) 46/3/6
46. The Good German (Steven Soderbergh) 45/4/6
47. A Prairie Home Companion (Robert Altman) 43/4/9
48. The Pervert's Guide to Cinema (Sophie Fiennes) 42/2(1)/1
(tie) かもめ食堂 [Kamome shokudō] [Kamome Diner] (Naoko Ogigami) 42/3/11(x2)
50. Container (Lukas Moodysson) 41/2(1)/4
(tie) Half Nelson (Ryan Fleck) 41/4/8

ALSO-RANS

Final Destination 3 (James Wong) 40/3(1)/3
An Inconvenient Truth (Davis Guggenheim) 39/4/6
Lady in the Water (M. Night Shyamalan) 38/3/8
Silent Hill (Christophe Gans) 37/2/7
Wristcutters: A Love Story (Goran Dukić) 37/3/9
黑社會:以和爲貴 [Hak se wui yi woo wai kwai] [Election 2] (Johnnie To) 36/4/13
Notes on a Scandal (Richard Eyre) 34/2(1)/3
Laitakaupungin valot [Lights in the Dusk] (Aki Kaurismäki) 34/2(1)/5
Requiem (Hans-Christian Schmid) 34/2(1)/5
Ne le dis à personne [Tell No One] (Guillaume Canet) 34/4/7

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (Jonathan Levine) 32/2(1)/5
The Last King of Scotland (Kevin Macdonald) 32/2/8
The U.S. vs. John Lennon (David Leaf & John Scheinfeld) 32/2/10(x2)
Flags of Our Fathers (Clint Eastwood) 32/3/11
Flandres [Flanders] (Bruno Dumont) 30/2/7
Mission: Impossible III (J.J. Abrams) 29/2/8
The Road to Guantanamo (Michael Winterbottom & Mat Whitecross) 29/2/11
V for Vendetta (James McTeigue) 29/2/11
Taxidermia (György Pálfi) 29/3/7

Mozart Dissolution (Siegfried A. Fruhauf) 28/2/6
Jackass Number Two (Jeff Tremaine) 28/2/7
Flags of Our Fathers/Letters from Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood) 28/2/9
Babel (Alejandro González Iñárritu) 28/2/11
Hors de prix [Priceless] (Pierre Salvadori) 28/3/11
Bugcrush (Carter Smith) 27/2(1)/5
Red Road (Andrea Arnold) 27/2/7
The Namesake (Mira Nair) 27/2/8
The History Boys (Nicholas Hytner) 27/2/12
시간 [Shigan] [Time] (Kim Ki-duk) 26/2(1)/5
The Black Dahlia (Brian De Palma) 26/2/10

İklimler [Climates] (Nuri Bilge Ceylan) 24/2/11
The Anthem (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) 22/2/13
As You Like It (Kenneth Branagh) 21/2/8
Scoop (Woody Allen) 19/3/11
La faute à Fidel! [Blame It on Fidel!] (Julie Gavras) 18/2/14
Honor de cavalleria [Honor of the Knights] (Albert Serra) 16/2/15
For Your Consideration (Christopher Guest) 15/2/16
Quei loro incontri [These Encounters of Theirs] (Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet) 15/2/16
The Beales of Grey Gardens (Albert & David Maysles) 13/2/14
This Is England (Shane Meadows) 13/2/17

Les Anges exterminateurs [Exterminating Angels] (Jean-Claude Brisseau) 12/2/17
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (Stanley Nelson) 11/2/20
Bamako (Abderrahmane Sissako) 4/2/23

ORPHANS

Film (Director) highest ranking

Dance Party, USA (Aaron Katz) 19
جادهها-ی کیارستمی [Jadeha-ye kiarostami] [Roads of Kiarostami] (Abbas Kiarostami) 14
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (Adam McKay) 19
Quelques Veuves de Noirmoutier [Some Widows of Noirmoutier] (Agnès Varda) 3
14e Arrondissement (Alexander Payne) 7
Deliver Us from Evil (Amy J. Berg) 24
The Book of Revelation (Ana Kokkinos) 17
چهارشنبه سوری [Chaharshanbe-soori] [Fireworks Wednesday] (Asghar Farhadi) 14
Citadel (Atom Egoyan) 2
Mýrin [Jar City] (Baltasar Kormákur) 17
Shut Up & Sing (Barbara Kopple & Cecilia Peck) 25
L'Intouchable [The Untouchable] (Benoît Jacquot) 19
The Highwater Trilogy (Bill Morrison) 7
Guide Dog (Bill Plympton) 14
Cocaine Cowboys (Billy Corben) 11
10 Items or Less (Brad Silberling) 10
Three Screen Ray (Bruce Conner) 4
Thom Yorke: Harrowdown Hill (Chel White) 17
The Horrors: Sheena Is a Parasite (Chris Cunningham) 4
Blood Tea and Red String (Christiane Cegavske) 19
Azuloscurocasinegro [DarkBlueAlmostBlack] (Daniel Sánchez Arévalo) 18
The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky) 9
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (Dito Montiel) 16
Everything Will Be OK (Don Hertzfeldt) 16
Blood Diamond (Edward Zwick) 8
Les Amitiés maléfiques [Poison Friends] (Emmanuel Bourdieu) 11
No Day Off (Eric Khoo) 12
The Bridge (Eric Steel) 24
Jeu [Game] (Georges Schwizgebel) 19
La sconosciuta [The Unknown Woman] (Giuseppe Tornatore) 25
True to Life (Gunvor Nelson) 3
Cat Power: Living Proof (Harmony Korine) 1
Jesus Camp (Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady) 4
An Unreasonable Man (Henriette Mantel & Steve Skrovan) 5
Proximity (Inger Lise Hansen) 21
Danielson: A Family Movie (or, Make a Joyful Noise Here) (J.L. Aronson) 18
The TV Set (Jake Kasdan) 23
Slither (James Gunn) 15
Inheritance (James Moll) 6
The Water Diary (Jane Campion) 16
Nacho Libre (Jared Hess) 11
Thank You for Smoking (Jason Reitman) 23
Den brysomme mannen [The Bothersome Man] (Jens Lien) 4
Stick It (Jessica Bendinger) 11
東 [Dong] (Jia Zhangke) 22
Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále [I Served the King of England] (Jiří Menzel) 2
Reprise (Joachim Trier) 5
Shortbus (John Cameron Mitchell) 22
Family (John Landis) 25
Sony: Paint (Jonathan Glazer) 14
La noche de los girasoles [The Night of the Sunflowers] (Jorge Sánchez-Cabezudo) 3
Day Night Day Night (Julia Loktev) 25
El cielo dividido [Broken Sky] (Julián Hernández) 4
Capitalism: Child Labor (Ken Jacobs) 10
가족의 탄생 [Gajokeui tansaeng] [Family Ties] (Kim Tae-yong) 14
ロフト [Rofuto] [Loft] (Kiyoshi Kurosawa) 18
Гадкие лебеди [Gadkie lebedi] [The Ugly Swans] (Konstantin Lopushansky) 23
Direktøren for det hele [The Boss of It All] (Lars von Trier) 22
후회하지 않아 [Huhwihaji anha] [No Regret] (Lee-Song Hee-il) 14
頤和園 [Yi he yuan] [Summer Palace] (Lou Ye) 5
Deep Water (Louise Osmond & Jerry Rothwell) 9
Tertium Non Datur [The Aurochs' Head] (Lucian Pintilie) 20
Áo lụa Hà Đông [The White Silk Dress] (Lưu Huỳnh) 15
دارات [Daratt] [Saison sèche] [Dry Season] (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun) 6
立喰師列伝 [Tachiguishi retsuden] [The Amazing Lives of the Fast Food Grifters] (Mamoru Oshii) 6
Belle toujours (Manoel de Oliveira) 13
Stranger Than Fiction (Marc Forster) 19
Маяк [Mayak] [The Lighthouse] (Maria Saakyan) 13
Crank (Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor) 7
عمارة يعقوبيان [Omaret yakobean] [The Yacoubian Building] (Marwan Hamed) 22
The Notorious Bettie Page (Mary Harron) 15
Der freie Wille [The Free Will] (Matthias Glasner) 12
Kidulthood (Menhaj Huda) 15
डोर [Dor] [String] (Nagesh Kukunoor) 17
垂乳女 [Tarachime] [Birth/Mother] (Naomi Kawase) 8
虹の女神 [Niji no megami] [Rainbow Song] (Naoto Kumazawa) 7
Candy (Neil Armfield) 24
The Illusionist (Neil Burger) 21
Ghosts (Nick Broomfield) 18
Gravity (Nicolas Provost) 2
Friends with Money (Nicole Holofcener) 8
瘋狂的石頭 [Feng kuang de shi tou] [Crazy Stone] (Ning Hao) 15
松ヶ根乱射事件 [Matsugane ransha jiken] [The Matsugane Potshot Affair] (Nobuhiro Yamashita) 11
Jardins en automne [Gardens in Autumn] (Otar Iosseliani) 9
L'amico di famiglia [The Family Friend] (Paolo Sorrentino) 10
싸이보그지만 괜찮아 [Ssaibogeujiman gwaenchana] [I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK] (Park Chan-wook) 12
Lady Chatterley (Pascale Ferran) 4
The Night Listener (Patrick Stettner) 24
Остров [Ostrov] [The Island] (Pavel Lungin) 18
Twelve Twenty (Pen-Ek Ratanaruang) 15
Nachtstück (Nocturne) (Peter Tscherkassky) 16
Prime Suspect 7: The Final Act (Philip Martin) 5
زمستان [Zemestan ast] [It's Winter] (Rafi Pitts) 15
Klimt (Raúl Ruiz) 7
Beş Vakit [Times and Winds] (Reha Erdem) 22
The Rape of Europa (Richard Berge, Nicole Newnham & Bonni Cohen) 6
9/11: The Twin Towers (Richard Dale) 9
Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers (Robert Greenwald) 20
Ten Canoes (Rolf De Heer & Peter Djigirr) 25
恋する日曜日 [Koi suru nichiyobi] [Love on Sunday] (Ryūichi Hiroki) 10
Away from Her (Sarah Polley) 19
Find Me Guilty (Sidney Lumet) 14
Hacking Democracy (Simon Ardizzone & Russell Michaels) 24
Peter & the Wolf (Suzie Templeton) 20
Emmas Glück [Emma's Bliss] (Sven Taddicken) 19
46億年の恋 [Yonjūroku-okunen no koi] [Big Bang Love, Juvenile A] (Takashi Miike) 1
太陽の傷 [Taiyō no kizu] [Sun Scarred] (Takashi Miike) 13
吴清源 [Wu qing yuan] [The Go Master] (Tian Zhuangzhuang) 24
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Tom Tykwer) 8
Daft Punk: The Prime Time of Your Life (Tony Gardner) 19
La Morte rouge [The Red Death] (Víctor Erice) 6
江城夏日 [Jiang cheng xia ri] [Luxury Car] (Wang Chao) 25
Quand j'étais chanteur [The Singer] (Xavier Giannoli) 16
Gubra [Anxiety] (Yasmin Ahmad) 10

26 lists submitted

Thanks swo!

swo17 wrote: Wed Sep 02, 2026 4:56 am ORPHANS

Film (Director) highest ranking

Belle toujours (Manoel de Oliveira) 13
Ten Canoes (Rolf De Heer & Peter Djigirr) 25
La Morte rouge [The Red Death] (Víctor Erice) 6

My sympathies. No free slots in my ballot...

Thanks swo!

1. Inland Empire
2. Margaret
3. The Science of Sleep
4. It’s Such a Beautiful Day
5. Reprise
6. Brand Upon The Brain!
7. Marie Antoinette
8. Mission Impossible III
9. Children of Men
10. Woman on the Beach

Thanks again swo!

1. [The Lives of Others]
2. [Pan's Labyrinth]
3. Notes on a Scandal
4. Jesus Camp
5. An Unreasonable Man
6. The Rape of Europa
7. Volver
8. The Last King of Scotland
9. [Paprika]
10 The U.S. vs. John Lennon
11 V for Vendetta
12 The Road to Guantanamo
13 The History Boys
14 [Blame It on Fidel!]
15 [12:08 East of Bucharest]
16 Brand upon the Brain!
17 [Still Life]
18 Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan[Borat]
19 An Inconvenient Truth
20 Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers
21 The Illusionist
22 This Is England
23 Taxidermia
24 Hacking Democracy
25 The Beales of Grey Gardens

Sad to see Reprise orphaned - hopefully those who have The Oslo Trilogy: Three Films by Joachim Trier MUBI set and haven't seen it yet will check it out. I think it's up there with his best work, maybe second only to Worst Person in the World

I caught up with all of Trier’s films on the channel when he his theme was highlighted except WPITW, which hasn’t been on the channel for some reason. I actually found Reprise to be his weakest and thought Oslo Norway had a tighter script and more coherent direction for a more compelling view.

I’m a bit disappointed that The Illusionist didn’t make it even though it’s not my top 10. I was pleasantly surprised by how much of the plot was a parable for a narcissistic cult leader’s abuse of power can be undermined by capturing the hearts of the people (and even more compelling in the age of Trump). I watched the other 2006 darkly lit period magician pic The Prestige immediately afterwards and it didn’t seem to have as much to say outside its own narrative & instead relied on the tricks of the trade for winning over the audience for a more conventional storyline. As it’s from Nolan, it doesn’t surprise me that it gets all the attention, but I’m still disappointed.

A lot of my list this year is documentaries as I didn’t find the fictional narratives in 2006 to be as strong as 2005. Much of other people’s favorites I found to be okay but just don’t compel me on an emotional or intellectual level. This is also when YouTube started & I’ve been trying to find a reason why there might be a link between the existence of YouTube and my lower estimation of the quality of films being released (which continues in subsequent years).

And I loathe The Illusionist so we're clearly on different wavelengths! Reprise's messy novelistic structure reminded me of Desplechin's best work, if that convinces anyone on the board to prioritize it

I forgot to vote for Margaret because I have it as 2011 on my spreadsheet. Will remember it for the final decade list. Also, shout out to the other two voters for Wristcutters.

Toland's Mitchell wrote: Fri Sep 04, 2026 6:40 am I forgot to vote for Margaret because I have it as 2011 on my spreadsheet. Will remember it for the final decade list. Also, shout out to the other two voters for Wristcutters.

Me too--completely whiffed on Margaret. I wish we would just do as in the past and go with the IMDB years, flawed though they may be, because now everything has to be crosschecked forwards and backwards. My personal list sheets are based on IMDB.

In fairness, swo reminded us more than once, if I’m not mistaken, about this exception.

denti alligator wrote: Sun Sep 06, 2026 5:14 pm In fairness, swo reminded us more than once, if I’m not mistaken, about this exception.

swo does an incredible job. Just hate missing on Margaret.

Don’t forget it for the decade list!

That’s where it really counts, to qualify for the All-Time list

Yes, I posted about it twice and I was nervous about even doing that and appearing to be favoring it over other films.

At the end of the day, a couple more people voting for it might have just moved it up a few spots on the list.

If we used IMDb in general, anyone who didn't personally use IMDb would still have to crosscheck against whatever they're personally using. Not to mention that IMDb years can change at any time for borderline cases. I would continue to recommend that people spend at least 10 minutes or whatever with each year's eligibility list to avoid missing out on titles they want to vote for