It’s been five years since an American film topped the annual poll of venerable British film mag Sight & Sound, and even longer since a major studio picture took the honor. So congratulations are in order to “The Social Network,” which received the most votes across the selection of 85 international critics invited to submit their top five films of 2010, following in the footsteps of “Brokeback Mountain,” “Hidden,” “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” “Hunger” and “A Prophet.” (The latter appears again in this year’s list, thanks to the votes of critics who came to it later.)
That David Fincher’s film should have won out in a poll dominated by world arthouse cinema suggests it could well be the most-favored title in next month’s critics’ awards, positioning it as the discerning voter’s alternative to more milquetoast bait in the Oscar race.
“The King’s Speech,” of course, doesn’t even come near the magazine’s Top 12 (usually a Top 10, extended due to ties).
The Sight & Sound Top 12:
1. “The Social Network” (David Fincher)
2. “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
3. “Another Year” (Mike Leigh)
4. “Carlos” (Olivier Assayas)
5. “The Arbor” (Clio Barnard)
6. “Winter’s Bone” (Debra Granik)
6. (tied) “I Am Love” (Luca Guadagnino)
8. “The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu” (Andrei Ujica)
8. (tied) “Nostalgia for the Light” (Patricio Guzman)
8. (tied) “Poetry” (Lee Chang-dong)
8. (tied) “A Prophet” (Jacques Audiard)
