Slant’s Top 25 Films of 2012

From Calum Marsh’s introduction to Slant Magazine’s Top 25 Films of 2012: “Two thousand and twelve was, if nothing else, a banner year for uncommonly productive provocation. Audiences were galled by Rick Alverson’s divisive deconstruction of hipsterdom, The Comedy, beguiled by the taciturn charms of Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, and, um, probed by the penetrating cultural criticism of David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis. Masters of cinema both old and new even found time, between saucy bouts of male stripping and fellating chicken parts, to butt heads with every conceivable status quo, grappling admirably with hot-button issues as wide-ranging as colonialism (Tabu), U.S.-endorsed torture (Zero Dark Thirty, maybe or maybe not endorsing it itself), and the very nature of cinema (Jafar Panahi, who didn’t make a ‘film’ at all).” Click here to read the feature and see if your favorite films of the year made our list. And see below for a list of the films that just missed making it onto our list, followed by our contributors’ individual ballots.

26. Amour
27. Bernie
28. Goodbye First Love
29. 4:44 Last Day on Earth
Keep the Lights On
31. Alps
32. Jiro Dreams of Sushi
33. Whores’ Glory
34. Kill List
35. 5 Broken Cameras
Las Acacias
37. Elena
38. In Another Country
Vamps
40. Sister
41. Beyond the Black Rainbow
Crazy Horse
43. The Grey
Haywire
The Loneliest Planet
Photographic Memory
Farewell, My Queen
The Five-Year Engagement
The Miners’ Hymns
50. Domain

Ela Bittencourt
1. Oslo, August 31st
2. Amour
3. Post Mortem
4. The Forgiveness of Blood
5. How to Survive a Plague
6. 5 Broken Cameras
7. Beasts of the Southern Wild
8. Sister
9. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
10. The Turin Horse

Honorable Mention: This Is Not a Film, Holy Motors, Neighboring Sounds, Moonrise Kingdom, Goodbye First Love, Whores’ Glory, The Miners’ Hymns, The Central Park Five, Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters, The Invisible War

Chuck Bowen
1. Holy Motors
2. The Kid with a Bike
3. Tabu
4. The Master
5. How to Survive a Plague
6. The Deep Blue Sea
7. This Is Not a Film
8. Lincoln
9. The Queen of Versailles
10. Your Sister’s Sister

Honorable Mention: Oslo, August 31st, Killer Joe, 4:44 Last Day on Earth, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Elena, Crazy Horse, Skyfall, American Animal, Jeff, Who Lives at Home, Middle of Nowhere

Chris Cabin
1. The Master
2. Moonrise Kingdom
3. Holy Motors
4. Zero Dark Thirty
5. This Is Not a Film
6. Cosmopolis
7. Tabu
8. The Kid with a Bike
9. The Turin Horse
10. Damsels in Distress

Honorable Mention: 4:44 Last Day on Earth, Bernie, Magic Mike, Haywire, Farwell, My Queen, The Five-Year Engagement, Miss Bala, Django Unchained, Dark Shadows, Red Hook Summer

Jesse Cataldo
1. This Is Not a Film
2. Holy Motors
3. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
4. The Master
5. Almayer’s Folly
6. The Color Wheel
7. Magic Mike
8. The Day He Arrives
9. Cosmopolis
10. Neighboring Sounds

Honorable Mention: Zero Dark Thirty, Tabu, Farewell, My Queen, How to Survive a Plague, Alps, In Another Country, The Innkeepers, Extraterrestrial, Chronicle, Where Are You Taking Me

Matthew Connolly
1. Moonrise Kingdom
2. The Deep Blue Sea
3. The Master
4. Domain
5. The Kid with a Bike
6. Bernie
7. Holy Motors
8. Goodbye First Love
9. Brave
10. In Another Country

Diego Costa
1. The Turin Horse
2. Alps
3. Tabu
4. Amour
5. The Kid with a Bike
6. Oslo, August 31st
7. How to Survive a Plague
8. Attenberg
9. Neighboring Sounds
10. Keep the Lights On

Honorable Mention: Holy Motors, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Crazy Horse, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Barbara, Diana Vreeland: The Eye Needs to Move, Jean Gentil, The Secret Life of Arriety, The Woman in the Septic Tank

Fernando F. Croce
1. Tabu
2. The Turin Horse
3. The Deep Blue Sea
4. Cosmopolis
5. Zero Dark Thirty
6. The Master
7. This Is Not a Film
8. Almayer’s Folly
9. The Kid with a Bike
10. Holy Motors

Honorable Mention: Alps, Oslo, August 31, Neighboring Sounds, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Bernie, Goodbye First Love, The Day He Arrives, 4:44 Last Day on Earth, Lincoln, Killer Joe

Kenji Fujishima
1. Moonrise Kingdom
2. Holy Motors
3. This Is Not a Film
4. Girl Walk // All Day
5. The Deep Blue Sea
6. Tchoupitoulas
7. Two Years at Sea
8. Barbara
9. Tabu
10. Key Hole

Honorable Mention: Cosmopolis, The Masters, Oslo, August 31, Goodbye First Love, The Comedy, Vamps, Beyond the Black Rainbow, The Loneliest Planet, Samsara, Planet of Snail

Ed Gonzalez
1. This Is Not a Film
2. The Kid with a Bike
3. Neighboring Sounds
4. Zero Dark Thirty
5. Las Acacias
6. Jiro Dreams of Sushi
7. Girl Walk // All Day
8. Oslo, August 31
9. 5 Broken Cameras
10. Sleepless Night

Honorable Mention: The Comedy, Lincoln, Killer Joe, Keep the Lights On, Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Color Wheel, The Five-Year Engagement, The Queen of Versailles, Sister, This Must Be the Place

Glenn Heath Jr.
1. This Is Not a Film
2. Zero Dark Thirty
3. The Turin Horse
4. Miss Bala
5. The Day He Arrives
6. The Deep Blue Sea
7. Whore’s Glory
8. Barbara
9. Girl Walk // All Day
10. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

Honorable Mention: The Kid with a Bike, Oslo, August 31, Two Years at Sea, Tabu, Haywire, Django Unchained, Post Mortem, Burn, Not Fade Away, Perfect Sense

Kalvin Henely
1. The Color Wheel
2. Tabu
3. This Is Not a Film
4. The Day He Arrives
5. The Kid with a Bike
6. Damsels in Distress
7. Killer Joe
8. How to Survive a Plague
9. The Deep Blue Sea
10. In Another Country

Honorable Mention: Whore’s Glory, Barbara, Oslo, August 31, Neighboring Sounds, 5 Broken Cameras, Holy Motors, Goodbye First Love, The Miners’ Hymns, Photographic Memory, The Forgotten Space

Rob Humanick
1. Lincoln
2. Moonrise Kingdom
3. The Kid with a Bike
4. This Is Not a Film
5. The Master
6. The Deep Blue Sea
7. Killer Joe
8. Cosmopolis
9. The Innkeepers
10. Girl Walk // All Day

Honorable Mention: Neighboring Sounds, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Keep the Lights On, Beyond the Black Rainbow, The Loneliest Planet, Flight, Looper, Dredd, Girlfriend Boyfriend, El Velador

Joseph Jon Lanthier
1. The Color Wheel
2. Zero Dark Thirty
3. Consuming Spirits
4. The Comedy
5. This Must Be the Place
6. Elena
7. Domain
8. The Deep Blue Sea
9. The Day He Arrives
10. 4:44 Last Day on Earth

Honorable Mention: This Is Not a Film, Neighboring Sounds, Tabu, Photographic Memory, Vamps, Alps, Extraterrestrial, Kill List, Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie, Chicken with Plums

Calum Marsh
1. The Color Wheel
2. Neighboring Sounds
3. The Day He Arrives
4. Tabu
5. The Deep Blue Sea
6. Holy Motors
7. The Turin Horse
8. Oslo, August 31
9. This Is Not a Film
10. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

Honorable Mention: The Comedy, Elena, Girl Walk // All Day, Barbara, Goodbye First Love, The Miners’ Hymns, Las Acacias, Sleepless Night, Attenberg, Sinister

Michael Nordine
1. Beasts of the Southern Wild
2. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
3. Zero Dark Thirty
4. Oslo, August 31
5. The Deep Blue Sea
6. Moonrise Kingdom
7. This Is Not a Film
8. The Turin Horse
9. 4:44 Last Day on Earth
10. Kill List

Honorable Mention: Neighboring Sounds, The Comedy, Girl Walk // All Day, Attenberg, Whore’s Glory, Almayer’s Folly, Farewell My Queen, The Grey, It’s Such a Beautiful Day, Starlet

R. Kurt Osenlund
1. Cosmopolis
2. Beasts of the Southern Wild
3. The Kid with a Bike
4. Take This Waltz
5. Lincoln
6. This Is Not a Film
7. How to Survive a Plague
8. Holy Motors
9. The Master
10. Anna Karenina

Honorable Mention: Zero Dark Thirty, Oslo, August 31, The Grey, Tabu, Flight, Sister, Magic Mike, American Animal, Gayby, The Hobbit

Nick Schager
1. The Master
2. Lincoln
3. Holy Motors
4. The Deep Blue Sea
5. Zero Dark Thirty
6. Neighboring Sounds
7. Oslo, August 31
8. This Is Not a Film
9. Keep the Lights On
10. Beyond the Black Rainbow

Honorable Mention: The Kid with the Bike, The Grey, Magic Mike, Moonrise Kingdom, Photographic Memory, The Loneliest Planet, Haywire, 21 Jump Street, Last Ride, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning

Andrew Schenker
1. The Turin Horse
2. Oslo, August 31
3. This Is Not a Film
4. Holy Motors
5. Attenberg
6. Moonrise Kingdom
7. Vamps
8. Almayer’s Folly
9. Girl Walk // All Day
10. The Pruitt-Igoe Myth

Honorable Mention: The Deep Blue Sea, Keep the Lights On, Take This Waltz, The Color Wheel, The Day He Arrives, Barbara, Las Acacias, Looper, The Five-Year Engagement, Tears of Gaza

John Semley
1. Tabu
2. The Color Wheel
3. Kill List
4. This Is Not a Film
5. The Master
6. Bernie
7. Killer Joe
8. Skyfall
9. Goon
10. The Turin Horse

Honorable Mention: Holy Motors, Attenberg, Moonrise Kingdom, The Deep Blue Sea, Zero Dark Thirty, The Kid with a Bike, The Comedy, Compliance, This Is 40, Oslo, August 31

Budd Wilkins
1. Amour
2. Cosmopolis
3. This Is Not a Film
4. Killer Joe
5. Killing Them Softly
6. Magic Mike
7. The Master
8. The Turin Horse
9. The Day He Arrives
10. Crazy Horse

Honorable Mention: Tabu, The Color Wheel, Bernie, The Deep Blue Sea, The Kid with a Bike, The Comedy, Neighboring Sounds, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie, Samsara