New York Movies - Film Poll 2009: An Introduction - page 1

Film

Film Poll 2009: An Introduction

As the '00s become history, an Iraq war movie finally wins us over. How fitting.

By J. Hoberman

Tuesday, December 22nd 2009 at 4:58pm

• Shane Harrison

  

Details:

10th ANNUAL FILM CRITICS' POLL
Film Poll Introduction
The 2009 Readers' Film Poll
Film Poll 2009 Full Results
J. Hoberman's Top 10 of 2009
The Decade in Film: A Timeline
State of NYC's Indie Film Business
Gallery: The 25 Best Films of 2009
Where Are They Now: Poll Winners Past
Film Poll 2009: The Abridged Results

Topping the 10th annual Village Voice Film Critics' Poll, The Hurt Locker is also director Kathryn Bigelow's personal best. Impressively old-school in its construction of suspense and character, the film is also horrifically topical with its depiction of existential terror and men at war in the age of the drone aircraft and the IED. Working from Mark Boal's knowledgeable script, the movie brilliantly conflates human and technological alienation—its protagonist is an artist as crazed as the Joker, the robot bomb defuser he scorns is first cousin to last year's poll cover-boy WALL-E.