Johan--Sure, lists are personal, is that bad? True, I'm not seeing 300 movies a year. But I’m seeing a lot of movies: that’s what made me start making Best Lists. I don't see everything but I try really hard to see all the ones there's a clear chance I'll like. I miss some of those due to logistics if I’m not in NY or LA the end of the year. Some of the best year's end releases don’t make it to northern California where I live till early the next year. That's where my Ones I Wish I'd Seen Before I Made This List comes in. Maybe I don't see enough out and out bad movies. That's my resolution: to try to see more movies I expect to be bad. Maybe I'll find some good ones among them. If not, at least I'll know more about what's out there. Yes, do see DONNIE DARKO.
I haven't seen FROM HELL.

Oscar Jubis--I like your list and we have quite a few choices in common. The only one of your Ten Best I have any reservations about is ROYAL TENNENBAUMS, which seemed too cute and contrived to me, but of course many discerning individuals liked it. GEORGE WASHINGTON came out in 2000, not 2001. I know because I was in NYC in late 2000 and just missed it. I still haven't managed to see it, but it sounded excellent and was on many critics' Best Lists. I want to see it, but I go out to see so many new movies, I don't have much time to stay home and rent a video. I have still missed CODE UNKNOWN. After seeing LA PIANISTE I definitely want to see it. I have to say I hated THE CIRCLE. Too relentlessly bleak; but then that is typical of Iranian films as I see them, and I'm not much of a fan of them. I would like to see those of your other foreign choices that I've missed; your lists look good. I just saw NUEVE REINAS in London. It was great. I'd heard about it, but it came and went here in a single week.

I urge everyone to see Henry Bean's THE BELIEVER as soon as you can get hold of a video of it, if you didn't see it in a theater, which is very possible. It was supposed to be released in 2001 and is dated 2001 officially.

My Best List for 2002 so far is this:

THE BELIEVER (Henry Bean)
THE GOOD GIRL (Miguel Arteta)
IGBY GOES DOWN (Burr Steers)
ONE HOUR PHOTO (Mark Romanek)
PUMPKIN (Anthony Adams and Adam Larson Broder)
PUNCH DRUNK LOVE (P.T. Anderson)
TADPOLE (Gary Winick)

My Best Foreign list for 2002 so far is this:

ALL OR NOTHING (Mike Leigh)
ATANARJUAT: THE FAST RUNNER (Zacharias Kunuk)
LA PIANISTE (Michael Haneke)
TALK TO HER (HABLE CON ELLA, Pedro Almodovar)
THE SON'S ROOM (LA STANZA DEL FIGLIO, Nanni Moretti)
READ MY LIPS (SUR MES LEVRES, Jacques Audiard)
TIME OUT (L'EMPLOI DU TEMPS, Laurent Cantet)
WHAT TIME IS IT THERE? (Ming-Liang Tsai)
Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN (Alfonso Cuaron)

Of course as usual many of the foreign ones originally showed somewhere a year or two before they came here.

FAR FROM HEAVEN (Todd Haynes) is going to be on a lot of Ten Best lists. I'm hoping to find other candidates because I found it overrated, as I did MONSTER'S BALL and THE DEEP END last year.