Following hot on the heels of my favourite albums of 2009, here are the films that I liked most over the last twelve months. I must point out that some of these were released somewhere in the world in 2008 but I only got to see them in Ireland in 2009. Due to the poor state of cinema exhibition in Limerick, I often had to wait until many of these titles appeared on dvd. I’ve already written about The Damned United here and here, Looking for Eric here, a little bit about I’ve Loved You So Long here, and briefly about Star Trek here. In a year in which the unbelievably overrated Slumdog Millionaire won the Best Film Oscar, Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino yet again highlighted his directorial talents and showed that he can still teach the younger generation a thing or two about acting. I was shocked that this nicely paced, intelligent film failed to receive a single Oscar nomination. The low-budget Frozen River managed to earn two nominations – for Best Actress and Original Screenplay. It is set on the New York/Canada border during winter and concerns illegal emigration, low-wage workers, and a single mother who gets caught up in illegal trafficking in order to make ends meet
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