I’VE SEEN MOVIES YOU HAVEN’T: The F&SN Critic picks his dozen-or-so favorite films of 2003 Yes, truly, I have seen movies you haven’t, because there are two not-so-secret urges driving every critic’s attempt to choose the best movies of the year.  The first is to make a list that will cause each and every reader to say, yes, that set of movies is representative of how our culture chose to see itself this year, as determined by ticket sales and objective praise.  The second urge is to be a collector.  Half the fun of being a collector is to possess, and the other half is the knowledge that others do not possess what we do, and envy us for it.  A devoted moviegoer is, of course, a collector, not of DVDs or even ticket stubs, but experiences and the ability to say, yes, I saw that.  And every collector wants to say, oh, you didn’t see this?  You didn’t have this experience?  Well, I did. All Top Ten lists are cursed by the troublesome fact that no one can quite agree on the release year for certain movies.  I’ve seen multiple Ten Best lists which place “Russian Ark” as one of the best films of 2003, but I clearly remember seeing it in 2002 and placed it as my second favorite film of that year.  Film critic Roger Ebert got in trouble with a reader when he referred to “Whale Rider” as “this year’s ‘Bend It Like Beckham.’”  The reader took issue with this because, like most of us, he saw “Bend It Like Beckham” in the spring of 2003, to which Ebert countered that he saw “Beckham” at a 2002 Film Festival.  IMDb also counts “Beckham” as a 2002 release, even though it’s up for a 2004 Golden Globe, but guess what else IMDb says is a 2002 release?  “Whale Rider,” which trumpets its awards at 2002 film festivals on its DVD extras.  “Northfork” also has the letters MMII at the end of the ending credits, “The Dancer Upstairs” was shelved for a couple years because of 9/11, “Dracula:  Pages from a Virgin’s Diary” is copyrighted 2002 but appears on several 2003 Top Ten Lists and has only played in my town for a total of two days (in 2003, no less!).  “City of God” was eligible for an Oscar in 2002 for Best Foreign Language Film, was denied a nomination, got its wide release in 2003, and is now up for four 2003 Oscars.  So take all this with a grain of salt.  With that in mind, I’d like to mention two of my favorite films of 2002 that didn’t really get much play until 2003, but which still deserve to be mentioned. Russian Ark Alexander Sokurov’s amazing, plot-free journey through the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg is as trippy and as free-form as a dream, as soothing as a massage, and as hypnotic as a magician.  NR (should be G or PG) Dracula:  Pages from a Virgin’s Diary “Dracula” as you’ve never seen it before:  a silent, black-and-white, and suggestively vulgar ballet.  Director Guy Maddin shakes up all the elements of cinema, both past and present, and makes them into a fun, weird ninety minutes.  NR (should be PG13)
	Favorite Films of 2003:  Honorable Mention                                                                               Favorite Films of 2003:  Nos. 9-15                                   Favorite Films of 2003:  Nos. 1-8
	SPECIAL JURY PRIZE:  Girls Gone Hollywood 2003 saw several movies that took girlhood seriously--not exactly a common occurence!--almost all by female directors who are probably too grown-up to be called girls.  None of them are really Hollywood movies, but you can’t turn down a chance to say “Girls Gone Hollywood.”
					Monster Real-life story of a truck stop serial killer (Charlize Theron), her freaked-out girlfriend (Christina Ricci), and the strange family they form with only two members. Swimming Pool A tricky rivalry forms when youth and beauty collide with maturity and seclusion in Francois Ozon’s chilling and deliberate thriller about a set-in-her ways mystery writer (Charlotte Rampling) who finds herself sharing a country house with a teenage tart (Ludivine Sagnier). Thirteen Growing up is an out-of-control mess of cigarettes, fooling around, body piercing, and jeans so tight you can barely move in this story of two girls who think popularity necessitates self-destruction. Whale Rider Mystical tale of a Maori girl and her grandfather, the chief, who are both in love with their people and their heritage, but at odds as to the roles they should play in their society.
		Bend It Like Beckham Crowd-pleasing culture-clash comedy about an Indian girl in the UK who defies her parents by taking up soccer (or, as they call it, football). Girl with a Pearl Earring Painting, forbidden love, and housework collide when the Dutch master Vermeer (Colin Firth) begins eyeing a servant (Scarlett Johansson), despite the strong hand of his mother-in-law and the suspicions of his pregnant wife. I Capture the Castle Bill Nighy and Romola Garai star as father and daughter in this sweet, gentle story of the moral quandaries of young love and decaying real estate in the English countryside between World Wars. In America The two young sisters of Jim Sheridan’s “In America” may not say much, but everything we see about immigrants and poverty is through the gauzy, loving eyes of their memory.
			and… Calendar Girls The perfectly refined British ladies of “Calendar Girls” might be a little old for this list, but their girlish glee in baring all for a good cause proves that mischief need not be just a game for the young.