Cinema Scope: Top 15 Films of 2013

[see also 2010s, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2011]

1. Stranger by the Lake — Alain Guiraudie
2. Norte, the End of History — Lav Diaz
3. A Touch of Sin — Jia Zhang-ke
4. What Now? Remind Me — Joaquim Pinto
5. The Strange Little Cat — Ramon Zürcher
6. Stray Dogs — Tsai Ming-liang
7. Inside Llewyn Davis — Joel & Ethan Coen
8. The Story of My Death — Albert Serra
9. The Wolf of Wall Street — Martin Scorsese
10. Computer Chess — Andrew Bujalski

Special Mentions

• MANAKAMANA — Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez
• The Missing Picture — Rithy Panh
• Les trois désastres — Jean-Luc Godard
• Jealousy — Philippe Garrel
• Redemption — Miguel Gomes

Dennis Cooper: 13 Favorite Films of 2013 (as numbered on Cooper’s site, but note that he precedes the list with “in no order”)

[see also 2019, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2012, 2011]

1. To The Wonder — Terrence Malick
2. Upstream Color — Shane Carruth
3. Post Tenebras Lux — Carlos Reygadas
4. Spring Breakers — Harmony Korine
5. The Act of Killing — Joshua Oppenheimer
6. Silence — Michael Salerno
7. Leviathan — Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel
8. Only Lovers Left Alive — Jim Jarmusch
9. Center Jenny — Ryan Trecartin
10. Un Conte de Michel Montaigne — Jean-Marie Straub
11. Kneels Through the Dark — James Batley
12. Camille Claudel 1915 — Bruno Dumont
13. Over the Rainbow — Rachel Maclean

Les Inrockuptibles: 20 Best Films of 2013

[see also 2017, 2012, 2011]

1. Stranger by the Lake — Alain Guiraudie
2. Nobody’s Daughter Haewon — Hong Sang-soo
3. Blue is the Warmest Color — Abdellatif Kechiche
4. Cloud Atlas — Lana & Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer
5. You and the Night — Yann Gonzalez
6. A Touch of Sin — Jia Zhang-ke
7. Inside Llewyn Davis — Joel & Ethan Coen
8. Shokuzai — Kiyoshi Kurosawa
9. Zero Dark Thirty — Kathryn Bigelow
10. Frances Ha — Noah Baumbach
10. Jealousy — Philippe Garrel
12. Tip Top — Serge Bozon
13. Age of Panic — Justine Triet
14. Promised Land — Gus Van Sant
15. Passion — Brian De Palma
16. The Girl from Nowhere — Jean-Claude Brisseau
17. Lincoln — Steven Spielberg
18. Jimmy P. — Arnaud Desplechin
19. Spring Breakers — Harmony Korine
20. The Immigrant — James Gray

IndieWire Poll: Top 50 Films of 2013 (as voted by 240 critics)

[see also 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2011]

1. 12 Years a Slave — Steve McQueen
2. Inside Llewyn Davis — Joel & Ethan Coen
3. Before Midnight — Richard Linklater
4. Her — Spike Jonze
5. Gravity — Alfonso Cuaron
6. The Act of Killing — Joshua Oppenheimer
7. Leviathan — Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel
8. Blue is the Warmest Color — Abdellatif Kechiche
9. Upstream Color — Shane Carruth
10. Frances Ha — Noah Baumbach
11. Spring Breakers — Harmony Korine
12. Stories We Tell — Sarah Polley
13. A Touch of Sin — Jia Zhang-ke
14. The Great Beauty — Paolo Sorrentino
15. American Hustle — David O. Russell
16. Short Term 12 — Destin Cretton
17. Nebraska — Alexander Payne
18. Computer Chess — Andrew Bujalski
19. All Is Lost — J.C. Chandor
20. Museum Hours — Jem Cohen
21. The Wolf of Wall Street — Martin Scorsese
22. Like Someone in Love — Abbas Kiarostami
23. To The Wonder — Terrence Malick
24. The World’s End — Edgar Wright
25. Beyond the Hills — Cristian Mungiu
26. Drug War — Johnnie To
27. Blue Jasmine — Woody Allen
28. Bastards — Claire Denis
29. The Wind Rises — Hayao Miyazaki
30. The Past — Asghar Farhadi
31. At Berkeley — Frederick Wiseman
32. Post Tenebras Lux — Carlos Reygadas
33. The Grandmaster — Wong Kar-Wai
34. Fruitvale Station — Ryan Coogler
35. No — Pablo Larraín
36. Mud — Jeff Nichols
37. The Hunt — Thomas Vinterberg
38. Viola — Matías Piñeiro
39. The Unspeakable Act — Dan Sallitt
40. You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet — Alain Resnais
41. Captain Phillips — Paul Greengrass
42. The Spectacular Now — James Ponsoldt
43. Something in the Air — Olivier Assayas
44. Stoker — Park Chan-wook
45. Dallas Buyers Club — Jean-Marc Vallée
46. Wadjda — Haifaa al-Mansour
47. Enough Said — Nicole Holofcener
48. Laurence Anyways — Xavier Dolan
49. Only God Forgives — Nicolas Winding Refn
50. Side Effects — Steven Soderbergh

The L Magazine: 20 Best Films of 2013

[see also 2012]

1. Leviathan — Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel
2. Inside Llewyn Davis — Joel & Ethan Coen
3. Frances Ha — Noah Baumbach
4. Computer Chess — Andrew Bujalski
5. The Act of Killing — Joshua Oppenheimer
6. Before Midnight — Richard Linklater
7. Bastards — Claire Denis
8. A Touch of Sin — Jia Zhang-ke
9. Her — Spike Jonze
10. Spring Breakers — Harmony Korine
11. To The Wonder — Terrence Malick
12. Museum Hours — Jem Cohen
13. Drug War — Johnnie To
14. Like Someone in Love — Abbas Kiarostami
15. Night Across the Street — Raoul Ruiz
16. The Grandmaster — Wong Kar-Wai
17. The Square — Jehane Noujaim
18. Nebraska — Alexander Payne
19. Gravity — Alfonso Cuaron
20. At Berkeley — Frederick Wiseman

Wesley Morris: Top 27 Movies of 2013, as published by Grantland

[see also 2014, 2012, 2011]

1. 12 Years a Slave — Steve McQueen
2. The Wolf of Wall Street — Martin Scorsese
3. The Act of Killing — Joshua Oppenheimer
4. Terrafirma — Emanuele Crialese
5. Post Tenebras Lux — Carlos Reygadas
6. A Touch of Sin — Jia Zhang-ke
7. The Great Beauty — Paolo Sorrentino
8. Gravity — Alfonso Cuaron
9. This Is the End — Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
10. Let the Fire Burn — Jason Osder

17 more

• All Is Lost — J.C. Chandor
• American Hustle — David O. Russell
• At Berkeley — Frederick Wiseman
• Bastards — Claire Denis
• Blancanieves — Pablo Berger
• Captain Phillips — Paul Greengrass
• Computer Chess — Andrew Bujalski
• The Counselor — Ridley Scott
• Her — Spike Jonze
• Lee Daniels’ The Butler — Lee Daniels
• Monsters University — Dan Scanlon
• Museum Hours — Jem Cohen
• Nebraska — Alexander Payne
• Pacific Rim — Guillermo del Toro
• Reality — Matteo Garrone
• The Square — Jehane Noujaim
• The World’s End — Edgar Wright

The Dissolve: 20 Best Films of 2013

[see also 2014]

1. Her — Spike Jonze
2. 12 Years a Slave — Steve McQueen
3. Inside Llewyn Davis — Joel & Ethan Coen
4. Frances Ha — Noah Baumbach
5. Upstream Color — Shane Carruth
6. The Act of Killing — Joshua Oppenheimer
7. Short Term 12 — Destin Cretton
8. All Is Lost — J.C. Chandor
9. Gravity — Alfonso Cuaron
10. Computer Chess — Andrew Bujalski
11. The World’s End — Edgar Wright
12. Stories We Tell — Sarah Polley
13. Nebraska — Alexander Payne
14. The Wind Rises — Hayao Miyazaki
15. The Wolf of Wall Street — Martin Scorsese
16. Captain Phillips — Paul Greengrass
17. Before Midnight — Richard Linklater
18. Blue is the Warmest Color — Abdellatif Kechiche
19. The Past — Asghar Farhadi
20. In the House — François Ozon

Brian Darr: Top 16 Films of 2013 (limited to commercially-released new films)

[see also 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014]

1. Leviathan — Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel
2. Frances Ha — Noah Baumbach
3. Like Someone in Love — Abbas Kiarostami
4. The Place Beyond The Pines — Derek Cianfrance
5. Drug War — Johnnie To
6. 12 Years a Slave — Steve McQueen
7. The Lone Ranger — Gore Verbinski
8. All Is Lost — J.C. Chandor
9. Upstream Color — Shane Carruth
10. Inside Llewyn Davis — Joel & Ethan Coen

Runners-up, alphabetically

• At Berkeley — Frederick Wiseman
• Computer Chess — Andrew Bujalski
• Metallica Through the Never — Nimród Antal
• Our Nixon — Penny Lane
• Passion — Brian De Palma
• The Wolf of Wall Street — Martin Scorsese

Nick Schager: 15 Best Films of 2013, as published by The A.V. Club

[see also 2018, 2017, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2011]

1. The Act of Killing — Joshua Oppenheimer
2. Before Midnight — Richard Linklater
3. The Past — Asghar Farhadi
4. The Invisible Woman — Ralph Fiennes
5. Inside Llewyn Davis — Joel & Ethan Coen
6. The World’s End — Edgar Wright
7. Post Tenebras Lux — Carlos Reygadas
8. Room 237 — Rodney Ascher
9. At Berkeley — Frederick Wiseman
10. The Lords Of Salem — Rob Zombie
11. 12 Years a Slave — Steve McQueen
12. No — Pablo Larraín
13. Mud — Jeff Nichols
14. Beyond the Hills — Cristian Mungiu
15. A Hijacking — Tobias Lindholm

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky: 15 Best Films of 2013, as published by The A.V. Club

[see also 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014]

1. Computer Chess — Andrew Bujalski
2. A Touch of Sin — Jia Zhang-ke
3. Her — Spike Jonze
4. Pain & Gain — Michael Bay
5. The Unspeakable Act — Dan Sallitt
6. Leviathan — Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel
7. Faust — Aleksandr Sokurov
8. The Act of Killing — Joshua Oppenheimer
9. The World’s End — Edgar Wright
10. Drug War — Johnnie To
11. Riddick — David Twohy
12. Gravity — Alfonso Cuaron
13. Side Effects — Steven Soderbergh
14. Before Midnight — Richard Linklater
15. Bastards — Claire Denis