Year-End Lists

Stephanie Zacharek: Top 16 Movies of 2015, as published by Time Magazine

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2013]

1. Spotlight
   Tom McCarthy
2. Phoenix
   Christian Petzold
3. I’ll See You in My Dreams
   Brett Haley
4. Clouds of Sils Maria
   Olivier Assayas
5. Iris
   Albert Maysles
6. Mustang
   Deniz Gamze Ergüven
7. Tangerine
   Sean Baker
8. Creed
   Ryan Coogler
9. The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
   Guy Ritchie
10. Ex Machina
    Alex Garland

Honorable Mentions

• Love & Mercy
  Bill Pohlad
• Cinderella
  Kenneth Branagh
• Amy
  Asif Kapadia
• Shaun the Sheep Movie
  Mark Burton and Richard Starzak
• Crimson Peak
  Guillermo del Toro
• The Big Short
  Adam McKay

Amy Taubin: 10 Best Films of 2015, as published by Artforum

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012]

1. No Home Movie
   Chantal Akerman
2. The Knick
   Steven Soderbergh
3. The Assassin
   Hou Hsiao-Hsien
4. Luminous Intimacy: The Cinema of Nathaniel Dorsky and Jerome Hiler [retrospective]
   Nathaniel Dorsky and Jerome Hiler
5. Experimenter
   Michael Almereyda
6. Amy
   Asif Kapadia
7. My Golden Days
   Arnaud Desplechin
8. Don’t Blink: Robert Frank
   Laura Israel
9. Carol
   Todd Haynes
10. Mistress America
    Noah Baumbach

Nicole Brenez: 10 Best Films of 2015, as published by Artforum

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2012]

1. No Home Movie
   Chantal Akerman
2. Message of Greetings: Prix Suisse / My Thanks / Dead or Alive
   Jean-Luc Godard
3. Commander Khawani
   Florent Marcie
3. Tomorrow Tripoli – The Revolution of the Rats
   Florent Marcie
4. Get All That, Ant?
   Anthony Stern
5. Wake (Subic)
   John Gianvito
6. Vertières I, II, III
   Louise Botkay
7. Notfilm
   Ross Lipman
8. The Great Wall
   Tadhg O’Sullivan
9. Los (De)pendientes
   Sebastian Wiedemann
10. Terrorism Considered as One of the Fine Arts [screenplay]
    Peter Whitehead
10. Cross Words: All Out War Considered as One of the Fine Arts [printed material]
    Peter Whitehead

James Quandt: 10 Best Films of 2015, as published by Artforum

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012]

1. Labour in a Single Shot [exhibition of shorts]
   Antje Ehmann, Harun Farocki, various filmmakers
2. Visit, or Memories and Confessions
   Manoel de Oliveira
3. Bleak Street
   Arturo Ripstein
4. Singularity
   Albert Serra
5. Neon Bull
   Gabriel Mascaro
6. Ashes
   Steve McQueen
7. the films and videos of Michaël Borremans [retrospective]
   Michaël Borremans
8. Lost and Beautiful
   Pietro Marcello
9. Actua I [1968]
   Philippe Garrel
10. The Owners of Dixie
    Miguel Gomes

J Hoberman: 10 Best Films of 2015, as published by Artforum

[see also 2021 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2012 • 2011]

1. The Assassin
   Hou Hsiao-Hsien
2. The Guests
   Ken Jacobs
3. No Home Movie
   Chantal Akerman
4. Hard to Be a God
   Aleksey German
5. Mexico at Midnight: Film Noir from Mexican Cinema’s Golden Age
   Museum of Modern Art, New York
6. Cemetery of Splendor
   Apichatpong Weerasethakul
7. Hamlet in the Rented World
   Jack Smith
8. Phoenix
   Christian Petzold
9. Continuous Variations
   Manuel De Landa
9. The Walk
   Robert Zemeckis

John Waters: 10 Best Films of 2015, as published by Artforum

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Helmut Berger, Actor
   Andreas Horvath
2. Cinderella
   Kenneth Branagh
3. The Forbidden Room
   Guy Maddin
4. Tom at the Farm
   Xavier Dolan
5. Mad Max: Fury Road
   George Miller
6. Carol
   Todd Haynes
7. The Diary of a Teenage Girl
   Marielle Heller
8. Tangerine
   Sean Baker
9. Fly Colt Fly
   Adam Gray and Andrew Gray
10. Love
    Gaspar Noé

Sight & Sound Poll: Top 35 Films of 2015 (a poll of 168 critics, published by Sight & Sound Magazine)

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. The Assassin
   Hou Hsiao-Hsien
2. Carol
   Todd Haynes
3. Mad Max: Fury Road
   George Miller
4. Arabian Nights
   Miguel Gomes
5. Cemetery of Splendor
   Apichatpong Weerasethakul
6. No Home Movie
   Chantal Akerman
7. 45 Years
   Andrew Haigh
8. Son of Saul
   László Nemes
8. Amy
   Asif Kapadia
8. Inherent Vice
   Paul Thomas Anderson
8. Anomalisa
   Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson
8. It Follows
   David Robert Mitchell
13. Phoenix
    Christian Petzold
14. Girlhood
    Céline Sciamma
14. Hard to Be a God
    Aleksey German
14. Inside Out
    Pete Docter
14. Tangerine
    Sean Baker
14. Jafar Panahi’s Taxi
    Jafar Panahi
19. Horse Money
    Pedro Costa
19. The Look of Silence
    Joshua Oppenheimer
21. Clouds of Sils Maria
    Olivier Assayas
21. The Duke of Burgundy
    Peter Strickland
21. Timbuktu
    Abderrahmane Sissako
21. The Forbidden Room
    Guy Maddin
21. My Golden Days
    Arnaud Desplechin
26. Force Majeure
    Ruben Östlund
26. Blackhat
    Michael Mann
26. The Diary of a Teenage Girl
    Marielle Heller
26. Evolution
    Lucile Hadzihalilovic
26. Ex Machina
    Alex Garland
26. Heart of a Dog
    Laurie Anderson
26. The Lobster
    Yorgos Lanthimos
26. Right Now, Wrong Then
    Hong Sang-soo
26. Room
    Lenny Abrahamson
26. Sunset Song
    Terence Davies

Cahiers du Cinéma: Top Ten Films of 2015

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Mia Madre
   Nanni Moretti
2. Cemetery of Splendor
   Apichatpong Weerasethakul
3. In the Shadow of Women
   Philippe Garrel
4. The Smell of Us
   Larry Clark
5. Mad Max: Fury Road
   George Miller
6. Jauja
   Lisandro Alonso
7. Inherent Vice
   Paul Thomas Anderson
8. Arabian Nights
   Miguel Gomes
9. The Summer of Sangaile
   Alanté Kavaïté
10. Journey to the Shore
    Kiyoshi Kurosawa