THE GIRL ON THE BRIDGE (France, Patrice Leconte)
Though technically a 1998 film, like a lot of foreign pictures on this list, it didn't debut on American screens until this 2000. This is an exhilarating black-and-white whirlwind romance that celebrates magic and luck, with Daniel Auteuil in one of the coolest performances of the year as a knife-thrower who finds an unusual assistant in the suicidal Vanessa Paradis. Eccentric and charming.

SUZHOU RIVER (China, Ye Lou)
Ultramodern Shanghai-based riff off of Vertigo, with two intertwining love stories, one of which may not be real, involving two women who might be the same person, told by an invisible narrator who might be forgetting, lying or fantasizing. A rare success for the dodgy gimmick of characters directly addressing the camera, the lush Suzhou River might even make you believe in mermaids.

GHOST DOG: THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI (US, Jim Jarmusch)
Jarmusch takes another dry look at the foibles of American culture, seen here as one marked by violence and racism (surprise), as a black hit man (Forest Whitaker) upholds the ancient code of the Samurai even as he dons contemporary hip hop culture. Very cool, but with a clear sense of urgency and an unshakeable feeling of loss. Possibly the most relevant American film this year.

DANCER IN THE DARK (Denmark/UK, Lars von Trier)
A love-it-or-hate-it experience. I loved it. Trier's documentary-style approach to his unbearably tragic melodrama is leavened by pop singer Björk's rawly beautiful star turn as a Czech immigrant slowly losing her sight and retreating into the fantasy world of musicals. Too bad Julia Roberts won the Oscar for (ho hum) Erin Brockovich; it is Björk who delivered the best performance of 2000.

CROUPIER (UK, Mike Hodges)
Another 1998 film that sat around before finally seeing the light of U.S. art houses (and it took another year to play in its native UK!). Slick, chilly film noir about a card dealer (Clive Owen) who becomes involved in a doomed robbery scheme but maintains his poker-faced objectivity throughout. A fine return to form for cult director Hodges, and an original spin on an old genre.

THE COLOR OF PARADISE (Iran, Majid Majidi)
Devastating account of a blind Iranian boy who wins the love of all around him except for his father, who considers the child a liability as he seeks a new wife. Eye-opening look at the hidden beauty of Iran's green hills and forests, with the best cinematography I've seen all year, as well as an astonishingly confident performance by the young amateur Mohsen Ramezani, who is blind in real life.

SUNSHINE (Hungary, Istvan Szabo)
Old-fashioned epic about three generations of Hungarian Jews who denounce their own heritage while still being punished for it by one totalitarian regime after the other. A potent political film, blasting Hungary for its behavior throughout the twentieth century, it's a bit melodramatic but with much to say about the consequences of pride and denial. Ralph Fiennes is very good in a triple(!) role.

YI YI (Taiwan, Edward Yang)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was the surprise hit of 2000, and Taiwan invested all their efforts into nominating it for the Best Foreign Film Oscar (which it won), ignoring the superior Yi Yi. Yang's latest film is a touching drama about an "average" family in contemporary Taipei, struggling to overcome their day-to-day obstacles. Three hours long, it is an epic meditation on love, friendship and family ties.

YOU CAN COUNT ON ME (US, Kenneth Lonergan)
Not a false note in this unsentimental look at a single mom and her troubled relationship with her lost-soul brother. Perfect performances by the quartet of actors who make up the core of the film: Laura Linney, Mark Ruffalo, Matthew Broderick and Rory Culkin. Amazingly, despite its quiet tone and small scale, it managed to do quite well in the box office as well as on critics' polls.

SPRING FORWARD (US, Tom Gilroy)
Every bit as good as You Can Count on Me, this film about two greens keepers in the Connecticut city park system suffers only from a small distributor and poor advertising. The upside is that Spring Forward will be like buried treasure for anybody who finds it. Witty and relaxed, Ned Beatty and Liev Schreiber fully inhabit the characters of two decent, complex, ordinary American men.