BATTLE ROYALE (Japan, Kinji Fukasaku)
The best film you may never see in America due to its extreme subject matter (errant schoolkids are taken to a remote island and forced to murder each other in a government-run disciplinary exercise), Fukasaku's grim satire on teen violence is not only a shocking, visceral thriller, but a potent critique of contemporary Japanese values. Americans may see it as a riff on "Survivor"-style TV shows, but the fear of teenagers runs deep here, too.

TOGETHER (Sweden, Lukas Moodysson)
On the opposite side of the coin (and the world), one of the most likable films of 2001 is this Swedish comedy-drama about a hippie commune in the 1970's. Moodysson is poised to become one of the world's most interesting filmmakers, copping a period vibe perfectly (love those camera zooms and dissolve-cuts, right out of an ABBA video) while giving us great characters, honest storytelling, lots of laughs and well-earned, unsentimental, joy.

THE PERSONALS (Taiwan, Chen Kuo-Fu)
Though released in 1998 in its home country, I include it here because it didn't make it to the U.S. until 2001. Heartbreaking low-budget drama about a woman who places an ad in the personals and encounters a seemingly endless series of Mr. Wrongs as a way of punishing herself for her own failed relationship. What begins as a dry comedy slowly matures into truly tear-jerking tragedy. Rene Liu gives one of the best performances of the year.

AMÉLIE (France, Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
Audrey Tatou is the titular character, an oddball cutie out to make the world a better place. This year's Crouching Tiger/Life Is Beautiful/Shall We Dance? entry (i.e. a crowd-pleasing foreign film that even wins over subtitle-phobic Americans). It's trendy to like this film and I'm sure in a few years it will be trendy to bash it, but I for one will continue to admire it for its charm, energy and boundless creativity.

MOULIN ROUGE (US/Australia, Baz Luhrmann)
As divisive a movie as they come, Moulin Rouge will always be loved by many, hated by many. It's entirely a matter of personal taste, but I thoroughly enjoyed Luhrmann's overwhelming concoction of period melodrama, campy musical and tribute to the pop songs of my childhood. Though the fast-paced editing gave me headaches upon first viewing, when I saw the film again I realized Luhrmann had paced his film precisely well.

THE DISH (Australia, Rob Sitch)
I must be getting soft: seems like half the films on this list are actually upbeat and energetic. This gentle little period piece about the four guys in smalltown Australia (three easy-going Aussies and one uptight American) who brought live images from the 1969 lunar landing to the people of Earth is expectedly sweet-natured - and unexpectedly good. It even made me like (the usually boring) Sam Neill again.

THE VERTICAL RAY OF THE SUN (Vietnam, Tranh Anh Hung)
I have not seen this on any other critic's top choices for 2001, which is incredible, because this languid look at three close-knit but very different sisters - and the men in their lives - quietly on the verge of falling apart is the most atmospheric and beautifully photographed film of the year. (It also features the sexiest hair of the year.) A welcome return for the underrated Tranh Anh Hung (The Scent of Green Papaya, Cyclo).

IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (Hong Kong, Wong Kar-Wai)
This film, however, seems to be on every critic's 10 Best List, and with good reason: Wong's swoony romance about two neighbors who fall in love with each other after realizing their spouses have been having an affair is his most mature work to date, not only a shattering emotional experience but a real work of art, something that will be treasured for a very long time. See it for Maggie Cheung's eye-popping dresses alone!

THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE (US, Joel Coen)
Billy Bob Thornton plays a nondescript 1940's cuckold whose somewhat pathetic blackmail plans spiral into murder. The Coen brothers get serious for once and it's to their credit: their moody, black & white spin on film noir may have turned off audiences expecting the usual Coen silliness, but I think it will endure as one of the Coens' greatest and most genuinely-felt films, right up there with Fargo.

GOSFORD PARK (US/UK, Robert Altman)
I try to ignore the Cult of Altman, as I find his films so hit-and-miss that I can't really accept him as a great director - merely a good one who occasionally gets a great script. Fortunately, Julian Fellowes's Oscar-winning screenplay for Godford Park is not only great, it's the wittiest, bitchiest script of the year, enacted by Britain's brightest talents. But what sneaks up on the viewer afterward is the film's surprising cultural depth.