Up In The Air

Favourite film

Nobody who sees several hundred films a year could give you just one. Right now I’m rooting for both Up In The Air (main picture) and Precious (pictured, right) in the year-end awards. American movies aren’t always allowed the privilege of aesthetic invention AND moral reckoning; these two had both. And one more: Fatih Akin’s Soul Kitchen (pictured, right). I just had a ball watching it, and I think he’s one of the most consistently interesting filmmakers working.

Biggest news story

Slumdog wins everything (after winning its very first prize at Toronto). That film was a game-changer: starless, unheralded and globally appealing. More, please.

Changes in store for 2010

Distributors continue to try to crack the on-demand riddle. Filmmakers continue to opt out of traditional distribution. Viewers continue to find films in their own ways, ignoring all the hand-wringing.