Top Ten Films of 20119 of 10
#2 - Melancholia
The poet William Blake, who loved stark contrast, would likely appreciate the dichotomy of having Tree of Life and Melancholia appear in the same year and be in competition with each other in Cannes. Director Lars von Trier makes a maddening, beautiful, unshakable film about the ineluctable nature of depression and nihilism that questions, denigrates and even lampoons everything that Malick's film espouses and affirms. Of course, it's likely that year-end lists will be the best accolades that the film gets after the ill-advised ramblings of its director at Cannes that resulted in him being banned as a "persona non grata."