Glad to see a little support for In Bruges. It was such a fun film that deserved more than its quick under the radar theatrical release. Perhaps a little too similar to Guy Ritchie films to develop a cult following, but who knows.

For all the press its been getting, I imagine "Let the Right One In" (haven't see it yet) must be pretty incredible, but I find it hard to believe any first time filmmaker topped Charlie Kaufman this year. Still not sure if I love it or hate it, but "Synechdoche, NY" felt like the kind of masterpiece from an indie director whose life's work had been leading up to that film.

A comment and a question - Love that you recognized The Fall for cinematography, now if there was an art direction category, would you choose The Fall or Speed Racer?

I quite liked In Bruges and plan on re-watching it in the near future, as it's grown on me considerably in retrospect. At first glance, it would seem easy to write it off, but there's some really striking stuff there, especially Colin Farrell's performance, and those breathtaking final moments.

My vote for breakthrough filmmaker was essentially a draw between Let the Right One In (which I only finally saw last night; still chewing on that one, and will be for awhile) and Synechdoche. Maybe I was subconsciously tipped because Kaufman's already had so much exposure as a writer, and though part of me wants to call it something of a masterpiece, I still feel some reservations about it. After seeing it, I wanted nothing more than to get in line for another viewing. Alas, it was the last showing of its runs at my local art house; I'm pretty lucky to have seen it at all. A second viewing it a must.

Speed Racer would be my preferred, though The Fall is pretty goddamned impressive.