This is not going to be your average end of the year list. This is not the usual fare that you'd see in your local rag or 'Rolling Stone' - you know, a list of films that will safely have appealed to most people with a couple of foreign films you haven't heard of thrown in the mix just to give the appearance of keeping it honest. In short, I refuse to boat down any Mystic River that has Russell Crowe (or Cameron Crowe, for that matter) at the helm. And I'm afraid you won't find any green skinned, dare-devilish Sylvia Plaths portrayed by Gwyneth Paltrow either. I also won't be belittling these films by placing them in one through ten order creating some sort of competition. Regardless of what Sundance or The Academy would have you think, there's no place for it in film. You also won't find some five star rating system indicating how good the movie is because each film, in its own unique way, is a "five star".

Lastly, you will notice that a few of the films were made at the end of 2002, as they were rushed for release to garner Academy nominations and end-of-the-year top ten lists. In other words, the studios were trying to employ some not-so-sly marketing and promotions. So, I've included a few that may have "officially" been released in '02, but if you weren't "in the biz" or lived in Los Angeles or wrote for the 'New York Times' you didn't see the damn movie until early 2003.

That being said, here are a few films that have stayed with me throughout the year that I think you might enjoy, if you already haven't.

Lost in Translation
Director: Sofia Coppola
It would be easy to pshaw Ms. Coppola for the obvious, her Dad's one of the most recognizable names in American cinema history. Chick's got it easy, right? I mean, one could make the argument that a talentless hack could make a decent film with all the resources and money that comes along with being the spawn of one of American's great film directors.

Ain't the case with Sofia. Nope, this girl exudes talent. It's coming out of her goddamn pores. I would even go so far as to say that she's going to be making movies that have twice the heart and soul than Mr. Godfather ever had. Hell, with Lost in Translation she's already written the type of characters that only someone who is clearly emotionally in touch could write.

Opting to forego the easy money, resources and ties to Hollywood, she sought out investors overseas (a la Jim Jarmusch) and filmed her screenplay in Japan. For anyone who has spent time in Japan, a truer film from an American perspective couldn't have been made.

Subtlety and emotional maturity are two things that this particular Coppola brings to the screen. Scarlett Johannsen (O Scarlet! My Scarlet!) portrays the young woman in Japan with her photographer husband where she meets a has-been film actor, Bill Murray who is in Japan filming a whiskey commercial. The chemistry that these two exhibit should be outlawed. It's not right. A late-50s man and an early 20's woman?! But it works. Big time. The final scene is pure genius for the simple fact it defies the traditional Hollywood formula. Kudos to Coppola for knowing when dialogue isn't always necessary.

All the Real Girls
Director: David Gordon Green
This little film with a humongous heart is about the most true-to-life, honest film I've ever seen about two twenty-somethings stumbling into their first Big Love.

Paul Schneider plays, Paul, the popular guy in town (a very rural town in North Carolina), whom has partied and caroused with the best of 'em. His history of being the ladies man is well known. Much of the carousing and partying that he has done is with his redneck, but big hearted, friend Tip. Problems arise and the film moves when Paul falls for his best friend's younger sister, Noel (Zooey Deschanel). 'Nobody, ah mean nobody's gonna sleep with ma sista' rhetoric ensues.

'All the Real Girls' is the type of film that all young Indie filmmakers envy. It's the type of movie that could never be written by Lawrence Kasdan or directed by Spielberg or played by Meg Ryan and Tom Cruise. It's a realistic story written with true every day characters.

The Sea
Director: Baltasar Kormakur
In appearance, this film seems to be the Icelandic equivalent of Denmark's 'The Celebration'. A family has a reunion where a dark, long-kept secret about the Father is revealed by the eldest son, played immaculately by Hilmir Snaer Gufnason, whom appears to be the Icelandic version of American actor, Jeremy Davies.

However, there are none of the various constraints that can sometimes accompany a film that is shot in accordance with the Dogme '95 doctrine (a set of rules intended to liberate the filmmaker from the confines of the studio-backed and produced film).

Kormakur delicately dances that fine line between good, realistic, tense drama and soap opera-ish melodrama. There are more than a few occurrences where Kormakur has the opportunity to lose his audience with a particularly outrageous-almost-unrealistic scene, but ends up expertly reeling us back into the story at the very moment we're ready to distance ourselves from it. He seems to be fairly skilled at this (see 2001's '100 Reykavik' for another example). Both Kormakur and Gufnason are talents that I greatly look forward to seeing more from.

28 Days Later
Director: Danny Boyle
After witnessing the gross misconduct of writers Alex Garland and Danny Boyle with their initial collaboration 'The Beach', I'd like to think they quickly realized their errors and escaped into some desolate, solitary place to "write" their wrongs. In essence, they followed a terrible film with what is perhaps one of the greatest horror films since 'The Exorcist'.

A lethal, angry disease that transforms anyone it touches into horrific, zombie-like creatures spreads its way through England (mad cow disease any one?) presumably from government experiments mistakenly let loose into society. Problem is, these ain't your father's-Night-of-the Living-Dead kind of zombies. Nope, these are extremely fast, strong and cutthroat zombie-like creatures, which technically aren't zombies because they do die and they don't eat brains, but they're damn scary.

The frantic and digital video-to-film look is perfectly shot by Dog me Director of Photographer extraordinaire Anthony Dodd Mantle. And any film enthusiast will be amazed at the long shots of London that truly appear to have not a soul alive in it. It's marvelous and quite a feat and should be noted was directed and not done by any god-forsaken computer generation. And thankfully, there's not a Leonardo DiCaprio to be found. In fact, smartly, no name actors were used in it.

Elephant
Director: Gus Van Sant
Gus Van Sant continues to shun convention by defying the usual success formula of an independent director being discovered and then bought and swallowed by Hollywood. While our initially made a name for himself with great independent films (see 'Drugstore Cowboy' and 'My Own Private Idaho'), he certainly has made his share of mainstream fare (see 'Goodwill Hunting' and 'Finding Forester'). Now Van Sant has decided to use his money and fame to go back and create Art with Elephant (also see 'Gerry').

A film that is loosely based on the Columbine massacre, 'Elephant' was such controversial material that no studio giant would initially back the film. Thankfully, HBO stepped in and braved the pastures. In fact, they encouraged Van Sant to shoot and tell the story in exactly the fashion that he wanted. Which ends up being a one-day (for the most part) series of long shots that challenge the viewer to watch an event that they know is going to happen, and when it does it is going to be excruciatingly unbearable to watch.

This film offers no answers. It offers no suggestions of why these things have occurred in our society. It offers no solutions. It simply holds up a mirror to something that happens in this world, allowing the viewer to come to his or her own thoughts and conclusions. What a refreshing change. I dare say that it is a Beautiful film. But I fear that I might be misunderstood or even shot for it.

Hmmm.