Eric Lavallée

I'm cheating here as I could have put it on last year's list, but I felt it was more of a 2010 title as it preemed on the world film fest circuit in fall classics such as Venice and Toronto. While I have no knowledge of how they faired before in 1999's The Protagonists or the 2002 docu short Tilda Swinton: The Love Factory, I do know that their third film together in I Am Love (Lo sono l'amore) was golden for Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino and actress Tilda Swinton.

She might overtly come across has neurotic but there is a subtext in Manville's work here which ultimately allows the viewer to pity the character in the final season of the film when all possible compassion for the character, at least from her immediate friends is paper-thin. It's another strong female heroine designed by Leigh, but this one doesn't illicit the kind of passion that will have propelled her in awards season, but it nonetheless made a mark back at Cannes and has remained throughout the year.

Rooster Cogburn won't "overtake" Jeffrey Lebowski as Jeff Bridges' best Coen Bros' character, and perhaps Bridges didn't outdo the original John Wayne perf, but unless you include McDormand's Marge Gunderson character from Fargo, you couldn't find a more classic good guy role archetype in the Coen Bros archives. Bridges lays on the charm really thick with this half drunk, half white knight hard living U.S marshal, and if Bridges hadn't won for Best Actor at the Oscars last year he'd certainly be in the running this year.

We all know which actress will receive all the acclaim for her part in Another Year, but such as Ruth Sheen's perf, it would be an error to diminish the value of a supportive role that Jim Broadbent carries in this film. A sensible, caring and loving supportive husband who really has everything going for him and Broadbent makes it look so darn easy and natural that I'd be the first to not acknowledge the part. Since 1990's Life Is Sweet, Broadbent and Leigh have now worked on four projects including his unforgettable perf in Topsy-Turvy and the judge part in Vera Drake.

I love the fact that Mike Leigh works with the same players and has the knack for creating such memorable, strong and plenty of times fragile female characters. In Ruth Sheen's case this is the fifth time they've worked together, but you'd be hard pressed to remember the bit roles she had in 1996's Secrets & Lies, 2002's All or Nothing and 2004's Vera Drake.