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Top 20 Films of 2008: #1 The Secret of the Grain

Abdellatif Kechiche’s third film had such on long-lasting affect on me that I came for a second “helping” weeks after….I also rushed to my nearest Arab restaurant for a generous helping of couscous. I place this at my number one slot because it does everything right – plus the filmmaker allows the film to breath with contextual settings of a salty seaside town and the rich array of slice of life characters coating the rather simplistic storyline with honesty and intimacy.

Eric Lavallée

Published on January 2, 2009

#1. Abdel Kechiche’s third film had such on long-lasting affect on me that I came for a second “helping” weeks after….I also rushed to my nearest Arab restaurant for a generous helping of couscous. I place this at my number one slot because it does everything right – plus the filmmaker allows the film to breath with contextual settings of a salty seaside town and the rich array of slice of life characters coating the rather simplistic storyline with honesty and intimacy. An unpretentious film with a gravitational pull that makes two and a half hours go by without ever once wondering what time it is.

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Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).