2004 was a great year for me, and I still haven't seen all the films I wanted. Here's my Top 20 (theatrical releases only!), favorites in bold.

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004 / Michel Gondry / 
2. Marseille (2004 / Angela Schanelec / Germany)
3. Frau fhrt, Mann schlft (2004 / Rudolf Thome / Germany)
4. Los lunes al sol "Mondays in the Sun" (2002 / Fernando Len de Aranoa / Spain, Italy, France)
5. Elephant (2003 / Gus Van Sant / USA)
6. 21 Grams (2003 / Alejandro Gonzlez Irritu / USA)
7. Before night falls (2000 / Julian Schnabel / USA)
8. Birth (2004 / Jonathan Glazer / USA)
9. Before Sunset (2004 / Richard Linklater / USA)
10. 5 x 2 (2004 / Franois Ozon / France)
11. Schussangst "Gun-shy" (2003 / Dito Tsintsadze / Germany)
12. The Station Agent (2003 / Thomas McCarthy / USA)
13. Tierra "Land" (1996 / Julio Medem / Spain)
14. Rokugatsu no hebi "A Snake of June" (2002 / Shinya Tsukamoto / Japan)
15. Gegen die Wand "Head-on" (2004 / Fatih Akin / Germany, Turkey)
16. Open Range (2003 / Kevin Costner / USA)
17. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003 / Peter Weir / USA)
18. Oldboy (2003 / Chan-wook Park / South Korea)
19. Bad Santa (2003 / Terry Zwigoff / USA, Germany)
20. Lost in Translation (2003 / Sofia Coppola / USA, Japan)

Honorable Mention:

Muxmuschenstill (2004 / Marcus Mittermeier / Germany)
Agnes und seine Brder (2004 / Oskar Roehler / Germany)
Rhythm is it! (2004 / Thomas Grube, Enrique Sanchez Lansch / Germany)
Ken Park (2002 / Larry Clark, Edward Lachman / USA, Netherlands, France)
Osama (2003 / Siddiq Barmak / Afghanistan, Netherlands, Japan, Ireland, Iran)
Cold Mountain (2003 / Anthony Minghella / USA)
The Dreamers (2003 / Bernardo Bertolucci / Italy, France, UK)