Best Movies of 2002

Editor: Piero Scaruffi
Best movies of 2001 | Best movies of all time | Back to the Cinema page
Best of the decade | Best of 2001 | Best of 2003
The following list averages the opinions of my favorite critics plus mine.

Foreign movies show sometimes a year later, so if you can't find a title, check last year's ratings.

This page is obsolete. Please check this list: Best of the 2000s
8.0 Zhang Yimou: Ying Xiong/ Hero
8.0 Chan-wook Park: Sympathy for Mr Vengeance
7.8 Gyorgy Palfi: Hukkle
7.5 Nuri Bilge Ceylan: Uzak/ Distant
7.4 Aki Kaurismaki: The Man Without a Past
7.4 Pedro Almodovar: Talk To Her
7.3 Cristian Mungiu: Occident/ West (2002)
7.3 Alexander Sokurov: Russian Ark
7.3 Gaspar Noe: Irreversible
7.3 Apichatpong Weerasethakul: Sud Sanaeha/ Blissfully Yours
7.2 Mahamet-Saleh Haroun: Abouna
7.2 Jonas Akerlund: Spun
7.2 Lee Simyung: 2009 Lost Memories
7.2 Abderrahmane Sissako: Waiting for Happiness
7.2 Steven Spielberg: Minority Report
7.2 Lynne Ramsay: Morvern Callar
7.2 Gus Van Sant: Gerry
7.1 Todd Haynes: Far From Heaven
7.1 Chang-dong Lee: Oasis
7.1 Andrei Konchalovsky: House of Fools
7.1 Niki Caro: Whale Rider
7.1 Peter Sollett: Raising Victor Vargas
7.1 Kei Kumai: The Sea Is Watching
7.1 John Sayles: Sunshine State
7.1 Spike Jonze: Adaptation
7.0 Zhangke Jia: Unknown Pleasures
7.0 Krishna Vamsi: Khadgam (2002)
7.0 Pat O'Neill: The Decay of Fiction
7.0 Stephen Frears: Dirty Pretty Things
7.0 Guy Maddin: Dracula: Pages From a Virgin's Diary
7.0 Karen Moncrieff: Blue Car
7.0 Tareque Masud: The Clay Bird
7.0 Lukas Moodysson: Lilya 4-Ever
7.0 Lisa Cholodenko: Laurel Canyon
7.0 Kim Ki-duk: The Coast Guard (2002)
7.0 Aparna Sen: Mr and Mrs Iyer
7.0 Bertha Bay-Sa Pan: Face
7.0 Carlos Reygadas: Japon
7.0 Brian DePalma: Femme Fatale
7.0 Takeshi Kitano: Dolls
7.0 Lucas Belvaux: Trilogy I, II, III
7.0 Rebecca Miller: Personal Velocity
7.0 Michael Moore: Bowling for Columbine
7.0 Peter Kosminsky: White Oleander
7.0 Rob Cohen: XXX
7.0 Francois Ozon: Huite Femmes/ Eight Women
7.0 Tom Tykwer: Heaven
7.0 Atom Egoyan: Ararat
7.0 Elia Suleiman: Intervention Divine
7.0 Przemyslaw Reut: Paradox Lake
7.0 Alexander Payne: About Schmidt
7.0 Stephen Daldry: The Hours
7.0 Luc Dardenne: Le Fils/ The Son
7.0 Abbas Kiarostami: Ten
7.0 Danny Boyle: 28 Days Later
7.0 Curtis Hanson: 8 Mile
7.0 Gurinder Chadha: Bend it Like Beckham
6.9 Mani Ratnam: A Peck on the Cheek
6.9 Andrew Bujalski: Funny Ha Ha
6.9 Damon Packard: Reflections of Evil (2002)
6.9 Andrew Lau: Infernal Affairs
6.9 Andreas Dresen: Halbe Treppe/ Grill Point
6.9 Burr Steers: Igby Goes Down
6.9 Claude Miller: Alias Betty
6.9 Sam Mendes: The Road To Perdition
6.9 Francois Ozon: 8 Women
6.9 Mark Romanek: One Hour Photo
6.9 Christopher Munch: The Sleepy Time Gal
6.9 Uwe Boll: Blackwoods
6.9 Dylan Kidd: Roger Dodger
6.9 Alan Rudolph: Secret Lives of Dentists
6.8 Marion Briand: La Turbulence Des Fluides
6.8 Patrice Leconte: L'Homme du Train/ Man on the Train
6.8 Arturo Ripstein: La Virgen de la Lujuria/ Virgin of Lust
6.8 Larry Clark: Ken Park
6.8 Tony Pemberton: Beyond The Ocean
6.8 Bill Paxton: Frailty
6.8 Otar Iosseliani: Monday Morning/ Lundi Matin
6.8 Henry Barrial: Some Body
6.8 Takashi Ishii: Freeze Me
6.8 Peter Care: The Dangerous Life of Altar Boys
6.8 Kathryn Bigelow: K-19 The Widowmaker
6.8 Julie Davis: Amy's Orgasm
6.8 Oliver Hirschbiegel: Das Experiment
6.8 Eriq La Salle: Crazy as Hell
6.8 Olivier Assayas: Demonlover
6.8 David Cronenberg: Spider
6.8 Spike Lee: 25th Hour
6.7 Walter Hill: Undisputed
6.7 Tim McCann: Revolution No. 9
6.7 Paul Schrader: Auto Focus
6.7 Randall Wallace: We Were Soldiers
6.7 Sandra Nettelbeck: Mostly Martha
6.6 M. Night Shyamalan: Signs
6.6 Lav Diaz: Hesus Rebolusyunaryo/ Jesus Revolutionary (2002)
6.6 Robert Rodriguez: Spy Kids 2
6.5 Mark Pellington: The Mothman Prophecies
6.5 Marco Bellochio: L'Ora di Religione/ The Hour of Religion/ My Mother's Smile
6.5 Jill Sprecher: Thirteen Conversations About One Thing
6.5 Michel Deville: Almost Peaceful
6.5 Ben Coccio: Zero Day
6.5 Claudio Assis: Mango Yellow
6.5 Martin Scorsese: Gangs Of New York
6.5 Chen Kaige: Together
6.5 Shinsuke Sato: Shurayuki Hime/ The Princess Blade
6.5 Chatrichalerm Yukol: Legend of Suriyothai
6.5 Chen Kuo-fu: Double Vision
6.5 Claire Denis: Friday Night (2001)
7.4 Fernando Meirelles: City of God
7.4 Ken Loach: Sweet Sixteen
6.5 Joe Carnahan: Narc
6.5 Roman Polanski: The Pianist
6.5 Stephen Gaghan: Abandon
6.5 Nicole Garcia: Adversaire
6.5 Robert Guediguian: Marie-Jo and Her Two Loves
6.5 Steven Shainberg: Secretary
6.5 John Polson: Swimfan
6.5 Bille August: A Song for Martin
6.5 Dominik Graf: A Map Of The Heart/ Der Felsen
6.5 Silvio Soldini: Burning In The Wind/ Brucio Nel Vento
6.5 Callie Khouri: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
6.5 Manoel De Oliveira: The Uncertainty Principle
6.5 Im Kwon-Taek: Chihwasean/ Painted Fire
6.5 Claude Lelouch: And Now Ladies and Gentlemen
6.5 Mike Leigh: All or Nothing
6.5 Nicole Holofcener: Lovely and Amazing
6.5 Michael Winterbottom: 24-Hour Party People
6.5 Amos Gitai: Kedma
6.5 Malcolm Lee: Undercover Brother
6.5 Fred Schepisi: Last Orders
6.5 Harry Shearer: Teddy Bears' Picnic
6.5 Wallace Wolodarsky: Sorority Boys
6.5 Ilya Chaiken: Margarita Happy Hour
6.5 Christine Jeffs: Rain
6.5 Clare Peploe: The Triumph of Love
6.5 Yvan Attal: My Wife Is An Actress
6.5 Joel Zwick: My Big Fat Greek Wedding
6.5 Gary Winick: Tadpole
6.5 Andrew Niccol: Simone
6.5 Anne Fontaine: How I Killed My Father
6.5 Steven Soderbergh: Full Frontal
6.5 Miguel Arteta: The Good Girl
6.5 Tim Story: Barbershop
6.5 Kaos: Ballistic
6.5 Rajat Mukherjee: Road
6.5 Chris Eyre: Skins
6.5 Andy Tennant: Sweet Home Alabama
6.5 Peter Mullan: The Magdalene Sisters
6.5 Patricia Cardoso: Real Women Have Curves
6.5 Julie Taymor: Frida
6.5 Pascale Bailly: God Is Great, I'm Not
6.5 Charles Stone III: Drumline
6.5 Jay Russell: Tuck Everlasting
6.5 Tim Blake Nelson: The Grey Zone
6.5 Charles Herman-Wurmfeld: Kissing Jessica Stein
6.5 Eytan Fox: Yossi and Jagger
6.4 Gary Burns: Waydowntown
6.4 Beto Brant: The Trespasser
6.4 Gjergj Xhuvani: The Bleating of Sheep
6.4 Henry Bean: The Believer
6.4 Sebastian Cordero: Cronicas
6.4 Seisoku Kajita: The Man Who Wipes Mirrors
6.4 Julie Lopes-Curval: Bord de Mer/ Pebbles Seaside
6.4 Bertrand Tavernier: Safe Conduct/ Laissez-Passer
6.3 Babak Payami: Secret Ballot
6.3 Robert Evans: The Kid Stays In The Picture
6.3 Paul Greengrass: Bloody Sunday
6.3 Phillip Noyce: Rabbit-Proof Fence
6.2 Robert Connolly: The Bank
6.2 Jesse Peretz: The Chateau
6.2 Helene Angel: Skin of Man, Heart of Beast
6.1 Anthony and Joe Russo: Welcome to Collinwood
6.0 Debra Eisenstadt: Daydream Believer
6.0 Steven Spielberg: Catch Me if You Can
6.0 John Woo: Windtalkers
6.0 Tian Zhuangzhuang: Springtime in a Small Town
6.0 Jean-Claude Brisseau: Secret Things
6.0 Cedric Klapisch: L'Auberge Espagnole
6.0 Veronica Chen: Vagon Fumador/ Smokers Only
6.0 Peter Jackson: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
6.0 Denzel Washington: Antwone Fisher
6.0 Jiang Wen: Devils on the Doorstep
6.0 Lee Jeong-Hyuang: The Way Home
6.0 Hong Sang-Soo: Turning Gate
6.0 Roger Avary: The Rules of Attraction
6.0 Cory Yuen: The Transporter
6.0 James Toback: Harvard Man
6.0 Rob Bowman: Reign Of Fire
6.0 Ferzan Ozpetek: His Secret Life
6.0 Agni Varsha: The Fire and the Rain
6.0 Michael Snow: Corpus Callosum
6.0 Vicente Aranda: Mad Love
6.0 Juan Jose Campanella: Son Of The Bride
6.0 Jesse Vaughan: Juwanna Mann
6.0 David S. Goyer: ZigZag
6.0 Phil Alden Robinson: The Sum Of All Fears
6.0 Bernard Rose: Ivans XTC
6.0 John Gianvito: The Mad Songs Of Fernando Hussein
6.0 Claire Kilner: Janice Beard
6.0 Adrian Lyne: Unfaithful
6.0 Ashutosh Gowariker: Lagaan
6.0 Denis Villeneuve: Maelstrom
6.0 Jean-Pierre Denis: Murderous Maids
6.0 Raja Amari: Satin Rouge
6.0 Bill Plympton: Mutant Aliens
6.0 Bart Freundlich: World Traveler
6.0 Barbet Schroeder: Murder by Numbers
6.0 Ethan Hawke: Chelsea Walls
6.0 Billy Morrissette: Scotland, Pa.
6.0 Michael Cacoyannis: The Cherry Orchard
6.0 Lone Scherfig: Bellissimo
6.0 Ramin Serry: Maryam
6.0 Peter Sheridan: Borstal Boy
6.0 Sara Sugarman: Very Annie Mary
6.0 Elie Chouraqui: Harrison's Flowers
6.0 Guillermo Del Toro: Blade 2
6.0 John Lee Hancock: The Rookie
6.0 Peter Bogdanovich: The Cat's Meow
6.0 Joseph Gai Ramaka: Karmen Gei
6.0 Benoit Jacquot: Sade
6.0 Ismail Merchant: Mystic Masseur
6.0 Bryan Johnson: Vulgar
6.0 Adam Rifkin: Night at the Golden Eagle
6.0 D.J. Caruso: The Salton Sea
6.0 Christopher Nolan: Insomnia
6.0 Roman Coppola: CQ
6.0 Michael Apted: Enough
6.0 Dani Kouyate: Sia: The Dream of the Python
6.0 Paul McGuigan: Gangster No. 1
6.0 I-fan Quirk: Being Claudine
6.0 Gregor Schnitzer: What to Do in Case of Fire
6.0 Jay Roach: Austin Powers in Goldmember
6.0 Claude Chabrol: Merci Pour le Chocolat
6.0 Matej Minac: All My Loved Ones
6.0 Neil Labute: Possession
6.0 Michael Caton-Jones: City by the Sea
6.0 Julio Medem: Sex And Lucia
6.0 Van Fischer: Blink of an Eye
6.0 Philippe de Broca: On Guard
6.0 Godfrey Reggio: Naqoyqatsi
6.0 Betty Thomas: I Spy
6.0 Kathryn Bigelow: The Weight of Water
6.0 Holly Angell Hardman: Besotted
6.0 Somnath Sen: Leela
6.0 Abel Ferrara: 'R Xmas
6.0 Frank Novak: Better Housekeeping
6.0 Michael Hoffman: The Emperor's Club
6.0 Frank Reyes: Empire
6.0 Rob Marshall: Chicago
6.0 Kurt Wimmer: Equilibrium
5.9 Charles Addessi: Wannabes
5.9 Doug Liman: The Bourne Identity
5.8 Paul Anderson: Resident Evil
5.8 Danny DeVito: Death To Smoochy
5.5 Harry Ralston: The Last Man
5.5
Paul Thomas Anderson: Punch-Drunk Love
5.5 David Fincher: The Panic Room
5.5 Takashi Miike: Dead or Alive: Final
5.5 David Twohy: Below
5.5 Diane Kurys: Children Of The Century
5.5 Clint Eastwood: Blood Work
5.5 Oliver Parker: The Importance of Being Earnest
5.5 Jonathan Frakes: Clockstoppers
5.5 Jeong Jae Eun: Take Care Of My Cat
5.5 Pete Jones: Stolen Summer
5.5 Nick Cassavetes: John Q
5.5 Gregory Hoblit: Hart's War
5.5 Anne-Sophie Birot: Girls Can't Swim
5.5 Mandel Holland: The Other Brother
5.5 Dirk Shafer: Circuit
5.5 Joel Schumacher: Bad Company
5.5 Karim Dridi: Cuba Feliz
5.5 Ellory Elkayem: Eight-Legged Freaks
5.5 Gerard Krawczyk: Wasabi
5.5 Ryosuke Hashiguchi: Hush
5.0 James Bolton: Eban And Charley
5.0 Woody Allen: Hollywood Ending
5.0 Jonathan Demme: The Truth About Charlie
5.0 Steven Soderbergh: Solaris
5.0 Wes Craven: They
5.0 Lee Tamahori: Die Another Day
5.0 Phillip Noyce: The Quiet American
5.0 Marcus Raboy: Friday After Next
5.0 Carlos Carrera: El Crimen del Padre Amaro
5.0 Guy Ritchie: Swept Away
5.0 Edward Burns: Ash Wednesday
5.0 Shekhar Kapur: The Four Feathers
5.0 Bob Dolman: The Banger Sisters
5.0 Doug Miles: Don't Ask Don't Tell
5.0 Rich Murray: Snipes
5.0 Ruedi Gerber: Heartbreak Hospital
5.0 Adam Larson Broder: Pumpkin
5.0 Imogen Kimmel: Secret Society
5.0 Paul And Chris Weitz: About A Boy
5.0 Carl Franklin: High Crimes
5.0 Peter Cattaneo: The Full Monty
5.0 Jake Kasdan: Orange County
5.0 Joseph Cedar: Time Of Favor
5.0 Kevin Reynolds: The Count of Montecristo
5.0 Laurice Guillen: American Adobo
5.0 Jez Butterworth: Birthday Girl
5.0 Peter O'Fallon: A Rumor Of Angels
5.0 David Ondricek: Loners
5.0 Arliss Howard: Big Bad Love
5.0 Andrew Smith: The Slaughter Rule
5.0 Michael Kalesniko: How To Kill Your Neighbor's dog
5.0 Michael Rymer: Queen Of The Damned
5.0 Michael Lehmann: 40 Days And 40 Nights
5.0 Simon Wells: The Time Machine
5.0 Lieven Debrauwer: Pauline and Paulette
5.0 Tom Dey: Showtime
5.0 Michel Gondry: Human Nature
5.0 Michael Apted: Enigma
5.0 Sam Raimi: Spider-Man
5.0 Stephen Herek: Life or Something Like It
5.0 Jim Isaac: Jason X
5.0 John-Luke Montias: Bobby G. Can't Swim
5.0 Jo Sol: Tattoo Bar
5.0 Sandra Goldbacher: Me Without You
5.0 Timothy Linh Bui: Green Dragon
5.0 Perry Andelin Blake: The Master of Disguise
5.0 John Stockwell: Blue Crush
5.0 Gabriele Muccino: Last Kiss
5.0 Blair Treu: Little Secrets
5.0 Matthew Bright: Ted Bundy
5.0 Robert Siegel: Swimming
5.0 Fisher Stevens: Just a Kiss
5.0 Brad Silberling: Moonlight Mile
5.0 John Walsh: Pipe Dream
5.0 George Hickenlooper: The Man From Elysian Fields
5.0 Brett Ratner: Red Dreagon
5.0 Sherman Alexie: The Business of Fancydancing
5.0 Ronny Yu: Formula 51
5.0 Gore Verbinski: The Ring
5.0 Ventura Pons: Food of Love
5.0 Liliana Cavani: Ripley's Game
5.0 Steve Beck: Ghost Ship
5.0 Charles Stone: Paid in Full
5.0 Peter Mattei: Love In The Time of Money
5.0 Harold Ramis: Analyze That
5.0 Bruce Beresford: Evelyn
5.0 Frank Whaley: The Jimmy Show
5.0 Tom Brady: The Hot Chick
4.5 John McTiernan: Rollerball
4.5 George Lucas: Star Wars Episode 2 - Attack of the Clones
4.5 Tom Shadyac: Dragonfly
4.5 Barry Sonnenfeld: Big Trouble
4.5 William Malone: Fear Dot Com
4.5 Finn Taylor: Cherish
4.5 Alan Taylor: The Emperor's New Clothes
4.5 Rajkumar Santoshi: The Legend of Bhagat Singh
4.5 Chris Ver Wiel: Who is Cletis Tout
4.5 Kevin Donovan: The Tuxedo
4.5 Tom Rice: The Rising Place
4.5 Wayne Wang: Maid in Manhattan
4.0 Brian Levant: Snow Dogs
4.0 Eric Schaeffer: Never Again
4.0 Steven Brill: Mr Deeds
4.0 Gregg Lachow: Money Buys Happiness
4.0 Adam Shankman: A Walk To Remember
4.0 Dewey Nicks: Slackers
4.0 Andrew Davis: Collateral Damage
4.0 Shawn Levy: Big Fat Liar
4.0 Tamra Davis: Crossroads
4.0 Jay Chandrasekhar: Super Troopers
4.0 Kevin Bray: All About The Benjamins
4.0 Roger Mitchell: Changing Lanes
4.0 Zoe Clarke-Williams: New Best Friend
4.0 Mitch Davis: The Other Side of Heaven
4.0 Roger Kumble: The Sweetest Thing
4.0 Chuck Russell: The Scorpion King
4.0 Scott Kalvert: Deuces Wild
4.0 Higuchinsky: Uzumaki
4.0 Ed Decter: The New Guy
4.0 Raja Gosnell: Scooby-Doo
4.0 Ian McCrudden: Mr. Smith Gets a Hustler
4.0 Asia Argento: Scarlet Diva
4.0 Stefan Ruzowitzky: All the Queen's Men
4.0 Harry Dodge and Silas Howard: By Hook or by Crook
4.0 Don Michael Paul: Half Past Dead
4.0 Chris Columbus: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
4.0 Christian Duguay: Extreme Ops
4.0 Stuart Baird: Star Trek Nemesis
4.0 Marc Lawrence: Two Weeks Notice
4.0 Roberto Benigni: Pinocchio
4.0 Nicolas Cage: Sonny