A perilous cruise through the heart of 2001

Mulholland Drive. David Lynch is the most dedicated surrealist in movies today, and this is one of his most radical departures from standard-issue cinema. It begins with a wannabe actress agreeing to help an amnesiac figure out who she is and why her purse is crammed with cash. But the story soon sprouts so many bizarre leaves and branches that no pigeonhole could possibly contain it. Lynch says it all makes sense - unlike his nightmarish "Lost Highway," which stumps even him - and deciding whether that's true is half the fun.

The Royal Tenenbaums. Wes Anderson's movies have grown steadily more ambitious, from "Bottle Rocket" to "Rushmore" and now this rambunctious comedy-drama about an eccentric family. Gene Hackman plays the patriarch, a disbarred attorney who develops renewed interest in his disaffected brood when his estranged wife decides to marry another man. He gives the movie much of its oomph, making this dubious dad fascinating to watch even when some scenes make him more a caricature than a character. All the acting is strong, though, and Anderson peppers the picture with offbeat directorial touches.

This is the year's most original comedy, even if it does fall short of its early promise, like the Tenenbaums themselves.

Va Savoir. Jacques Rivette helped launch France's explosive New Wave movement in the 1950s, and decades later his work is as youthful and vibrant as ever. The characters of this delicious comedy-drama are European stage actors, whose artistic and amorous adventures subtly blur the boundaries that supposedly separate reality, artifice, myth, and imagination. From its tantalizing title - "Who Knows?" - to its life-affirming finale, it's a nonstop treat.

Waking Life. This is the movie of the year if you've ever suspected that life is but a dream, just as the old song says. Richard Linklater uses a combination of live performances and high-tech animation techniques to create the hallucinatory look of the meandering story, centering on a young man's conversations with a motley crew of acquaintances as he tries to figure out whether he's asleep, awake, or caught in an endless reverie that offers no escape.

The dialogue often has a grad-schoolish ring, but sheer novelty keeps the hero's creatively crafted delirium absorbing most of the way through.

With a Friend Like Harry.... What if a long-lost chum came back into your life, insisted on doing you favors you never asked for, and gradually revealed himself as the last person you'd ever want to have around? French filmmaker Dominik Moll gives a truly Hitchcockian touch to this slyly engrossing drama, helped by vivid acting and a screenplay that generates more suspense than most mystery-thrillers dream of. Who would have guessed that the year's scariest movie wouldn't have a special-effects scene in sight?

Baran, The Circle, The Day I Became a Woman, and Kandahar. It was another superb year for Iranian cinema, and making this a four-way tie keeps Middle Eastern movies from crowding several other pictures off the list. In addition to being splendidly made and utterly original, each of these pictures illustrates the compassionate concern with women's rights that has distinguished many of Iran's best recent films.

Two other specimens of almost equal value, "Djomeh" and "Smell of Camphor, Fragrance of Jasmine," were also released in 2001. Will this troubled nation ever run out of extraordinary cinematic visions? There's no sign of it yet.

Runners-up include Steven Spielberg's flawed but unique "A.I. Artificial Intelligence," based on the late Stanley Kubrick's long-cherished project; David Mamet's clever "Heist"; Ousmane Sembène's affecting "Faat-Kine"; the Canadian horror romp "Ginger Snaps"; Agnès Varda's loving documentary "The Gleaners and I"; the ferocious indie drama "L.I.E."; Claude Lanzmann's Holocaust study "Sobibor"; and the just-opening-this-week docudrama "Ali," for Will Smith's uncanny acting.

Maybe the year wasn't as awful as I thought!

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