In 2003, fact outshone fiction at the cinema

5. "The Man Without a Past." Finland's greatest filmmaker strikes again with this sardonic comedy-drama about a man who loses his memory after a mugging and sets about reconstructing his life with a little help from his friends. Aki Kaurismäki's latest is funny, sad, and unforgettable.

6. "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World." Peter Weir finally succeeds in combining the subtle mystery of his early Australian pictures with the scope and scale of a Hollywood blockbuster. The results are riveting, and Paul Bettany's breakthrough performance as an intellectual doctor more than compensates for Russell Crowe's slightly underdeveloped acting as Captain "Lucky Jack" Aubrey, who spends most of the movie chasing a Napoleonic vessel that sneaks up and slips away when least expected. How refreshing it is to encounter so much character psychology in an adventure film, especially when most American war pictures are simplistic, militaristic, and jingoistic.

7. "My Architect." The title gives a major clue to the content of Nathaniel Kahn's documentary about his very eccentric father, architect Louis I. Kahn, who secretly maintained three separate families while his activities as a master 20th-century artist went through roller-coaster ups and downs. This moving documentary is a triumph of personal filmmaking.

8. "The School of Rock." The most accessible of Richard Linklater's movies is also the funniest, thanks largely to Jack Black, exploding with energy as a failed rock singer who turns a gaggle of coddled grade-schoolers into his latest steamin' band. Add sparkling performances by Joan Cusack as a wired-up principal and Mike White as the world's geekiest landlord - both totally in tune with Mr. Linklater's split-second comic timing - and you have a laugh-filled jam session that'll melt your face for sure. (See the movie if you're not sure what face-melting is.)

9. "The Secret Lives of Dentists." Behind that faux-lurid title stands one of the year's most sensitive movies, about two dentists whose marital troubles teach them that the state of wedlock is like a set of teeth - troublesome to maintain at times, but so solid it'll last forever if it's fundamentally sound. Campbell Scott cements his status as one of today's most brilliant actors, and director Alan Rudolph chronicles the couple's domestic life - drawn from "The Age of Grief," a richly composed Jane Smiley novella - with loving care.

10. "The Triplets of Belleville." The year's most amazing animation focuses on a monomaniacal grandma who trains her grandson as a bicycle racer, and then sets out with her faithful pooch to rescue the lad when he's kidnapped by a gambling ring. This brings them to the surreal city of Belleville, where they stay with three old dames who entertain nightclub crowds with music played on "instruments" like the vacuum-cleaner hose and the refrigerator shelf. "Finding Nemo" is fine, but this is the animation to see if you want humor of truly mind-bending proportions.

Other memorable movies include Robert Altman's ballet drama "The Company," the sort-of-romantic comedy "Lost in Translation," the somber "Mystic River," the scathing muckraker "Shattered Glass," the family-friendly "Freaky Friday," the cautionary fables "Owning Mahowny" and "The Shape of Things," the ravishing "Girl With a Pearl Earring," the indescribable "21 Grams," the harrowing "Thirteen," and fine documentaries like "Stevie" and "The Weather Underground."

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