Still from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) by Tomas Alfredson.

While Nicolas Winding Refn pushed for a flamboyantly Euro-centric aesthetic this year (with Drive) where restraint and silence were taken to an extreme, Tomas Alfredson was on the opposite end of the spectrum with his delicately crafted and highly underplayed Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. In a year when many films rose or fell due to their ability to harness the abstract particularities normally associated with European art-house films (for example Tree of Life), Alfredson’s film has provided the best balance of both meaningful drama, iconic imagery and cinematic style.