The latest are the greatest

It happens every fall. The studios and the independents, having hidden away their strongest films like squirrels hoarding nuts, release them all in a rush in the last months of the year. This fall, however, that rush has become a torrent. Though critics lament that movies are worse than ever, there hasn’t been a fall this strong in memory. In fact, more than half the spots on this 10 best list go to films that are still in theaters, which has to be some kind of a personal record.

In tribute to that group strength, this year’s list will not be ranked but listed alphabetically. Another break from personal tradition is that, except for the impossible-to-contain areas of documentary and foreign films, each slot will contain only one film.

The list is slim for another reason. Because there’s been so much to choose from, many of the listed films have failed to perform up to expectations. If you care about quality cinema, don’t wait for the DVD but go directly to the theater. If you prevaricate, don’t be surprised if next fall is considerably more barren. The list:

“Atonement” Assured and deeply moving, it gives a superb novel the film it deserves.

“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”: Simultaneously uplifting and melancholy, graced with an unexpected sense of possibility.

“Into Great Silence” and “Terror’s Advocate”: Two exceptional documentaries, one sacred, the other profane. Just as good are “No End in Sight,” which despairs of America, and “In the Shadow of the Moon,” which celebrates it.

“Lady Chatterley” and “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”: A French version of a British novel and a multi-prize-winning Romanian effort are the best of the under-the-radar foreign films. Also deserving are the Danish “After the Wedding” and the Bosnian “Grbavica.”

“Lars and the Real Girl”: A Frank Capra-style tribute to the joys of community constructed around one of contemporary culture’s most salacious items.

“Lust, Caution”: A psychologically intricate and sexually explicit film that’s further proof of director Ang Lee’s skills.

“Michael Clayton”: This smart and suspenseful legal thriller pulls you through its story, no stragglers allowed. Hollywood should be making this movie all the time instead of once a year.

“No Country for Old Men”: Something this violent shouldn’t be on the list, but the Coen brothers’ impeccable filmmaking and despairing point of view made the difference.

“Once”: An unpretentious slice of musical and romantic charm that mixes music and story the way the much-faster-paced Beatles classics did.

“Ratatouille”: A tale of an upwardly mobile rat shows once again that we’re in a golden age of animation.

If there were another slot on the list, I would give it to either Paul Thomas Anderson/Daniel Day Lewis’ one-of-a-kind epic “There Will Be Blood,” or another film with a superb male performance, “Breach,” starring Chris Cooper.

The worst

As to the most lamentable event of the year, no film, no matter how feeble, was as depressing or as catastrophic as the bitter standoff between the Writers Guild and the studios. Not even close.

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kenneth.turan@latimes.com