43. WE OWN THE NIGHT
 
United States
dir. James Gray
world premiere 2007
U.S. release 2007
 

 
Because the movie attains the pungency of noir without the usual shortcut of ostentatiously mannered photography. Gray takes the tougher road, i.e., a confident, expressive mastery of every fundamental technique of scene construction, without letting his scrupulousness impede the velocity or the emotional vise of the story. A mood-piece that sticks.