The Best Indie Movies of 2015, According to the Criticwire Network

Throughout the year, members of Indiewire’s Criticwire Network — comprised of nearly 500 critics from around the world — have been adding their grades and reviews to our database of film pages. Below is a collection of those films released in theaters during that time that have a) received 15 or more reviews and b) maintained a grade average of “B+” or higher.

Averages and totals are subject to change, but we’ll update the list with new additions as notable titles make their way onto theaters or VOD screens across the country. But for now, here are the films from 2015 that the Criticwire Network has collectively selected as the year’s upper echelon.



For a similarly-updated breakdown of the latest additions and other notable upcoming films, see our analysis on the Criticwire blog.

The Best Films of 2015, According to the Criticwire Network

(last updated: December 31st)

1. Carol

A / 66 reviews

dir. Todd Haynes



2. The Look of Silence

A / 48 reviews

dir. Joshua Oppenheimer



3. Clouds of Sils Maria

A- / 76 reviews

dir. Olivier Assayas

4. It Follows

A- / 73 reviews

dir. David Robert Mitchell

5. Ex Machina

A- / 70 reviews

dir. Alex Garland

6. Spotlight

A- / 64 reviews

dir. Tom McCarthy

7. Timbuktu

A- / 59 reviews

dir. Abderrahmane Sissako

8. Brooklyn

A- / 55 reviews

dir. John Crowley

8. Wild Tales

A- / 55 reviews

dir. Damián Szifrón

10. Love & Mercy

A- / 48 reviews

dir. Bill Pohlad

11. Room

A- / 47 reviews

dir. Lenny Abrahamson

11. Tangerine

A- / 47 reviews

dir. Sean Baker

13. The Tribe

A- / 46 reviews

dir. Myroslav Slaboshpytsky

14. Phoenix

A- / 45 reviews

dir. Christian Petzold

14. Son of Saul

A- / 45 reviews

dir. László Nemes

16. The End of the Tour

A- / 44 reviews

dir. James Ponsoldt

17. The Assassin

A- / 42 reviews

dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien

18. The Duke of Burgundy

A- / 41 reviews

dir. Peter Strickland

19. Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck

A- / 38 reviews

dir. Brett Morgen

19. What We Do in the Shadows

A- / 38 reviews

dir. Taika Waititi & Jemaine Clement

21. Amy

A- / 37 reviews

dir. Asif Kapadia

22. Listen to Me Marlon

A- / 36 reviews

dir. Stevan Riley

23. Best of Enemies

A- / 35 reviews

dir. Morgan Neville & Robert Gordon

23. The Diary of a Teenage Girl

A- / 35 reviews

dir. Marielle Heller

25. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence

A- / 34 reviews

dir. Roy Andersson

26. Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

A- / 32 reviews

dir. Alex GIbney

27. James White

A- / 31 reviews

dir. Josh Mond

28. Anomalisa

A- / 30 reviews

dir. Duke Johnson & Charlie Kaufman

29. 45 Years

A- / 28 reviews

dir. Andrew Haigh

29. Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem

A- / 28 reviews

dir. Ronit & Shlomi Elkabetz

31. About Elly

A- / 27 reviews

dir. Asghar Farhadi

31. The Revenant

A- / 27 reviews

dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu

33. In Jackson Heights

A- / 25 reviews

dir. Frederick Wiseman

34. Cartel Land

A- / 24 reviews

dir. Matthew Heineman

34. The Forbidden Room

A- / 24 reviews

dir. Guy Maddin & Evan Johnson

36. Hard to Be a God

A- / 23 reviews

dir. Aleksei German

36. Heart of a Dog

A- / 23 reviews

dir. Laurie Anderson

36. The Salt of the Earth

A- / 23 reviews

dir. Juliano Ribeiro Salgado & Wim Wenders

36. Tales of the Grim Sleeper

A- / 23 reviews

dir. Nick Broomfield

40. Blind

A- / 20 reviews

dir. Eskil Vogt

40. Taxi

A- / 20 reviews

dir. Jafar Panahi

40. Victoria

A- / 20 reviews

dir. Sebastian Schipper

43. Güeros

A- / 19 reviews

dir. Alonso Ruizpalacios

43. Horse Money

A- / 19 reviews

dir. Pedro Costa

45. Arabian Nights

A- / 18 reviews

dir. Miguel Gomes

46. Finders Keepers

A- / 17 reviews

dir. Bryan Carberry & Clay Tweel

47. Breathe

A- / 16 reviews

dir. Mélanie Laurent

47. Dior and I

A- / 16 reviews

dir. Frederic Tcheng

47. Janis: Little Girl Blue

A- / 16 reviews

dir. Amy Berg

47. The Second Mother

A- / 16 reviews

dir. Anna Muylaert

47. (T)ERROR

A- / 16 reviews

dir. Lyric R. Cabral & David Felix Sutcliffe

47. Welcome to Leith

A- / 16 reviews

dir. Michael Beach Nichols & Christopher K. Walker

53. The Russian Woodpecker

A- / 15 reviews

dir. Chad Gracia

54. Mommy

B+ / 61 reviews

dir. Xavier Dolan

55. While We’re Young

B+ / 54 reviews

dir. Noah Baumbach

56. Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter

B+ / 51 reviews

dir. David Zellner

57. Sicario

B+ / 48 reviews

dir. Denis Villeneuve

58. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

B+ / 47 reviews

dir. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

59. Heaven Knows What

B+ / 46 reviews

dir. Josh & Benny Safdie

60. ’71

B+ / 43 reviews

dir. Yann Demange

60. Beasts of No Nation

B+ / 43 reviews

dir. Cary Fukunaga

62. Mistress America

B+ / 41 reviews

dir. Noah Baumbach

63. Slow West

B+ / 40 reviews

dir. John Maclean

64. 99 Homes

B+ / 37 reviews

dir. Ramin Bahrani

65. Girlhood

B+ / 36 reviews

dir. Céline Sciamma

66. Red Army

B+ / 35 reviews

dir. Gabe Polsky

66. Seymour: An Introduction

B+ / 35 reviews

dir. Ethan Hawke

68. Dope

B+ / 34 reviews

dir. Rick Famuyiwa

68. Eden

B+ / 34 reviews

dir. Mia Hansen-Løve

68. Experimenter

B+ / 34 reviews

dir. Michael Almereyda

71. Appropriate Behavior

B+ / 32 reviews

dir. Desiree Akhavan

71. Jauja

B+ / 32 reviews

dir. Lisandro Alonso

71. Mississippi Grind

B+ / 32 reviews

dir. Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck

74. The Voices

B+ / 31 reviews

dir. Marjane Satrapi

75. Queen of Earth

B+ / 29 reviews

dir. Alex Ross Perry

76. The Wolfpack

B+ / 29 reviews

dir. Crystal Moselle

77. Chi-Raq

B+ / 28 reviews

dir. Spike Lee

77. Saint Laurent

B+ / 28 reviews

dir. Bertrand Bonello

79. Far from the Madding Crowd

B+ / 27 reviews

dir. Thomas Vinterberg

79. Grandma

B+ / 27 reviews

dir. Paul Weitz

79. Tom at the Farm

B+ / 27 reviews

dir. Xavier Dolan

82. Spring

B+ / 26 reviews

dir. Justin Benson & Aaron Scott Moorhead

83. Buzzard

B+ / 25 reviews

dir. Joel Portykus

83. Iris

B+ / 25 reviews

dir. Albert Maysles

83. Sleeping with Other People

B+ / 25 reviews

dir. Leslye Headland

83. The Stanford Prison Experiment

B+ / 25 reviews

dir. Kyle Patrick Alvarez

87. The Wonders

B+ / 24 reviews

dir. Alice Rohrwacher

88. The Hunting Ground

B+ / 23 reviews

dir. Kirby Dick

89. Hitchcock/Truffaut

B+ / 22 reviews

dir. Kent Jones

89. I’ll See You in My Dreams

B+ / 22 reviews

dir. Brett Haley

89. Queen and Country

B+ / 22 reviews

dir. John Boorman

92. The Mend

B+ / 21 reviews

dir. John Magary

92. Mustang

B+ / 21 reviews

dir. Deniz Gamze Ergüven

94. Amour Fou

B+ / 20 reviews

dir. Jessica Hausner

94. Faults

B+ / 20 reviews

dir. Riley Stearns

94. Sunshine Superman

B+ / 20 reviews

dir. Marah Strauch

94. What Happened, Miss Simone?

B+ / 20 reviews

dir. Liz Garbus

94. Beloved Sisters

B+ / 20 reviews

dir. Dominik Graf

99. Stray Dog

B+ / 19 reviews

dir. Debra Granik

100. Ballet 422

B+ / 18 reviews

dir. Jody Lee Lipes

100. La Sapienza

B+ / 18 reviews

dir. Eugène Green

102. The Kindergarten Teacher

B+ / 17 reviews

dir. Nadav Lapid

102. Man from Reno

B+ / 17 reviews

dir. Dave Boyle

102. Meru

B+ / 17 reviews

dir. Jimmy Chin & E. Chai Vasarhelyi

105. Christmas, Again

B+ / 16 reviews

dir. Charles Poekel

105. Welcome to New York

B+ / 16 reviews

dir. Abel Ferrara

107. Far From Men

B+ / 15 reviews

dir. David Oelhoffen

107. An Honest Liar

B+ / 15 reviews

dir. Justin Weinstein & Tyler Measom

107. Human Capital

B+ / 15 reviews

dir. Paolo Virzi

107. Stations of the Cross

B+ / 15 reviews

dir. Dietrich Brüggemann

If you’re curious to see the top films from previous years, be sure to check out the best of 2013 and 2014.

READ MORE: The Criticwire Network’s Best Documentaries of 2015

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