Last night I saw "The Band's Visit," the Israeli movie that was loudly disqualified from Academy Award consideration for best foreign language film because just over 50% of its dialogue is in English.

Writer/director Eran Kolirin's debut feature is a grand celebration of little human moments -- funny, touching, probing. It's about an Egyptian police band that arrives in Israel to discover that no one has come to pick them up. They take a bus to the wrong town -- a desolate, lonely town -- where they spend the night with curious and bored Israeli hosts.

At the center of the story is the distinguished, middle-aged conductor of the 8-member band, played by Sasson Gabai (think Ben Kingsley), who is worried about the band's future. The much younger restaurant owner, played by Ronit Elkabetz, turns her brazen sexual charm into high gear for the evening, which unfolds in surprising ways for both of them.

Then there's the young rookie in the band, a lady's man who counsels one of the locals step by step on a date. And the assistant conductor just might find inspiration in the unlikeliest place to finally finish the concerto he's been writing for years.

Somehow, the film gets us laughing at all these characters and at the same time seeing them as real, full-blooded people. Of course, without needing to say anything, the film also explores the tensions and affections between Arabs and Israelis.

The film just opened in Los Angeles and New York, and hopefully will spread throughout our own lonely and hopeful land.

It looks like a theme for me this year is the contemplative experience: simplicity and stillness.

1. Into Great Silence. A nearly three-hour experience of monastic contemplative life, sublimely pieced together. Sounds dull to me, too. I was riveted.
2. The Pool. Set in India, a poor, 18-year-old man/boy's tentative quest for a better life. The story is so simple, the acting so natural. Even a surprise ending. And none of it maudlin.
3. The Savages. Adult brother and sister find themselves taking care of their estranged father. So funny and touching both.
4. Gone Baby Gone. A young private eye gets in over his head, procedurally and morally.
5. The Golden Door. Immigrants journey to the U.S. at the turn of the 20th C. A visual feast of the imagination.
6. The Lookout. A young man reconciles himself to a car accident in this simple, elegant character study.
7. Once. Two unavailable musicians meet, collaborate, and chastely love. An exquisite scene when he teaches her one of his songs.
8. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. A young woman helps her friend get an illegal abortion in communist Hungary. Long, contemplative takes root this thriller.
9. Happy Desert. A 15-year-old girl in Brazil falls into prostitution. Heartbreaking yet transcedent.
10. August Evening. Two undocumented workers, a middle-aged man and his daughter-in-law, stick together as they both grieve the loss of their spouses. His acceptance of life as it comes to him is deeply moving.

Other favorites from 2007: In the Valley of Ellah, Grace is Gone, A Mighty Heart, Breach, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Wristcutters: A Love Story, Snow Angels, Bug, Echo