How to narrow down an entire decade of films down to just ten? It’s pretty much an impossible task. I made a short list of fifty, and even that left off loads I wanted to include. And now that making that list is already a few weeks in the past I’m starting to second guess how I ordered them. But I chose to let stand what’s here – so let’s just say here are ten films from the past ten years that blew me away, stuck with me, and that I love dearly. Too many of them are obvious choices, but I’ve made my peace with that.
10) 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007; dir: Cristian Mungiu)
9) Brick (2006; dir: Rian Johnson)
8 ) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004; dir: Michel Gondry)
7) Once (2006; dir: John Carney)
6) Inglourious Basterds (2009; dir: Quentin Tarantino)
5) The Royal Tenenbaums (2002; dir: Wes Anderson)
4) O Brother Where Art Thou (2000; dir: Joel & Ethan Coen)
3) No Country for Old Men (2007; dir: Joel & Ethan Coen)
2) Pan’s Labyrinth (2006; dir: Guillermo del Toro)
1) Mulholland Drive (2001; dir: David Lynch)
Ten more from my top fifty, in no order:
INLAND EMPIRE (2006; dir: David Lynch)
The New World (2005; dir: Terrence Malick)
The Squid and the Whale (2005; dir: Noah Baumbach)
The Fountain (2006; dir: Darren Aronofsky)
Divided We Fall (2000; dir: Jan Hrebejk)
Shaun of the Dead (2004; dir: Edgar Wright)
Marie Antoinette (2005; dir: Sofia Coppola)
I Killed My Mother (2009; dir: Xavier Dolan)
The Incredibles (2004; dir: Brad Bird)
Speed Racer (2007; dir: Andy & Larry Wachowski)
Good list Jandy, but is your #3 pick No Country for Old Men, or O’Brother Where Art Thou?
Titles are above the images – O Brother is fourth, No Country is third. This time around. Sometimes I rank them the opposite way. They’re basically tied in my head.
I do like Pan’s a whole lot, but it never quite affected me like it has for so many others…The rest of your 10 are great – though I need to see IB a few more times to get a better feel for it.
I’m seeing “I Killed My Mother” this coming Thursday and greatly looking forward to it. I have no knowledge regarding “Divided We Fall” – but I’ll definitely look into it.
As for Squid…Boy, that film didn’t do anything for me. I know so many people that really like it, but I barely remember anything from it.
I was blown away by Pan’s – I still think it’s one of the most visionary films I’ve ever seen. Divided We Fall is a Czech film that I happened upon almost by accident and just totally loved. I included it partially because I was hoping people who didn’t know about it would seek it out, so I hope you do. It’s an interesting, subtle, moving, and funnier-than-you’d-expect portrayal of Nazi collaborators and Jewish fugitives during WWII.
Some great choices, no complaints here. I haven’t seen one or two though. I loved Pan’s Labyrinth too, although it wouldn’t be quite as high in my list and I’ll back you up on The Squid and the Whale, that was a great movie, again maybe not in my top 20, but definitely my top 50.
I should join in with my list I guess. I’ve been toying with a list for my blog, but I’m struggling to whittle it down to 10 and I change my mind too often. It’s really difficult!
@Jandy Sorry about that, I really have to stop surfing the site while on my cell phone.
4 Months! Yes! Maybe the best foreign movie i saw ever.
4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days is pretentius and boring no-point film. i didn t watch brick, while the eternal sunshine is also bad, very poor realization of an escellent idea, gondry doesent have the talent to do such a great idea. once didnt watch. inglorius b. is total crap. tarantino shot last great movie back in 90. this is very much without any imagination and dull. the royal t. didnt watch. o brother is a good movie. no country is average film about nothing. pans labirinth is a very good film and didnt watch mullholand dr.
my list
1 In the mood for love WKW
2 the return a. zvyagincev
3 lost in translation s. coppola
4 a.i. s. spielberg
5 apocalypto m .gibson
6 george washington david g. green
7 mean creek jacog a. estes
8 y tu mnama tambien a. cuaron
9 sideways a. payne
10 a prophet j. audiard
marcus, I’m floored by some of your statements about Jandy’s (awesome) picks when I see your list of equally awesome picks.
4,3,2 is “boring and no point?” That is not even an opinion, it’s simply flat out a false statement. Boring might be accurate (for you), but saying it has “no point” is ridiculous. The dinner scene alone is one of the most intense scenes of the decade for any film.
Ditto Andrew. I can understand how 4,3,2 might not be for you or you might not get into its pacing, but it definitely not pointless. Tarantino’s first film as director was 1992, so I don’t know what 1990 film you mean. (You probably meant 1990s, but I feel like being pedantic.)
Also, I too was surprised to see your list, which I actually quite agree with aside from A.I., which I don’t like at all (Kubrick’s ideas are great, Spielberg’s realization of them is sentimental tripe that doesn’t know when to stop), and the ones I haven’t seen. Lost in Translation very nearly made my list. I was all ready just to write us off as having completely different taste, but that’s apparently not the case. Weird.
Here, here. Ridiculous comments, but a bizarrely good list. I wouldn’t have Apocalypto anywhere near my favourite of the decade though. It’s fun, but it’s pretty ludicrous. It’s just a trashy action movie with subtitles and an exotic location.
Good call on Mean Creak though, I loved that and it never gets enough recognition.
Hi guys! Long time reader, first time poster. What’s more, I’m David’s Brother
Anyways, love the list. I’m on the fence with Jandy and Marcus here. Interesting comments both ways. I disliked Eternal sunshine despite admiring it’s invention.
In Marcus’ defence, I love WKW especially In the mood for love (and the underated 2046) which i consider to be the very pinacle of what cinema can be. Same with Lost in translation. That film just blows me away every time. It’s so subtle and affecting and perfectly captures how I feel about modern society and how alienating it can be.
In support of Jandy, I loved Brick. Loved, loved, loved it. Funny, sharp, visually stricking and wonderful fresh performances. And I loved No country too. Absolutely terrific.
Moreover, I just don’t know what Marcus disliked about Inglorious Basterds. I would love for him to elaborate on this. IB was f…kin awesome on several levels. I think the only problem with IB is that Tarantino likes to juxtapose fantastical contemporanious comedy into really compelling drama and it can sometimes soften his films, giving them the flavor of the ridiculous, fooling you into the belief that what you are watching is throwaway grindhouse fantasy.
It isn’t.
Tarantino makes valuable observations about the authorship of historical events and about universal tribalism (british/jewish wish fulfillment). His drama is always razor sharp and his set pieces are pure cinema.
p.s. and Sideways rocks!!
Great list Jandy. I wouldn’t put The Royal Tenenbaums on the list (I like it quite a lot but never been as enamored with as most other folks), but otherwise stellar choices. Nice to see Mulholland Drive at number 1 – what a mesmerizing piece of work that is, I see something different in it every time.
As far as it being hard to whittle down your list, I know exactly what you mean. I did something similar at the start of the year but had top 25 instead of just 10 (too many that I didn’t NOT want to include, I guess
). Here’s my top 10:
10. Pan’s Labyrinth
9. Requiem for a Dream
8. Memento
7. City of God
6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
5. Donnie Darko
4. Mulholland Drive
3. Oldboy
2. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
1. There Will Be Blood
Hello everybody, long time no see
. David u wrote that my comments are ridiculous, but then u wrote for apocalypto ” It’s just a trashy action movie with subtitles and an exotic location.”
, and for jandy i still think we have big differencies in taste, what u wrote for spielberg is true, but on this film it functions perfectly, so for me that works, a masterpice! And u James, I think have the similar taste to mine. I also wanted to include on the list The Hand WKW segment from Eros which I think is his best work to date. Also we agree about 2046. But IB is total crap in my opinion, only good thing is Christopher Waltz acting! Greetings!
??? – it sounds like a trash quality comment
I’m not quite sure what you mean? I’ve got nothing against trashy movies (check out my regular trash marathons), but I guess I wouldn’t put any of them in my top 10 of the decade, because I expect something more from my absolute favourites than just sheer entertainment value over all else. I don’t think you can claim Apocalypto is not a very silly action movie either – the whole birthing scene in the cave whilst it’s filling with water and her husband is fighting above her – absolutely ludicrous…
I meant to say that your comment was as ridiculous as mine. OK, we disagree about apocalypto, but to make a hollywood production with non-actors and use maya language is not smth. that has anything to do with trash. Maybe you dont like Mel, i guess.. i will login on this page so we can discuss movies.
To make an example – 10.000 BC is a trash movie with CGI crap and people speak perfect english – “Can I have my spear? Certainly sir!”, not to mention the tiger scene. Now, that s a crap! Apocalyipto was one man s vision, reconstruction.
Apocalypto is a hell of an interesting action movie. Of course it is silly – but it’s a fun watch, particularly on the big screen due to the unusual setting for the film. Mel Gibson’s acting career is full of silly and fun action movies, so it’s no wonder that his directorial efforts are along the same line.
I have nothing against Mel Gibson’s films and in fact I enjoyed Apocalypto, but to me it was, with regards to it’s content, as trashy as something like 10,000 BC but filmed in Mayan with non-actors to give it extra gravitas and lift it above crap like 10,000 BC. To me it’s a cheesy blockbuster made to feel like an art-house movie and I don’t have anything against that as such, I love entertaining art house/mainstream cross-overs, but I didn’t think enough was done to cover the cheese in this case.
And to repeat (just saw Jonathan’s post after writing mine), I don’t dislike Apocalypto, it is fun, I just wouldn’t have it anywhere near my top 10 of the decade. I can think of many more worthy films.
Hm.. someone in Hollywood goes out of box and it s called silly! It s a reconstruction of the history period with auteur aproach and style, magnificient cinematography and half documentary style, story that incorporates myths, religion, and humans troughout inner decadence and degradation of civilization showing human condition as a constant warfare, and history that repeats itself, while making the point on family and community as the most value things. That is a least to say. Mel rules!
Oh god, it’s not nearly as trashy as 10,000 BC. 10,000 BC is insulting and plebeian, much like most of Emmerich’s nonsense (2012, Day After Tomorrow, etc.). That’s like saying Gibson’s Lethal Weapon is along the lines of Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever. They have the same intent, sure, but there is a difference between trash and well-done, enjoyable trash.
I’ve not seen 10,000 BC but yes I imagine Apocalypto is far far better, I was just using Marcus’ example. Probably not the best choice!
I agree it is great to see someone in Hollywood doing something different and Apocalypto is certainly fascinating from that aspect, but I’m afraid I don’t share your high opinion of Apocalypto’s substance Marcus. Just because it looks pretty and is set in an interesting time and place does not make it an intelligent film. It just played out like a Mayan version of Rambo: First Blood Part II to me.
ok, see you both on some other threads. Cheers!
Thanks – I’m sure we’ll agree on many future discussions, your list also includes some films that I love!