2046 – (2005) – DIRECTED BY WONG-KAR WAINot as good as his best films, this is still a sensuous, quietly gorgeous film, with terrific performances from Ziyi Zhang (who’s never been better) and the peerless Tony Leung.
ALL THE REAL GIRLS – (2003) – DIRECTED BY DAVID GORDON GREEN
David Gordon Green has one of the best CVs of any American directors in the decade. This is his best film, with terrific performances from Paul Schneider and Zooey Deschanel. There’s superb cinematography from Tim Orr.
ALMOST FAMOUS – (2001) – DIRECTED BY CAMERON CROWE
Crowe’s best film features career-best performances from Billy Crudup, Kate Hudson and Zooey Deschanel, with terrific support from Philip Seymour Hoffman and Frances McDormand.
AMELIE – (2001) – DIRECTED BY JEAN-PIERRE JEUNET
Audrey Tautou gave the decade’s most luminous, star-making performance as the eponymous heroine in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s modern day fairy-tale. It has faded in the memory somewhat, but remains a charming piece of work.
AMORES PERROS – (2001) – DIRECTED BY ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ INARRITU
One of the earliest films in the new wave of Central and South American cinema that became prevalent in the first half of the decade, and one of the very best. Sent Gael Garcia Bernal on his way to stardom.
ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY – (2004) – DIRECTED BY ADAM MCKAY
One of the decade’s most quotable films (really only ZOOLANDER comes close), and one of its funniest. Made stars out of Will Ferrell and Steve Carell.
ATONEMENT – (2007) – DIRECTED BY JOE WRIGHT
Probably the second best film of its type in the zeroes, this is a superior adaptation of a terrific book. This made Joe Wright into a star, while confirming Keira Knightley as a superb actress. Great performances from the rest of the cast, too.
AUDITION – (2001) – DIRECTED BY TAKASHI MIIKE
Miike is one of the world’s most prolific directors, and this is his unmistakeable masterpiece; a deliciously twisted love story that turns into one of the most terrifying final acts in film history.
BRICK – (2006) – DIRECTED BY RIAN JOHNSON
One of the decade’s best gimmick movies, and one of a pair of great gumshoe films, this was a stellar debut from Rian Johnson. Great performance from Joseph Gordon Levitt in the lead, an actor who has gone from strength to strength.
BRIGHT STAR – (2009) – DIRECTED BY JANE CAMPION
This is a glorious film, one that has improved almost daily in my memory. Had it been released even a year earlier, it could, perhaps have sneaked into my top 50. For those keeping count, it would now be in my top 3 of last year.
CHE – (2009) – DIRECTED BY STEVEN SODERBERGH
Soderbergh’s greatest achievement, this two-part biopic stripped the legend of his iconic status, before growing it right back. Benicio Del Toro’s performance is monumental, and the change in tone between the two films is masterful.
CHILDREN OF MEN – (2006) – DIRECTED BY ALFONSO CUARON
Cuaron made three great films in the decade, and this was his best, an adaptation of a humdrum novel by PD James, with a career-best turn from Clive Owen. The action sequences are thrilling.
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON – (2001) – DIRECTED BY ANG LEE
The first Wu shu movie remains a masterpiece from the great Ang Lee, a man who, still, has never made a bad film. Brought Ziyi Zhang to the attention of a western audience for the first time.
DEAN SPANLEY – (2008) – DIRECTED BY TOA FRASER
A wonderful, charming and extremely old-fashioned film with a cast to die for. Sam Neill and Jeremy Northam are superb, but thoroughly overshadowed by one (more) last, great performance by the venerable Peter O’Toole.
DONNIE DARKO – (2002) – DIRECTED BY RICHARD KELLY
One of the decade’s signature movies, this was a masterpiece for the emo age. Jake Gyllenhaal began his ascent to stardom here, shame that it looks like Richard Kelly’s promise here was a mirage.
GONE BABY GONE – (2008) – DIRECTED BY BEN AFFLECK
One of the decade’s best thrillers, and a stunning directorial debut from Ben Affleck. There’s a great performance in the lead from his younger brother, Casey, and this is the best Dennis Lehane adaptation to date.
GRIZZLY MAN – (2006) – DIRECTED BY WERNER HERZOG
The zeroes could be known as the decade that Herzog (kind of) conquered America. This is his best film in years, a devastatingly powerful and captivating documentary about what happens when man tries too hard to be a part of nature.
HERO + HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS – (BOTH 2004) – DIRECTED BY ZHENG YIMOU.
A slight cheat here, but there’s a reason for joining these two wushu epics together, they’re like flipsides of the same coin. Each is beautiful, epic and gloriously choreographed, but while HERO deals with political machinations and acts as an allegory, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS is nothing more than a perfect love story. Both are terrific.
INFERNAL AFFAIRS (1+2) – (BOTH 2004) – DIRECTED BY ANDY LAU
Two terrific films that led to an Oscar winner in THE DEPARTED. These films are far superior, with terrific locations, incredibly well-staged action scenes and a pair of perfect performances from Tony Leung and Andy Lau.
KNOCKED UP – (2007) – DIRECTED BY JUDD APATOW
One of the UK’s film magazines named Apatow the man of the decade, which might be a stretch, but he’s an incredibly welcome presence in Hollywood. His films are smart, sweet and funny, and this is his best so far.
LADY VENGEANCE – (2006) – DIRECTED BY PARK CHAN-WOOK
Park’s vengeance trilogy was a major part of the growth of Korean cinema in the Western eye. If OLDBOY, which preceded this won most of the plaudits, this was still an incredibly stylish and twisted thriller with a sensational performance from the peerless Bae Do Na.
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN – (2009) – DIRECTED BY TOMAS ALREDSSON
A film that gets better the more that you think about it, this is another film that could, and maybe should, have finished in higher in 2009’s list. A quietly brilliant and incredibly affecting film.
LILYA-4-EVER– (2006) – DIRECTED BY LUKAS MOODYSSON
Moodysson’s career path has been one of the strangest of recent times. LILYA-4-EVER was his third successive masterpiece, but showed, for the first time, the darker heart that has overwhelmed his talent in recent years. Here, he manages it, perfectly.
LONESOME JIM – (2008) – DIRECTED BY STEVE BUSCEMI
A real gem, Steve Buscemi’s third film as director almost feels like a fully fledged ‘mumblecore’ movie, even with a near A list cast. Casey Affleck and Liv Tyler give terrific performances, and the film is raw and authentically bleak.
MAGNOLIA – (2000) – DIRECTED BY PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON
Kudos to Paul Thomas Anderson, who is one of only two film makers to have three different, unaffiliated, films on this list. This was thought to be his masterpiece on release, but he’s bettered it twice since.
MICHAEL CLAYTON – (2007) – DIRECTED BY TONY GILROY
A great genre film, written and directed by one of the Bourne screenwriters, and benefitting from a superb performance by George Clooney.
NO MAN’S LAND – (2002) – DIRECTED BY DANIS TANOVIC
This is the best film about the war that tore apart the former Yugoslavia. A thriller with a blackly comic streak, it was a worthy Oscar™ winner.
OLD JOY – (2007) – DIRECTED BY KELLY REICHARDT
Reichardt’s debut feature is an incredibly accomplished film. Two old friends reunite for a camping trip, and the melancholy of their friendship having drifted apart is palpable throughout. There’s a great soundtrack by Yo La Tengo.
ONCE – (2007) – DIRECTED BY JOHN CARNEY
This is a gorgeous, romantic and tender film. That it was overhyped (Spielberg called it one of the greatest films he’d ever seen) doesn’t detract from the film’s effectiveness.
PRIMER – (2005) – DIRECTED BY SHANE CARRUTH
I’ve only seen PRIMER once, and to be honest, trying to understand it, even now, makes my head hurt. It’s a brilliantly inventive and ingenious sci-fi drama shot on an incredibly low budget.
RED ROAD – (2006) – DIRECTED BY ANDREA ARNOLD
Andrea Arnold, who was an Oscar™ winner with her short film WASP, made an auspicious feature debut with this thriller set on a housing estate in Glasgow. Kate Hardie gives a great performance in the lead. Arnold’s follow-up FISH TANK was pretty great too.
RIDING GIANTS + DOGTOWN AND Z BOYS – (2004 + 2002) DIRECTED BY STACY PERALTA
Yes, I’m cheating here, but it’s my list and I can do what I want. These were the best two sports documentaries of the decade, and both tapped into the same bit of counter culture. RIDING GIANTS has some incredible footage, while the story of DOGTOWN AND Z BOYS is compelling.
SOLARIS – (2003) – DIRECTED BY STEVEN SODERBERGH
Soderbergh had a great decade – several of his films that didn’t make the list came fairly close, but this is his best of the decade, a remake of Andrei Tarkovsky’s introspective sci-fi classic. George Clooney is great, while Jeremy Davies and Natascha McElhone are extremely well cast.
SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK – (2009) – DIRECTED BY CHARLIE KAUFMAN
It would have been hard to imagine with Charlie Kaufman’s first film (as writer) BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, that I’d be suggesting that he’s gone from strength to strength. This is incredible filmmaking, inventive, insightful and quietly, compellingly, devastating.
TALK TO HER – (2002) – DIRECTED BY PEDRO ALMODOVAR
Almodovar’s best film this decade is a perverse, twisted love story that is as devastating as it is romantic.
THE 40 YEAR-OLD VIRGIN – (2005) – DIRECTED BY JUDD APATOW
This is the film that started the second half of the decade’s love affair with Apatow. A surprisingly sweet and incredibly funny comedy with great performances from Steve Carell, Romany Malco, Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF LOVE – (2005) – DIRECTED BY PAOLO SORRENTINO
Sorrentino has set himself up as one of Europe’s great new filmmakers, but this is his best film, a dark and sleek thriller about a man with mob connections. The great Toni Servillo gives one of the decade’s best performances in the lead role.
THE DESCENT – (2005) – DIRECTED BY NEIL MARSHALL
One of two great horror films this decade, THE DESCENT is a masterpiece of the genre, as effective in the first hour, when it seems like one kind of terror as it is in the second when the monsters are introduced. It’s sad that Marshall’s come nowhere near to this since.
THE HURT LOCKER – (2009) – DIRECTED BY KATHRYN BIGELOW
The best film about Iraq to date (although GREEN ZONE is as good), Bigelow’s film has no agenda to push, no arguments to win, it’s just a thriller that exerts an incredible grip on your senses from start to finish. Jeremy Renner is brilliant in the lead role.
THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU – (2005) – Directed by WES ANDERSON
Anderson’s last great film, this is riotously funny and contains moments of huge emotional impact. It follows a similar path to THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS, but doesn’t quite match it. Great performances from Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe and Owen Wilson, and, of course, a superb soundtrack.
TOGETHER – (2001) – DIRECTED BY LUKAS MOODYSSON
Moodysson’s second film was further evidence of his immense talent and enormous potential. A comedy drama about life in a commune, it was tender and genuinely very funny.
TOUCHING THE VOID – (2003) – DIRECTED BY KEVIN MACDONALD
One of the decade’s best documentaries; Macdonald has since made the move into feature films, but this remains his best movie to date.
TOY STORY 2 – (2000) – DIRECTED BY JOHN LASSETER
One of Pixar’s most inventive films, this raised the standard of the company’s work yet higher to mark the start of the new decade. It hurt to leave out both MONSTERS INC. and FINDING NEMO from this list, which would have given them five films.
TWELVE AND HOLDING – (2006) – DIRECTED BY MICHAEL CUESTA
One of the best films about childhood this decade, TWELVE AND HOLDING is moving and fascinating stuff. There’s a terrific performance from Jeremy Renner.
UP – (2009) – DIRECTED BY PETE DOCTER
Another masterpiece of the very highest calibre, this is an emotionally raw and consistently thrilling adventure film about an old man and a young boy, and the cast of characters they meet along the way. It’s also the only 3D film on this list.
WENDY AND LUCY – (2009) – DIRECTED BY KELLY REICHARDT
Reichardt has really carved out a niche for herself as someone making films about subjects and characters that no-one else really is at the moment, at least since David Gordon Green has moved on from his early films about poverty-stricken rural areas. This is a bona fide masterpiece, and has a knockout performance from Michelle Williams.
WONDER BOYS – (2000) – DIRECTED BY CURTIS HANSON
Hanson went on an extraordinary run of great mainstream cinema (from THE RIVER WILD through to IN HER SHOES), but WONDER BOYS is his best film of the decade, an engaging comedy drama, with terrific performances from a great ensemble cast.
YOU CAN COUNT ON ME – (2000) – DIRECTED BY KENNETH LONERGAN
It’s scarcely credible that Kenneth Lonergan, who wrote and directed this lean and assured family drama then wrote the bloated GANGS OF NEW YORK, or that his next film, MARGARET, still hasn’t been released, because this is a brilliant, brilliant film (it was the last film to be edged out of the top 50) with stunning performances from Laura Linney and, particularly, Mark Ruffalo.
Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN – (2002) – DIRECTED BY ALFONSO CUARON
A road movie and a coming of age film, not to mention a love story, Cuaron’s film is the second best Latin American movie of the decade. It made a star out of Gael Garcia Bernal, and helped the director to win the job of directing HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, which he knocked out of the park, by the way.
ZOOLANDER – (2002) – DIRECTED BY BEN STILLER
One of the best mainstream comedies of the decade, ZOOLANDER is gloriously silly fun. It further grew the productive partnership between Stiller and Owen Wilson.
No comments:
Post a Comment