The 25 Best Films Of The Decade

The end of a decade seems like an appropriate time to take stock of the movies that have come, and gone, in the previous ten years. It must be since everyone else is doing it. While not a best of list, this is more of a “my personal favorites list”. Looking back it was a pretty impressive year for film. There was such a great crop during the ‘00s that I had to leave off some great ones like: High Fidelity, Ringu, Oldboy, The Hurt Locker, Lives of Others, Brick, Synecdoche NY, Grizzly Man, Where the Wild Things Are, Volver, Gangs of New York, Amelie. That’s a pretty good list right there. But I held to 25 and here they.

What are your favorites?

1. The Return
Probably no film from this past decade stayed with me longer than this poetic Russian film, a debut by director Andrey Zvyagintsev (we’re not talking about the lame American horror film here). Filled with mystery and ambiguity, it weaves such a strong emotional thread tied to childhood, understanding, and undefined longing, that its hard to let go of it. A father shows up after such a long absence that he is virtually unknown to his adolescent sons. He takes them on a “fishing” trip that seems to have nothing to do with fishing. It feels ominous from the start, but never goes where you expect it to. When it does arrive at a destination you’re not sure where that destination is. But you are certain you won’t stop thinking about it.

2. Donnie Darko
Probably most people have now seen this low budget indie film that seemed at the front of the wave of “what the hell just happened” films that would follow. Donnie’s a lost child of the 80s, over medicated by therapists, uncertain of his place in time and space. Then an airplane engine falls on his house, and time and space lose their concrete meaning. A 6-foot rabbit NOT named Harvey tells him the date that all will end, and Donnie tries to sort it out before it happens. It all moves at a seemingly languid pace that belies the intense uncertainty. A great example of how a director can have one intent, but once the art leaves his hands the viewer is an accomplice in creating the meaning. Plus it had one of the best opening sequences of any film in decades. Avoid the Director’s Cut!

3. Memento
The last memory is his wife dying, But why? I loved this story of a man trying to find out what happened to him and his fragmented memory, told in backwards increments of ten minutes. But after I accompanied my friend Don Spicer in search of the actual locations in the LA area, that affinity increased. You can watch backwards (which is frontwards) and see that it all makes sense. But what fun is that? On first viewing it is insanely absorbing and maddening, and repeated viewings aren’t inclined to alter that perception. Plus, Joey Pantoliano will drive you batty.

4. Eternal Sunshine
Charlie Kaufman’s script about a couple who erase their memories of each other after they break up is wily and surreal in the way that only Kaufman can make them. The characters are vivid drawn and equally zonked as the story. Elijah Wood creates one of the creepiest (and at the same time, funniest) supporting characters of the decade, and its without a doubt the pinnacle of Jim Carrey’s career (he’ll never work with such amazing material again). But it is Michel Gondry’s direction that is the real star here. Woozy, with the feel of flimsy fabric, it brilliantly evokes the sense of layers of truth and fiction that make up memory as the character moves through the maze of his brain. Jolting back and forth through time in a manner that might cause whiplash in lesser hands, Gondry gives reality to the surreal. And at the center of it, holding it all together, is the deepest human need for love and companionship.

5. Passion of the Christ
This controversial film started out as a low budget art film. Then it exploded. Opinions on Mel Gibson are widely varied and deeply held, but as a director there are few of his caliber. For me the complaints about the film’s violence were hypocritical. Did the reviewers who claimed it the “most violent film ever” actually see any of the other films they reviewed? Violent, yes, but not offensively in a meaningless way. The violence here is intended to make you feel, experience, relate. It’s certainly not for everyone, but no great film is. It captures its period better than any other film I’ve seen, with the possible exception of the director’s follow up film. With dialogue in the lost Aramaic language of its time, it is so brilliantly shot it could be dialogue-less and you would have understood everything. And Gibson knows the emotional heart of his film – not just the Christ who Gibson believes suffered all this to save mankind, but also the mother, brilliantly played by Maia Morgenstern, to whom the Man/God is her son.

6. Almost Famous
Filled with perfectly realized nostagia, and a memory of rock before it became a corporate behemoth, Cameron Crowe’s autobiographical tale of a young boy who becomes a rock ‘n roll journalist and friend to his heroes is a joy to watch. From his fretting, intellectual mother, to Philip Seymour Hoffman’s spot on portrayal of rock journalisms greatest bad boy, Lester Bangs, the film bristles with excitement, and characters who burst open with life. One of the best rock ‘n roll films ever.

7. There Will Be Blood
Paul Thomas Anderson had already proven he was a young director of incredible genius, but There Will Be Blood proved he was an adult director as great as any that came before. Loosely pulled from Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil, this original story of the oilman and the preacher, is quintessential America – the bible and commerce becoming the one. There are so many layers to this film with each viewing revels more. One revelation that starts with the first viewing and impresses more with each subsequent is the genius of Daniel Day Lewis’ portrayal of the dark heart of America, embodied in lead character Daniel Plainview. He proves without question that he is the best actor working today. The opening 20 minute sequence, shot without dialogue, is almost a movie in itself.

8. Royal Tenenbaums
One of director Wes Anderson’s three classic films, this tale of an utterly dysfunctional family is in many respects the story of any family – odd characters, strange relations, and derailing emotions. Filled with the attention to detail that makes his best films so mesmerizing, and keeps his lesser ones still intriguing, Royal Tennenbaums’ sly script is driven by great performances from Gene Hackman, the Wilson brothers, Angelica Houston, and everyone else with even a small part in it. And as always the soundtrack is filled with the quirky, classicist tastes of the creator.

9. Millions
Along with his older brother, 7-year old Damian is dealing with the death of his mother largely alone. His grief stricken father is distracted and can’t give the boys what they need. Damian turns to fiath, in particular to the saints, all of whom he knows as well as their works. And they come to him one by one in visits, particularly his favorite St. Francis, but also the “African saints” as a group. Damian always asks if they’ve run into his mother, whom he believes to now be a saint in Heaven. Then almost 300,000 English pounds, thrown from a rushing train, crashes into the tent he’s pitched at rail-side and Damian must decide what to do with it. Pure of heart he wants to give it to charity, his brother wants to invest it. The robbers who originally stole it, want it back. Danny Boyle started with a bang, with two of my favorite films: Shallow Grave and Trainspotting, but he just keeps getting better and this may be his best. A film of incredible whimsy and endless imagination, Millions manages to mix drama, humor, tension, spirituality, and enormous heart into a irresistible mix.

10. Pan’s Labyrinthe
It’s hard to imagine a film of greater originality and creativity then Guillermo del Toro’s fable set in the worst days of the Spanish Fascist regime. Reminiscent of a painting from Spanish artist Goya’s Black period, where vivid colors leaps from utter darkness, here the monsters are both real and of the imagination. Within the first minute del Toro subverts our sense of reality by throwing us from the real world into a fantasy world of bizarre characters, and we never recover as the two worlds bleed into each other. The story is too complex to tell here, but it follows a short span of life of young girl Ofalla as she moves to the remote home of the cruel fascist general her mother has married. Jump into this labyrinth and try to find your way out.

11. Mullholland Drive
Is there meaning in this story or is David Lynch perversely playing with us? It’s an open question, but I think I’ve figured it out. Whether you do or not, it doesn’t matter, as Lynch’s typically hypnotic film pulls you in to its off base world like a dream that invades your sleep and when you wake you can’t tell if you were really there or if you imagined it.

12. Shaun of the Dead
I’ve probably watching this film more than any other on this list. And I could have just as easily added Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s other collaboration Hot Fuzz to this list as well. It may have been done before, but Shaun’s mix of humor and horror is so perfectly pitched, with devilish social commentary to boot, that it is the gold standard. The story of two British slackers who’d rather be drinking at the pub then doing anything else (much to the dismay of Pegg’s girlfriend who is breaking up with him), with zombies seem to be variations on the real people who shuffle through our real life streets – aimless, soulless, sucking the energy of all around them. In fact, our heroes don’t even realize their zombies at first.

13. No Country For Old Men
With stark, bleached cinematography to match the barren moral landscape at its story’s heart, No Country For Old Men feels like an Old Testament tale of approaching evil encased in a modern western. The rotating triangle at its center – a welder (Josh Brolin) who happens on a scene of mass murder and finds $2 million dollars in drug money, a sociopath (Javier Barden) murderously pursuing him and the money, and the world weary third generation Texas sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) trying to solve the mystery they present – bobs and weaves in constant tension packed momentum. Unrelenting evil seeps into the world. The Coen Brothers created a film that is as near perfection as possible, from the writing to the editing to the absolutely perfect casting. Scenes are impeccably constructed and acted, one leading to the next with internal logic. And then there’s Bardem’s hair-do.

14. Lost in Translation
The joy, and meaning, of Lost in Translation is hard to wrap your hands around, harder still to create. The story, by director Sofia Coppola, is knowing and smart – yet could have been unsubstantial. Lance Accord’s cinematography and the editing are jagged, without warmth. But together, and with the superior performances from all the actors, the film creates a whole that somehow captures an elusive moment, a fleeting meeting of lost spirits in a disjointed foreign place. Bill Murray gives arguably the best performance of his career as American actor in Tokyo shooting a meaningless commercial for the empty promise of money. Scarlett Johannson, also at the top of her game, is the 20 year old wife of a rock and roll photographer who finds the emptiness of her life and its spiritual numbness reflected in the walls of the luxury hotel they meet in. That the 50 year old man and 20 year old girl never bed is part of the genius, and the charm, of this sharp little film.

15. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
I can’t pick one, its got to be the whole shebang. This series is like one film with each of the films as one of the three acts. Peter Jackson’s accomplishment was astonishing on first viewing, but even more so after a few years to consider. Not only did he amazingly capture one of the most beloved book series in startlingly original images, he imbued them with all the layers of meaning and emotion of the original books. There’s a lot of hue and cry about epochal nature of Avatar, but for my money LOTR completely surpasses it in scope, vision and execution – after THESE film, moviemaking was never the same.

16. Death At a Funeral
I’ve seen this film at least ten times and I still pee my pants in laughter at most of the scenes – a good indicator it’s a classic. I love English humor, and this script by Dean Craig is perfect. It starts with the wrong body being delivered to an at home London wake, adds a man accidentally dosed with hallucinogenics, a gay dwarf, sibling rivalry, a neurotic hypochondriac, and one of the funniest sequences ever filmed involving poop. And that’s just the starters.

17. Children of Men
The story of a world just decades away in which the human ability to procreate has disappeared feels so prescient that it adds immeasurably to the overall tone of this film. A brilliant Clive Owen plays the man who reluctantly accepts the responsibility of delivering a pregnant woman bearing the first child conceived in two decades to the “underground”. Alfonso Cuaron directs with a nimble hand delivering a film of astounding scenes. When Owen escorts the woman and her new born child through a raging armed conflict, and the soldiers stop in mid mayhem in shocked awe at the sight of a “miracle child”, the hairs on your neck will stand up. And it’ll happen many more times.

18. Apocalypto
When leaving the theater after seeing this film, I heard one Hollywood type turn to another and say “that was the fastest two and half hours I’ve ever spent”. And true it was. Mel Gibson’s tight, and violent, film opens with scenes of primitive, but joyous tribal life on the outskirts of the Mayan empire. Then the Mayans arrive and it is relentless, tension packed action from there on to the final frames of the film. Rudy Youngblood spends half the film in a footrace against murderous Mayans in a desperate attempt to reach his pregnant wife and child before they drown. Along the way we see a decaying Mayan culture shown in scenes of depraved and striking beauty, recreated so brilliantly you feel you are there. Apocalypto is an art film, an action film, an historical film, a social commentary, and all told in another dead languange. The vision, the sets and costumes and make-up are on par with the best science fiction films. And the way Gibson plants the seed that suddenly blooms into the climax is sheer storytelling genius.

19. Slumdog Millionaire
Leave it to Danny Boyle to take Bollywood filmmaking, adapt it to western film sensabilites and create something altogether new. A Dickensian tale of love, abuse, poverty, and the possibility of incredible wealth, set in the steaming slums of Mumbai, India, Slumdog Millionaire is a giddy and gaudy wash of exuberant colors and vibrant music, using the device of a contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire suspected by police of cheating as means of telling its story. Beneath the surface is the message that wisdom comes in the small moments of a life as often as from books and schools. Oh, and also that love prevails and celebrates Bollywood musical style.

20. Cache (Hidden)
Director Michael Haneke’s quietly disturbing film held its finger to the pulse of the times – and wouldn’t let go. A Parisian couple with a teenage son, receive a video deposited at their doorstep. The video shows a static shot of their home – the clear implication is that someone is spying on them, invading their privacy. This video is followed by more similar videos and the paranoia of the observed begins to fray their seemingly normal existence, slicing like a paring knife through their lives revealing one hidden lie after another, like the layers of an endless puzzle. Haneke continually uses film language to subvert it, oozing incredible dread from what would be the most banal of shots. By the end we are as uncertain of who is watching us as the couple in the film.

21. Downfall
In the first German produced film about Adolf Hitler, director Oliver Hirschbiegel takes us into the claustrophobic emotional fog of the Fuhrer’s last days the bunker. As the Soviets close in on the streets of Berlin, Hitler and remaining core of supporters awaits the end with differing agendas. The Reich was so evil the mind reels at attempts to remember its leaders were real, but Hirschbiegel brings us so close we can feel their foul breath on our necks. Hitler is portrayed by the great Swiss actor Bruno Ganz with such startling clarity and detail that you literally feel like you are eavesdropping as the leader of the falling Reich flings from lunatic optimism to abject depression, madness crumbling in on itself.

22. Kairo (Pulse)
Kiyoshi Kurosawa created one most chillingly excellent J-horror films (the term referring to the unique type of horror films emanating from Japan) when he made The Cure. Pulse is likely the other one. As ghostly images begin appearing on TV and computer screens, people in Tokyo begin disappearing leaving strange dark smudges where they used to exist, seeming suicides that are increasing in regularity. This Tokyo is not so different from our world – people living in homes with everything they need within reach, and limited human interaction. Already ghosts in the lonely world. Kurosawa avoids every horror cliché in creating a completely original, and disturbingly frightening film, creepy to the max. Where are the people going, and who or what is it that’s replacing them? Is the afterlife overcrowded, and the dead seeping back into our world? And is it worse to die or be doomed to an eternity of loneliness? And will we be sucked in to those dark places as well?

23. Team America
Brought to you by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, this ridiculously audacious film seems hell bent on offending everyone. Released just before the election, this satire didn’t seem to have a particular agenda aside from celebrating the stupidity of all world figures. Team America, a group of blindly incompetent counter terrorists working for the government, set out to save the world from a terror plot they must first uncover. The characters are all puppets, and the character pulling all the strings is North Korea’s own Mad Hatter, Kim Il Jung. Among his witless, and unwitting, accomplises are actors Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, and others, members all of the Film Actors Guild (F.A.G – gettit?) From the opening scene in which the puppets utterly destroy Paris in order to kill two terrorists, through the illuminating episode that reveals how puppets would simulate sex, this is laugh out loud grossness that’s somehow intelligent. And then there’s the songs.

24. Monsoon Wedding
A man living abroad has come home to India to collect and marry his bride in an arranged marriage. It’s the custom in India, but this modern pair has modern concerns – like what if they don’t like each other. Without explanation we are in the middle of the families, and a myriad of stories at once. Like the language of the film’s characters, which is mainly in English with short excursions into Hindi and Punjab, these stories of other family members and employees move one to the other without a glich under the deft touch of director Mira Nair. The humor, like the colors, is bright, earthy and pungent. And songs break out at key intervals in the best of Bollywood tradition. Monsoon Wedding captures the buoyant exuberance of life in ways only an Indian film can.

25. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Like a regurgitation of all the images of the Depression that we hold in our collective conciousness, the Coen brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou? springs out at you like an exploding Jack-in-a-Box. Three convicts, chained together, escape a chain gang, conned by one of them (George Clooney) who promises hidden treasure. The disjointed nature of the adventures is in keeping with the best of road movie tradition, and each can be judged on its own merit. The glue that holds it together is the inspired bluegrass soundtrack put together by T-Bone Burnett. Clooney is a loopy delight doing his best Clark Gable (which he started in Coen’s less successful Intolerable Cruelty). And the visuals are an endless feast of the absurd.

Tags: best films, decade, Donnie Darko

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