Best of the 21st Century?
Tuesday, August 23, 2016 at 10:00AM by Nathaniel R
Mulholland Drive voted the best film of the 21st century (thus far)Though we may collectively scratch our head at the need to do 21st century best of lists so often and at odd intervals. After 16 years? Ermm, okay? Lists usually get people talking. The BBC polled 177 critics (of which I was, alas, not one) and the results were both enjoyable and annoying, as with all lists.
Some notes:
• I won't see Toni Erdmann for another few weeks so I can't speak to its quality but it's odd to see it on a "best of the century list" when the film has only opened in one country (France) outside of its home countries (Germany/Austria). It starts opening in other countries next month and also hits the Toronto Film Festival. So that seems...early
• Did Christopher Nolan really need 3 pictures in the top 100? I maintain that Inception does not hold up and is relentlessly and numbingly expository for anything beyond a single viewing and it's even kind of annoying during that first plunge. Cinema about dreams should be mysterious...
• Certified Copy (which I personally love) has a curious distinction: it's the highest rated film on their list at #46 that was only voted for by male critics. Interesting.
• Isn't it weird that Hunger didn't make the list but Shame did? I thought critics thought more favorably of McQueen's debut.
• Critics need to stop bitching about the Oscars so predictably because their tastes aren't that different than the Academy's. Consider that of the seven pictures that placed from last year, six of them were Oscar favorites. Several Best Picture nominees are accounted for and a full half of the films that won Best Foreign Language Film this century made the list (the highest placement for those being Asghar Farhadi's A Separation (2011) in their top ten - it remains a horrifying truth that Oscar passed over In the Mood for Love in its submission year. They are relentlessly allergic to Asian cinemas (not directed by Kurosawa or Ang Lee) even universally adored masterpieces like that one which didn't need time to settle in as a great. People were obsessed with it from day one. People may gripe about the new Academy procedures all they like but in the newish system they use with the executive committee saves, it never would have missed the nomination.
Wong Kar Wai's masterpiece "In the Mood for Love"
Their complete list and my own (not that they asked) after the jump...
BBC's Poll of 21st Century's 100 Greatest Films
* is our own marking, indicating that the film was nominated for either Picture, Director, Documentary, Animated Feature, or Foreign Language Film at the Oscars
** indicates that the film won either Picture, Director, Doc, Animated, or Foreign Film at the Oscars
100. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade, 2016)
100. Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky, 2000)
100. Carlos (Olivier Assayas, 2010)
Agnes Varda, "The Gleaners and I"
99. The Gleaners and I (Agnès Varda, 2000)
98. Ten (Abbas Kiarostami, 2002)
97. White Material (Claire Denis, 2009)
96. Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton, 2003) **
95. Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 2012)
94. Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008)
93. Ratatouille (Brad Bird, 2007) **
92. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, 2007)
91. The Secret in Their Eyes (Juan José Campanella, 2009) **
90. The Pianist (Roman Polanski, 2002) **
89. The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel, 2008)
88. Spotlight (Tom McCarthy, 2015) **
87. Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001) *
86. Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes, 2002)
85. A Prophet (Jacques Audiard, 2009) *
84. Her (Spike Jonze, 2013)
83. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg, 2001)
82. A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2009) *
81. Shame (Steve McQueen, 2011)
80. The Return (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2003)
79. Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe, 2000)
78. The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese, 2013) *
77. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Julian Schnabel, 2007) *
76. Dogville (Lars von Trier, 2003)
75. Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2014)
74. Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine, 2012)
73. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater, 2004)
72. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch, 2013)
71. Tabu (Miguel Gomes, 2012)
70. Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley, 2012)
69. Carol (Todd Haynes, 2015)
68. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001)
67. The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2008) **
66. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring (Kim Ki-duk, 2003)
65. Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, 2009)
64. The Great Beauty (Paolo Sorrentino, 2013) **
63. The Turin Horse (Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky, 2011)
62. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009) *
61. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013)
60. Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006)
59. A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005)
58. Moolaadé (Ousmane Sembène, 2004)
57. Zero Dark Thirty (Kathryn Bigelow, 2012) *
56. Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr, director; Ágnes Hranitzky, co-director, 2000)
55. Ida (Paweł Pawlikowski, 2013) **
54. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2011)
53. Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann, 2001) *
52. Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004)
51. Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010) *
50. The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2015)
49. Goodbye to Language (Jean-Luc Godard, 2014)
48. Brooklyn (John Crowley, 2015) *
47. Leviathan (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2014) *
46. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami, 2010)
45. Blue Is the Warmest Color (Abdellatif Kechiche, 2013)
44. 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen, 2013) **
43. Melancholia (Lars von Trier, 2011)
42. Amour (Michael Haneke, 2012) **
41. Inside Out (Pete Docter, 2015) **
40. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005) **
39. The New World (Terrence Malick, 2005)
38. City of God (Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, 2002) *
37. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2010)
36. Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako, 2014) *
35. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000) **
34. Son of Saul (László Nemes, 2015) **
33. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)
32. The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006) **
31. Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan, 2011)
30. Oldboy (Park Chan-wook, 2003)
29. WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008) **
28. Talk to Her (Pedro Almodóvar, 2002) *
27. The Social Network (David Fincher, 2010) *
26. 25th Hour (Spike Lee, 2002)
25. Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)
24. The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012)
23. Caché (Michael Haneke, 2005)
22. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003) *
21. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014) *
20. Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, 2008)
19. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller, 2015) *
18. The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke, 2009) *
17. Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro, 2006) *
16. Holy Motors (Leos Carax, 2012)
15. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, 2007)
14. The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer, 2012) *
13. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)
12. Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007)
11. Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2013)
10. No Country for Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007) **
9. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011) **
8. Yi Yi: A One and a Two (Edward Yang, 2000)
7. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011) *
6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
5. Boyhood (Richard Linklater, 2014) *
4. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001) **
3. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007) *
2. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)
1. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001) *
You can see individual ballots and who they polled here and they've also shared statistics.
Had they polled me my submission might have gone something like this:
Nathaniel's List
- Moulin Rouge! (#53 on theirs)
- Brokeback Mountain (#40 on theirs)
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (#6 on theirs)
- Carol (#69 on theirs)
- In the Mood for Love (#2 on theirs)
- Under the Skin (#61 on theirs)
- A Separation (#9 on theirs)
- I Am Love (not on their list)
- Dancer in the Dark (not on their list)
- Far From Heaven (#86 on theirs)
give or take: Talk to Her, Rachel Getting Married (not on their list), Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, A History of Violence, 12 Years a Slave, and Mad Max Fury Road would be the films that should feel the most aggrieved at being left of a Nathaniel top ten at this point in the century
It's worth noting that only being able to choose 10 is terribly punitive and it also makes you scratch your head at some of the titles that did appear on the list. There were enough critics that thought that movie (pick a movie) was one of the 10 best of 15 whole years of cinema. What's that about?!?
As for my "orphans" I realize that Dancer in the Dark's reputation has dimmed -- I blame Lars von Trier's inconsistent output and his ability to make foes of former fans with his constant auteurial trolling -- so I wasn't expecting to see it show up. But the other one stings as I have long been disappointed that critics at large don't seem to understand that I Am Love is a masterpiece.
Reader Comments (80)
I gotta say, I don't get the There Will Be Blood thing. I feel like it fell apart and became self-reverential by its last third. I didn't find the story or the characters to be particularly memorable. I also feel like Memento = bro culture. "Dude, Memento is fuckin' sick bra, best movie ever" kind of thing without room for discussion. I recently re-screened it and Nolan had the same issues with expository dialogue as he does now, essentially demystifying everything for the audience even when he's left you more than enough clues to gather the point yourself. But, the rest of it is still great of course.
And I'll never get Pan's Labyrinth. Like TWBB and Memento are arguable, but Pan's? I feel like that's a solid C at best. And I have yet to read anything that makes me think differently.
On the positive side, so happy to see Mulholland Drive at #1, Miyazaki in the top ten, and Tree of Life in the top 20.
My list:
01. Mulholland Drive
02. Morvern Callar
03. Tropical Malady
04. Beau Travail
05. Before Sunset
06. The Tree of Life
07. Dancer in the Dark
08. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
09. Inland Empire
10. Certified Copy
11. Spirited Away
12. Dogville
13. The Brown Bunny
14. Margaret
15. Cemetery of Splendor
16. Marseille
17. In the Mood for Love
18. The Piano Teacher
19. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
20. The New World
Upon second read, I'm really surprised to not see Beau Travail on this last.
I saw "Toni Erdmann" on Sunday. I tried not to get my hopes up too much before seeing it, because I feared I'd be disappointed, but I really shouldn't have worried: I loved every single one of its 162 minutes. It was touching and also really really funny (I actually cried tears of laughter) and somehow it managed to always feel real, even when it was at its most absurd.
Poor critics that don't know that Arnaud Desplechin's Kings and Queen is the best movie of the century.
Here's a list that I did last year of my favorite films of the 21st Century so far (that isn't Lost in Translation).
I legit just heard Brass in Pocket on the radio, followed immediately by Hold On, and then I felt bummed I didn't include Lost in Translation or Bridesmaids on my list.
I r have never understood why people over praise "Mullholand Drive" so much- to meet it plays like a collection of David Lynch's greatest hits - the only thing missing is a cameo from the Elephant Man!- yes it does have some effective creepy moments but best film of the 21st century?!
Top 10 and 20
01. Mulholland Drive
02. In The Mood For Love
03. The Tree of Life
04. Zodiac
05. Dogville
06. Talk to Her
07. Infernal Affairs
08. Waltz With Bashir
09. The White Ribbon
10. The Son's Room
11. Under the Skin
12. 45 Years
13. Stranger by the Lake
14. The Fountain
15. Best in Show
16. The Secret in their Eyes
17. Brokeback Mountain
18. Tom at the farm
19. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
20. Let the right One In
As much as I don't like reacting to these lists with my own personal preferences, I do have to express amazement that, of a list of 100, which is basically an average of 5 or 6 per year, neither DONNIE DARKO nor DRIVE made the list. Both are genre-busting masterpieces.
I have no idea how some of you are able to conjure these lists off the top of your heads; very impressive.
I rarely rewatch movies, so it's hard for me to say which movies listed here I would agree/disagree with since a lot of critically acclaimed movies dont age very well.
However I can say, without a doubt, that I would put The Tree of Life at the top of my list.
Overall, there's amazing choices in that list, but also some glaring omissions. For example, in no way are any of Nolan's movies or THE WOLF OF WALL STREET as accomplished as Jackson's THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, especially the first one, which is old-school filmmaking at its best.
My top 10 (at the moment)
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: spellbinding and dreamy, inventive and moving. full of rich characterization and story. always crushes me.
2. The Wrestler: I don't think any movie this century has felt and bled with its central character as much as Aronofsky's masterpiece. Plus, Rourke makes a case for performance of the century, easily top ten.
3. The Tree of Life: because how on earth do forces of grief, melancholy, spiritual introspection and religiosity manage to convey joie de vivre? Only Malick can accomplish such a feat.
4. Y tu mamá también: because it used time, space, and characters so beautifully to tell a story of modern-day Mexico.
5. Mulholland Dr.: for all the reasons people have mentioned above.
6. Edge of Tomorrow: because this list must feel personal, and no movie this century is as personal to me as this one. Can watch it on loop.
7. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings: it alway transports me its alien world, epic story, and forces of good and evil. Plus, McKellen!!!
8. Hable con Ella: Almodovar's best? Maybe. He's operating on so many levels here. The writing and direction are pure genius.
9. Carol: Blanchett!! Mara!! Paulson!! Chandler!! HAYNES!!!
10. Amores Perros: Yes, I know many are immune to Iñárritu's penchant for misery, but this one introduced a force to be reckoned with in modern cinema. Each subsequent story line in the movie makes the last one more interesting, and the directing, writing, acting, and editing all blend so perfectly. Everything seems to fall into place by the end.
I adore Inception, but at this point I find TFE's Nolan rants as adorable as his obsessive fans' need to claim everything he has ever put out a masterpiece. Those three films absolutely belong on the list, in my book. Every list for this century is likely to include him. Haters gonna hate. (I genuinely don't understanding hating all three of these films, but it's not worth the argument.)
I'm less surprised to see Shame higher than Hunger, and I like it better myself. Glad to see 12 Years a Slave so high.
Love Certified Copy. Happy to see it here.
Also love most of your picks.
I loathe Boyhood and it shits me to tears that it made it so high up in this list. Just because something is shot in an interesting way doesn't mean it's a good movie. If the storyline is crap you can shoot it however you like, the storyline is still crap. It's boring, interminably long schlock.
Glad that Carol made the list, but wish it was higher up. Perhaps in Boyhoods spot.
My Top Ten would probably looks something like:
1. There Will Be Blood (Kind of a cliche choice at this point but so be it)
2. City of God (But kind of afraid to re-watch at this point)
3. The Master (Could overtake TWBB with time)
4. Munich (The movie everyone forgets is awesome until you remind them of it)
5. United 93 (The ultimate depiction of the 21st Century's most important event)
6. Son of Saul (You can probably tell I lean towards viceral cinema experiences)
7. Letters From Iwo Jima (At this point I'm honestly not sure how Eastwood was capable of making something this humanistic)
8. 12 Years a Slave (I can see why a case could be made for Hunger being the better McQueen, but American Slavery strikes me as a more relevant issue than IRA prisons)
9. Inception (Insisting that movies about dreams MUST be mysterious seems needlessly demanding. There's more than one way to approach any given subject.)
10. The New World (Really happy that Criterion is finally making people realize how awesome this was)
Honorable Mentions: LOTR (would have been on my list if I could vote for the whole trilogy in one slot, which I suspect is why it didn't make the BBC list), A History of Violence, No Country, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Blue is the Warmest Color, Inside Llewyn Davis, A Separation, Wolf of Wall Street, Room, The Hateful Eight, Melencholia, and Certified Copy
My tops:
Dancer in the Dark
Crouching tiger hidden Dragon
In the mood for love
Moulin Rouge
The Hours
Hero
The Host
TLOTR: The Felowship of the ring
City of God
El Aura
Pride and Prejudice
The Incredibles
Wall-E
Eternal sunshine of Spotless Mind
La Pianiste
Children of Men
Departures
4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days
Brooklyn
Infernal Affairs
Brokeback Mountain
Tree of Life
Mar Adentro
I forgot to mention that in the most recent Sight and Sound poll (2012), Mulholland Drive and In the Mood for Love were the only two films from the 2000's to make the list.
1. Moulin Rouge
2. Atonement
3. Lost in Translation
4. Zero Dark Thirty
5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
6. A Seperation
7. Brokeback Mountain
8. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
9. The Hours
10. Adaptation
My top 10 (not in order except for my #1):
Moulin Rouge
Spirited Away
You and Me and Everyone We Know
Far From Heaven
Mulholland Drive
Her
You Can Count on Me
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Shame
The Hours
The rest (also not in order):
The Piano Teacher
Secretary
Room
Rust and Bone
No Country for Old Men
Bridesmaids
Dogville
Carol
Birth
Mysterious Skin
Beginners
In the Cut (I know people hate it--but for some reason I adore this one)
Stranger by the Lake
Frances Ha
The Savages (the Laura Linney one, not the other one)
Fish Tank
Black Swan
Wendy and Lucy
Top 10:
1. The Tree of Life
2. Far From Heaven
3 Brokeback Mountain
4. Holy Motors
5. A Serious Man
6. Mad Max: Fury Road
7. Mommy
8. Two Days, One Night
9. The Revenant
10. Bad Education
Honorable Mention (alphabetical):
Blancanieves
Cloverfield
The Fall
The Good Girl
The Homesman
In the Loop
Inside Llewyn Davis
JCVD
Kingdom of Heaven
Lovely and Amazing
Margaret
Melancholia
Perfect Sense
Shame
Stranger By the Lake
Synecdoche New York
Tangerine
This is the End
Victoria
The Wolfman
I might have included A.I Artificial Intelligence if it weren't for Spielberg's trademark penchant for not knowing when to stop. The man had one of film's great final moments - the lost "boy" 's underwater epiphany, frozen in time as he finds the Blue Fairy , then proceeded to tack on a lot of extraneous gobbledygook. He undermined "Lincoln" in a similar way - giving us a moving final image of the president heading off to the theater - then over-egging the pudding with additional scenes the movie really didn't need.
A top ten from me (in chronological order):
Our Lady of the Assassins
Mulholland Drive
Le Fils
The Pianist
Match Point
Quantum of Solace
Inglourious Basterds
The Father of My Children
Le Havre
The Great Beauty
i love all you listholics.
Did Dennis Villeneuve make the list at all? Any other glaring director omissions?
I love that Bad Education got like 6 votes from us despite not even making the real list!
Freaking...WHERE THE HELL IS GHOST WORLD!?
IMO, Lust, Caution IS a far superior film than In the Mood for Love, which is WKW's indulgent exercise in the beauty (form) rather than substance (story). The sequel 2046 is better and more entertaining.
I Am Love is perhaps Swinston's best performance (thus far). Am surprised tt she din get any award luv for it.
I wld pick Momento as no.1 of the 21st century list & IMO, the best of Nolan (thus far).
Maybe BBC can pick the top 100 perfomances of 21st century?? It will be a riot!! lol
Alright goddammit you've dragged it out of me.
1 Spirited Away
2 City of God
3 The Lives of Others
4 Ratatouille
5 The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
6 Spider-Man 2
7 Incendies
8 Apocalypto
9 Inception
10 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
No Birth? I can't even boil it down to 10, so here are my 20:
Animal Kingdom
A Separation
Birth
Blue Is The Warmest Color
Brokeback Mountain
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Ghost World
Her
Honogurai Mizu No Soko Kara (Dark Water)
I Am Love
Kill Bill
Last Night
Lost in Translation
Mad Max: Fury Road
Moulin Rouge
Mulholland Drive
Punch Drunk Love
Volver
You Can Count on Me
Zodiac
Already I've lost confidence in my choices.
I missed Four Lions, Birth (thanks Mareko) and The Skin I Live In...
I've gotta say, never understood the appeal of Mulholland Drive. It feels willfully confounding to me in a way that has always been a turn off, but hey, the critics have spoken (and I secretly love that Naomi Watts, one of my favorite actresses, is the lead in their #1 of the 21st Century thus far).
That said, my (admittedly populist) top ten would be:
10. Shame (Steve McQueen)
9. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee)
8. Her (Spike Jonze)
7. Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro)
6. Carol (Todd Haynes)
5. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Peter Jackson)
4. Wall-E (Andrew Stanton)
3. Chicago (Rob Marshall)
2. Weekend (Andrew Haigh)
1. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee)
Runners-Up (in no particular order): Inglourious Basterds, Black Swan, Spirited Away, Ratatouille, Amy, Tangerine, The Dark Knight, The Social Network, Gravity, and Under the Skin
Proud to have two Ang Lee features in my top 10, and happy that the BBC poll regarded him highly, too; Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk is absolutely my most anticipated for the fall!
Ha ha ha, I always have to chuckle at the OUTRAGE some have when their fave movie doesn't make the cut on one of these Best Of lists. But then I love it when movies I love are on them!
Fifteen faves of mine from the past 16 years - fave meaning at this moment I would love to rewatch any of them - would be:
1. Mulholland Drive
2. The Hours
3. A Mighty Wind
4. Under The Skin
5. Margaret
6. A Serious Man
7. Let the Right One In
8. Brokeback Mountain
9. Bridesmaids
10. You Can Count on Me
11. Ghost World
12.Tree of Life
13. 12 Years a Slave
14. A Separation
15. Inside Llewyn Davis
I was surprised to see Brooklyn so high on that original list. Don't get me wrong - I loved it, but I feel anything that new should be allowed to age at least a year or two, then returned to and reevaluated. Among the films I reassessed in the last few years are Ghost World (originally thought it was overrated but loved it on a second viewing) and Lost in Translation (was less impressed upon rewatching).