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.