Best Films of the 21st Century

The New York Times decided to allow every website on the internet to set comment section records by choosing its 25 best films of the 21st century. And it’s predictably controversial. I’ve seen 18 of the 25 (and Mad Max is actually the next movie in my Netflix queue). Many selections I can’t disagree with. There Will Be Blood is amazing. So is Spirited Away. But Million Dollar Baby at 3rd? Really? Eastwood is the most overrated director in American film history. This film is completely fine. Good, even. But the 3rd best film in the last 17 years? Inside Llewyn Davis isn’t even a very good movie, outside of the cat. If you have to include a Coen Brothers film, No Country for Old Men or A Serious Man are far superior. I was fine with I’m Not There as a film, even for all its Baby Boomer Dylan wankathon mythmaking, but no. There are films such as The Gleaners and I and Silent Light that I might consider worthy. Three Times is just so damn slow though, much like many Taiwanese directors that so many people love today. Munich: no. Yi Yi: yes. I certainly have no problem with including an action film like Mad Max or a comedy like 40 Year Old Virgin, although I’m not sure I would pick it, it’s certainly a funny movie.

Throwing together what might be a Top 25 for me, with the understanding that I am weaker on the last few years because so much of my watching is at home and thus delayed. In no real order, although perhaps generally be stronger at the top and somewhat in order of date early on:

1) In the Mood for Love, Wong Kar Wai, 2000 (how this was left off by Dargis and Scott is mystifying)
2) Yi Yi, Edward Yang, 2000
3) Talk to Her, Pedro Almodovar, 2002
4) Dirty Pretty Things, Stephen Frears, 2002
5) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Michael Gondry, 2004
6) Vera Drake, Mike Leigh, 2004
7) Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee, 2005
8) Tell No One, Guillaume Canet, 2006
9) Katyn, Andrzej Wajda, 2007
10) Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Werner Herzog, 2010
11) The Squid and the Whale, Noah Baumbach, 2005
12) Tony Takitani, Jun Ichikawa, 2004
13) There Will Be Blood, Paul Thomas Anderson, 2005
14) The Baader Meinhof Complex, Uli Edel, 2008
15) The Hateful Eight, Quentin Tarantino, 2016
16) Exiled, Johnnie To, 2005
17) 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, Cristian Mungiu, 2007
18) Silent Light, Carlos Reygadas, 2008
19) A Christmas Tale, Arnaud Desplechin, 2008
20) The Beaches of Agnès, Agnès Varda, 2008
21) Sweet Sixteen, Ken Loach, 2002
22) Meek’s Cutoff, Kelly Reichardt, 2010
23) Fish Tank, Andrea Arnold, 2009
24) The Missing Picture, Rithy Phan, 2013
25) Manufactured Landscapes, Jennifer Baichwal, 2006

There are many more that could be on this list–The 25th Hour, No Country for Old Men, You Can Count on Me, Blue is the Warmest Color, Clouds of Sils Maria, Mesrine, Carlos, 2046, 12:08 East of Bucharest, A History of Violence, etc., etc.

I think Inside Llewyn Davis would come in about 400th.