Favorite Films of the Decade (2000-2009)

Some notes before I begin.
As a person who enjoys being immersed in the writings and perspectives of film critics and follows weekly box office standings (not without some scruples, of course), and as a person who pays quite a bit of attention to year-end awards ceremonies and Top Ten lists, I will be factoring to some relatively extensive degree the importance of a given film - to industry practices and standards, to cultural valuations, to technological integration. These types of things influence how a film ages after all, so I feel it's best to note that aspect of my approach. But, first and foremost, every film that appears on this list is a film that I deeply enjoyed, and continue to enjoy. These are films I've returned to time and again in conversation and in viewings on the small screen. This in no way properly or adequately chronicles the world of film in the last decade since I haven't seen everything, and some films I have seen deserve to be seen again. There are no Romanian films on this list despite their burgeoning industry, not because I don't think that's important, because it really is, but because I still haven't seen 'Police, Adjective', '4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days', or 'The Death of Mr. Lazarescu'. The same goes for Mexican cinema, though some representatives are featured below. I've done my best to be inclusive with this list, to include documentaries, foreign films, animated films (which have had a stupendous decade), independent films and mainstream films, but I can only go so far and still keep this list totally me. And to do five different lists with a selection of ten or so in each is a cop out; you're all just as interested in what I leave off as what I actually went ahead and included.

So if you think my list is bullshit, you can go ahead and try to formulate a better one.


Here it is, in random order past after my number one pick, with some short notes following each:

Favorite Film of the Decade: AMERICAN PSYCHO
"If you know me, this was probably expected, since I talk about it endlessly and quote from it frequently; it is, after all, not only my favorite film of the decade but also of all-time. Because I have such strong feelings about this film and will defend it to my death, I'll go the opposite route that others have taken with such lists and provide the shortest set of notes to go with my number one. Just ask me."

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
"Along with Pixar, the '00s may best be remembered as the decade that catapulted Charlie Kaufman to super-stardom in Hollywood. Although he hit it big first with Being John Malkovich, this film earned him a powerful position as the best new example of auteurship in screenwriting. It has his trademark neuroses colored all over it, his complicated yet utterly endearing characterizations of women, reflexive and transgressive humor, only now without the problematic ending. The film is arguably his most infectious, offering a dysfunctional but marvelous love story that does something interesting: it maneuvers at the level of the mind to unveil the mysteries of the heart. The stupendous performances by Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey are complemented by the indelible performance by Kirsten Dunst who has been tragically dismissed by most who have seen it. A great double-feature would be this and Punch-Drunk Love."

2046
"I know technically I should choose In The Mood for Love since it spawned this film and is eligible, but I'm sort of tired of that practice of clumping and ignoring the merits of sequels for their foundational and possibly inferior originals. (I mean, you'd likely never see Spider-Man getting chosen over its sequel, so why do that to other films, and why single out the one installment of Spider-Man but not single out Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring?) In truth, I loved this film more than Mood for Love, because it had a multitude of very compelling characters rather than just the two, it supplemented the original's gorgeously baroque music with even more colorful picks, and it stars Zhang Ziyi in a fantastic supporting role that challenges Maggie Cheung's in the original for emotional range. I also adored the pulpy 2046 sub-plot, and found it empowered the film's color palette, costume design and tone."

ADAPTATION
"Also a Charlie Kaufman film, by the great music video and film director Spike Jonze, this intricate film is reflexive every which way you read it. As simply film, it treads on itself, in one scene where Charlie Kaufman played by Nicolas Cage (Example #1) is sitting discussing his new film (the one we're watching, Example #2) he spouts off several things he doesn't want to appear in the film - and of course, each of them does somehow appear (#s 3 - 8). It's a marvel in screenwriting. But the reflexivity isn't confined to quirks like these, even the title is an exercise in multitudinous interpretation. The film is about a fictionalized Charlie Kaufman adapting a novel, but it's also about the process of adapting in life, to not simply survive but to live, in which case the novel being adapted provides all the very essential visual metaphors that make this film incredibly resonant. Also interesting to note, screenwriting guru Robert McKee is a real person who actually acts as Brian Cox depicted him."

BAD EDUCATION
"Almost went with Volver with this one, but ultimately I found Pedro Almodovar's homoerotic mystery story of manipulation, nostalgia and mistaken identity more rattling, and far more pleasurable to watch (I'm actually referring to the color palette and cinematography in general, but I suppose you could apply it to the plot). And as one work within a whole web of works exploring different types of characters and storylines, this is more characteristically Almodovar than Volver, being oriented around some of his own life experiences. Like the recent Broken Embraces, this film is drunk on the color red, and moves with the swagger of a tranny femme fatale, with astonishingly confident performances from Gael Garcia Bernal and Fele Martinez. Watch this alongside Mulholland Drive, which is on this list."

WALL-E
"Brad Bird is Pixar's most elegant storyteller, but Andrew Stanton's Wall-E is their finest film, really achieving what would never be possible with live action in CGI, and in a way that isn't pandering to children or a chore to watch for the adults. Like There Will Be Blood, which is on this list, the first several minutes of the film lack dialogue (but not human speech, though the achievement isn't threatened by this) and yet we're seamlessly transported into a world far apart from our own (maybe not far off, but still apart with an appended history), and even able to identify with this character, which is in itself a feat of execution. Though its environmental leanings have been criticized, the point is exacting and not without qualification, and those who criticize its apparent Godlessness failed to see its humanity, which extends past the narrative itself to even its sound design, offering a main character that speaks no real language so becomes globally identifiable. Thomas Newman's score is equally as unforgettable, one of his best works which is saying a lot."

CHILDREN OF MEN
"Here's an example of a film that not only added rich elements to an already self-standing novel, but became a complete improvement over it. Restraining himself from including all of the very obvious metaphors from P.D. James' novel (though he added some sort of random ones on his own), Alfonso Cuaron delivers a very intricate and very harrowing cautionary tale that lacks many of the tiring inclinations of other cautionary tales to delve into the hows and whys of a world gone to shit. Instead, the film settles us into a history where all of the worst things imaginable have already happened, providing us instead with the challenges of survival and recovery, policy and daily life. In this regard, it's similar to Wall-E, though you'd be hard-pressed to find any other similarities than this one. Arguably superficial in its politics, the film is best served as a launchpad for subsequent discussion, but is more than adequate in depicting the horrors of administrative incapacity and our own environmental upheavals."

28 DAYS LATER
"Just about twenty minutes into this film I noticed that there was something different about this zombie film from other recent visitations to the genre. In the scene where main character Jim enters the kitchen in his parents' home and is attacked by a zombie but saved by his new comrades, newly-acquainted Selena proceeds to slash and kill another man after they make the discovery that he's been bitten. In this moment we are made fearful of any act of violence and any encounter with a zombie, no longer relishing what in other films is exhilarating: the act of killing. An encounter with a zombie could easily mean death, but now not only from the zombie but from these people you have no choice but to call ally. In other zombie films, although we identify with the main, still-human character, we expect and hope that they will do as the zombies do, which is to kill everything in their path, thereby also relinquishing their humanity. The Nietzschean principle of interference, then, becomes the fiber that makes this beast all the more terrifying: we continue wanting to preserve life, even when no semblance of it exists in our counterparts. The political undertones of this film were taken to an extreme in the sequel, but here are well-balanced."

A.I.: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
"The very fact that this is Steven Spielberg directing a film that progressively paints a bleaker and bleaker world of cynical fantasy culminating in what may be the saddest ending to a story with a similar arc as Pinocchio is reason enough for you to see it. Especially for those visuals, oh, those visuals. Movie magic is alive and well. This film takes it easy, none of that Spielbergian economy in the storytelling (or, apparently the production), to tell a rich and enormously specific story about a boy that doesn't belong, on a journey to become human and win back his mother's love, and is so well-realized that it really is a shame that it hasn't joined films like Blade Runner and Brazil as powerful visions of a dystopian future. Notice all of the inversions of classic images from Spielberg's past films in this one, it's like Spielberg has grown up or something."

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
"Like A.I., this film has an air of fairytale fantasy with a dark edge to it, though you might also say this is simply a monster movie with children (and trumps that other teenage vampire love story). Either way, the film is dynamite, and horrifying. Like a Kazuo Ishiguro novel, or perhaps the novel it's based on by John Lindqvist, the amount of control that director Tomas Alfredson maintains over the details and progression of the plot is so precise as to be truly worthy of discussion, its topographic narrative concealing an endless load of small yet glaring details, inching towards a tense climax and surprisingly affecting ending. The child performances are outstanding, and it's amazing to find yourself hiding behind your hands based on their movements and expressions alone. Superb acting by the youthful actors and effectively restrained direction by Alfredson, who never veers into exploitation of them. An exceptional vampire film and a wonder of a film in general."

MINORITY REPORT
"Maybe not so much for the decade, but the year 2009 at least was littered with excellent science-fiction films, and one day you might see District 9 replacing by virtue of its impressive design at a portion of the cost of this one. This won't go without a fight, however. Unlike A.I., this film epitomizes Steven Spielberg's characteristic economical style, each moment serving up yet another detail of this chaotic and grim world, and the tempo of the film's not-uncomplicated plot moves at a breakneck clip, urging and rewarding viewers to keep up. Along with War of the Worlds and of course A.I., Spielberg has made some breathtaking sci-fi flicks this decade, and though A.I. is more likely to reach the upper echelons of critical praise in shorter a time, this film shouldn't be far behind. The choreography in the mall scene towards the end is astonishingly well-done, the sustained tension could give you PTSD."

THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
"I say this having seen Mr. And Mrs. Smith, Thelma & Louise, and countless other films by him, but Brad Pitt has never been sexier in a film. The man is starting to move past his prime, if he hasn't already (though I'd confidently say he's still got it), and is starting to show physical and spiritual signs of aging. This film uses that to its advantage. Pitt is casual, deliberate, aware and larger-than-life as the infamous Jesse James, channeling the best of Paul Newman, and effortlessly banters with a stuttering, unpredictable Robert Ford played miraculously by Casey Affleck, who is the star of this vehicle. It's an earthy and indelible film that explores issues of mortality and publicity, success and the costs of stern, American individualism. Hard to believe this came from first-time director Andrew Dominik, whose assured, balletic camera weaves between mindbogglingly beautiful landscapes and unsettlingly still shots of worn faces and hands. Most underrated film of the decade."

THE INCREDIBLES
"Before Pixar had established itself firmly as the leader in animation filmmaking, there was a film called The Iron Giant that I remember loving deeply. I had never remembered the name of the person or people responsible for that up to seeing Incredibles for the first time, so was completely unprepared for how overwhelmingly nostalgic the experience of watching it would be. Like I said before, Brad Bird is Pixar's most elegant storyteller; he's able to stitch visual dynamism with the best motifs from comics and literature, as seen in Iron Giant and perfected in this film. (Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is undoubtedly influenced by Iron Giant as much as the writings of Edgar Rice Burroughs.) With Incredibles, Brad Bird consolidated years of superhero history, lore, themes and motifs that I had spent the better years of my childhood immersing myself in, in service of a Fantastic Four-esque story of a family that somehow manages to be poignant as a film about regular families. A love letter to anyone who loves superheroes, or who loved them and then grew up."

PAN'S LABYRINTH
"When this film was released, it was already the favorite for Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards, so when it lost to The Lives of Others, a collective cry was heard. Turns out Lives of Others is no dud (and is on this list as well), but even at this point it's clear that the Academy should have given the golden naked man to Guillermo Del Toro, whose film marries a painterly style of visuals and camera movement with a very practical approach to special effects, using the method Andy Serkis and Peter Jackson perfected in Lord of the Rings to astounding effect here. The press declared Del Toro a visionary after this, and it's likely this that scored him The Hobbit. A spearhead for Mexican cinema, which has exploded in recent years, Del Toro (along with Alfonso Cuaron and Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu) has produced some incredibly sophisticated, mature films that exhibit a unique sense of style and a liberated sense of violence and sexuality. This lacks the latter for the most part, but is not without a good headcount. With this and the Hellboy films, Del Toro has become the next go-to guy for mature fantasy after Peter Jackson."

THE 40-YEAR OLD VIRGIN
"Say what you will about Wedding Crashers being flat-out funnier, this film to me wins out simply because it achieves comedy in a mature and very atypical way (through Steve Carrell in a breakout role): by being endearing (without being quirky, which has by now become a pejorative) and not mean-spirited. Apatow and his friends are to comedy what Pixar is to animation, avoiding simplistic pop culture references to instead favor characterization (looking at you, Shrek and Dreamworks). Perfectly capturing the oddities and virtues of such a predicament as being a virgin at 40, the film returns us to the tradition of comedy that's naturalistic, and possesses a myriad of funny supporting players, now an expectation of Judd Apatow films. There is, of course, also that outro musical sequence that involves the cast singing that tune from Hair, an apt metaphor for losing one's virginity."

GRIZZLY MAN
"As nice as it is to see Werner Herzog return to narrative fiction with Bad Lieutenant, I am sad that it could mean we may be a couple years away from another documentary from him, since between this and Encounters at the End of the World Herzog has fashioned from disparate materials intense and fascinating portraits of crazy people, or people who only appear crazy. One of the best examples of an auteur on this or any list that features him, Herzog derives truth from moments of chaos and apparent madness, what he once called 'ecstatic truths'. This film shows a man obsessed with the grizzly bear, and puts together from hundreds of hours of footage a holistic look into this man's peculiar thinking, not to mention behavior. But Herzog never judges the man, or seeks to rationalize him - he means only to tease from the man's (name was Timothy Treadwell) story a means to understanding him. Although the events depicted in the film ended horribly, the film doesn't memorialize Treadwell with disconcerting rhetoric. Instead, we are given a beautiful final survey of the land that claimed two lives in what becomes visual poetry about a life that was invested. Invigorating stuff."

MULHOLLAND DRIVE
"Early commentators on cinema lamented sentimentality in film, arguing that the photoplay's best assets were its unmatched ability to be spectacles. David Lynch, that man of mysteries, has created with a hodge-podge of seemingly unrelated sequences a spectacle that lacks sentimentality, and maybe logic, but more than makes up for it with its strategic fastening of minutiae and revelation to create a dream-like fantasia that's full of life and full of dread. Like Eternal Sunshine, this film bases its narrative on disparate functions of living, this time dreams and memory, reconciling them in a disturbing and magnetic scene involving an actual Spanish musical artist and the word 'silencio.' A haunting film that may boasts one of the best critical blurbs ever to land on a DVD, from Peter Travers: "...swooning eroticism and colors that pop like a whore's lip gloss!" Can't beat that."

THE PIANIST
"This film comes from Roman Polanski, who, even though he may have a poor moral fiber, is still an exceptional and important filmmaker, and this film is no less beautiful because of his history. The film may at first seem a departure for Polanski, whose best films include Rosemary's Baby, Repulsion and Chinatown, but with the understanding that it follows a vulnerable and singular main character confronting unfathomably evil forces with an insufferable, suffocating sense of dread, Pianist is everything that has come to define Polanski's style. Polanski directs the camera with elegance to show a dark reality, instilling in us some of the most unforgettable, true images of the Holocaust (see Alain Resnais' Night and Fog for proof of its accuracy) to ever be committed to film. It's also Polanski's most personal film, having lived through the terrors of the Third Reich, and may very well complicate how you see the man."

CASINO ROYALE
"Although Batman Begins predates this film by a year, I think we can safely credit this film with having catalyzed the trend of the franchise redo in the last ten years, taking one of the UK's best characters and one of film's most versatile icons and refashioning him for the new age, with just a tad bit of Bourne-style grit and violence mixed in for good measure. Without this film, Sherlock Holmes and Star Trek may have been very different, and I might wager to say the same thing about The Dark Knight, which is not on this list simply because Casino Royale came first. This film may have completely reversed what The Matrix did to action films ten years ago, replacing uber-stylistic with brutal, heavy, practical action sequences."

IN HER SHOES
"It's sort of confounding how this film wasn't a smash at the box office considering it stars Cameron Diaz and it was sold as a female-centric comedy as Sex and the City: The Movie and Devil Wears Prada were. I imagine it may have something to do with the content of the film itself, which is anything but bubbly, and the cast which, aside from Diaz, is peopled with actors not known for their sex appeal (anyone who's seen the film will say they grow into their sexiness, however). The tone and dialogue are literate, the performances sober and witty, and the chemistry between all of the actors but especially between Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette as sisters is perfect. By the last scene, the film has earned your tears, not stealing them though cheap sentimentality."

THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD
"If any director from this list deserves more credit for their work, and any movie more people to fill its audience, it's this film and its director, Guy Maddin. I haven't yet seen Maddin's latest, My Winnipeg, though I've been meaning to, but after this idiosyncratic and very peculiar musical (is it a musical?), it'll have a lot to compare to, especially in terms of style. The vaseline-smeared camera lens captures an icy, vaudevillian, perfectly-translated Winnipeg in the midst of a big beer company-sponsored international competition to determine which country possesses the world's saddest music while also exploring the single-legged beer baroness' rekindled relationship with an old flame who must also confront members of his broken family - including a brother representing Serbian folk music - and the manner in which all of this is done is refreshingly odd. Maddin's visions are Lynchian but make complete sense. I dare you to watch this. Maybe the only good thing to ever come out of Canada. Just kidding."

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON
"This film may be in the top three of films from this list that influenced the future of cinema, by popularizing Asian and kung-fu/swordplay cinema for a new generation and for canonizing the career of Ang Lee, who has gone on to direct other masterpieces in this last decade. It has informed some of the stereotypes we now hold about Asian cinema and it has brought us dozens of copycats. That, it seems, has become the most accurate barometer for a film's importance, which is to be lamented, but at least we still have this film, which is still a wonder to behold even in this new age of CG-enhancements and green screens. Although quite meditative and verbose, the film is filled with great dialogue and very rich characters (the police officer and his daughter are especially great) not to mention revelatory cinematography and music. Orientalism at its finest."

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
"Although this decade might not quite match the previous one in terms of sheer audacious filmmaking from Quentin Tarantino, between this and Kill Bill, Vols. I and II, the quality has still been quite high. Although I love the Kill Bills, I chose this film because I've personally always been critical of Tarantino's explicit and rampant homages to other films that have informed the structure, aesthetics and plots of most of his works; I contend that Jackie Brown is his purest work despite being adapted from a novel, not stuffed with references that become veritable McGuffins of rhetorical emptiness. Though this is spaghetti western all the way, with even its title coming from a previously-made flick, that Tarantino had the cajones to so brashly revise history is proof enough that he's got some original ideas in there, ideas that only he could execute with as much tenacity and force as he's done. Melanie Laurent and Christoph Waltz deserve awards for their performances, and that last scene is jaw-dropping."

THERE WILL BE BLOOD
"This is Aguirre, The Wrath of God firmly planted in the harsh, mythical landscape of Texas and P.T. Anderson's masterpiece (though I'd have no qualms interchanging this with Punch-Drunk Love on this list). It is indeed a difficult film and somewhat maddening in its intentionally-confounding plot points (did Paul Dano play twins?) but it's masterful filmmaking and an example of inspired adapting of a novel - the only other film on this list to also have added deep, fascinating details to a fully-detailed world is Adaptation. Still not my favorite P.T.A. film, but it's entirely his and entirely of this time."

THE NEW WORLD
"One of the criteria for making this list, not passed completely by all but at least approaching, was that the film had to be one that I completely obsessed over, either before its release, after, or overlapping. This film had me fixated on it for months before it debuted and afterwards for several more months. The free direction of the actors by Terrence Malick (and the cast itself, I am in fact the biggest fan of Christian Bale, yes) and his dynamic portrait of America's early history and landscapes with the aid of Emmanuel Lubeski's stunning cinematography kept me singing its praises. As a prospective film critic who feels that a critic's job is to shepherd moviegoers to films that need championing, this film became a project for me, and I eventually made some good friends see it with me in theaters. A success all around. Makes for a great double-feature with the aforementioned Aguirre, which inspired this film."

And ten honorable mentions:
ROAD TO PERDITION
THE 25th HOUR
MATCH POINT
DANCER IN THE DARK
THE HURT LOCKER
THE LIVES OF OTHERS
ALMOST FAMOUS
ZODIAC
BRICK
LOST IN TRANSLATION



R.J.M.