Movie lists! Will this be our last list? No! Movie lists – following, always, the Andre and Wally rules – are irresistible. So we will continue to generate lists, appealing to (an apparently irrefutable) law gleefully articulated by my children when called upon to explain why the house had been reduced to smoldering ruins: “We were having fuuuuuuuuun!!!”
Still, we do favor the motivated list. Which bring us to today, literally and figuratively. In formulating and subsequently debating our ballot for the once-a-decade Sight and Sound poll of The Greatest Films of All Time, we advocated for caution in including recent films. For a movie to be included among the “greatest of all time,” as with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, we hold the view that some space should be permitted to let intense flavors-of-the-moment recede, and see if those considered for canonization can stand the test of time. (Yet we did include two twenty-first century films. So, as always with Bill Murray in Ghostbusters, apparently that’s more of a guideline than a rule.)
But what about the present? Long-time Mid Century Cinema followers might recall that we’ve officially “listed” many previous decades: Our Top twenty-five films from the forties and fifties, twenty-five each from the glory days (the sixties and seventies) and twenty-five more from the eighties and nineties. There is, now, clearly, a notable omission—the first two decades of this century. And given that we leaned against the present in our Sight and Sound ballot, there is an additional imperative to have something to say about great recent films.
House style is now to back up a truckload a qualifications, and so here they are: Although we (sincerely) insist that “great films will always be made,” we do tend to watch and enjoy more older films than newer films, and we are also quite wary of the present cultural moment. So we may have missed some favorites—don’t hesitate to send us a contesting note! Indeed, revising this list over multiple drafts, we had come complaints of our own. One reflects the embrace of another guideline: although “old timers” are eligible and represented, I set the bar higher for filmmakers with a rich body of output from the twentieth century, and for those who are well represented on earlier lists. Had these filmmakers only worked in the last two decades, one of their films would have surely found representation here. I’m thinking especially of Claude Chabrol, who had a spectacular final decade of filmmaking, and MCC favorite Agnes Varda, as well as Woody Allen, who produced a very strong handful of late-career pictures, and, among others, Peter Bogdanovich, whose Cat’s Meow (2001) was a very near inclusion. More regrettably, this list reflects the glaring omission of two of the female actors I consider among the greatest of our time, Cate Blanchett and Julianne Moore, each of whose output over these two decades has been ambitious, outstanding, and little short of astonishing. Their daring career choices reflect the philosophy, articulated by Blanchett and which we could not more strongly applaud: “I will fight to the death for the right to . . . play roles beyond my experience.” So let’s add a quick hat tip to two representative performances in two excellent films by (the also omitted) Todd Haynes, Far From Heaven (2002), and Carol (2015).
Finally, then, our (current, for today) list of top twenty-five films of the aughts and the teens:
Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe, 2000) Is this movie entertaining? Yes. Sue me. It is also profound, and deeply moving.
The Anniversary Party (Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh, 2001) A Cassavetes-level interrogation of intimate relationships.
The Beautiful Person (Christophe Honoré, 2006) With Louis Garrel and Léa Seydoux—so haunting we always remember this color film as being shot in glorious black and white.
Certified Copy (Abbas Kairostami, 2010) A late masterpiece from the legendary Iranian director.
A Christmas Tale (Arnaud Desplechin, 2008) One of the two twenty-first century films on our Ten Greatest of All Time ballot.
Clouds of Sils Maria (Olivier Assayas, 2014) An enormous controversy among the staff at MCC, who favor Assayas’ Summer Hours. Nevertheless. Also the film that opened our eyes to the enormous talent of Kristen Stewart.
The Descendants (Alexander Payne, 2011) Payne, and star George Clooney, are among those who bring the sensibilities of the seventies film to the contemporary screen.
Drive My Car (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, 2021) Ok, so, we’re cheating here. But we’re putting our marker down—this will be remembered as one of the best films of the 2020s.
Father of My Children (Mia Hansen-Løve, 2009) Now an art-house favorite with an impressive track record, I don’t think Hansen-Løve yet bettered her second film (at age 28).
First Reformed (Paul Schrader, 2017) Writer-Director Schrader channels Bergman and Bresson; Ethan Hawke delivers, again reaching for challenging material.
Gosford Park (Robert Altman, 2002) Another late masterpiece – as good as Altman’s best films. Which is, um, high praise indeed.
Lost in Translation (Sophia Coppola, 2003) Recall “What we Want from the Movies”—and Coppola delivers, in her sophomore effort, with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johannsen.
Memories of Murder (Bong Joon Ho, 2003) A thoughtful and impeccable police procedural, which in our view sits head and shoulders above the Korean auteur’s crowd-pleasing Parasite.
A Most Wanted Man (Anton Corbijn, 2014) This marvelous adaptation of Le Carre-in-dissident-fury features a spellbinding Philip Seymour Hoffman in his final performance (and gets the edge over Lumet’s Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead from 2007).
(The Trailer for) The Other Side of the Wind (Welles and Others, 2018) We have not come to a conclusion about the movie, which includes John Huston’s greatest performance as an actor, but the trailer is a great short film, which invariably sends shivers down our spine.
The Past (Asghar Farhadi, 2013) Writer-Director Farhadi made eight films eligible for this list, four of which could have easily merited inclusion here. But this one sits in the Top Ten.
Safe Conduct (Bertrand Tavernier, 2002) This riveting, cinephilic, historically sensitive gem well reflects what Tavernier would later describe as his “Journey Through French Cinema.”
Tell No One (Guillaume Canet, 2006) With François Cluzet, Kristin Scott Thomas, Nathalie Baye, Jean Rochefort and, as Ebert put it, “legendary Andre Dussollier sitting on the bench until the movie needs the bases cleared. Here is how a thriller should be made.”
Three Faces (Jafar Panahi, 2018) The third Iranian director on this list (that must mean something). Currently in prison. For making films. (See also his Crimson Gold and Closed Curtain).
The Truth (Hirokazu Koreeda, 2019) Juliette Binoche (in her third film on this list) opposite Catherine Deneuve. As Larry David would say, Not Too Shabby.
25th Hour (Spike Lee, 2002) We’re with Jonathan Rosenbaum: “Lee’s best feature since Do the Right Thing . . . gets us to think as well as feel—about things we’re almost never asked to consider.”
Volver (Pedro Almodóvar, 2006) To our eyes, Almodóvar’s work really takes off at the turn of this century (starting with All About My Mother, 1999). Of those that followed, we’re giving Volver the nod here over other candidates, with a nod to Penélope Cruz.
White Material (Claire Denis, 2009) Manohla Dargis lauds Denis’ “extraordinary gift for finding the perfect image that expresses her ideas,” and Isabelle Huppert’s “sublime” performance. A daring, intense and often discomforting film.
Winter Sleep (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2014) At one critic noted, this Chekhov-inflected drama “moves at the pace of a north Atlantic convoy”—and took home the Grand Prize at Cannes.
Wonder Boys (Curtis Hanson, 2000) Coming full circle—see our comment for Almost Famous.
