90. The Witch (Robert Eggers, 2015)
One of
the best horror films of the decade, and one of the best directorial debuts of
the decade, was Robert Eggers wonderfully strange, slow burn terror The Witch.
Starring the wonderful Anya Taylor-Joy, this is a film about the horrors of
growing isolated, with your religious nut job parents in 1630s New England.
Even without the witchcraft that may be surrounding them, everything here would
be horrifying to live through. The film takes its time – it has genuinely
shocking moments to be sure, but they are doled out wonderfully well at
well-plotted intervals. And it ends up making the case for why she just may choose
to be a witch rather than suffer with this family. A genuine genre classic that
(hopefully) sparks a long career for Eggers.
89. Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)
When
you make a film that grosses as much as The Dark Knight, the studio will let
you make something as daring as Inception – which really isn’t as complicated
as it seems (if you pay attention, you shouldn’t be confused). It is a massive
achievement for Nolan though – weaving together a complex narrative, with fine
performances, and eye-popping visuals. I don’t think it’s quite the popcorn
masterwork of The Dark Knight, nor is it quite the heady trip of Interstellar
(which is more ambitious – but far more flawed – than Inception). That Nolan
was able to pull off such massive project on such a large scale, with so much
money is something to be celebrated.
88. Under the Silver Lake (David Robert Mitchell,
2019)
Under the Silver Lake is the stoner noir for the
age of Trump and conspiracy theories – as well as a portrait of white male privilege.
The lead character, brilliantly played by Andrew Garfield, starts to dig when
the beautiful neighbor he thought he was going to bang (Riley Keough)
disappears – and so he looks for her, falling down so many rabbit holes, and
side trips and conspiracies along the way. He is an asshole and a misogynist,
but one who outwardly is likable – and his quest is kind of relatable. The film
is ridiculously detailed, with Mitchell putting clues all over the place. The
film belongs on a list with Altman’s The Long Goodbye, the Coens Big Lebowski,
Kelly’s Southland Tales and Anderson’s Inherent Vice – and full embraces the
messiness of it structure and story. Another winner for Mitchell – who has
become one of the most interesting new directors of the decade.
87. The Hateful Eight (Quentin Tarantino, 2015)
It
says something about the strength of Tarantino’s filmography that while The
Hateful Eight may be his weakest feature film, I still brilliant. In this film,
the title eight (with a couple of guests, eventually) all gather at an
isolated, snowbound cabin – unaware of their various connections. This is an
almost a classically structured Agatha Christie mystery, with all of these
characters poking and prodding each other. Tarantino brings back some old
favorites – it is saying something that this is probably Samuel L. Jackson’s
fourth best performance for Tarantino, and he’s still great, Tim Roth having a
lot of fun for the first time in a while, Kurt Russell going all John Wayne (I
wish they had modelled him, visually, more on Wayne so the comparison would
have been clearer) – and brought in some great newbies – Jennifer Jason Leigh
is great as the only woman (and finally earned her an Oscar nomination) and
Walton Goggins proves why he is one of the great actors, if only directors
would give him roles like this. A brilliantly shot on 70 mm, and scored by
Ennio Morricone, this maybe Tarantino playing around in genre he loves, more so
than reinvented it, as he can do at his best, but this is still wonderful.
86. Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols, 2011)
Jeff
Nichols has become a filmmaker who’s each and every project I look forward to
quite a bit – but while all of his three films since Take Shelter (Mud,
Midnight Special, Loving) are excellent, he has yet to top his 2011
breakthrough film – featuring a brilliant performance by Michael Shannon as a
father who thinks the end of the world is coming, and starts preparing his
house, and terrified family, for the end times. Shannon has become a kind of
muse for Nichols – he was great in his debut film Shotgun Stories – and has
done small roles even in Nichols films he doesn’t have a large role in. Here,
he is at his paranoid best and delivers a stunning performance. This was also
part of Jessica Chastain’s breakout year – she is wonderful as Shannon’s scared
wife (this year also included The Tree of Life and Coriolanus – so of course
she was nominated for The Help). Nichols is one of the best at making films set
in the “flyover” states that doesn’t condescend to them and shows them in a
real light. And this is his best portrait of that.
85. Arrival (Denis Villeneuve, 2016)
The
Thinking Man’s alien invasion movie, Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival is more about
how the human race would communicate with an invading alien life force, than
how we would attack it. Yes, there are a ton of special effects – but here,
they are really do visualize what a different life force may look like, and how
they would take – a long way removed from the typical aliens we often see in
movies. Amy Adams gives one of her great performances as a linguistic expert,
who entire life unexpectedly becomes a part of everything. Villeneuve has
slowly, but surely, built up a stunning filmography – you cannot go wrong with
anything he made this decade (Incendies, Enemy, Prisoners, Sicario or Blade
Runner 2049) – but this is his best work, his brainiest – and proof that you
can make a special effects laden blockbuster, and a great film at the same
time.
84. A Hidden Life (Terence Malick, 2019)
Terence Malick spent most of the decade – following
his masterpiece The Tree of Life – following that style further and further
down a non-narrative rabbit hole, which annoyed many – and even if it didn’t
annoy me, I admit I was relieved to see him get back to something more concrete
with A Hidden Life. This film, about a humble Austrian farmer, who has to give
up his idyllic life and perfect family when WWII breaks out, and he realizes he
cannot support Hitler no matter the personal cost – really does feel like a
descent into hell by Malick. That farm is one of the most beautiful places I
have ever seen in a film, and he has to give all of that up for his principals.
The film asks the tough moral questions that Malick has asked throughout his
career – through a Christian lens, although Christian filmgoers often seem to
prefer the simple narratives of the God’s Not Dead series, to something this
searching and beautiful. It’s a shame, because A Hidden Life is a stunning film
– and one that keeps growing as you look back upon it.
83. Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig, 2017)
Greta
Gerwig’s wonderful solo directorial debut is a charming, lovable very funny,
very touching comedy. Saorise Ronan shows off her amazing range (think about
the performances she has given this decade – it’s quite remarkable) about a
high school senior struggling to figure out just who she is in relationship to
boys, to her best friend, to her parents, etc. It is a funny moving, but also a
quietly touching and wise one – one that doesn’t necessarily set everything up
for going to be okay. It embraces the stupidity and arrogance of youth a little
bit, and still finds a lot of sympathy for all involved. It’s also a movie in
which every character – even the ones in the small roles – seems like a full person.
It is one of the best debuts of the decade – which hopefully marks a great
career for Gerwig going forward.
82. Son of Saul (Laszlo Nemes, 2015)
We get
at least a few Holocaust films every year – and yet very few of them really do
anything new with the horrific events. But Laszlo Nemes’ debut film is
different – it contains an amazing lead performance by Geza Rohrig performance,
as a Jewish man who works in the extermination camps, who does everything he
can to secure a proper burial for a young boy he is convinced is his son. By
this point though, Saul is suffering for massive PTSD, and cannot see anything
clearly. The direction of the movie is great – it pretty much follows Saul
everywhere in a series of tracking shots focused on his face – the horrors all
around him are all out of frame, and blurry – the film depending on its sound
design to tell its horrors. One of the most striking debut films of the decade.
81. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami, 2010)
Abbas Kiaostami’s Certified Copy
is a movie that has grown in my mind in the decade since it has come out. It’s
one of those rare modern films that reminds me of the classic days of European
Art House cinema – it’s a film that Alain Resnais would have been proud of –
and yet, it’s very much a Kiarostami film in that it plays with the ideas of
cinema and reality – and how one changes the other. The film stars Juliette
Binoche and William Shammell playing a couple who has just met, going through a
long first date – and then, in the second half, they are a long married couple
teetering on the brink of divorce. Clearly in one half of the film, these two
are play acting. Or maybe both halves. Or neither? It is a complex meditation on
the nature of cinema – and the final masterpiece of the late Iranian
masterpiece. I underrated it at the time, and I fear, I still may be
underrating it now.
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