Commentary: The Top 10 Films of the Decade

My criterion for selecting the top 10 films of the decade is very simple. These are the ten films from the past ten years that I cannot stand to live without. These aren’t necessarily the greatest films. They aren’t the most critically acclaimed. They definitely aren’t the most financially successful. They’re quite simply my favorite movies. So, in descending order …

#10: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
Julian Schnabel’s story of the paralyzed French editor of Elle magazine is one of the most visually engaging and humanistic films of the past decade. We spend most of the movie in the head of Bauby, our paralyzed protagonist. Schnabel conveys his sense of isolation and entrapment through any number of innovative film techniques. Ultimately, as impressive as this film is on a technical level, it’s the engagement with the realities of death that makes it so watchable.

#9: A Serious Man (2009)
The only film from 2009 that made it on my list. The Coen Brothers have struck gold once again with this comically heartbreaking story of a Minneapolis suburban Jewish physics professor from the late 1960s. The Coens convincingly combined dark comedy, witty dialogue, and genuine pathos into a ridiculously engaging (post)modern retelling of the story of Job. I hope Michael Stuhlbarg, a relatively unknown stage actor, will become a household name sometime in the near future. His work as the protagonist is incredible.

#8: High Fidelity (2000)
Every time I watch this film, it’s as if the filmmakers have a window into my soul. John Cusack owns a record shop in Chicago’s Wicker Park, the hipster capitol of the Midwest. He and his fellow music geeks stand around all day discussing the artistic merits of Gordon Lightfoot and Stevie Wonder and creating such esoteric lists as “Top 5 Songs to Play on a Depressing Monday Morning.” In addition, Cusack takes us through the hazards of love, highlighting his top 5 most painful breakups. Jack Black, it should be given, gives one of the great comic musical performances of all time during the film’s inspired denouncement.

#7: Almost Famous (2000)
Another film that has a window to my soul. Cameron Crowe creates one of the best films about music of all time. A young teenager has the opportunity to work as a music journalist for Rolling Stone magazine, following the tour of a rock group based loosely on the Eagles, the Allman Brothers, and several other vintage bands. Kate Hudson plays one of the band’s principle groupies. Who knew she could actually act? Crowe clearly understands the importance that music has for individuals and conveys that passion through the inspired dialogue and killer soundtrack. Having seen this film, I could never listen to Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” without crying just a bit.

#6: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Screenwriter/director Charlie Kauffman is the cinematic artist of the decade. He has created three fascinating portraits of the human brain’s inner workings. It was all I could do not to include all three films on this list. Nevertheless, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, directed by Michel Gondry and staring Jim Carey and Kate Winslet, is the most effective of the three, more confident than either Adaptation or Synecdoche, New York. In the great tradition of romantic comedies, Eternal Sunshine asks the question of what it really means to love someone. Can we ever truly forget those we love, or does their memory remain forever?

#5: Once (2007)
Yes, yet another film about music on my list! Obviously, you can tell where my passions lie. Musicians Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova star in the love story of the decade. Once is the antithesis of all the big budget junk Hollywood shoves in our faces every year. The story of two Irish street musicians who find contentment in one another’s art is small, quiet, and intimate. The film’s soundtrack has carried me emotionally through many a difficult time. If I ever had the opportunity to make a film, Once is the movie I would most want to emulate.

#4: There will be Blood (2007)
Paul Thomas Anderson succeeded in making the greatest American epic since Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. Anderson tells the story of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), an oilman in early 20th century America. He revolutionizes the oil business, but loses his mind in the process. There will be Blood is the kind of messy, larger-than-life film that would make D.W. Griffith proud. Indeed, Anderson explores the connections between capitalism, oil, and religion in a way that is prescient, yet never heavy-handed. The hypermodernistic score by Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood helps set the perfect menacing atmosphere for this tale of madness, big business, and the American psyche.

#3: Talk to Her (2004)
Every once in a while, I have an emotional connection to a film so deep that I can’t quite put it in words. Pedro Almodovar’s Talk to Her represents such a case. The plot is pure soap opera and the film contains so many moments of melodrama that I can’t count them all. But, somehow this intimate parable about the power of art and beauty to transform the human soul gets me every time. This isn’t a film I recommend for everyone, since it covers some dark and twisted territory. But, if you’re willing to take this weird journey with Almodovar, you will be rewarded for your efforts.

#2: Kill Bill (2003-2004)
This is the only time I really “cheat” on the list. Yes, Quentin Tarantino’s martial arts epic was divided into Volume One and Volume Two. While each volume has its own style and story arch, I feel the films are better considered together, since that’s how Tarantino originally conceived of them. Tarantino has said that with Volume One he tried to make the greatest action movie ever made. I’m not sure that I can really argue with him. He uses every cinematic resource available to him to deliver the goods in the Tea Leaf Room massacre scene, one of the most intense action scenes in the history of cinema. Volume Two is more emotional, taking inspiration from the best of Sergio Leone westerns. Tarantino is one of the true artists of the decade, making not only the audacious masterwork that is Kill Bill, but also the challenging and utterly beautiful Inglourious Basterds.

#1: No Country for Old Men (2007)
Any choice for the greatest film of the decade is going to seem absurd by default. How can one summarize all of the filmmaking that took place in a ten-year period and narrow it down to ONE film? This task is impossible, so the choice of the Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men represents my own tastes and sensibilities, not necessarily artistic quality. At its root, the Coen Brothers’ film is simply an incredible thriller. Every single frame contributes to the overall experience of watching this simple story unfold. The Coens manage to keep the tension up without the use of music or heavy-handed visual effects. Javier Bardem plays the villainous role of the decade. I also think that No Country speaks to something about the social and political issues we have faced in the past decade. Not everyone agrees we me, and that’s okay. Whether or not you buy No Country’s philosophical and political explorations, surely we can all agree that it’s one of the most well-made thrillers in recent memory. Then there’s the ending …

Other films from the decade I really, really liked (in more particular order):

Lost in Translation, United 93, The Hurt Locker, Before Sunset, Zodiac, Synecdoche New York, Waking Life, Let the Right One In, Inglourious Basterds, Up in the Air, Brothers, The Lives of Others, The Three Burials of Melquaides Estrada, Pan’s Labyrinth, Munich, Gosford Park, Mystic River, Cache, Ghost World, A History of Violence, Punch-Drunk Love, Grizzly Man, Letters from Iwo Jima, Children of Men, Happy-Go-Lucky, Old Joy, School of Rock, Rachel Getting Married, etc., etc., etc., ...