Naturally, I can't include films I haven't seen, like
The Best of Youth, Bus 174, etc.
So here you go:
10.
Mulholland Drive, David Lynch, 2001
Mind-altering. That's the only way I can describe Lynch's film. You don't go into this one expecting to "figure it out." You go and let the colors, the music, the emotion wash over you like a dream. It shouldn't work: it has characters coming and going without any relation to what's supposed to be the plot; actors changing character in mid-movie; an ending that poses more questions than it answers...but it does work. Somehow, Lynch has concocted a feverish nightmare of a movie that only grows more insane - yet seductive - with each subsequent viewing.
9.
Once, John Carney, 2007
I'm in love with this film and I can't wait to own it. I've already bought all the music I can find from musician and star Glen Hansard. It's such a simple concept: 2 people meet, make music together, and (maybe) fall in love. Every so often a film comes a long and completely captures my imagination.
Once is one of those films.
8.
City of God, Fernando Meirelles, 2002
An astoundingly self-assured and gorgeous film. Harsh, alien and brutal, but also beautiful, funny and life-affirming at the same time. The performances the director coaxes out of his non-professional child actors is remarkable. The real-life brutality of life on the streets in Rio is an eye-opener and one I still can't quite believe reflects real-life, even though I know it does. The fact that is also one of the most fantastic-looking films in recent memory only makes it that much better.
7.
Lost in Translation , Sofia Coppola, 2003
There are films that come along that could only have been made by one person - that's how original and personal they are.
Lost in Translation is one of those films. Coppola's perfect script, minimalist direction, and the knowledge and trust that, yes, this meandering character study is absolutely fascinating, works on a gut level that is inexplicable. It's at once too cool for school and incredibly moving and romantic all at the same time. Murray and Johannson are perfect together and their romance is not in the least creepy. Fantastic film.
6.
Amelie, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001
Some movies are just perfect in their execution; Amelie is that kind of movie. Whimsical, romantic, funny and completely original.
Amelie plays like an adult fairy tale, and it's one I love revisiting over and over. This is how I like to remember Paris, too. Audrey Tatou's Amelie is absolutely nutso but we love her anyway. I've met one or two people who don't like this movie. I've never talked to them again.
5.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, 2002
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2003, Peter Jackson
Fifty years from now I fully expect these three films (and you can't really separate them) to be recognized as classics, on par with
The Wizard of Oz and
Casablanca. They are that good. Jackson and Company created magic, pure and simple. If you really want to see what all the fuss is about, get the three extended version DVDs - you'll actually love that there's even MORE of these films than you thought! The casting was perfect, the special effects revolutionary, and the story was and still is, magic.
4.
Sex and Lucia, Julio Medam, 2001
Forget the fact that star Paz Vega is absolutely luminous (and often naked) in this gem of a Spanish film,
Sex and Lucia is a pure masterpiece of high-definition digital video-making. If you have any doubts that HD is the future of film making, just take a look at this gloriously beautiful film. It's that good. Medam has a novelist's way of spinning a yarn: we go back and forth in time, following "real" characters and "fictional" ones without knowing which is which...it's sexy, romantic and funny...what more could you want from a movie?
3.
Before Sunset , Richard Linklater, 2004
This is a sequel to
Before Sunrise, a film that followed 20-somethings Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke around Vienna over the course of one night, talking and falling in love.
Before Sunset picks up the same twosome 9 years later, meeting in Paris for the first time since their one night long ago. They talk, they walk, they laugh, they cry. No plot. Just magic. Is there a more perfect ending to any movie than Celine's little song she sings to Jesse? Some films make you think, others make you feel. This one does both. Who knew wistful melancholy could be so attractive?
2.
United 93 , Paul Greengrass, 2005
Forget for one moment that this movie is about real events and that it even stars some of the people who went through that awful day in September, 2001...if you were to look at
United 93 as a purely genre film, I don't think you could find another movie that so successfully ratchets up the tension like this one does. I have never been more on the edge of my seat than the last 20 minutes of this movie. It's an astounding accomplishment that Greengrass makes this movie even watchable, let alone how he's made what will most likely be thought of years from now as his masterpiece. It's powerful without being melodramatic, moving without being manipulative. Quite simply, perfect.
1.
In the Mood For Love , Kar Wai Wong, 2000
This film is truly a masterpiece. A love affair between two Taiwanese people in the 60s...told with such a clarity of vision, such masterful framing and editing, such pure passion. From a purely visual sense,
In the Mood For Love might just be the most gorgeous film ever made. But it's more than that. It's romantic in a way that most of us can relate to: that yearning for something we cannot have. Or even when we do have it, it's not quite HOW we want it. I firmly believe that with this film the director and his cinematographer created a new way of looking through the camera. It's that startlingly original.