The Real 100 Best Films Of The 21st Century, Part Two
Continuing the survey that originally ran in The New European.
79) Persepolis (2007); 79 on the Guardian’s list
…or the comic-book movie it’s alright to like. No, you won’t find any mutants here, just the utterly beguiling story of an Iranian girl growing up amidst a revolution. A great film then, but we feel our list’s a place where the art house can happily lie down with the multiplex.
78) The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Critics could do worse than classify action movies as Before Bourne and After Bourne. The amnesiac spy who caused James Bond to rethink his MO, Jason Bourne’s third and best outing is a surprising omission from the Guardian survey given who Paddy Considine’s crusading journalist writes for…
77) Lost In Translation (2003); 77 on the Guardian’s list
Pauline Kael believed Bill Murray was one of the best reasons for going to the movies. With Sofia Coppola’s semi-autobiographical look at the comfort of strangers, the Murray-cane – gathering strength since Wes Anderson’s Rushmore (1998) – blew away the likes of BAFTA, so transforming the Ghostbuster into an art cinema male lead.
76) My Summer Of Love (2004)
Cold War, Ida, Last Resort – Pawel Pawlikowski has hit his mark repeatedly this century. We’re including Summer… partly because it feels like it’s been forgotten but mainly because a coming-of-age story set against a backdrop of religious repression is as hard a combination to resist as Emily Blunt and Natalie Press.
75) A History Of Violence (2005)
If this is what happens when David Cronenberg adapts a graphic novel, you can understand why Marvel haven’t called. Hard to watch but impossible to look away from, this is a story of hard-fought redemption and the shadow cast by the past, with a smidgen of Cronenberg body horror thrown in for good measure.
74) A Prophet (2009); 74 on the Guardian’s list
I was torn between including this or The Beat That My Heart Skipped, director Jacques Audiard’s breathtaking remake of the James Toback movie Fingers. The latter is that rare retread that threatens to outdo the original. A Prophet, however, showcases a performance from Tahar Rahim that’s the equal of anything on this list.
73) Waltz With Bashir (2008); 72 on the Guardian’s list
How do you look at an age-old conflict with new eyes? In the case of serviceman-turned-filmmaker Ari Folman, you interview fellow veterans of Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, then animate their reminiscences. Sometimes dream-like, often nightmarish, Waltz With Bashir is a dazzling dance with death.
72) OJ: Made In America (2016)
From his college days to his pro career to his stint in Hollywood to that fateful night in Brentwood, Los Angeles, and all points before and beyond, this Oscar-winning addition to ESPN’s 30 For 30 strand runs to eight hours. That it never outstays its welcome is as remarkable as the film’s subject is repugnant.
71) The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (2007)
After announcing his presence with Aussie gangster drama Chopper, Andrew Dominik took a swing at a different sort of bad guy. With Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck superb in their respective title roles, it’s amazing how some consider Jesse James slow and boring – presumably people who are strangers to words like ‘poetic’ and ‘elegiac’.
69=) Paddington (2014)
Paddington 2 (2017)
If the bear’s second movie outing is slightly better, it’s because of its abundant goodwill and the all singin’-all dancin’ Hugh Grant. But there would be no follow-up without Paul King’s wonderful original which has so much to say about the good of the immigrant, Evan Davis brought it up with Nigel Farage on Newsnight.
68) Hell Or High Water (2016)
And lo, a rip in time occurred through which fell one of the finest films of the 1970s, so leading to its being released in 2016. Directed by Glaswegian David Mackenzie, it’s no exaggeration to say that this is a film Don Siegel would’ve been proud to put his name to.
67) 25th Hour (2002)
To date the best film made about 9/11, Spike Lee’s movie is really about the state of the States. Through the eyes of Edward Norton’s jail-bound drug dealer we see what’s become of America. Lee’s jaundiced worldview, meanwhile, suggests it’s not just Ed that needs to fear the future.
66) Brokeback Mountain (2005); 66 on the Guardian’s list
Remember the fuss about Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger being cast as gay cowboys? Jeez, you’d have thought the pair were signing their lives away. Of course, the only question worth asking about Brokeback Mountain nowadays is how the hell did it lose out to Crash at the Oscars?
65) Under The Skin (2013); 4 on the Guardian’s list
From Sexy Beast director Jonathan Glazer comes this story of a young woman scouting for boys on the streets of Glasgow. Scarlett Johansson’s billing as ‘The Female’ recalls the chauvinism of Olde Hollywood. Hers, however, is a fascinating career, taking in the biggest of movies plus understated gems like Under The Skin.
64) WALL-E (2008)
Arguably Pixar’s pinnacle, WALL-E is as amusing and affecting as its title character. The greatest silent comedian this side of Nick Park’s Gromit, WALL-E has so much depth and dimension, it’s hard to believe he is but lines of code. Best enjoyed on a double-bill with Silent Running.
63) We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011); 63 on the Guardian’s list
In which can be found so many of the best things about 21st century cinema. From Lynne Ramsay to Tilda Swinton to Ezra Miller, this is so much more than a film about a high-school massacre. That it’s also that makes it more devastating than even the most catastrophic disaster movie.
62) The Babadook (2014)
Hats off to Jennifer Kent for creating a new kind of movie monster. Of course, the pop-up book character that plagues Essie Davis’ widow and her troubled son is probably a figment of their fraught imaginations. If not, how does he manage to phone them up with his huge, button-mashing talons?
61) The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
He’s a miserable old sod, Tommy Lee Jones, but he’s good value both in front of and behind the camera. This existential western bares echoes of Peter Fonda’s The Hired Hand and the quieter moments of Sam Peckinpah’s cinema. As soulful and inscrutable as Tommy Lee himself.
60) Hot Fuzz (2007)
Twenty years on from Spaced, Edgar Wright remains among the freshest and friendliest faces on the British film landscape. We’ve an appetite for the Cornetto Trilogy as a whole but who can resist a Somerset action thriller, especially one which proves that all’s well that ends Wells?
59) Brotherhood Of The Wolf (2001)
“Oh why, oh why aren’t there more period martial arts werewolf movies?” That’s what you’ll be saying come the end of Christophe Gans’ everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink take on the Beast of Gévaudan affair. Proof that too much doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing.
58) Red Road (2006)
Now celebrated for casting a black Heathcliff and wrangling Shia LaBeouf, Andrea Arnold graduated to features with this account of a CCTV operator confronting her past. That the cream of Scottish acting signed up for the picture speaks volumes for the director, a woman who’s come a very long way from No.73.
57) Meek’s Cutoff (2010); 39 on the Guardian list
Kelly Reichardt’s picture attracted a lot of attention upon its release for being a western directed by a woman. Nine years on, it can be finally enjoyed on its own merits as a movie whose mood and authenticity are such, you expect Warren Oates and LQ Jones to walk into shot at any moment.
56) Conspiracy (2001)
In which the Final Solution is hashed out over drinks and nibbles. As senior SS official Reinhard Heydrich, Kenneth Branagh encourages, charms and cajoles the Nazi high command to come round to his way of thinking. Produced by HBO, this is the bar against which all television movies should be measured.
55) Russian Ark (2002); 55 on the Guardian list
A single-take historical tour of the Hermitage Museum, Aleksandr Sokurov’s picture is a wonderful advert for stunt film-making. Shot in one day, its both an incredible technical achievement and an ambitious stab at historical drama. The making-of doc In One Breath only increases your admiration for the film and its creator.
54) Toni Erdmann (2016); 44 on the Guardian list
The film that reminded the world Germany had a sense of humour – that’s how Maren Ade’s comedy-drama was greeted on its release. The truth of the matter is that most German movies, let alone German comedies, never make it to the English-speaking world. Ade’s movie will leave you wishing this wasn’t the case.
53) Precinct Seven Five (2014)
In the 1980s, Mike Dowd and Ken Eurell were both big wheels in the Brooklyn underworld. They were also police officers. Tiller Russell’s documentary feels like fiction and plays like a crime thriller. A dramatised television version is in the offing. It’ll have a hard time out-muscling the real-life original.
52) Amores Perros (2000); 52 on the Guardian’s list
He’s won four Oscars, has Alejandro González Iñárritu. That none of these were for his first feature is rather unfair since it’s the equal of The Revenant and a more satisfying movie than the brave but overrated Birdman. But then, as the film’s title has it, ‘Life’s a bitch’.
51) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000); 51 on the Guardian’s list
The wuxia revival began here! At least, it did in the West. Movies about ‘martial heroes’ have seldom been out of style in the East. It took someone with a foot in each camps – the Taiwanese-born, NYU-educated Ang Lee – to introduce the wider world to China’s take on the superhero movie.
50) Before Midnight (2013)
Oh, I don’t like it when mummy and daddy fight. To see Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy’s love-struck kids transformed into bickering adults with children of their own is honest and heart-breaking in equal measure. And so concludes the greatest trilogy of the decade. That doesn’t star Viggo Mortensen.