We are halfway through the 2020s (where did the time go?) and so it seems like an appropriate time to look back at the films that have come out this decade so far. In these 5 years, I have seen over 500 feature films, so making a best of list is going to be difficult. To make things a little easier, on myself, I’m going to expand my normal year end list size from 25 to 50, but that still has me leaving more than 90% of the films I’ve seen this decade off the list. I like including a few statistics with my picks, so included on my list are 2 Best Picture Winners, 1 Palme d’Or winners, 20 features directed by non-men, and 19 non-English films. While many of these blurbs come straight from my thoughts on the year end list in which they originally appeared, some have been edited as my thoughts evolved, and a few of them are completely new entrants as I caught up with the films after my initial publishing.
50. Decision to Leave (2022, Dir. Park Chan-wook)
Park Chan-wook’s foray into neo-noir filmmaking proves that he is a master of all genres with a darker hint to them. Decision to Leave employs many of the genre’s staples: it stars a grizzled detective who falls in love with a femme fatal while attempting to solve a case she is related to. What the film utilizes that separates it from a sea of neo-noirs is a deft hand with melodrama. The melodrama never feels saccharine in Chan-wook’s hands, but they do elevate the attachment to characters and intrigue of the mystery.
49. The Souvenir: Part II (2021, Dir. Joanna Hogg)
While the sequel to my favorite film of 2019 does not quite live up to its predecessor, The Souvenir Part II was still one of the best films of the decade. Taking place in the aftermath of the first film, Joanna Hogg’s semi-autobiographical feature continues with many of the same themes. Julie (Honor Swinton Byrne) struggles to cope with the circumstances that have become her life, but between the support of her mother (played by the actress’s real life mother Tilda Swinton) and the outlet of her passion of filmmaking she persists. The film is a testament to the power we have to recover when guided by those things and people we love.
48. The Quiet Girl (2022, Dir. Colm Bairéad)
The Quiet Girl follows Cáit (Catherine Clinch) one of many siblings living in an overstuffed and impoverished household. Neglected by her family, she struggles in school and altogether lives a poor life. It’s only upon going to spend the summer with distant relatives that she is shown what love is and she begins to flourish. Watching Cáit slowly accept love into her life and emerge from her shell is the highlight of the film. The Quiet Girl manages to capture warmth and familial love in an extremely special way.
47. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2022, Dir. Jane Schoenbrun)
Before their breakout 2024 film I Saw the TV Glow (appearing later on this list), Jane Schoenbrun broke onto the indie filmmaking scene with this exploration of creepy pasta internet culture. Anna Cobb plays Casey, a young girl dives deep into the World’s Fair challenge and engages in the role playing aspects of it online with a mysterious user known as JLB (Michael J Rogers). The film is relatively narrativeless instead consisting largely of youtube clips running into one another, but still is tethered enough to the real world to extract some genuinely emotive performances, especially from the young Cobb. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is a brilliant depiction of what it’s like to be alone in the current world.
46. Infinity Pool (2023, Dir. Brandon Cronenberg)
The best horror film of 2023 continues to prove that Brandon Cronenberg is more than just a nepo baby, he is an excellent film maker with his own style. Infinity Pool lingered with me, the creepy imagery, the complex themes, and especially the supporting performance from Mia Goth. The film is dark and twisted in a way that lingers in the mind for weeks after viewing. Alexander Skarsgård is excellent as the slimy failed author James, and as mentioned, Mia Goth as Gabi is impeccably deranged. The film explores what it means to be human in the most twisted ways imaginable.
45. Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022, Dir. The Daniels)
In their combined follow up to Swiss Army Man (2016) (Daniel Scheinert did have 2019’s The Death of Dick Long as a solo film in between), Daniels delivered a film just as if not more heightened than their feature debut, yet somehow more relatable to the mainstream, so much so that it won the top award at the 2023 Oscars. Everything Everywhere All at Once hinges on the performance of its lead Michelle Yeoh to take audiences on a journey to the edge of the world and to worlds beyond that. Yeoh delivers on those lofty goals and creates a perfect viewer conduit for the wild imaginations of Daniels.
44. Asteroid City (2023, Dir. Wes Anderson)
If you think Wes Anderson’s style is a little bit too much, then this is not the film for you. However, if you want to see Wes Anderson dive into his style headfirst and make the most Wes Anderson film ever, then you need to see Asteroid City. Consisting of multiple layers of storytelling, the film is a complex narrative that I’m still grappling with after only one watch. The innermost layer of the film, the one in color, is filled to the brim with interesting acting decisions and Anderson’s trademark production design. Yet it is the combination with the outer layers that elevate Asteroid City into one of Anderson’s best.
43. Broker (2022, Dir. Hirokazu Koreeda)
Koreeda has been making films since the early 90s, but it’s only really since his 2018 film Shoplifters that the Japanese auteur has become a household name in the US. Broker is the better of his two 2020s films (though I did enjoy 2023’s Monster). The film builds off of Shoplifters’ theme of love between unconventional families, as well as getting by on the edges of society. Mix in a little bit of thrills as two police officers follow the chosen family in hopes of catching them in the act of selling a baby and Broker has a perfect mix of excitement and sincerity.
42. Killers of the Flower Moon (2023, Dir. Martin Scorsese)
It is sacrilege to say this as a cinephile, but Scorsese has never really been my cup of tea. I respect him as a film maker, and I’ve never disliked his movies, they just have not resonated with me the way they do for most. That said Killers of the Flower Moon spoke to me in a way that most of his more recent films have not. While much of the film does fall in the bad men doing bad things that many of his films fall into, the inclusion of Lily Gladstone as Mollie Burkhart won me over. By centering on the victim, he made a film that resonated much more with me. Scorsese’s undeniable prowess with directing combined with a sympathetic co-lead make this one of his best films. I only wish that Gladstone appeared on screen more.
41. West Side Story (2021, Dir. Steven Spielberg)
The only reason to remake West Side Story was to correct the racist casting choices made by the 1961 original, and yet despite the superfluousness of the film’s existence, Steven Spielberg delivered a masterpiece that (I’ll say it) surpasses the original. The 2021remake’s best feature is the cinematography. Janusz Kaminski’s camerawork acts as an additional dancer in all of the music numbers as it glides through the scenes in a masterful way. While Ansel Elgort might not be the most charismatic Tony to ever play the part, the cast around him is excellent and imbue the film with so much life that the film stays relevant despite the history of its predecessor.
40. Shirley (2020, Dir. Josephine Decker)
I said the same thing the previous year with respect to her performance in Her Smell (Alex Ross Perry), but Elisabeth Moss is a genuine movie star and really needs to be recognized for more than just her television work. In her most recent film, she plays the acclaimed horror writer, the titular Shirley Jackson who is at an apparent low point in her life. Co-star Odessa Young plays Rose, Shirley’s temporary caretaker and is also outstanding in the film. The two play off each other exploring the power dynamics between the haves and have nots. Even when Shirley is bedridden and Rose should be in complete control, Moss’s acting clearly identifies that this is never the case. No matter how mentally unstable Shirley is, she is always manipulating the situation until she has complete control over Rose’s mind.
39. Girl Picture (2022, Dir. Alli Haapasalo)
I don’t have a great explanation for why this Finnish lesbian romance is so high on my list, but upon leaving the theater after watching it I was all smiles. The film’s focus on female friendship and a young lesbian romance was refreshing in a heteronormative movie landscape. Mimmi‘s (Aamu Milonoff) volatile nature as she gets in fights at school, messes around at work, and falls in and out and back in love make her the standout performance, but all three young leads are remarkable in their honesty.
38. How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2023, Dir. Danile Goldhaber)
We’ve reached the point in our climate dystopia where our films can paint ecoterrorists as both the protagonists of a film and completely in the right. How to Blow Up a Pipeline is an incredibly tense thriller about a band of people whom all for different reasons believe that the destruction of an oil pipeline in Texas will serve their causes. Goldhaber cuts back and forth between the ecoterrorists’ past that motivated them to join this cause with the building of bombs and act of blowing up the pipeline. The film is remarkable in its ability to build tension and speak to a necessary issue in today’s world.
37. The Assistant (2020, Dir. Kitty Green)
The Assistant was the last film that I saw in theaters before the lockdown, and it was also the first great film I saw that year. Kitty Green managed to create an impressively tense drama for those with the patience to watch it. Rocking the impressive 92% to 25% critic to audience score on Rotten tomatoes, The Assistant is a perfect encapsulation of where my tastes differ from the average movie going public. I’m not looking for spectacle (not that there is anything wrong with looking for it in your entertainment); instead, I’m looking for subtle nuances that provoke a more genuine emotional response from me. Actor Julia Garner as Jane portrays the helplessness of a young woman attempting to navigate a workplace predisposed to cover for her boss’s indiscretions. Every moment of the film is poignant in its ability to express awfulness without explicitly showing anything.
36. Parallel Mothers (2021, Dir. Pedro Almodóvar)
The 2021 Almodóvar film leans heavily into his melodramatic roots to deliver a film that could be a season long plotline for soap opera but was also effectively emotional. Almodóvar continues to be a master of his craft as every second of the film has his fingerprints on them. Actresses Penélope Cruz and Milena Smit are wonderful as Janis and Ana two women who become entangled after giving birth on the same day. Their interplay helps to temper the absurdity of the screen play and deliver something emotionally devastating and believable.
35. Anatomy of a Fall (2023, Dir. Justine Triet)
The Palme winning Anatomy of a Fall cemented itself this year as one of the greatest courtroom dramas in cinema history. Sandra Hüller is impeccable as a wife who is under suspicion of killing her husband. She skirts the line in her performance such that the audience can never be certain if she is innocent or guilty. Much of that uncertainty is also due to Triet’s remarkable direction. The use of audio recordings of a fight between Hüller’s Sandra and her husband Samuel (Samuel Theis) is a linchpin of the film. It both represents a possible motive for Sandra and questions if normal marital fights can be used to incriminate. Triet delivers a complex picture of marriage and the court system.
34. Vortex (2022, Dir. Gaspar Noé)
If provocateur Gaspar Noé releases a film it will indubitably make my year end list, and Vortex is no different, even though this one has a much more somber tone than his standard fair. The film utilizes a unique dual screen setup to capture the day-to-day goings on of a couple dealing with the women’s onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Notably, Italian auteur Dario Argento plays one of the leads in a stunning declaration that he can act just as well as make excellent films. Like many of Noé’s films Vortex is a brutal watching, this time just for more emotional reasons.
33. A Thousand and One (2023, Dir. A.V. Rockwell)
Sundance Grand Jury: Narrative winner A Thousand and One snuck up on me for how good it was. Similar to 2016’s Moonlight (Dir. Barry Jenkins), A Thousand and One explores the Black experience of a young man through various points in his life. Rockwell’s film, however, uses these time skips to show the evolving relationship between a boy and his mother played wonderfully by Teyana Taylor. Her performance is one of the best of the year it came out, as she manages to capture Inez’s change over the decade while still making each era feel like the same person, just with more years of experience. I’d also like to call out Gary Gunn’s score for the film which was my favorite of that year.
32. Gunda (2021, Dir. Viktor Kosakovskiy)
Ranking films can be difficult when exploring all aspects of cinema, and Gunda is a perfect encapsulation of why. The narrativeless, dialogueless, black and white, experimental documentary is about the life of animals on a Norwegian farm, specifically the pig Gunda. While completely different from every other film on this list (Andrea Arnold’s Cow made a year end list but not this one), the filmmaking is undeniable and it deserves to be recognized. By setting the camera at eye level to the young piglets (mere inches above the ground) the film captures the essence of the animals and brings life into them without unnecessary storytelling and personification.
31. One Fine Morning (2022, Dir. Mia Hansen-Løve)
While I had been familiar with her since her Cannes winning performance in Blue is the Warmest Color, Léa Seydoux cemented herself as one of the best actors working today in this decade, and her work with Mia Hansen-Løve, a favorite director of mine, is her best of the decade thus far. Like most of Hansen-Løve’s films, One Fine Morning is a realistic depiction of women and the intermingling of their love lives with the additional complications in their lives. In this film, Sandra (Seydoux) must balance an ailing father with a fling with an old friend all while being a single mother. Simple yet poignant the film delivers what I love in present day French cinema, and Hansen-Løve is a large part of why that scene is as powerful as it is.
30. Another Round (2020, Dir. Thomas Vinterberg)
Mads Mikkelsen drunkenly dancing at the end of this film is the most fun 3 minutes I had in 2020 movies and succinctly encapsulates the themes of Another Round. Mikkelsen’s Martin and his friends have been playing a dangerous game where they attempted to live life at constant state of inebriation. As one would expect, this has some negative consequences for the group, but it also leads them to some of the highest highs they’ve had in their middle life. Mikkelsen’s jubilant dancing at the end reflects the urge to return to the bottle and chase those highs once more. Vinterberg refuses to deny the enjoyment his characters receive through their self-destructive habit.
29. Nomadland (2020, Dir. Chloé Zhao)
The best picture winner for the year of the pandemic may not have aged as well in that time as I would have thought (it was my number 1 film of the year when I released my year end list in January 2021, but now lags behind a few contemporaries), yet there is no denying that the film still is magnificent. After the success of Nomadland Zhao was gobbled up by the studio system and made one of the most unique (though largely panned) Marvel films, but that just goes to show how distinctive a voice she has behind the camera. Frances McDormand and Nomadland were the perfect vehicle for Zhao’s sensibilities, and the decision to use otherwise non-actors was more than a publicity casting as it highlighted the naturalistic tendencies that Zhao heavily utilizes.
28. Cyrano (2021, Dir. Joe Wright)
The film that grew in my estimation the most so far this decade, was Joe Wright’s musical adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac. While Peter Dinklage may not be the most acclaim worthy singer to headline a musical in the 2020s, his performance in central to why Cyrano is in my opinion this decade’s best musical. The story is tried and true as it’s been adapted to screen numerous times, but this version captures the magic like few others do. Cyrano’s passion for Roxanne (Haley Bennett) and want for her to be happy makes for a great bit of camaraderie between him and Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), and Joe Wright’s trademark visual flare enhances the classic tale just enough to make the film sing.
27. Return to Seoul (2022, Dir. Davy Chou)
While I may have aged out of my twenties (by more than I care to admit), the depiction of a twentysomething person wandering through life in search of meaning still resonates with my soul, and Return to Seoul was one of the best entrants in that genre. Park Ji-min as the French Korean Freddie perfectly captures that feeling as she explores South Korea, a place where despite being from she has no connection. The distance she exhibits when reconnecting with her biological father and resistance to creating a relationship with him rings true as priorities change from generation to generation, and Freddie’s interests lie more in drinking and enjoying her youth than falling into the confines of familial ties.
26. Women Talking (2022, Dir. Sarah Polley)
While many criticized the film for being too play-like (the camera seldom leaves a single barn), Sarah Polley captured something special in her long-awaited follow-up to the 2012 documentary Stories We Tell. Starring a real who’s who of great female actresses, Women Talking uses a Mennonite community to tell a story of rampant patriarchal abuse in present day without the film feeling preachy. This near present day setting acts as a constant reminder that as far as we’ve come, the trappings still exist all around us. Each of the adult women are given large meaty parts to bring the audience into the lives these women lead, and they all succeed in the most literally titled film on this list.
25. The Zone of Interest (2023, Dir. Jonathan Glazer)
The second of Sandra Hüller’s Oscar worth performances that year, Jonathan Glazer’s follow up to the haunting 2014 Under the Skin is no less shaking. Taking place in an estate sharing a wall with Auschwitz, The Zone of Interest manages to capture the horrors of the Holocaust without showing a single frame of the violence inflicted upon its victims. Instead, everything is conveyed through sound design and the acting of the guilty family. The sound design is particularly remarkable, and it winning the best sound Oscar for its year was the best thing the Academy did all decade. While the sound design may be the most apparent standout of the film, the entire thing is meticulously put together in a way to leave the viewer in devastated silence.
24. The Blue Caftan (2023, Dir. Maryam Touzani)
What at its heart is a love triangle film between a married couple and the worker they hire to work at their apparel shop, The Blue Caftan is an exceptionally warm watch that can’t help but fill the viewer with love. While Youssef (Ayoub Missioui) would be seen as in interloping home wrecker in most films, here he and his relationship with Halim (Saleh Bakri) is understood by Halim’s wife Mina (Lubna Azabal) and the three of them end up in a familial relationship where each clearly cares about the rest. A complex romance, The Blue Caftan was an amazing watch that stuck with me even as a mid-SIFF watch.
23. The Eternal Daughter (2022, Dir. Joanna Hogg)
The third feature in director Joanna Hogg’s Souvenir series adopts a more mysterious tone than its grounded predecessors. It also trades a mother daughter casting choice of Tilda Swinton and Honor Swinton Byrne for dual roles for Tilda as both mother and daughter. While the film is full of Hogg’s trademark slow conversations with meaning carefully hidden behind meticulously chosen dialogue, the aforementioned changes lead to a single static shot that’s the most emotional moments of the year (at least that doesn’t come from the next film).
22. Sing Sing (2024, Dir. Greg Kwedar)
For all the accolades I will sing for the distribution studio A24, Sing Sing was one of the largest failures in their tenure. Not because the movie is bad, obviously as it has made my top 10 of the year, but because they completely botched the distribution of the film. It never even came close to opening wide which likely cost it quite a few Oscar nominations. That said, even a baffeling distribution model shouldn’t be enough to deny Colman Domingo his second consecutive Oscar nomination as the enigmatic prisoner John Divine Whitfield. The film headlined by Domingo imparts the importance of art programs in correctional facilities to the wider public and is an essential film in humanizing the incarcerated population.
21. The Breaking Ice (2024, Dir. Anthony Chen)
One of the least seen films on this list, The Breaking Ice touched me in a way that I was ill-prepared for. Li Haofeng (Haoran Liu) is a twenty something man lost in the world. He is constantly receiving calls from his therapist’s office concerned that he hasn’t shown up to his session and seems unsure of what his life is for. While out of town for the wedding of a college friend, he ends up in the company of a tour guide Nana (Dongyu Zhou) and her friend Han Xiao (Chuxiao Qu). The three of them create an immediate friendship that hovers in the liminal space between platonic and romantic and brought my depressed self a lot of hope in the cold winter.
20. The Worst Person in the World (2021, Dir. Joachim Trier)
The 2022 Oscars marked a paradigm shift for international features with two of the films (The Worst Person in the World and another film which will be arriving later on this list) breaking out of the specific category and making an appearance in multiple categories. Like the aforementioned Return to Seoul, The Worst Person in the World is another entry into the young adult lost in the world genre that I love so much. Renate Reinsve plays Julie as this film’s lost protagonist. What makes this genre special is how new the feeling seems to be as the millennials were the first generation to have it worse than their parents and Trier captures that cosmic confusion in his film.
19. Spencer (2021, Dir. Pablo Larraín)
I have said it many times before, but I will say it again: “Kristen Stewart is the best actress of her generation”. Her portrayal of Princess Diana is poignant, as she captures the agony and unrest that Diana was undergoing while contemplating divorcing Prince Charles. While Larraín’s direction is magnificent, and the costuming and production design enhance the film, Stewart’s performance is the reason to watch Spencer. Much like with Jackie (2016) and Natalie Portman, Larraín does just enough to let his lead actress convey the breadth of emotions during a trying time.
18. Bergman Island (2021, Dir. Mia Hansen-Løve)
In this outing, director Mia Hansen-Løve delivers another superb picture featuring her strength of capturing interpersonal relationships. Like in all her previous pictures, she creates characters with an emotional depth that is front and center to the story. Bergman Island chooses to explore this complexity by utilizing the titular stunt location as well as a movie-within-a-movie trope. Both feed into her story seamlessly, build upon the wonderful character depth. The film is subtle and warm in its depiction of love and the complexities of relationships and honest in its focus on the creative process.
17. First Cow (2020, Dir. Kelly Reichardt)
First Cow is actually one of my least favorite Kelly Reichardt films, but even a middling Reichardt film is easily one of the best films of the decade. Cookie played wonderfully by John Magaro is one of the most sympathetic characters to ever be brought to screen. He’s just a young man with domestic sensibilities trapped on the frontier. Magaro captures the kindhearted Cookie by portraying him as extremely soft-spoken and caring. Even when he and his friend King-Lu (Orion Lee) start stealing milk to bake cakes for profit, it’s clear that King-Lu is doing so for the freedom the capital will bring the pair while Cookie just loves cooking for his fellow man. He wants nothing more than to be in the service industry. Even if the two men have slightly different goals, Reichardt manages to recapture the spark from one of her first films Old Joy (2006) by delivering a tranquil tale of male friendship devoid of machismo posturing.
16. Nickel Boys (2024, Dir. RaMell Ross)
Shot almost entirely in first person, RaMell Ross’s devastating examination of the criminalization of Black boys, is a masterwork. Chronicling the friendship of two Black boys, Elwood (Ethan Herisse) and Turner (Brandon Wilson), who meet in Nickel Academy, a reform school for criminal youth with a sordid secret Nickel Boys pushes the boundaries of the medium to induce sympathy for its two subjects. By putting oneself directly in the eyes of the dual protagonists, one is able to empathize with the unjust lot in life they received. Early on the film plays loose with narrative structure playing only short clips over long periods in time, but once Elwood enters Nickel and meets Turner, the film takes a somewhat more narratively structured approach and is stronger for it.
15. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (2024, Dir. Radu Jude)
At nearly three hours long, this Romanian film will most assuredly not be for everyone, especially as Angela’s (Ilinca Manolache) alter-ego Bobita is tailor made to be a turn off, but the brashness of the film and its lead are essential to the feel of the film. Jude’s film can be seen as a hit piece against capitalistic tendencies and the corporations that have complete control over a working-class person’s ability to survive in the world. Overworked and underpaid, Angela is put face to face with the people whose lives her bosses directly negatively impacted, but in need of her paycheck she escapes into short videos under her assumed male chauvinist identity as a reprieve from the world crumbling around her.
14. Shiva Baby (2021, Dir. Emma Seligman)
The first feature of director Emma Seligman was part of a pattern of great first films by non-male directors this decade. The comedy balances being genuinely funny with being one of the tensest watches of the year. Highlighted by a disconcerting score by Ariel Marx, Shiva Baby captures to suffocating feeling that family functions can have, especially when one has a secret to keep. While the tension can flirt with uncomfortable levels at times, the absurdity of Danielle’s (Rachel Sennott) situation and a reliable joke line from her father adds just the right amount of humor and levity to the stressful circumstances.
13. Licorice Pizza (2021, Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
The closest to a perfect film that 2021 had to offer, the newest work by auteur Paul Thomas Anderson is an unconventional love story between two people who really should not be in love. The episodic style of the film serves the romance between Gary (Cooper Hoffman) and Alana (Alana Haim) well. It allows it to develop gradually. In addition to being a sweet story of first love, Licorice Pizza is an extremely funny film. Most of Anderson’s films have a level of humor to them, but it is in the forefront here more than any of his other films.
12. All We Imagine as Light (2024, Dir. Payal Kapadia)
Something needs to be done about the best international film category at the Oscars because countries refuse to put forward their best films (especially India between this and RRR in 2022) leaving them unable to be nominated thus denying them of the recognition that they deserve. All We Imagine as Light is a wonderful picture following three women living on their own in Mumbai. Directed by a woman, Payal Kapadia, the film captures the intimacy between female friendship and its universality even if not more so existent in a country where women’s rights to independence, especially in making their romantic decisions, is less common.
11. The Taste of Things (2023, Dir. Anh Hung Tran)
While talking about the problems of the best international film category at the Oscars, many people point to The Taste of Things as another offender as it likely prevented Anatomy of a Fall from winning the Oscar, and yet I’m here to tell you that France was right to submit The Taste of Things as its submission that year, it is the better film. Part love story and part food porn, Juliette Binoche is once again perfect in this film as an estate cook who works for her lover the chef Dodin Bouffant (Benoît Magimel), yet despite her subservient position and the norms of the era maintains an unprecedented level of independence. Likely the most romantic film I’ve seen this decade, director Anh Hung Tran created something masterful that deserves to be more than a fun fact related to Oscar submissions.
10. Memoria (2021, Dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
The Jury Prize winner at the first Cannes back after the pandemic, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria is both another in a long line of similar films by him and the first one to really resonate with me. Maybe it’s the casting of Tilda Swinton who makes yet another appearance on this list, but Memoria captured me more than his other films despite sharing the plodding nature of his other films. The film was originally set to not be released for home viewing as Weerasethakul wanted the film to only be seen on the big screen, and while I do wish I had been able to there I’m just glad I had any chance to see it. The film set a momentous tone for the first slot in the top 10 of the decade thus far.
9. Drive My Car (2021, Dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)
The three hour, Japanese, slow burn narrative may be a hard sell to many, but the film is an example of the lasting impact that cinema can have on a person. After the lengthy prologue (the opening credits appear at the forty-minute mark), the film settles into its pattern for the remainder of the film. Yûsuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) attends practice for the play he is directing and then rides in the car contemplating life while Misaki (Tôko Miura) drives him. This may not seem like much especially considering the length of the film, but the repetitive nature of these moments allows the audience to share in Yûsuke’s reflections and develop a strong bond with each character.
8. Small Axe: Lovers Rock (2020, Dir. Steve McQueen)
Likely the greatest piece of art to come out of 2020 was Steve McQueen’s Small Axe mini-series of features, and while Mangrove was a great courtroom drama, Lovers Rock is the great Steve McQueen film of the set. When I think about McQueen’s body of work, I instinctively think of long scenes. Examples being the 17-minute scene of Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender) talking to the priest (Rory Mullen) in Hunger (2008) and of Chiwetel Ejiofor tiptoeing to avoid asphyxiation in 12 Years a Slave (2013). Rather than those two though, Lovers Rock long scene instead harkens back to a scene from my personal favorite McQueen film Shame (2012) where Carey Mulligan extends the 3-minute Frank Sinatra Classic to nearly 5. This extended cut of the song is almost painful in it’s beauty, and the same can be said with the Janet Kay’s ‘Silly Games’ scene in Lovers Rock. The 3 ½-minute song is looped and extended to 10 full minutes which is likely not something that would have ever happened in the reggae party depicted. It’s in that fantasy space, however, that the film transports us into the room. We feel the sublime joy of the party goers as they find a momentary escape from the prejudiced world on the other side of the sweltering walls housing the party.
7. All of Us Strangers (2023, Dir. Andrew Haigh)
One of the last films I saw in my 2023 film catch up, All of Us Strangers came awfully close to being my number one. The film is an exploration of a man’s struggles with his queerness due in large part to never being able to tell his parents who he was. Haigh lets Adam (Andrew Scott) process that longing by creating a world where his parents still live in their childhood home having never aged since they passed when he was 12. These scenes are intercut with his burgeoning relationship with Harry (Paul Mescal) which grows as Adam is able to process his identity with his late parents. The film hit me especially hard as a queer person who is struggling with processing her past, but even without that personal connection the film would rank high on this list.
6. Past Lives (2023, Dir. Celine Song)
I managed to catch Celine Song’s directorial debut at the opening night gala for SIFF (The Seattle International Film Festival) and while she could not directly talk about her captivating screenplay – it was the midst of the writer’s strike – one couldn’t help but see the brilliance in her that lead to such a perfect screenplay and perfect movie as she addressed the pack room of viewers stunned in silence. Past Lives is both a romance and not at the same time. It captures the longing that exists when considering the potential loves that we never had, and how even when we are happy in our current lives those memories persist. Greta Lee is revelatory as a woman who is happy in her current life, married to a man she loves, but is taken by the remembrance of a boy she used to know. The movie feels like the inverse of Linklater’s Before films and deserves to be seen with the same reverence.
5. The Brutalist (2024, Dir. Brady Corbet)
Sometimes upon first viewing of a film, I don’t think anything special of it, yet even without a subsequent viewing it lodges itself in my mind and refuses to budge greatly increasing in my opinion throughout the years. This is what happened with director Brady Corbet’s previous film, Vox Lux. That film still haunts me six plus years after its release. The Brutalist I feel will have a likewise long lifespan in my mind, though this one hit with me immediately. This three-and-a-half-hour epic, complete with overture and intermission, explores the impact trauma has on oneself and the processing of said trauma through art. Beautifully shot and scored, The Brutalist feels akin to a dream, with fictional architect László Tóth’s building being impossible to comprehend in its scope and layout.
4. Never Rarely Sometime Always (2020, Dir. Eliza Hittman)4
A trick to making it near the top of one of my year end list is to make me sob uncontrollably, yet not feel exploitative when doing so. Never Rarely Sometimes Always accomplished that multiple times in its runtime. The most obvious instance of this happening is during the scene from which the film takes its name. Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) is sitting in a planned parenthood office to get an abortion. We know that she is pregnant, but we don’t know much in the way of the details about how it happened. When the nurse asks the standard questionnaire for which Autumn is to answer with one of the words in the film’s title, we learn that the circumstances of the teenager’s sex life are more insidious than careless. As the questions become more personal and cut deeper Flanigan’s performance turns tragic. Instead of answering all she can do is cry, all the viewer can do is cry, all I can do simply remembering this scene is cry.
3. Tár (2022, Dir. Todd Field)
I’m an auteurist at heart, I believe most films are a product of their director first and foremost, but TÁR is one of those few exceptions. TÁR is 100% Cate Blanchett’s film. The film focuses on one of our greatest working actors for the entire three-hour duration of the film while she slowly begins to reckon with the decisions she’s made over the course of her career. Blanchett’s perfectly captures the fictional composer who exudes charisma while preparing for a new performance and pursuing affairs.
2. I Saw the TV Glow (2024, Dir. Jane Schoenbrun)
In their newest release, Jane Schoenbrun takes the power of nostalgia and uses it as a jumping off point to make one of the most poignant allegories for the trans experience ever committed to celluloid (yes I double checked, it was shot on film). Owen (played by Ian Foreman while young and Justice Smith after) and Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) are both outsiders who bond over a teenage TV show called the Pink Opaque. Their experiences with the show take on a surreal quality and end up existing as a hazy memory but are essential to their being. While Owen’s journey takes a dark turn due to personal inaction, the film’s enduring image is the message “there is still time” written in sidewalk chalk on the street in suburbia. This sentiment leaves the viewer with the hope that it’s never too late to live one’s truth.
1. Aftersun (2022, Dir. Charlotte Wells)
Number one with a bullet, the directorial debut of Charlotte Wells is a meandering memory captured largely on standard def camcorder. What makes Aftersun so special is the underlying emotionality of the film. What may look like just home movies of a father/daughter trip to a Turkish resort takes on a much deeper meaning because of the implications of the present. It’s likely that this is the last time the two main characters ever saw each other and witnessing their personal mostly, but not completely, hidden feelings feels like prying into things which should never be shared. Calum (Paul Mescal) is doing everything in his power to create a wonderful memory for Sophie (newcomer Frankie Corio), but his personal dramas have a way of seeping out in a way that affects Sophie for years to come. Aftersun is the best cinema had to offer in its year, and is the best film of the decade thus far.
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