TEN BEST FILMS OF THE 2000s

By: Jordan Cronk

NOTE: These films are listed in order of their American theatrical release dates. Also, as many of these filmmakers have multiple superlative works worthy of inclusion, you can consider a number of these selections as representative of entire bodies of work. Thus, SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY (2007) should just as easily be recognized as MYSTERIOUS OBJECT AT NOON (2001), BLISSFULLY YOURS (2002) or TROPICAL MALADY (2005), while PLATFORM (2003) may be seen as analogous to UNKNOWN PLEASURES (2003), THE WORLD (2005) or STILL LIFE (2008), just as IN VANDA’S ROOM (2000) should be viewed as comparable to WHERE DOES YOUR HIDDEN SMILE LIE? (2005) or COLOSSAL YOUTH (2007). And so on.

Other honorable mentions include (in alphabetical order): 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS (Mungiu; 2008); ADAPTATION. (Jonze; 2002); A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (Spielberg; 2001); THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (Dominik; 2007); BEAU TRAVAIL (Denis; 2000); CACHE (Haneke; 2005); THE CIRCLE (Panahi; 2001); COME AND GO (Monteiro; 2003); THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU (Puiu; 2006); DEMONLOVER (Assayas; 2003); DISTANT (Ceylan; 2003); DOGVILLE (Von Trier; 2004); ELEPHANT (Van Sant; 2003); L’ENFANT (Dardenne; 2006); EUREKA (Aoyama; 2001); EVOLUTION OF A FILIPINO FAMILY (Diaz; 2004); FAT GIRL (Briellat; 2001); GRIZZLY MAN (Herzog; 2005); A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (Cronenberg; 2005); THE HEADLESS WOMAN (Martel; 2005); I’M NOT THERE (Haynes; 2007); IN PRAISE OF LOVE (Godard; 2002); IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (Wong; 2001); I’M GOING HOME (Oliveira; 2002); LA LIBERTAD (Alonso; 2001); MEMORIES OF MURDER (Bong; 2005); MY WINNIPEG (Maddin; 2008); THE NEW WORLD (Malick; 2005); NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Coen; 2007); POLICE, ADJECTIVE (Porumboiu; 2009); RR (Benning; 2007); SARABAND (Bergman; 2005); SILENT LIGHT (Reygadas; 2009); SPIRITED AWAY (Miyazaki; 2002); TARNATION (Caouette; 2004); THERE WILL BE BLOOD (Anderson; 2007); THREE TIMES (Hou; 2006); TURNING GATE (Hong; 2002); WENDY & LUCY (Reichardt; 2008); ZODIAC (Fincher; 2007).

• 01
  In Vanda's Room
  Pedro Costa
• 02
  The Wind Will Carry Us
  Abbas Kiarostami
• 03
  Yi Yi: A One and a Two
  Edward Yang
• 04
  Mulholland Drive
  David Lynch
• 05
  Werckmeister Harmonies
  Béla Tarr
• 06
  Russian Ark
  Aleksandr Sokurov
• 07
  Platform
  Jia Zhangke
• 08
  Goodbye, Dragon Inn
  Tsai Ming-liang
• 09
  Los Angeles Plays Itself
  Thom Andersen
• 10
  Syndromes and a Century
  Apichatpong Weerasethakul