Glad no one’s suggesting Crash (2004).
There Will be Blood is an astounding film to be sure, but for me it just can’t top Punch-Drunk Love. I mean we’re talking apples and oranges in terms of that debate.
It’s interesting to me that people are all about No Country, when I consider The Man Who Wasn’t There a superior Coens. Maybe the more recent gets more of the hype.
I think it looks something like this…
1. Mulholland Dr.
2. Punch Drunk Love
3. Lost in Translation
4. Memento
5. 21 Grams
6. Adaptation
7. Oldboy
8. All the Real Girls
I agree that Mulholland Drive is the best film of the decade.
Every single shot is strong and Naomi Watts is incredible in it. Her audition scene? Best acted/directed scene I have watched.The film has so much to say about self-destruction and the quest for success as well.
Justin – I agree that Dern is a more sympathetic character, and it’s not too hard for me to accept that Inland Empire is probably a more complete artistic statement. And yes, Betty/Diane is a bit of a psychopath. But I really don’t think she’s just sympathetic because of Naomi Watts’ performance. I mean, you spend 3/4 of the film in her subconscious to have enough understanding of her to know that she desires something more honest and true and has led too much of a depressing, unrewarding life to let her not be completely damaged by the world around her. On a personal level, I also sympathize with Betty/Diane partially because I’m gay, and I won’t try to hide the fact that I have a soft spot for any good movie that has lesbian characters in it (though with Mulholland Drive it obviously goes beyond that).
I think Mulholland Drive is also a more likable film because it kind of does for Hollywood what Blue Velvet does for suburbia – it both presents the attractive surface in its glorious bright colors and the inhumane ugliness underneath that. Mulholland Drive is more on target at pinpointing where exactly that strange ugliness comes from than Blue Velvet, but it still doesn’t deny its desire or attachment to attractive surfaces or the need for innocent entertainment (even if it realizes the impossibility of it), so it isn’t so much completely absorbed into the darkness like Inland Empire. It’s a very complex film but still much easier and less frustrating to decipher than Inland Empire. It’s also kind of a culmination of different influences, from darkly satirical stuff like Sunset Blvd. to old Hollywood films like A Star is Born to Twin Peaks in a way that Inland Empire really is just its own crazy thing.
Mullholland Dr is one of my favorite movies! But I don’t get all of the praise behind Country for Old Men, someone please explain. I didn’t think it was amazing or anything… The gas station scene was quite memorable however.
@ZBombin
I didn’t used to get all the praise for No Country either. But then I watched it again and again and it just gets better every time. It’s entertaining yet so subtly beautiful at the same time. Tommy Lee Jones’ last monologue; wow! I’m surprised the studios let the Coens end such a tense movie with such a soft note.
As for the best of the 2000s, I think:
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
LOTR trilogy
Mulholland Drive
The Pianist
Ten Canoes
The Wrestler? Just throwing that out there.
As much as I love Mulholland Dr., I’d have to go with The Best of Youth. Watching this generous and humane film has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life. The Italian generational saga is back! At least, I hope so. (Rivette’s The Story of Marie and Julien is a close second.)
I dont think Mulholland Dr. is a great film, that being said i wouldnt have a problem with someone saying its the best film of the last 9 years because i cant think of great film in the last 9 years. Not that i have seen anyways.
Pan’s Labrynth and There Will Be Blood are my top 2. SHOTZI is brilliant The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada was incredible. I however didnt enjoy Mulholland Drive as much as some of you. It was just a little too strange. I liked it a lot but didnt love it.
Also great 2000’s:
In The Bedroom
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
House of Sand and Fog
The Prestige
Collateral
Old Boy
Mystic River
uhh and I personally loved Unbreakable ;)
If nothing else, Unbreakable is Shyamalan’s best.
glad you agree Adam
and i forgot to add The Machinist to my list
I’m surprised that no one has yet mentioned 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days!
Anyways, I do agree with the mentions of Mulholland Drive, There Will Be Blood, Inland Empire, and Cache.
I’ll begin with a semantic note: I don’t like the term “The Best” in terms of describing creative work, because responses to films are highly subjective and personal, BUT these are my favorites, and I’d recommend them all:
Nobody Knows – dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – dir. Julian Schnabel
Mulholland Drive – dir. David Lynch
L’Enfant – dir. Dardenne bros.
Silent Light – dir. Carlos Reygadas
Old Joy – dir. Kelly Reichardt
Morvern Callar – Lynne Ramsay
Dogville – dir. Lars von Trier
Three Times – dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien
The Piano Teacher – dir. Michael Haneke
@Glemaud
I’m with you on Wall-E. It’s arguably the best example of a computer animated film, which in my opinion is the defining technology of this decade.
What do you guys think of “The Proposition?” I just watched it again recently and was blown away. It would certainly be in my top ten.
I think Mulholland Drive runs second to Synecdoche New York.
Werkmeister Harmonies
Yi Yi
Mulholland Drive
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and… Spring
Kill Bill 1/2
No Country For Old Men
A.I.
Dogville
Hukkle
Oldboy
I guess that would maybe be my top ten.
Hey – In the Mood For Love and 2046 also fall within the decade…
Witkacy,
Does Wong Kar-Wai really have any ideas though? It seems to me that he has established a powerful set of stylistic and thematic patterns, and each of his films since Chungking Express has been a reiteration of that basic pattern.
Ok, so I’ll chime in:
Some of the Best I’ve seen would be:
Battle in Haeven
Bungalow
Marseille
Platform
Beyond Hatred
The New World
Eureka
Brokeback Mountain is the best film so far this decade. Yeah, Mulholland Drive is definitely in the top three, but in no way, shape or form comes close to Brokeback Mountain. The fact that no one else has mentioned the film on this thread as one of the best of the decade is just sad, sad, sad. Is it too well known or mainstream for Auteurs tastes?
I really liked Mulholland Drive and then Lynch outdid himself with Inland Empire. Regardless, I think No Country for Old Men is the best of the decade…followed closely by Traffic
Lost Highway, Blue Velvet, and Wild At Heart were all better than Mulholland Drive. Hell…Twin Peaks was better than Mulholland Drive. I didn’t particularly like the film myself. And I am a David Lynch fan. Best movie so far in the 21st century would have to be Grindhouse by Tarantino and Rodriguez. It’s not my fault that idiots refused to go watch the films. I’m sorry that you have to sit in your seats for 4hours of completely awesome cinema!!! I’m sorry that it isn’t Mission Impossible or another Nicholas Cage film produced by Bruckheimer! Grindhouse, creatively, had the potential to stand as the greatest collaboration of our time. But WE screwed that up. The chance was there to usher in exploitation film once again…and we shut the damn door on it!! Other great films were Passion of the Christ, There will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men, The Dark Knight, and Disney’s UP. I loved that animated old man…OK sorry for joking. IT was in 3D though, which was cool.
You don’t like Mulholland Dr.? Who let you on this site DUDE
Alright Axel. Let me hear your superior breakdown of the greatness of Mulholland Drive, which I have seen 3 times, and it got worse not better. Here is your chance to change my mind. It better be good.
I didn’t think you’d reply when asked to lay your cards on the table.
No one’s mentioned it yet, but Gus Van Sant’s Elephant is a sorely underappreciated masterpiece. That woul probably be my number one, along with There Will Be Blood; Children of Men; 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days; and The Fog of War.
I would put Mulholland Dr. a close second to There Will be Blood.
Mulholland Dr was very good but I think there were even better films – here are some suggestions:
The Lives of Others
Requiem for a Dream
Brokeback Mountain
My Top Ten of Thee Decade-
1. Their Will be Blood
2. No Country for Old Men
3. Gomorrah
4. Children of Men
5. Michael Clayton
Lester Burnham
Brokeback Mountain, followed by Mulholland Drive and Let the Right One In. Ooops! And Zodiac