Note- Because of a contractual agreement with Suite101 that nothing I publish for them will appear anywhere else on the internet for up to a year after the publication I can't post my actual list in this space. But because of the word count regulations and mandate that everything be written in the third person (ugh!), I couldn't post my introduction or honourable mentions. Therefore, I am posting those things here and then linking to the list itself.
I went back and forth in my mind on how to present the decade’s best films. Would I provide a numbered list with a few important honourable mentions or simply just list all films considered in alphabetical order and be done with it? My conclusion was that, either way, it didn’t much matter for, to contradict Marshall McLuhan, in this case the medium is not the message. Does one, after all, get any further insight into the worth of a film in knowing that it is say the fifth best of the decade as opposed to simply being one of ten out of over a thousand potential candidates?
However, I’ve decided I will provide a numbered list because people like such methods: it makes them feel safe and organized, knowing that things have natural places. But know this: the numbers, except for the first, are completely arbitrary. The number one film has earned its position not because I think it to be of higher aesthetic value, it’s acting, direction, writing to exceed that of the rest, but because it holds the most meaning to me personally. Numbers two through 10 (there are actually 12 picks because I’ve doubled up works by the same director) and all the honourable mentions, could have just as well be number two for all I care. With that said, here are the 10 best films to come out between 2000 and 2009 with some honourable mentions to start.
13 Conversations about One Thing for being an intelligent and philosophical look at how we are connected through both happiness and sadness.
Lost in Translation for being a modern day reinterpretation of La Dolce Vita
Russian Ark for, at over 90 minutes, being the longest tracking shot in the history of cinema (without the aid of computers I might add).
The Dark Knight for being a dark, smart, thought provoking, exhilarating experience, proving that ideas and thrills can in fact work together after all.
Everything Pixar animation studios has released this decade.
Kill Bill for being one of the most oddball entertainments to have come out this decade.
Saraband for being Ingmar Bergman’s last masterpiece.
Everything Pedro Almodovar has made this decade (including Talk to Her, Bad Education, Volver and Broken Embraces)
Northfork for being the saddest and most uplifting film of the decade.
Sin City for creating an entirely new film genre while reviving an old one in the process.
Click for the Best Movies of the Decade
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