Filmotomy Culture: The 100 Best Films of the 21st Century

50. Carol

Love, no matter how forbidden, has rarely looked as sumptuous as in Todd Haynes’ Carol. Aided by Ed Lachman’s cinematography, which recalls a glorious Technicolor of cinema-past, reds and muted colours juxtapose the dynamic of the two women at the centre of this story. Lipstick and smoke dominate many a scene, charging each meeting between Carol and Therese with eroticism. Interestingly, the erotic element of sexual attraction is portrayed most effectively in these quieter moments. And with actors this good, it’s no surprise. Blanchett can say more with a glance and a smile than dialogue could ever convey, while Mara invests Therese with an almost ethereal curiosity. Apart, they’re fascinating. But together, they’re compelling. — Chris Watt

49. Donnie Darko

The lightning in a bottle, surreal debut of Richard Kelly has only gotten better as the years go on. A young Jake Gyllenhaal delights in this weird, iconic cult classic filled with imagery that burns itself into the mind of any viewer. — Jennings Collins

48. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

Cristian Mungiu’s screenwriting and directorial execution here is not afraid to be ruthless and authentically awkward as his characters have to passively engage in extremely sensitive circumstances as well as blunt, discrete conversations. The plot focusing around an illegal abortion performed in a hotel room, and the rich, fine-tuned dialogue that carries it, is all handled with as much genuine recklessness as one would expect given the situations. Yet somehow there is a raw, down-to-earth nature to the whole affair, making it believable in it’s most nerve-cringing moments. Unsettling as it is magnetic, it’s an astonishing film achievement, worth every ounce of its weight in gold, and not a drop of cinema is wasted. — Robin Write

47. Yi Yi

The title Yi Yi translates to ‘one one’ or ‘one after the other’, and depicts the highs and lows of everyday life within the Jian family – as seen through three generational perspectives, with the father, younger son and teenage daughter. Yi Yi is also the second Taiwanese film from 2000 to make this list. It’s a sumptuous film for the most part, both in its visual framing and how the emotions of the various events engulf you. The director, Edward Yang, won Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival. — Robin Write

46. The Favourite

A twisted vision of a twisted tale so thorough in its depravity as to barely shock at all. The Favourite takes its time toward getting around to poking at its characters’ hardened hearts, but when it does, the cumulative effect of all the seemingly heartless scheming and backstabbing is enormous. An audacious final image resembles that of a deranged mind’s desperate final thoughts before dying, as everything blurs into a cacophonous collage of irrelevance save the hurt that lingers still, and the love that has engendered it. Enjoy the bitching while you may, but know the price you’ll pay for doing so – The Favourite is that blackest of black comedies, in that the reward for its laughter is only pain. — Paddy Mulholland

45. The Handmaiden

Seeing is never believing in Park Chan Wook’s films. It’s the premier component in what makes him such an exciting filmmaker, particularly when he can hold off allowing the abundant surface pleasures of his films to overwhelm them. What makes this film so consistently engaging is that Park actually wants us to see – his jolting zooms, narrative ellipses, flashy mise-en-scene, and syncopated editing are designed to direct our attention, to impose a strong sense of dramatic irony that is itself doubly, deceptively ironic. The erotic satisfaction in the withholding and the exposing of secrets is matched by the common emotional satisfaction for the viewer, the thrill on being let in and on being led on. And with such a bold, vivid style, Park is able to hide those secrets in plain sight, both from his characters and from his audience. — Paddy Mulholland

44. Talk to Her

That very intimacy portrayed, that there is love beyond loss, a troubling notion but an even harder reality, make Talk to Her a truly unparalleled love story. Pure naturalism in its execution, rather than all-out depressing, but delivered to our eyes like sunshine. Pedro Almodóvar’s unflinching grasp of fragile human interaction, as both a story-teller and film-maker, is a thing of beauty here. His performers are so natural, speaking the words as though their own – grounded, emotive, heart-breaking. An unrivaled, alluring film in all of its pain. — Robin Write

43. Y Tu Mamá También

Few coming of age films approach sexuality with anything other than rose tinted romanticism. Y Tu Mama Tambien goes deeper. Sex is not just an act. It is the eye of the storm, the driving force behind everything that happens in the story, spinning off jealousy, passion, anger, humour and personal growth. Two horny teenagers and one woman that teaches them both to grow up, albeit at great personal cost. Alfonso Cuaron crafts a visually stimulating portrait of youth, rejecting the commercialism of his brief stint in Hollywood, employing his now signature style of long takes, married to a tone that is pure French New Wave, yet marks itself out as one of the definitive Latin American films of its time. — Chris Watt

42. Inside Llewyn Davis

A heartbreaking approach to the tortured musician, the Coen brothers craft a green-tinted nightmare for any artist. Oscar Isaac gives a career best performance as the titular Llewyn Davis, a couch surfing singer in a downward spiral. Bolstered by a wonderful soundtrack of folk songs and brief appearances from Coens regulars and irregulars, Inside Llewyn Davis might be cynical, but it never gives up hope. — Jennings Collins

41. The Lives of Others

Set in 1984 East Berlin, the film centers on an agent of the secret police, Gerd Wiesler, (Ulrich Mühe) who is tasked with spying on a famous playwright and his lover who are suspected of being disloyal to the Communist Party. But as Wiesler becomes more and more intrigued by and absorbed into the alluring lives of his subjects, his own allegiances become increasingly unclear. From writer and director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, The Lives of Others is a searing reminder that you never really know what does on behind closed doors. A film that stays with you long after unforgettable final moments. — Shadan Larki

40. Black Swan

Oddball maestro, Darren Aronofsky, followed his 2008 film, The Wrestler, one man’s struggle to achieve perfection in the ring, with Black Swan, one woman’s struggle to achieve perfection on the stage. Natalie Portman’s swansong won her the Academy Award for Best Actress, as Nina Sayers, a ballet dancer in New York City, about to discover the hard work and surrealism that goes into devouring the White and the Black Swan in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. A visual, head-ratting feast. — Robin Write

39. The Tree of Life

A movie that divides audiences is a movie worth debating. In Cannes in 2011 Terrence Malick‘s The Tree of Life, an enigmatic motion picture experience, was received with some applause and some boos. Understandable, but an experience is what The Tree of Life is. A grand one. Perhaps not in the depths of how we try and figure out the universe itself, but you have to wonder how Malick conceives and then executes such a concept onto film. In concrete terms, the cinematography itself is ridiculously majestic – you will struggle to find one movie that manages to fill every single frame with such captivating beauty. The selection and use of classical music is also something to be savored. Jessica Chastain is as enchanting as any actress can be on screen here. And in that final extraordinary sequence I simply disappear. — Robin Write

38. WALL·E

Whether it be the vacated, garbage-filled Earth or the human civilization on board a starliner in space, the magnitude of WALL-E‘s animation work is incredible to say the least. In fact you forget this is an animated movie. Will we see anything quite this grand again in this field of film-making? This is cinema magic in its purest form, balancing to perfection the sense of adventure and romance, while allowing us to ponder on the state of the planet and the euphoria of rebuilding. The formidable companionship of WALL-E and EVE is so affecting, so natural, you route for them like you would for the greatest of human love stories. — Robin Write

37. Get Out

Jordan Peele’s directorial debut Get Out is definitely a horror film in the traditional sense but the true horror is not in the blood but in the look at society as a whole. The story centers on Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) as he cautiously prepares to meet the parents of his girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams). It all seems rather mundane but as a black man Chris knows that some prejudice still lives on despite the consistent reassurance from Rose that her parents aren’t like that. Rose and her family soon show themselves to be the progressive and liberally minded white people who seem like more talk than action as they live in their Pinterest perfect worlds. To Chris they all seem well intentioned, albeit out of touch, but soon the veneer fades away and the gruesome ugliness underneath is shocking but as Peele shows maybe not that surprising. — Katie Keener

36. Oldboy

It is difficult to talk about the dynamic filmmakers over the years without mentioning a select, special few. And Park Chan-wook is certainly in that illustrious list. The South Korean writer-director has a hefty filmography shadowing him, but it is perhaps still the dark, devastating Oldboy from 2004 that still has audiences in the grandest of awe and the most fragile of states. A exceptional chapter in his accidental vengeance trilogy – with Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and Lady Vengeance, Oldboy is both disturbing and brutal, but the energetic style, ridiculously good performances, and the filmmaker’s unbridled talent shines through in abundance. — Robin Write

35. The Departed

Martin Scorsese brings his knack for crime dramas from New York City to Boston. The tale of two men: one raised to be a cop infiltrating the mafia, another raised to be a mole for the Irish mob.  DiCaprio, Nicholson, and Damon shine in this film. I haven’t taken cranberry juice seriously since. — Mackenzie Lambert

34. Brokeback Mountain

Well of course Ang Lee has multiple entries in the 100 greatest films of the 21st century. His gentle and piercing touches through that cinematic eye leave a lasting impression. Perhaps none more so than the timeless romance between Ennis and Jack in 2005’s Brokeback Mountain. Academy Award travesties aside, Best Director winner Lee soaked up the rest of the film world that had yet to claim themselves a fan of the great filmmaker. Brokeback Mountain demonstrated so much of what we encounter in our relationships, when in any given time we are truly happy, painfully pining, never really knowing just how to quit that feeling. — Robin Write

33. Arrival

Arrival is the most cerebral experience of 2016, and the intimate nature of the film has everything to do with that. The film is not entirely original; it takes the age-old science fiction premise of aliens landing on Earth with the panicked world asking: “Why are they here?” But this sci-fi addition has all the right ingredients from it’s cast to director to score to script that produces some serious thought-provoking material. The exploration of this archaic, hypothetical reality leaves me wondering when this inevitable future will occur off-screen. I’m. Not. Ready. — Courtney Young

32. Memento

What many believe is Christopher Nolan’s début had audiences shaking their heads in awe. A narrative that ventures backwards and forwards (in color and black and white respectively) where the main character Leonard (Guy Pearce) starts to uncover what the hell is going on as we, the audience do. Be it via polaroids, or tattoos. It was a revolutionary notion in cinema, and superbly executed by Nolan. The screenplay was co-written by his brother Jonathan, and was supposed to win Original Screenplay at the Oscars wasn’t it? I mean, even eventual winner Julian Fellowes said he thought Memento would win. — Robin Write

31. The Grand Budapest Hotel

The story begins in present day unveiling the ultimate decay and demise of the once regal Grand Budapest Hotel, but rewinds in a few decades of flashbacks from the mid-1980s, back to the late-1960s and focusing predominantly in the 1930s in the fictional European country of Zubrowka. Wes Anderson’s artistic creativity and surreal visualizations for the world he creates allows me to boast that he’s one of the best visual directors in cinema right now. His pictures are visually recognizable, but his creative eye to lens system is more methodical than I imagined. With The Grand Budapest Hotel, Anderson and his director of photography, Robert D. Yeoman, shot each time period in the aspect ratio of its era. That means the movie is more or less square in the 1930s and widescreen for the present day. — Courtney Young

30. Requiem for a Dream

It’s weird to me that while Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB allow users to rate a movie on a scale of 1-10, they don’t allow an option for “sat paralyzed through the credits with my mouth agape after watching.” Because after viewing Darren Aranofsky’s 2000 film Requiem for a Dream, that’s the state I was left in by the film. A biting critique on excess, this is a movie so far ahead of its time that it was putting America’s ever-growing infatuation with substances under a microscope and shining a light on the hollow pursuit of fame some fifteen years prior to either “Big Pharma” or “influencer” entering our everyday lexicon. Requiem for a Dream tells the story of how taking the edge off can go too far. It’s the story of the endless pursuit of the fix, and just how much of ourselves we may be willing to break to receive it. — Mike1 of Mike, Mike, and Oscar

29. Birdman

There are a plethora of reasons to like, or even love The Birdman and in my heart, I’ve exhausted them all. Iñárritu’s technical prowess demands our dedicated attention in relentlessly extended tracking shots and extravagant dark slapstick that effortlessly demolishes the 4th wall without ever leaving the audience feeling unwelcomed. The film itself pokes fun at the film itself which pokes fun at the film itself and the viewer, soaring like Batman cum plucked Birdman ebbs and flows between its fearless comedy and the raw, almost painfully human reactions. Not to go unmentioned, Edward Norton in what I personally think is probably his best performance yet — and a special Whoa! for the Hollywood critic scene because, oh yeah, they totally went there. — The Greek

28. Her

A man falls in love with his computer is the most basic, undeveloped synopsis of Spike Jonze’s Academy Award winning screenplay. Set in a not-so-distant future, Her is a realistic exploration of relationships, love and alternative methods to avoid loneliness. One of the most uncomfortably accurate portrayals of our technologically-infused lifestyle, Her delves deeper into the unchangeable human condition to love and emotions surrounding that. Completely worth your time. — Courtney Young

27. Roma

Filmed by Cuarón himself, Roma is a visual delight, with some of most sumptuous and gorgeous black-and-white photography you will ever see. While the film will be released later in the year on your television via Netflix, this is a film which demands to be seen on the big screen. Almost devoid of closeups, Cuarón consistently keeps his audience at a distance, instilling the film with an almost voyeuristic quality. Often relying on the use of slow pans, Cuarón presents the idea that the perfectly choreographed events in his film are related, with a consistent flow permeating throughout his entire work. — Doug Jamieson

26. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

It took two years of pre-production, a year plus for the shoot to begin – filming all three movies simultaneously – and an additional three years of reshoots, visual effects shots and other post production duties, in order to fully capture director Peter Jackson’s vision of JRR Tolkien’s epic fantasy series. The first two installments, The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers were massive achievements in scope, vision, action and juggling a massive cast, never once sacrificing the personal journeys of the characters for the sheer spectacle. The Return of the King is the victory lap, the magnum opus of the trilogy. The action is bigger, the stories carry more dramatic weight than in the previous films, and the bonds that have tied characters like Frodo and Sam, to Aragon, Legolas and Gimili are strained, and put to their absolute breaking point. Yet, the themes of friendship and sacrifice in the face of such mounting evil and terror still resonate through it all. Yes, even through the six or seven endings Jackson put the audience through. — Jonathan Holmes

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