Members of the Filmotomy team agonize over their top ten for the decade (2010-19).
10. Star Wars Episode XIII: The Last Jedi
The sequel that launched a tidal wave of histrionics from internet dudes mourning their lost childhoods and mad that there are suddenly so many women in their galaxy far far away. The Force Awakens breathed new life into the franchise, but it did so by sticking close to the formula established by the original film. The Last Jedi, on the other hand, is given the freedom to be more creatively ambitious. It is, above all else, a film about failure. Standing at a crossroads and making the wrong choice.
And most importantly, that the manner in which a person moves on from failure and deals with those consequences is a window into their soul. It’s utilization of Luke Skywalker’s daker nature provides a wonderful throughline to the original series and gives us deeper insight into his character. Finally, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren cements his status as one of the most compelling figures in Star Wars history, his conflicted relationship with Rey entirely engrossing.
9. About Time
About Time is billed as a romantic comedy, and it is — sort of. But more than that, it’s a story about family, and loss, and letting go. When Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) turns 21 years old, his father (Billy Nighy in one of his most affecting performances) tells him the family secret: all of the men in their family are able to travel back in time to any point in their personal timelines.
At first, Tim uses this irresponsibly, as is only to be expected. But as he grows older, the true value of his gift comes into focus. The ability to live each day twice, once experiencing all the little frustrations, and once cherished, as all days should be. The chance to have one last conversation with a beloved parent. It’s a Richard Curtis film, so a certain amount of schmaltz is to be expected. But it gets its key emotional scenes exactly right, and contains a poignancy far beyond what other films of its ilk can muster.
8. How to Survive a Plague
How to Survive a Plague is a staggering achievement in documenting thoroughly the social history of the AIDS crisis in early 1990s New York City. The amount of archival footage assembled gives us a rare window into the sheer terror that gay men lived with daily, and how that fear turned to rage and finally action. They realize the government isn’t going to save them, so they must save themselves.
Part personal narrative, part diary of a social and political activist movement, How to Survive a Plague explores in depth the development of a group devoted to finding alternative treatments for AIDS and forcing the FDA to expedite the drug approval process in a desperate bid to save lives. But it never loses sight of their humanity — their pain and near constant loss as they attend endless funerals of friends and lovers. The result is a deeply moving documentary with a clear message of the power of advocacy and grassroots movements in combating a public health crisis unlike anything seen before.
7. The Florida Project
Sean Baker loves making films that explore the contrasts of social class, and nowhere is that more evident than in The Florida Project, which revolves around a young girl growing up on the margins of society. She lives in poverty alongside her mother in a cheap and gaudy motel practically within spitting distance of Disney World, the quote unquote happiest place on Earth.
But young Moonee is too busy being a kid to notice everything she doesn’t have. She runs wild with her two closest friends, begging for money from tourists to buy ice cream and tormenting the motel manager (Willem Dafoe in an unusually warm role). Although Dafoe provides some much needed authority in the film, its success hinges on the performance of the extraordinary Brooklynn Prince as Moonee, who is an astonishingly natural and emotive young actress. What’s especially refreshing about the film is that although it never condescends to its subjects, it also neatly sidesteps the trap of romanticising the poverty they live in.
6. 13th
13th is a documentary by Ava DuVarney that begins with an exploration of the 13th Amendment, which bans slavery and involuntary servitude except as punishment for convicted criminals. From there, DuVarney painstakingly develops a heartbreaking thesis detailing the ways in which American society has exchanged slavery for a prison labor system, where black people are disproportionately imprisoned and forced into servitude.
It’s an argument that is both far-reaching, tying into widely disparate elements of the civil rights movement, and laser-focused. A sense of rage and injustice permeates the entire piece, but it maintains a reliance on facts and utilization of historical evidence to construct an ironclad argument. It’s essentially a perfect documentary, one that is emotionally resonant, thought-provoking, and informative.
5. Lady Macbeth
If all Lady Macbeth did was introduce the world to Florence Pugh, that would be enough. But it’s so much more. Katherine (Pugh) is a young woman who marries a wealthy older man, and quickly begins to find her new home a prison as her husband places increasingly severe restrictions on her activities. But when he goes away on business, she has the run of the place, and her first decision is to launch into a steamy affair with the stableboy.
Things get rather out of control from there. What begins as proto-feminism quickly turns into a bit of a horror show. But because of the strength of Florence Pugh’s performance, we’re squarely in her corner long after things have gone well and truly off the rails.
4. A Separation
A Separation is a cornerstone in modern Iranian cinema. It has a deceptively simple storyline: a husband and wife are on the brink of divorce, and while the wife wants to move abroad with their daughter, the husband insists upon staying in Iran to continue to provide care for his elderly and ailing father. But when he gets into an argument with the deeply devout woman he’s hired to help care for his father, things get out of hand, and he’s accused of causing her to miscarry.
Like a Hitchcock thriller, details are revealed that make your perspective and sympathies change half a dozen times before the film’s end. And these dramatic moments keep the proceedings incredibly tense as we wonder how this will all be resolved.
3. Sing Street
A celebration of pop music and an ode to those who create it, Sing Street constructs a delightfully eccentric 1980s Dublin where a precocious teen (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) forms a band in the hopes of impressing an older girl. Their music evolves organically, and is insanely catchy while still feeling as though it could conceivably be written by teenagers.
Aside from the soundtrack, which is truly one of the greatest this decade has to offer, the film features remarkably confident and natural performances from its young cast, many of whom were cast for their musical skills and had never acted before. As a film-viewing experience, Sing Street feels a bit like sinking into a warm bath at the end of a long day: soothing and deeply satisfying.
2. The Social Network
It seems extraordinary that however topical The Social Network may have seemed when it first came out, it’s only increased in relevance since then. At the time, Mark Zuckerberg was largely regarded as a visionary, albeit an eccentric and anti-social one. But The Social Network seems to have been slightly ahead of the curve in their reading of the Facebook founder, and their assessment of his character is decidedly uncomplimentary. Jesse Eisenberg is perfect in the role, all arrogance and intelligence and barely concealed contempt for everyone around him. He’s at his best when sharing the screen with Andrew Garfield as his early business partner Eduardo: the two have an electric chemistry together.
From a narrative perspective, Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher don’t put a toe out of line: the writing is natural and extremely effective, and there isn’t a single mishandled scene in the film. It does an excellent job of exploring Mark Zuckerberg, but it also has a lot to say about men like him — the insecure, defensive type who are convinced that the reason no one wants to be around them is because they’re too smart or too nerdy rather than their very real personality flaws. Rooney Mara may only be in a small part of the film, but her dressing down of Zuckerberg in the opening scene has become one of the most resonant parts of The Social Network.
1. Brooklyn
Brooklyn is quiet. Unassuming, even. But in its exploration of a young woman’s journey from 1950s Ireland to New York City, it paints a beautiful picture of the long and painful process of building a new life that is entirely your own. The film’s greatest strength is in how it builds a perfect balance between Eilis’s peaceful, familiar life in Ireland and a strange but exciting new world that awaits her in America. Neither is portrayed as better than the other, and they each have their own unique charms.
There is no narrative loophole built in to make the decision of choosing between the two any easier for Eilis. In doing so, it shows the bittersweet discovery of finding out where your true home is, and it’s the place that for no particular reason or another feels right to you. Anyone who has moved away from home and has felt that they’re hovering somewhere between the two can identify with Eilis’s struggle in Brooklyn. Saoirse Ronan puts in some of her best work as a girl who is desperately sad and homesick in America at first, but slowly comes alive as she discovers the things and people that bring color to her new life.
4, 8, 10 my favorite