These are my 10 favorite films of the decade:
In the Mood for Love
Wong Kar-wai’s masterpiece is set in 1962 Hong Kong and focuses on journalist Chow Mo-Wan (Tony Leung) and secretary Su Li-zhen / Mrs. Chan (Maggie Cheung). The pair move into adjacent apartments with their respective spouses, both of whom are engaged in extramarital affairs. Mrs. Chan and Mr. Chow are drawn together in the absence of their spouses and begin a long, tense romance. The dark, brooding romantic tension between Cheung and Leung mixed with the atmospheric direction of Wong is a heady cocktail. What makes this film really work for me is that Wong frames a time and a place that are distant which he brings to life with touching humanity. This is a classic film about transience and longing that casts a spell on me each time I view it. I’m a sucker for atmospheric period dramas and this is near the top of the list, right below Barry Lyndon. It is also my favorite film of the decade.
The trailer does a pretty good job of evoking its heart wrenching glory.
Caché
Caché is my favorite of Michael Haneke’s films. George Laurent (Daniel Auteuil) and his wife Anne (Juliette Binoche) are a bourgeois Paris couple whose lives are disrupted by the appearance of video cassettes filming the exterior of their home. The cassettes become increasingly creepy with attached childlike drawings of chicken beheadings. George begins to suspect that the videos are being produced by Majid, the child of his parents servants who were murdered by police at an pro-Algerian rally in the 1960’s. Through flashbacks we learn that when Majid’s parents died he was to be adopted by George’s family. Through cruel manipulations George had Majid sent to an orphanage instead. As George investigates the origin of the cassettes it leads to a grim outcome. The film is an intensive study in post-colonial anxiety as well as public / private personas. It works on every level.
There Will Be Blood
Daniel Day Lewis gives the performance of the decade as Daniel Plainview, the personification of greed and immorality. “I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!”
Children of Men
Alfonso Cuaron’s lovingly crafted adaptation of P.D. James’ dystopian novel is the best Science Fiction film of the decade. The direction and cinematography are outstanding and the performances are real enough to make this terrifying future seem imminent. Michael Kane steals the show as Jasper - a dope growing hippie dropout who acts as the film's moral center.
The Royal Tenenbaums
It was difficult for me to choose which Wes Anderson film to add to this list but upon recent viewing The Royal Tenenbaums rises above all the others. The writing, amazing performances, art direction, and Anderson’s hyper-detailed touch are among the best work in any of his films.
Dogville
Lars von Trier’s stark Brechtian study of cruelty is at times unbalanced, but amazing performances by Nicole Kidman and the rest of the cast make up for it. By the time David Bowie’s “Young Americans” plays over photographs of American despair you’ll feel like you’ve lost a few years of your life. It’s worth it.
Lost in Translation
Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson light up the screen in Sofia Coppola’s jet lagged Summer / Autumn near-romance. I loved the atmosphere in this film.
City of God
This Brazilian drama follows the lives of several inhabitants of a heinous Rio favella from nearly innocent childhoods to their adult lives as gangland druglords. Everything about this movie is stunning.
The Departed
The idea of remaking the great Hong Kong crime drama Infernal Affairs as an Irish Boston crime drama was brilliant. In Scorsese’s hands it becomes a tense, nearly schizo thriller. Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg give memorable performances in small roles.
Talk to Her
Classic Almodovar; slow, emotional, passionate, and melodramatic.
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