Top 5 Most Underrated Movies and Directors of 2000-2009

This decade has been one that will be looked back on as one in which all the rules changed; digital distribution, YouTube, and better digital technology allowed for films to be made more cheaply and faster than ever before. This created a wealth of options from which to choose, as well as alternatives to going out and seeing a movie. For better or for worse the last decade has been the most difficult to seek out the really worthwhile. No matter how much any one person managed to see, they had to miss out on something. These are my picks for the films and filmmakers that critically or commercially were not given the respect that they were due.

I really have made an effort to make this list encompass the whole decade but unfortunately I couldn't find any films from the first half to really justify a place on this list.  There are a lot of reasons for this, perhaps the biggest is that I simply have seen more films made in the second half of the decade. Another reason is that films from earlier in the decade have had more of a chance to connect with an audience. The purpose of any list like this is to draw attention to films that didn't get a chance to connect with audiences the first time around. Films like American Psycho, Maria Full of Grace, and C.R.A.Z.Y. have all, to one extent or another, created a niche for themselves and, even though they are all worthy films, I thought it was more important to highlight the following films:

Most Underrated Films:

5. The Namesake (2006)
Mira Nair, much like author Jhumpa Lahiri, has spent a career making films about how the individual relates to culture. Her earlier Monsoon Wedding concerning a family coping with the westernization of India remains one of the best films to ever have come out of that country but her American output has been more than uneven. Films like Amelia and Vanity Fair just did not live up to their source material. The Namesake, though, really seemed like something everyone involved poured themselves into and the results make it more than worthwhile to seek out. The immigrant experience has been filmed many times, but rarely successfully. Its difficult to capture the truth of the experience and make it relatable to those who have never gone through it.

4. Black Book (2006)
Who would have thought that Paul Verhoeven, the reviled (unfairly?) director of films like Basic Instinct and Showgirls, could craft such a character driven story.  The film is certainly large and epic. It features huge set pieces, explosions, and in general the sort of extravagance everyone has come to expect from Verhoeven, but the film also has some moments of real intimacy like nothing the filmmaker has captured before.

3. Into the Wild (2007)
The performances in this film are some of the most underrated of the decade. Sean Penn surprised me with his ability to pull these great performances from every character.  Everyone in the film felt fully fleshed out, like a complete person.

2. Adventureland (2009)
This is one of the best films about growing up of the past 10 years. This film captures first love, friendship, and what it means to strike out on your own better than most other films focusing on just one of those things. It also manages to be one of the most quietly funny films of the decade as well.

1. Speed Racer (2008)
This film was dismissed by both critics and audiences when it was first released but has since become a respected cult film. The film has the kind of energy Michael Bay dreams of creating but never really achieves. The green screen acting puts  to shame and helps create a believable world. the story is both meaningful and entertaining. In short, this is one of the best mainstream films released in a long time. That it didn't get the respect it deserved is incredibly disappointing.


Most Underrated Directors:

5. Richard Kelly
(Donnie Darko 2001, Southland Tales 2007, The Box 2009)
Richard Kelly provided one of the most defining films of my generation, Donnie Darko in 2001. The film was dark and mysterious. Many have called it David Lynch lite or David Lynch for teenages and that isn't an entirely unfair assessment. It isn't a damning assessment either... how many films both speak to what its really like to feel disconnected in high school and connect to the audience which needs to see it. Kelly earned his larger budget follow-ups: Southland Tales and The Box. Both films were box office and critical disappointments (although ST was much more so on both accounts) but both were the result of a fiercely independent vision and have been severely underrated.

4. Kelly Reichardt
(Old Joy 2006, Wendy and Lucy 2008)
A major part of the American minimalist movement Reichardt has never really gained any sort of exposure. No one working in America today really explores modern culture's relationship to the land quite as piercingly. Her films are beautiful and contemplative but what is most striking is how she manages to create characters which are fully realized but at the same time representative. Her films are not to be missed.

3. Arnaud Despechin
(Esther Kahn 2000, En jouant 'Dans la compagnie des hommes' 2003, Kings and Queen 2004, A Christmas Tale 2008)
Not only is his name about as French as it possibly could be, but his films are about as French as I could possibly imagine them being. That is to say that it isn't exactly surprising his films have not been widely seen here in the states, but it is a shame. In my humble opinion there is no finer director working in France right now. Nothing about his films is exactly unique yet the cohesive whole is like nothing else. He seems to borrow the best ideas of everyone from Brecht to Woody Allen and yet manages to keep his projects from collapsing under their own weight.

2. James Gray
(The Yards 2000, We Own the Night 2007, Two Lovers 2009)
I can't seem to understand why James Gray doesn't get the critical attention he deserves. His films are impeccably acted, written, and directed. Many see them as flat retreads of material that has been done before. The key to 'getting' James Gray is to look at each of his films as a sort of modern Greek Tragedy. They are classical in the best sense, there is never really any doubt about where the story is going but getting there never quite happens like we expect. It fits all the forms and uses them as ways of telling us something about ourselves.

1. Andrew Bujalski
(Funny Ha Ha 2002, Mutual Appreciation 2005, Beeswax 2008)
Often called the "Godfather of Mumblecore" Bujalski (fairly or unfairly) takes a lot of the credit for the most important Film movement no one has ever heard of. While that can certainly be a useful way of looking at his films, they are certainly greater than that simple categorization. Unlike many of his 'mumblecorps' contemporaries he uses film instead of digital and carefully scripts his films. Joe Swanberg, Aaron Katz, and the Duplass Brothers have all made fine films but none have achieved anything like the scene at the end of Mutual Appreciation in Alan's apartment. That is great film making and the sort of moment that keeps me watching independent films.