The decade is quickly coming to a close. What began as decade defined by (the now ridiculous) Y2K quickly turned serious on September 11, 2001. The relatively carefree 90's turned into a decade which seems, to me at least, to be most defined by the paranoia of the Bush presidency (the patriot act, the invasion of Iraq) and the recent financial collapse, which is just now finding its way onto the screen. The films this decade reply to the seriousness of the decade both by reflecting it with the realism of the Dardenne brothers, mumblecore, and Kelly Reichardt among others and by deflecting it with escapist cinema like Avatar, Lord of the Rings, Superhero films, and many others. This has resulted in a greater disjoint between art-house and mainstream cinema than ever before.
As I sift through all the other top 10 lists which have already been released I'm struck by just how diverse they are. It seems as if all end of the year lists turn out the same, yet somehow it seems as if when contemplating ten years instead of one everyone suddenly finds the ability to express something much more personal. One of the main problems with the critical landscape (and one of the reasons its shrinking) is how uniform it is. Who needs to read 20 different critics in 20 different publications when they are all saying the same thing. At the bottom I'll put a few links to lists I find interesting. And without further ado, my picks for the 10 best of the decade, 2000-2009:
Posts
