Best Films of the 2000s

The clock ticked from 1999 into 2000 and surprise! The World didn’t end! In order to celebrate the planet’s survival, the year 2000 ushered in some incredible films. But wait, there was more to follow. Each subsequent year in this decade resulted in even more stellar films from all corners of the world. New Waves from South Korea and Romania washed up on all corners of the globe, first via Film festival reports and then word of mouth. In addition, South East Asian cinema announced itself on the world stage led by emerging works from Thailand, Malaysia and Philippines. This decade saw the arrival of Apichatpong Weerasethakul and even the Cannes Jury led by Quentin Tarantino was lost for words over the poetic brilliance of Apichatpong’s Tropical Malady. The advent of digital camera certainly made filmmaking more accessible to many nations and Philippine cinema took advantage of that: Brillante Mendoza and Lav Diaz took very different approaches to cinema but both made waves at film festivals. Latin American cinema had many new brilliant voices in this decade: the Argentine New Wave started in the 1990s but auteurs such as Lisandro Alonso, Lucretia Martel released their films in this decade; Brazilian cinema was a force to be reckoned with again led by City of God, which shocked audience and became a buzz worthy must-see film.

If the 1960s was a Golden age of cinema, then the 2000s was a New Golden Age of Cinema and featured many more new nations releasing films that topped critics/cinephiles list. The 2000s have way too many good films to narrow down to just 30. This list has changed quite a bit over the years due to my changing perspective with re-watches. I expect this list will change again in the future.

Top 30 Films of 2000s:

1. In the Mood for Love (2000, Hong Kong, Wong Kar-wai)

2. Black Friday (2004, India, Anurag Kashyap)

3. L’Intrus (2004, France, Claire Denis)

4. Yi Yi: A One and a Two (2000, Taiwan, Edward Yang)

5. Mulholland Drive (2001, USA, David Lynch)

6. Khosla Ka Ghosla (2006, India, Dibakar Banerjee)

7. The Time That Remains (2009, Palestine co-production, Elia Sulieman)

8. Crimson Gold (2003, Iran, Jafar Panahi)

9. Children of Men (2006, UK/USA/Japan, Alfonso Cuarón)

10. Tropical Malady (2004, Thailand, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)

11. Liverpool (2008, Argentina, Lisandro Alonso)

12. Police, Adjective (2009, Romania, Corneliu Porumboiu)

13. The Motorcycle Diaries (2004, Argentina/Brazil co-production, Walter Salles)

14. Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures (2005, Brazil, Marcelo Gomes)

15. Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002, India, Aparna Sen)

16. Election (2005, Hong Kong, Johnnie To)

17. Infernal Affairs (2002, Hong Kong, Andrew Lau/Alan Mak)

18. Slingshot (2007, Philippines, Brillante Mendoza)

19. In the City of Sylvia (2007, Spain, José Luis Guerín)

20. Volver (2006, Spain, Pedro Almodóvar)

21. Donnie Darko (2001, USA, Richard Kelly)

22. Extraordinary Stories (2008, Argentina, Mariano Llinás)

23. Bend it Like Beckham (2002, UK/Germany/USA, Gurinder Chadha)

24. Colossal Youth (2006, Portugal, Pedro Costa)

25. Memories of Murder (2003, South Korea, Bong Joon Ho)

26. Evolution of a Filipino Family (2004, Philippines, Lav Diaz)

27. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005, Romania, Cristi Puiu)

28. Werckmeister Harmonies (2000, Hungary, Béla Tarr/Ágnes Hranitzky)

29. Platform (2000, China, Jia Zhang-ke)

30. What Time is It There? (2001, Taiwan, Tsai Ming-liang)

Honourable mentions (in no particular order):

West of the Tracks (2002, China, Wang Bing)

Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (2006, France/Iceland,Douglas Gordon/Philippe Parreno)

Breathless (2008, South Korea, Yang Ik-joon)

Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2008, India, Dibakar Banerjee)

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007, Romania, Cristian Mungiu)

District 9 (2009, South Africa co-production, Neill Blomkamp)

Amélie (2001, France/Germany, Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

Bad Education (2004, Spain, Pedro Almodóvar)

Our Beloved Month of August (2008, Portugal, Miguel Gomes)

The Referees (2009, Belgium, Y.Hinant/E.Cardot/L.Delphine)

Kontroll (2003, Hungary, Nimród Antal)

Amores Perros (2000, Mexico, Alejandro G. Iñárritu)

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006, Mexico/Spain, Guillermo del Toro)

Devils on the Doorstep (2000, China, Wen Jiang)

The Barbarian Invasions (2003, Canada, Denys Arcand)

Nine Queens (2000, Argentina, Fabián Bielinsky)

Salt of This Sea (2007, Palestine co-production, Annemarie Jacir)

City of God (2002, Brazil, Fernando Meirelles/Kátia Lund)

Moolaade (2004, Senegal co-production, Ousmane Sembene)

Be Calm and Count to Seven (2008, Iran, Ramtin Lavafipour)

Iron Island (2005, Iran, Mohammad Rasoulof)

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002, South Korea, Park Chan-wook)

Best Films of the 1990s

The 1990s started an upward trend in Cinema led by the emergence of New Waves of Independent Cinema throughout the world. USA, India, Argentina and Iran are just a few example nations that had notable surges of quality cinema. Many celebrated directors made their feature debut in this 1990s such as Jafar Panahi, Jia Zhang-ke, Hong Sang-soo, Park Chan-wook, Tsai Ming-liang, Bruno Dumont, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, David Fincher, Richard Linklater to name just a few. In addition, the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 meant that cinema from Eastern Europe started to re-emerge. 

The 1990s also saw an increase in usage of special effects in Hollywood films which coupled with the increase of multiplex cinemas changed cinema and theatrical experience forever. As an example, the decade is book-ended by Terminator 2 (1991) and The Matrix (1999), two films whose special effects helped pave the way for current Comic book films. Almost two decades after Jaws, Steven Spielberg raised the stakes for summer blockbusters with Jurassic Park (1993). Interestingly, The Phantom (1996) and Blade (1998) came out in this decade long before the multiplexes regularly showed Comic book movies. Then there were the animated Disney movies Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994) and Pixar’s Toy Story (1995) which opened the floodgates for more animated films to follow. In terms of both commercial and artistic cinema, the 1990s laid the groundwork for even better cinema to emerge in the 2000s. In that sense, the 1990s mirrored the 1950s. The 1950s had some brilliant films leading into a stellar 1960s.

Top 30 Films of the 1990s

1. Taste of Cherry (1997, Iran/France, Abbas Kiarostami)

2. Chungking Express (1994, Hong Kong, Wong Kar-wai)

3. The Stranger (1991, India, Satyajit Ray)

4. Beau Travail (1999, Claire Denis)

5. Flowers of Shanghai (1998, Taiwan, Hou Hsiao-Hsien)

6. Satantango (1994, Hungary, Béla Tarr)

7. Dharavi (1992, India, Sudhir Mishra)

8. Maachis (1996, India, Gulzar)

9. The Big Lebowski (1998, USA/UK, Joel Coen/Ethan Coen)

10. A Summer in La Goulette (1996, Tunisia co-production, Férid Boughedir)

11. Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992, India, Mansoor Khan)

12. A Brighter Summer Day (1991, Taiwan, Edward Yang)

13. The Wind Will Carry Us (1999, Iran, Abbas Kiarostami)

14. The White Balloon (1995, Iran, Jafar Panahi)

15. Underground (1995, Yugoslavia, Emir Kusturica)

16. Central Station (1998, Brazil/France, Walter Salles)

17. Eat Drink Man Woman (1994, Taiwan, Ang Lee)

18. Dark City (1998, Australia/USA, Alex Proyas)

19. Is Raat ki Subah Nahin (1996, India, Sudhir Mishra)

20. Open Your Eyes (1997, Spain/France/Italy. Alejandro Amenábar)

21. Sarfarosh (1999, India, John Mathew Matthan)

22. Cure (1997, Japan, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

23. Close-Up (1990, Iran, Abbas Kiarostami)

24. Hyenas (1992, Senegal, Djibril Diop Mambéty)

25. Bolivia (1999, Argentina/Holland, Israel Adrián Caetano)

26. Rebels of the Neon God (1992, Taiwan, Tsai Ming-liang)

27. Eyes Wide Shut (1999, UK/USA, Stanley Kubrick)

28. The Matrix (1999, USA/Australia, Lana Wachowski/Lilly Wachowski)

29. Fight Club (1999, USA, David Fincher)

30. All About my Mother (1999, Spain, Pedro Almodóvar)

Honourable Mentions:

Casa De Lava (1994, Portugal/France/Germany, Pedro Costa)

Satya (1998, India, Ram Gopal Varma)

Crane World (1999, Argentina, PabloTrapero)

My Cousin Vinny (1992, USA, Jonathan Lynn)

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999, USA co-production, Jim Jarmusch)

Delicatessen (1991, France, Marc Caro/Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

Rudaali (1993, India, Kalpana Lajmi)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994, USA, Frank Darabont)

Good Will Hunting (1997, USA, Gus Van Sant)

The Game (1997, USA, David Fincher)

12 Monkeys (1995, USA, Terry Gilliam)

Pulp Fiction (1994, USA, Quentin Tarantino)

The Films of Alonso Ruizpalacios

Spotlight on Alonso Ruizpalacios:

Güeros (2014)

Museo (2018)

A Cop Movie (2021)

La Cocina (2024)

The four films cover teenager/college life, a museum heist, police force and restaurant kitchen service respectively. On the surface, all these four films cover different topics but all four are united by their depiction of an institution as an insider. All four also have a layer of humour, subtle in the first three and outright absurd in La Cocina.

An Insider’s view

Güeros shows a slacker kind of life with the main characters (initially three male but joined by a female later on) drifting around the city in their car in search of an old Mexican singer (the singer’s music cassettes changed the lives of two characters) while stopping off at the university amidst the student protests taking place. The college sequences offer that insider view of youth and ideology packed with snippets of conversation about revolution, changing the world and some heated arguments.

Museo is incredibly based on a real story and is one of those films which highlight that “fact is stranger than fiction”. The film shows a highly unorthodox museum heist committed by two friends Juan (Gael García Bernal) and Benjamín Wilson (Leonardo Ortizgris). The humour in the film is muted at first but increases after Juan and Benjamín make their way across Mexico trying to sell the stolen museum artefacts. The entire scenarios around the post-heist defy believe but it also speaks to the fact the two friends aren’t professional thieves. They are ordinary citizens who are aware of crossing the morality line and their nervousness feeds into the humorous aspect of the film. The film isn’t just a recreation of real events but illustrates the inner workings of a museum and the art-world: museum security, different exhibits layout, how art is procured, the trading and underground selling/buying of artefacts, evaluation of art. The film shows how taste is created and what goes into making a cultural institution.

A Cop Movie is a docu-drama that depicts the hard life of police force from the intense training they undertake to the dangers that await officers on the beat. In the first half, A Cop Movie follows two police officers going about their daily shifts and then in the second half, the film shows the training the duo underwent. There is a deliberate blurring of lines between documentary and fiction and that is part of the film’s overall film-within-film framework. The meta reference also has something to say about acting and what it takes to prepare for a role. In this regard, the film highlights the rules, hierarchy, training and expected behaviour that comes with being part of law enforcement and actor.

La Cocina depicts the intense stressful environment of a kitchen struggling to keep the food assembly line moving. The film is not cinema verité but more of a theatrical piece, which is highlighted by the dance like precision required to get the dishes out. The theatrical elements truly unfold in the film’s final third when any semblance to drama is thrown out while the absurdity, satire and soda gushes out from all corners. The restaurant in the film is high-end or mid-tier pretending to be high-end. Either way, the film takes pleasure in poking at the inner workings of such a kitchen and the eccentric personalities that can withstand the constant pressure cooker environment. Anthony Bourdain would have approved of many aspects of the film.

Contemporary Mexican Life

Three of the films look at Mexican society from different angles / professions. Güeros looks at teenagers & college students, with protests / revolution & music thrown in for good measure; Museo is about young adults trying to make a living, middle class life and the expensive world of art; A Cop Movie is about the tough law enforcement life including people from multiple financial backgrounds. La Cocina is set in New York but the kitchen has plenty of Mexican & Latin staff, once again confirming what Anthony Bourdain wrote about back in the day in Kitchen Confidential. In that sense, La Cocina shows that job some Mexicans find when they make their way to the US.

Each film is piece of the larger Mexican society jigsaw puzzle that Alonso Ruizpalacios is putting together. Law Enforcement is covered in A Cop Movie but none of the films are about drug cartels, gang violence or sex, topics that are normally covered in many other films set in Mexico. It is commendable that Ruizpalacios has focused on other aspects of Mexican life.

All four films are presented with a layer of humour that is a few notches above a deadpan style like that in an Aki Kaurismäki film. The exception is the final third of La Cocina when the humour reaches a frenzied chaos. This light comedic style works nicely in Museo as this keeps the film in harmony with the entire absurdity of the heist and proceeding events. However, in the case of Güeros, A Cop Movie and La Cocina, the style coupled with the extra-baggage of these films (story segments, treatment) takes away from the film’s core focus and results in a muddled tone. In addition, this style along with the film topics means that none of the films have a piercing emotional impact like those of other contemporary Mexican directors such as Alejandro González Iñárritu, Amat Escalante, Carlos Reygadas, Michel Franco.

Early Stanley Kubrick Films

Spotlight on these early shorts and features of Stanley Kubrick:

Flying Padre (1951, 9 min doc short)

Day of Fight (1951, 16 min doc short)

Fear and Desire (1952)

Killer’s Kiss (1955)

The Killing (1957)

Paths of Glory (1958)

Stanley Kubrick directed 13 films over his career with the 1950s and 1960s being the most prolific decade with 4 films each decade:

1960s films: Spartacus (1960), Lolita (1962), Dr. Strangelove (1964), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

The 1970s and 1980s brought 2 films per decade: A Clockwork Orange (1971), Barry Lyndon (1975), The Shining (1980), Full Metal Jacket (1987).

And then there was the final film, Eyes Wide Shut, released in the summer of 1999, a few months after Kubrick passed away at the age of 70.

War and Noir

The 1950s are book-ended by two War films and two Noir films in the middle. This pattern makes sense as the end of WWII meant that War films started emerging in 1950s while Noir was still thriving in the 1950s following their emergence in 1940s. However, neither of the two war films are conventional ones, although budget played a part in one of the film’s decisions.

Kubrick’s debut feature Fear and Desire is a war film set in an unnamed country. The film shows four soldiers navigating a forest after their plane was shot down. It is very clear from the outset that the forest isn’t in Europe or Latin America but it is a park in USA. Clearly, budget played a part in that decision. The location impacts believability of events although not for lack of effort on the part of Kubrick and the film crew. It is clear the film is made by someone who has a keen understanding of cinema techniques from the variety of camera angles (close-ups when needed) and the usage of music to heighten emotions.

Killer’s Kiss, The Killing and Paths of Glory are technically miles ahead of Fear and Desire and depict what a talented director can do with more production budget and better script. Incredibly, all 3 films were released over a 6-year period following Kubrick’s debut feature. Killer’s Kiss and The Killing are solid noir films enhanced with some brilliant technical flourishes. One of the best sequences in Killer’s Kiss is the boxing fight sequence which has some creative camera angles. This sequence has shots that build on Kubrick’s work from his documentary short Day of Fight (1951). The documentary showed the prep that goes before a fight and features a shot that depicts the other boxer via the legs of his opponent. This same shot is incorporated in Killer’s Kiss which also shows realism in the fight sequence. The black and white boxing ring fight scenes are a precursor to those incredible images in Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull (1980). Both noir films also feature voice-over narration by the main character, an aspect that was found in Kubrick’s first two documentary shorts (Day of Fight, Flying Padre).

Paths of Glory highlights Kubrick’s progress as a director and can still be rightly considered as one of the best war films made. Or anti-war movie to be exact. The film shows the egos, rules and regulations, hierarchy of the military and is a perfect illustration of the phrase “power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Paths of Glory depicts events that unfold when an egoistical general puts the lives of his soldiers at risk by sending them on a suicide mission. Not all the soldiers comply, and the loyal Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas) defends his men in a court-martial trial. There are some realistic war trenches scenes, but the power of the film is from sequences which question blind orders.

Ranking all Four Features in order of preference:

1. Paths of Glory (1958)

2. The Killing (1957)

3. Killer’s Kiss (1955)

4. Fear and Desire (1952)

The preference order is inverse of the film’s release date, which highlights Kubrick’s growth as a director. That strength of his directorial abilities flourished further in the 1960s which feature two of the best films ever made, Dr. Strangelove and 2001.