2000s List Discussion and Suggestions (Lists Project Vol. 2)

[carax09]

My top 20:
1. Inland Empire (Lynch)
2. In The Mood For Love (Wong Kar-Wai)
3. The Royal Tanenbaums (Anderson)
4. The Power of Nightmares (Curtis)
5. The New World (Malick)
6. Red Riding 1974 (Jarrold)
7. De l'origine du XXIe siecle (Godard)
8. Bright Star (Campion)
9. The Gleaners And I (Varda)
10. The Science of Sleep (Gondry)
11. The Limits of Control (Jarmusch)
12. The GoodTimesKid (Jacobs)
13. My Winnipeg (Maddin)
14. You The Living (Andersson)
15. Tony Takitani (Ichikawa)
16. The Paper Will Be Blue (Muntean)
17. Three Times (HHH)
18. The Low Down (Thraves)
19. Of Time and the City (Davies)
20. 14th Arrondissement (Payne)

Most anticipated:
Voy A Explotar (Naranja)
Police, Adjective (Porumboiu)
En la ciudad de Sylvia/Fotos... (Guerin)
Still Walking (Hirokazu Koreeda)
Lake Tahoe (Eimbcke)
Colossal Youth (Costa)
35 Rhums (Denis)

[terabin]

Top 20 now that the list is turned in:

1. Yi Yi - Yang (2000)
2. Inland Empire - Lynch (2006)
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Gondry (2004)
4. In the Mood For Love - Wong (2000)
5. Ghost World - Zwigoff (2001)
6. Sideways - Payne (2004)
7. All the Real Girls - Green (2003)
8. Michael Clayton - Gilroy (2007)
9. Distant - Ceylon (2002)
10. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - Dominik (2007)
11. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou - Anderson (2004)
12. High Fidelity - Frears (2000)
13. Lost in Translation - Coppola (2003)
14. Summer Hours - Assayas (2008)
15. Waking Life - Linklater (2001)
16. Paranoid Park - Van Sant (2007)
17. Songs From the Second Floor - Andersson (2000)
18. Encounters at the End of the World - Herzog (2007)
19. Still Walking - Kore-Eda (2008)
20. Seance - Kurosawa (2000)

Good luck to those agonizing over final lists!

[eljacko]

sent the PM, the pain is gone! here's a bottom ten (the hardest part of the list):

41 - Lost in Translation
42 - Y tu mama tambien
43 - Volver
44 - Visitor Q
45 - The Wrestler
46 - Cast Away
47 - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
48 - Up
49 - The Queen
50 - Charlie Wilson’s War

[moviscop]

The Latter Half

26. Antichrist (Lars von Trier)
27. No End In Sight (Charles Ferguson)
28. Kill Bill (Quentin Tarantino)
29. Adaptation (Spike Jonze)
30. The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky)
31. Elephant (Gus Van Sant)
32. One Hour Photo (Mark Romanek)
33. Let The Right One In (Tomas Alfredson)
34. Oldboy (Chan-wook Park)
35. Russian Ark (Aleksandr Sokurov)
36. Dig! (Ondi Timoner)
37. Audition (Takashi Miike)
38. L’enfant (Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne)
39. Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson)
40. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón)
41. The King of Kong (Seth Gordon)
42. O' Brother, Where Art Thou (Coen Brothers)
43. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michael Gondry)
44. Lost In Translation (Sophia Coppola)
45. Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky)
46. Ballast (Lance Hammer)
47. Blow (Ted Demme)
48. Broken Flowers (Jim Jarmusch)
49. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Tim Burton)
50. Chopper (Andrew Dominik)

[thirtyframesasecond]

I've sent the PM. I'll reveal my choices in small chunks.

50-41....

Mysterious Skin (Araki)
Audition (Miike)
The Son (Dardenne Bros.)
Waking Life (Linklater)
The Day I Became a Woman (Meshkini)
Volver (Almodovar)
In the City of Sylvia (Guerin)
Two Lovers (Gray)
The Piano Teacher (Haneke)
The World (Jia Zhangke)

[knives]

Just so the last three guys know, Audition, per the rules of this list, counts as a 90s film.

[swo17]

My top 20:

01 Punch-Drunk Love (Anderson)
02 Waking Life (Linklater)
03 The Son (Dardennes)
04 Mulholland Dr. (Lynch)
05 No Country for Old Men (Coens)
06 Ce jour-là (Ruiz)
07 Decasia (Morrison)
08 Caché (Haneke)
09 Police, Adjective (Porumboiu)
10 Lilya 4-Ever (Moodysson)
11 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Gondry)
12 Le Pont des Arts (Green)
13 You, the Living (Andersson)
14 I ♥ Huckabees (Russell)
15 WALL·E (Stanton)
16 There Will Be Blood (Anderson)
17 In the Mood for Love (Wong)
18 All the Real Girls (Green)
19 Dogville (von Trier)
20 Brand upon the Brain! (Maddin)

And now, some interesting statistics about my list. Well, I can't promise they'll be interesting, but it's true they are statistics!

- a list of 50, whittled down from about 1200 films seen from the decade
- 2 directors scored a hat trick (Maddin and von Trier)
- another 7 directors with 2 films a piece
- 20 non-English language films
- 4 animated films
- 6 films predominantly in B&W
- 2 films under 10 minutes long
- 5 Criterion titles
- I had a provisional top 50 at the start of the project. Only half of them made it on the final list.
- The years I had thought were the richest while they were happening were 2001 and 2007, though collectively, I only ended up choosing 7 films from those two years. In contrast, a whopping 9 from my list were released in 2000.

[Perkins Cobb]

Just so the last three guys know, Audition, per the rules of this list, counts as a 90s film.

Plus, it's a piece of crap.

Also: Swo, 1200 is roughly how many I've seen from the 2000s, too. What're we, nuts?

[zedz]

Well, I'm afraid I won't be joining this orgy of list posting for a while yet, as I've just picked up thirty-something lists to collate! Yep, it looks like we'll be having more lists that ever yet again. This does mean that slackers have got a little while yet to PM me their preferences.

And one belated note: According to the well-thumbed rules of this exercise, both parts of Kill Bill count as a single film. Almost everybody who voted for it has singled out part one, which gets automatically upgraded to the whole shebang (tough luck if you hate part two!), but at least one person nominated both parts. If you're in the same boat, you can substitute another film. Just PM me.

Re: Green. Le Pont des Arts is the only one that made my list, but the earlier films are worthwhile. Le Monde vivant is a hoot, but it seriously rubs a lot of people up the wrong way. If you find the idea of a lion in a medieval story being played by a lolloping labrador too cute by half, stay away. The casting is defended on grounds of pure logic: the knight is known as The Lion Knight, so the animal that follows him around is ipso facto a lion.

Re: domino's deduction. That was my guess too, but it's been overtaken more than once in the voting. After this latest batch, who knows? But it's probably a safe bet.

[swo17]

Also: Swo, 1200 is roughly how many I've seen from the 2000s, too. What're we, nuts?

I was surprised and a little scared to see the count go that high. I thought I would maybe crack 1000. It must be my insistence on watching every piece of crap that gets even a drop of positive ink spilled about it.

[moviscop]

Just so the last three guys know, Audition, per the rules of this list, counts as a 90s film.

Plus, it's a piece of crap.

Also: Swo, 1200 is roughly how many I've seen from the 2000s, too. What're we, nuts?

It wasn't top 10 worthy, but it is Miike's best work in my opinion. It was beautifully shot.

[Tom Hagen]

Re: domino's deduction. That was my guess too, but it's been overtaken more than once in the voting. After this latest batch, who knows? But it's probably a safe bet.

My prediction at the beginning was that Mulholland Dr. and In the Mood for Love would be comfortably at 1 & 2. Eternal Sunshine may overtake the later movie, but I'll still stand by my prediction looking over the sampling of lists that people have posted.

Any thoughts on who the auteurs of the decade might be? Based on the love Inland Empire is getting around here, Lynch may well win on that particular metric as well. Looking at just my own list -- and doing some creative categorizing -- Charlie Kaufman and Pixar would be my filmmakers of the decade.

[franco]

For me, the director of the decade is easily Lisandro Alonso.

[xavier110]

Well, why not join in? My top twelve:

01. INLAND EMPIRE (David Lynch)
02. Werckmeister Harmonies (Bela Tarr)
03. Tokyo Sonata (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
04. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg)
05. Elephant (Gus Van Sant)
06. Millennium Mambo (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
07. The New World (Terrence Malick)
08. Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola)
09. Goodbye Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-liang)
10. Gabrielle (Patrice Chereau)
11. Doppelganger (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
12. Ten (Abbas Kiarostami)

[Camera Obscura]

For me the director of the decade was Michael Bay and his production company that pillaged and raped their way through the decade.

Saw 35 Rhums for the first time a couple of days ago, and it should be way up there. I know, it's pathetic, but I cried like a little baby. Don't know how she does it, but Denis manages to distill a bewildering array of subtle emotions out of seemingly thin air.

My numbers 28-38:

28. Bubble (Steven Soderbergh, 2005)
29. Time Out (Laurent Cantet, 2001)
30. Martyrs (Pascal Laugier, 2008)
31. Ivansxtc (Bernard Rose, 2000)
32. Tokyo Sonata (Kyoshi Kurosawa, 2008)
33. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg, 2001)
34. The Man Who Wasn’t There (Joel & Ethan Coen, 2001)
35. Squint Your Eyes (Andrzej Jakimowski, 2002)
36. The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2008)
37. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001)
38. Inland Empire (David Lynch, 2006)

..

[domino harvey]

It looks like Dogville will finish a lot higher than I expected. Glad I dropped Punch-Drunk Love from my list, it didn't need my help anyways

[anvilscepe]

from 11 - 25:

10. Elephant (Van Sant)
11. Wet Hot American Summer (Wain)
12. Gran Torino (Eastwood)
13. Y Tu Mama Tambien (Cuaron)
14. Zodiac (Fincher)
15. Grizzly Man (Herzog)
16. Margot at the Wedding (Baumbach)
17. Punch Drunk Love (Anderson)
18. Time Out (Cantet)
19. Best in Show (Guest)
20. Lilya 4-Ever (Moodysson)
21. The Others (Amenabar)
22. George Washington (Green)
23. Ratatouille (Bird)
24. The Good Girl (Arteta)
25. La Cienega (Martel)

[Murdoch]

16. Margot at the Wedding (Baumbach)

That's right about where it placed on mine as well - a few spots higher actually - it was incredibly rewatchable and with some of the best performances of the decade.

[anvilscepe]

That's right about where it placed on mine as well - a few spots higher actually - it was incredibly rewatchable and with some of the best performances of the decade.

Yes, extremely rewatchable Murdoch. My only complaint was Jack Black, but it's a small one. Margot felt more natural than The Squid and the Whale, which didn't even place.

[Murdoch]

Black was problematic, I'm usually more forgiving of actors' performances than most and I think he did well enough except for the most dramatic parts, but if I were to point to one flaw of the film it would have been his casting.

Agreed on Squid and the Whale though, despite Baumbach's ease with family relations the soundtrack was often too intrusive and it - for me at least - lacked the brilliant conclusion Margot had.

[Michael Kerpan]

My top 10

Qian xi man po / Millennium Mambo (HOU Hsiao Hsien, 2001))
Oh! Soo-jung / Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (HONG Sang-soo, 2000)
Aruitemo aruitemo / Still Walking (Hirokazu Kore'eda, 2008)
Linda Linda Linda (Nobuhiro Yamashita, 2005)
Aju teukbyeolhan sonnim / Ad Lib Night (LEE Yoon-ki, 2006)
Flandersui gae / Barking Dogs Never Bite (BONG Joon-ho, 2000)
Laam yan sei sap / July Rhapsody (Ann Hui, 2002)
Zhantai / Platform (JIA Zhangke, 2000)
Milyang / Secret Sunshine (LEE Chang-dong, 2007)
Goyangileul butaghae / Take Care of My Cat (JEONG Jae-eun, 2001)

[Perkins Cobb]

And one belated note: According to the well-thumbed rules of this exercise, both parts of Kill Bill count as a single film. Almost everybody who voted for it has singled out part one

Really? I'm surprised. I thought it was widely agreed upon that Part 2 is superior. The semi-metaphysical stuff with Carradine at the end of Part 2 is the only part of either film I can tolerate.

Re: Green. Le Pont des Arts is the only one that made my list, but the earlier films are worthwhile. Le Monde vivant is a hoot, but it seriously rubs a lot of people up the wrong way. If you find the idea of a lion in a medieval story being played by a lolloping labrador too cute by half, stay away. The casting is defended on grounds of pure logic: the knight is known as The Lion Knight, so the animal that follows him around is ipso facto a lion.

I just saw all three of these this weekend, and didn't list any of them, although that's mainly because I didn't have time to let them settle in. Le Monde vivant is my favorite though; in the two contemporary films, Green's constant scoring of points off of French intellectuals starts to seem a little juvenile (albeit satisfying).

As for Lynch, I wonder if Mulholland Dr. and Inland Empire will split the vote and knock each other down a few notches?

[reno dakota]

My top half:

1. Yi Yi (Yang, 2000)
2. Still Walking (Kore-eda, 2008)
3. Old Joy (Reichardt, 2006)
4. The New World (Malick, 2005)
5. You Can Count on Me (Lonergan, 2000)
6. Werckmeister Harmonies (Tarr, 2000)
7. The Best of Youth (Giordana, 2003)
8. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (Jones, 2005)
9. Brokeback Mountain (Lee, 2005)
10. Revanche (Spielmann, 2008)
11. Russian Ark (Sokurov, 2002)
12. Distance (Kore-eda, 2001)
13. Children of Men (Cuaron, 2006)
14. Nobody Knows (Kore-eda, 2004)
15. Once (Carney, 2007)
16. There Will Be Blood (Anderson, 2007)
17. The Return (Zvyagintsev, 2003)
18. Before Sunset (Linklater, 2004)
19. Y Tu Mama Tambien (Cuaron, 2001)
20. Lost in Translation (Coppola, 2003)
21. The Beat that My Heart Skipped (Audiard, 2005)
22. You, the Living (Andersson, 2007)
23. Bright Star (Campion, 2009)
24. Late Marriage (Koshashvili, 2002)
25. The Son (Dardienne, 2002)

[knives]

(Terrible) Top half:
1. Gerry
2. The Piano Teacher
3. Bad Education
4. Paranoid Park
5. The Man Who Wasn't There
6. Adaptation.
7. Punch-Drunk Love
8. Code Unknown
9. The Triplets of Belleville
10. Memories of Murder
11. The Squid and The Whale
12. 12:08 East of Bucharest
13. Cache
14. Waking Life
15. Millennium Actress
16. Goodbye, Dragon Inn
17. Werckmeister Harmonies
18. Still Walking
19. A Christmas Tale
20. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
21. Muholland Dr.
22. The Man Without a Past
23. The Royal Tenenbaums
24. 35 Shots of Rum
25. Mysterious Skin

While I do think it has its problems(Really should have been a miniseries) I wouldn't mind Muholland Dr. getting top honours.

[Clevinger]

My European (non-UK) list:

02. The Man Without a Past (Kaurismäki)
08. Dogville (von Trier)
10. Let the Right One In (Alfredsson)
11. The Lives of Others (Donnersmarck)
13. Heaven (Tykwer)
15. The Princess & the Warrior (Tykwer)
20. Man on the Train (Leconte)
21. A Christmas Tale (Desplechin)
22. Irreversible (Noe)
23. No Man’s Land (Tanovic)
27. With a Friend Like Harry (Moll)
28. Hidden (Haneke)
34. Head-On (Akin)
38. Marie-Jo and Her 2 Loves (Guédiguian)
41. Allegro (Boe)
44. Kontroll (Antal)