10 Films

The New York Times is doing a big survey of the Best Films of the 21st century. They've made their own critics' list and they're asking people to submit their own 10. I couldn't resist, though I did find it a bit tricky.

I went for, in no particular order

Aftersun

School of Rock

I've Loved You So Long

Inside Llewyn Davis

Killers of the Flower Moon

The Fellowship of the Ring

Adventureland

The White Ribbon

Brick

Adventureland

Most of those could have been any number of others. I tried to go with ones that had stuck with me, had haunted me in some way, or, in some cases, that had brought me joy and I would happily rewatch.

Films, unlike albums, are things I mainly don't rewatch. I guess that's true of most people who aren't pros or ultra-film buffs. So, for the layperson, coming up with a list like this is as much about the film's afterlife as the actual experience of watching it.

For example, taking Scorsese's last two - The Irishman and Killers of the Flower Moon. I was very enthusiastic about seeing both, enjoyed both, and enthused about both in the immediate aftermath. Years afterwards, though, I feel like The Irishman was merely decent, with plenty of flaws, it hasn't really lingered with me, whereas I look on KOTFM as a great film which is living inside me, thematically and visually, which tells a story that needed telling which hadn't been told before. That's the afterlife of those two films for me.

Sideways is a film I, at the time, was deeply moved by and felt would be a lifelong favourite, but I think its general critical afterlife is a bit so-so, and I've been somewhat influenced by that. So it hasn't made the Top 10.

School of Rock is, I think, in its way, the most straight-up wholesome good fun film with a masterpiece comic performance. and nothing can replicate the cusp-of-adulthood-but-still-in-touch-with-being-a-child thrill that the first Lord of the Rings film gave me in 2001.

Looking at the NYT Critics' List, I've seen nearly all of them, it's not exactly Sight and Sound's esoteric global extravaganza, it's pretty American Oscar-baity but, you know, good films, mainly. Gone Girl is probably my least favourite in the list.

I think my Number 1, at the moment, is Aftersun. It was just an absolute kick in the chest in its own new language and I still feel it.

An alternative Top 10 i could have given would be ...

Brokeback Mountain

Rust and Bone

Pride

Memento

United 93

Oldboy

Mulholland Drive

Palm Springs

The Quiet Girl

Portrait of a Woman of Fire

Those all definitely packed a little punch.

Another thing I noted from the full NYT list is Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper must be thinking "what about the critically acclaimed, Oscar-nominated films we were in? What did we do wrong?"