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The Best Films of 2010s

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Decade: Rating: List Type:

1767

6.8

The Tree of Life (2011)

The Tree of Life is definitely something massive. The way that film handles death, the existentialism, the family relationships, hallow importance of religions, nature and the modern society is something that only director like Terrence Malick can put up together. And as it's typical for Malick's films, the cinematography is once again on its own level. One of the most personal films by Malick, but also one of his films that touches me personally the most. Malick has a unique talent of shooting universal pictures, something that touches a universal viewer. These are pictures of everybodys cultural memory. Pictures of 1950's United States are equilavent to my recollections of 1990's Finnish landscape, the yard games and plays in the forrest with my brother and sister. And not just the pictures, but the themes, the relationships also. Brilliant, absolutely flawless film. All the superlatives.

709

6.8

6.3

Under the Skin (2013)

Jonathan Glazer has done it. I believe no other filmmaker has ever handled the theme of otherness as perfectly as Glazer in Under the Skin. Faber's novel gives the perfect premise, but Glazer is the visionary master in this medium. The horrors of nothingness, the search of the meaning of oneself: How is it to see people from the eyes of the Other? How does the other see itself? Here starts the journey for acceptance and self-discovery. From the foggy Lowlands to the dampest void, this film also looks absolutely brilliant. And there couldn't be better Other than Scarlett Johansson.

307

7.5

7.2

Certified Copy

James Miller (William Shimell) has come Tuscany to give a lecture about his latest book, Certified Copy. One woman is especially interested about the man and the book and they end up spending a day together. The more time they spent together, more the film relieves about their life. Or does it? This relationship is the most interesting one, like it is between art and its observer. What is actually happening to these people? The dialogue of artists and critics - him and her - plays through beautifully, making the viewer question everything.

318

8.2

7.7

The Turin Horse (2011)

The torment, the repetition, the perdition. Luckily the rumour (or news, actually) about this being Tarr's last film turned out to be false. There are few as exestential auteurs as Tarr, Tarr being one of the brightest and The Turin Horse being one of his greatest without a shadow of a doubt. Black and white imagery and its long takes take this film to whole new level. I was lucky enough to see this film in the cinema. To this date, this and the #2 on this list must be the two most beautiful and the most mesmerizing films that I've ever witnessed on the white canvas. It's not exaggerating to call the silver screen a canvas, or at least on these two cases.

103

6.9

7.3

Phoenix (2014)

The structure of oneself, and how to surpass trauma. Tough topics are handled in the most beautiful way in this hearthbreaking film. The ruins of Germany after the war are reflected on the people that are more or less ruins themselves. Technically speaking the structure of the whole narrative is pure brilliance.

1676

8.1

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

This film is an absolute ode the the action cinema. First of all, the action looks brilliant with all of its postapocalyptic wibes and its fantastic setting. The most epic chase (isn't the whole film basically a long chase scene?) puts the characters in a life-threatning situation and no one's life can be taken for granted. The basic themes of the postapocalyptic environment, like what do people do to survive, and what, if anything, is of value a represented in the most peculiar way. All this while also looking visually just stunning. One could actually feel the taste of gasoline in its mouth after this film.

8.2

7.5

Norte, The End of History (2013)

Well isn't this film grand. The most complete Dostoyevskyan piece of cinema. It might be a cliché but Crime and Punishment is one of my favourite novels ever and seeing adaptation this well done is, I guess, rather rare. At least for me. The slow narrative, painful themes and incredibly real character studies, it's all here.

193

7.5

Burning (2018)

In the most marvelous way this film plays with an idea of how people recieve the world and reality, how people create their own senses of the reality. How strong are our beliefs? How certain are we of our memories? Can we ever take anything for granted? There are quite a few films on my list that are quite perfect portraits of loneliness, but Burning might as well be one of the greatest ones ever.

279

6.6

6.5

Margaret

I can only adore and love how well Kenneth Lonergan handles trauma in this film. The subjects are close to the everyday life, people are relatable and Anna Paquin is remarkalbe as the main character. One could call Margaret a minimalistic masterpiece without being wrong. Heartbreaking, very underappriciated film.

264

6.9

6.8

The House That Jack Built

A portrayt of a serial killer is rather diffucult subject to execute. Well, I mean, at least to execute well. Most often films tend to just portray the horrifid things that serial killers do, and look for some tedious motifs from the killer's past what has driven them to this point. The House That Jack Built goes above and beyond. The film is portayt of the mind, the wrongdoings, the thought process, a wink of an eye, and then a succer-punch for all of us. Pure brilliance. Might be Lars von Trier's masterpiece.

1038

7.1

7.2

The Master (2012)

May well be my favourite film from Paul Thomas Anderson. The Master is a perfect study of a man and an instutute, and Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) stands out brilliantly as a character. The traumas, the developement, everything. Exquisite film in every way possible.

227

8.5

Twin Peaks: The Return (2017)

1701

7.7

Her (2013)

I absolutely adore this film. Playing with science fiction elements is often very difficult but this film absolutely nails it. How this plays with human condition and the basic needs that each and every one of us have that is to love and be loved. This is about going and letting go.

6.1

6.9

Transit (2018)

The film is dedicated to Petzold's co-writer, film essayist Harun Farocki. And what a love letter this is. The WWII is brought into this day in the most flawless and smartes ways possible, which works as a great monument for a palimpsestic memory. The horrors of the past are also horrors of world of today. Rogowski and Beer are brilliant in their roles, and Petzold surely showcases that he is one of the most interesting directors of this decade and for the decades to come.

320

8.1

8.2

The Act of Killing

Recreation of a genocide is not a bad idea. It's a horrible idea. But former Indonesian death-squad leaders and other members are thrilled of an idea of making a feature film of their actions. The Act of Killing is a documentary of the mass murderers' ambition of making that film come true and of the people who lived through the terrors. The craziest thing is that these death-squad leaders are thrilled to tell about their actions, and show no remorse.

308

7.1

6.8

A Ghost Story (2017)

1631

7.4

7.2

Melancholia (2011)

Oh how I love family drama, and how Lars von Trier is the master of it in this spectacular film. But it's not only about family drama, it's about world's end. Melancholia's dreamlike pictures and nightmarish setting are one of the kind.

7.5

6.6

The Color Wheel

6.2

Queen of Earth (2015)

295

7.6

7.3

Good Time (2017)

I very much believe that Safdie brothers are the greatest thing that has happened to American cinema for a while. Good Time is really thrilling section through the whole American class system, and everybody involved in this film really seem to give all they've got. I really love this film.

204

6.6

6.9

Climax (2018)

8.2

7.3

The Painted Bird (2019)

Jerzy Kosiński's The Painted Bird is one of the most distressing novels I've ever read. So it's no wonder that the film is also one of the most distressing ones I've ever seen. But what Marhoul does here with the adaptation is something remarkable: Much of the violence of the film is happening off-screen, camera just hinting that something has just happened. Telling untold stories from the horrors of WWII from a rather rarer point of view characters this film is remarkable, scary but breathtakingly beautiful piece of cinema.

160

Like Someone in Love (2012)

204

8.1

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

2019 was a great year for cinema, and Portrait of a Lady of Fire quite possibly is one of the greatest ones. Stunning, tender, and full of discreet passion and emotions. The film of gazes and sighs. The writing is near flawless, the leading duo - or almost trio - is simply brilliant.

7.4

6.6

Hard to Be a God (2013)

With its hot mess in a mud, Aleksei German's (sadly) last film is an absolute masterpiece. There is a rather unfamiliar setting of a scifi film in Hard to Be a God but absolutely brilliant one. The exploration of human condition, in this case that's what's between culture and barbarism, is something that always speaks deeply to me in cinema. Therefore Hard to Be God is such an easy film to fall in love with.

818

7.3

7.2

Enter the Void

Unique, innovative visual style and storytelling. Noé is a mastermind.

177

7.4

7.1

First Reformed (2017)

2611

7.8

Drive (2011)

Drive should earn its place in this list solely from its OST. But Drive is so much more than its soundtrack. It is its characters, storyline, horrifid violence and huge performances from its actors. And it's its Los Angeles, which rarely looks anything it does in Drive.

606

5.4

4.9

A Serbian Film (2010)

A Serbian Film is a crippling film. The images burn in one's eyes after seeing this. But behind all the shocking events and shocking images there is a great film. And possibly, not even behind them, but because of them. Conventions of cinema are being rearranged, the body horror reaches all new levels. I think the case is similar to film like Irréversible and Cannibal Holocaust, when the camera is a window for the unseen, for the events that we'd prefer not to see. The window for the harsh reality. In the harsh there is both shame and disgust.

7.8

6.9

Cavalo Dinheiro (2014)

Horse Money is a dreamlike picture. It's a fever dream, and it's a daydream. Mostly a fever dream. Voices from Ventura's, and Portugal's, past come alive in the most beautiful chiaroscuro images, haunting long after the curtain closes.

337

7.5

6.5

Upstream Color (2013)

As Carruth's earlier film, Primer (2004), the film likes to play with its audience a bit. And the film with its characters. Really unique film.

7.7

6.8

Cemetery of Splendour (2015)

517

7.6

7.7

Detachment

370

7.6

7.4

Phantom Thread (2017)

381

6.2

I'm Still Here

I'm Still Here is a case of its own. The whole 'nature' of the film is just unrivalled.

7.4

6.6

No Home Movie

Seeing No Home Movie in its full context, after Akerman's death, is rather painful experience. This film is the life, the testament, the portrait of adoration. The wind shreding the tree in the wind, the emptyness in one's life.

7.4

A Hidden Life (2019)

I've always been interested how memory works, and of memory-works. A Hidden Life tells a great story about a great man, whose story was long forgotten or untold. Like Transit (listed below), A Hidden Life works also as a palimpsestic memory piece as well. A Hidden Life might be the most straight forward film from Terrence Malick for a while. But there is also so much from his latter visual storytelling as well. Being one of the most straight forward ones, A Hidden Life is also one of Malick's most beautiful ones as well.

7.7

7.2

Columbus

453

7.5

Holy Motors

This film is a journey. Motor march through hell. Splendid in all its weirdness, fantastic all in all.

924

7.5

7.7

Blue Is The Warmest Color (2013)

Well isn't this just a lovely film. The absolute joy and passion of love, the euphoria for life. This film has it all.

1772

7.9

8.1

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

The Grand Budapest Hotel was the first film I ever saw twice in the cinema. And since then there aren't that many of them. Lovely piece of a story, lovely characters, lovely humour. Everything that I've ever wanted from Wes Anderson film, if not from film in general.

152

7.6

7.5

Beyond the Hills (2012)

185

8.1

Winter Sleep (2014)

6.9

Oca

One of the most heart-warming films on this list. Technically exciting, shamefully under-looked film.

6.7

6.5

Camille Claudel 1915 (2013)

Bruno Dumont is one of the most interesting directors of the decade. Best known from his films from the New French Extremety films, Camille Claudel 1915 differs from his earlier filmography quite a lot. Movie starts with a shot of Camille Claudel taking a bath in an asylum. From that moment, it is clear that the character is fragile, and not in the right place at all. She is given certain liberties in the weekday routines and the nurses seem to handle her differently from the other patients. Her rather repetitive everyday routines get a sudden change, when she hears that her beloved brother is going to pay a visit to her in a couple of days. Windy French countryside provides gorgeous milieu, and quite a lot of the beauty of the film comes from its long and heavy close-up takes, mostly from Binoche's face.

7.3

6.2

Kate Plays Christine (2016)

The anxiety of the film, what is says on the violent nature of the humankind, and Kate Lyn Sheil's metamorphosis into Christine Chubbuck's tragic character is cinema at its best. I'd like to describe Sheil's performance subtle, delicate or discreet, because that's how she gets describred way too rarely.

6.5

Post Tenebras Lux

200

7.2

7.1

The Square (2017)

757

7.8

7.9

Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

6.8

Heart of a Dog

Laurie Anderson's personal film essay is nothing short of remarkable. Although, like The Tree of Life, the film is a personal piece for its maker, the emotions in this as well are all universal. The map of the memories of the director herself blends with the memories of her a dog, and her late husband (Lou Reed) as well in the midst of the post 9/11 United States. All this can only left the viewer in an emotional turmoil.

Voters of this movie list - View all

I think I'm a little bit late on this trend of listing top films of the last decade. But I just love lists and listing

I think I should be counting these movies from 50 to 1, but after a rather long tinkering I decided that the list is more appealing this way. So there you go: from the best to not-quite-best-but-still-best. For quite some time I was thinking if I should include only one film per director, but I think that sort of decisions wouldn't give my honest opinion, which movies are the best from the decade. After all, this list is a list of films, not directors.

It wasn't an easy task to only include 50 films, and even that number seems to me a bit high. But it's a number that gives a room for wider variation, giving me some voice of my own as a list maker. I believe that this list would be quite different, let's say 2 to 5 years from now, but this is how I feel about rankings now.

I feel a bit bad that I haven't involved any Finnish films on this list, and therefore I would like to lighten my heart and give a special mentions for a few: Steam of Life (2010), The Other Side of Hope (2017), The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki (2016), Dogs Don't Wear Pants (2019), and Concrete Night (2013). Since I'm allowed to give special mentions, I believe that Elle (2016), The VVitch: A New-England Folktale (2015), 45 Years (2015), Another Year (2010) The Hunt (2012), Paddington 2 (2017), Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018), and 24 Frames (2017) deserve theirs too.