Naturally, The Movie Gourmet has thoughts about the New York Times’ recently published The Best 100 Movies of the 21st Century. First of all, I’m glad that the NYT did it – it demonstrates that one of our most credible institutions thinks that cinema is important to the culture and that people should take it seriously. Movies matter.
And, it’s a pretty good list. I can weigh in because I’ve seen all 100 except for Portrait of a Lady on Fire (#38), Let the Right One In (#70) and Interstellar (#89), and I’ve written about most of them. There’s solid representation of animated films and international cinema, with a few comedies and only one comic book movie (The Dark Knight). Parasite is a worthy choice for #1 on the NYT list, although I would place it at #2 behind Boyhood (#23 on the NYT list).
ACCOLADES
I am absolutely delighted to see some deserving films on the list that aren’t often included in the Great Movies conversation: In the Mood for Love (#4), Children of Men (#13), Memories of Murder (#99), Spirited Away (#9), A Serious Man (#36), Y Tu Mama Tambien (#18), Anatomy of a Fall (#26), Her (#24), A Prophet (#35), Aftersun (#78), The Act of Killing (#82) and Grizzly Man (#98). Lately, In the Mood for Love has been getting more buzz from cinephiles.
Identifying good filmmaking is one thing, but personal taste is pivotal in ranking films. I rank the Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man (#36) higher than their There Will Be Blood (#3), Jordan Peele’s Nope higher than his Get Out (#8), Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood…(#44) than his Inglorious Basterds (#13), Denis Villaneuve’s Incendies higher than his Arrival (#29), Pedro Almodovar’s Broken Embraces higher than his Volver (#80), Greta Gerwig’s Barbie higher than her Lady Bird (#39). I can’t imagine how the NYT panel overlooked Adam McKay’s The Big Short and Don’t Look Up in favor of his Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (#85).
SOME QUIBBLES
A few movies should have been ranked much higher: Before Sunset (#49), Best in Show (#57), Oppenheimer (#65), Minority Report (#94).
There are only two lousy movies on the whole list: The Tree of Life (#79) and The Favourite (#52). And the panel generally resisted including Eat Your Broccoli Movies, except for Yi Yi (#40) and The Gleaners & I (#88). I just don’t like The Royal Tenenbaums (#21), Frances Ha (#90), Inside Llewyn Davis (#83), Melancholia (#84) and City of God (#15).
With only three documentaries (The Act of Killing, Grizzly Man, The Gleaners & I), the list is pretty light on docs. On any list of 100 films, I would have added An Inconvenient Truth, They Shall Not Grow Old, Stories We Tell, and the three films in the Seven Up series (49 Up, 56 Up and 63 Up).
BIG MISSES
The NYT panel whiffed on six movies that should be in the century’s top 30, let alone 100, films: 25th Hour, Million Dollar Baby, Nomadland, The Power of the Dog, Shoplifters and Sideways. What were they thinking?
And there’s not a single film from Clint Eastwood (Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Flags of Our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima), Spike Lee (25th Hour), Alexander Payne (Sideways, The Descendants, Nebraska), Debra Gralnik (Winter’s Bone, Leave No Trace), Sarah Polley (Away from Her, Take this Waltz, Stories We Tell), Kelly Reichardt (Wendy and Lucy) the Dardennes brothers (The Son, The Kid with the Bike), Hirokazu Koreeda (Shoplifters, Broker), Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog), Chloe Zhao (The Rider, Nomadland), or Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud, The Bikeriders). Given the inclusion of work from Yorgos Lanthimos, Lars Von Trier and the way overrated Wes Anderson, that’s pretty shocking.
THE CONVERSATION BEGINS
Thanks, NYT. Now it’s our turn. I’m working on my own list (much shorter than 100) of the century’s best. Watch this space.
