The Best of the Decade: 2010 to 2019

To Start Off With ...

Above my Top Ten, I’m listing the entire output of Terrence Malick from 2010 to 2017, which is undoubtedly my favourite cinematic work from this decade. I rewatched each of these movies, trying to settle on one to place at the top of my list, but Malick’s body of work amounts to a greater achievement than the sum of its parts, and the ideas, emotions, images, and stories that flow through each of them form threads that can start in one movie and run through another.

The Tree of Life is the movie that awakened me to the full possibilities of movies, of how great thought and feeling can be conveyed through sounds and images, and of how deeply and intimately I could be moved by any movie. Malick searches for and devises new ways of looking at every subject (and every object), and each image in his movies packs a concentration of meaning, a focus on the essence and potential of each living thing and the matter that surrounds it, and an abiding sense of the eternal and the cosmic scheme into which it fits. I look at my own world differently now after having seen through Malick’s lens, and it’s a wondrous transformation.

Best of Last Decade... That I Saw, At Least

Paul Dano prays for Daniel Day-Lewis in Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood" (2007)

Having been rather pleased both with compiling my list of the best films of this decade (so far) and with the result and people’s contentions therewith, I’ve decided to put together another. This one, as the last, is pretty conventional in subject matter: The Best Films of a Decade – the last one, to be specific: 1 January 2000 – 31 December 2009.

This list is given with the same proviso as the last: there is a myriad of films of the decade before this one which I have yet to see. Including such critical darlings as Mulholland Drive, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Memento, United 93, Brokeback Mountain, Far From Heaven, Lost in Translation, Sideways, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Darjeeling Limited, Funny People, Zodiac, The Royal Tenenbaums and City of God, among many, oh far too many others. I, erring as always on the side of caution, wish to add another caveat: last decade was a while ago, and while most critics released such lists at the end of 2009, mine is appearing five years later. Perceptions have changed, however slightly, and it’s been a while since any of us has seen some of these titles. Therefore, I authorise and welcome a great deal more criticism for my picks here than anyone gave for my last list. Know that this one is fare more malleable than the last one.

Best of the Decade... So Far

The ethereal Jessica Chastain in Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" (2011)

Finally being done with all the frenzy of awards shows, “Best of 2014” features in every magazine and newspaper in the world, and, of course, having heard everyone’s disdainful judgement of the Oscar winners and the show, film commentary sites have now begun compiling a new sort of list. New Year’s Day 2015 marked the middle of this decade (if you began counting on New Year’s Day 2010, which we know to be incorrect), and all self-respecting film pundits have thrown in their choices for the best features released so far this decade.

Naturally, having no wish other than to be yoked to the critical bandwagon, I’ve had to compile my own list of The Best Films of the Decade So Far, which has proved rather cool – this is my first list of The Best Films of anything, and I’m quite excited that I get to share it here right after composing it. I’ve read some critics’ assertions that they have to confer with themselves at length over the order of titles on a list, and over what should be put in or left out. I managed to compile this one rather quickly, and to form something which I feel represents my feelings somewhat truthfully. Richard Brody writes, “A list is not a game; it’s an image in words.” As enjoyable as it is to write your own, and bare some small part of your feelings to readers, it’s also pleasing to read others’ lists, being as personal and revealing as they are.