First off, apologies to the Tarantino fanboys out there, he didn’t make the cut. Nevertheless, this was a sensational decade for some truly groundbreaking cinema. I’m very pleased to see three of the top ten flicks were shot on digital. Dozens of films could have been on this list. It was hard to break it down to the essentials. Many of the selections on this list will be screening at the Cinematheque this season as part of their Best of the Decade program. If you haven’t seen them or want to revisit them, I recommend taking this opportunity to see them on the big screen. Now, without further ado...

01. Caché (Hidden) (2005)
“Cache” is the future of thrillers. When I watched this film in the theatres, I said to myself “This must be what people felt when they first saw Hitchcock’s Rear Window”. The flick gets under your skin like no other. Like the title suggests, there’s something never revealing itself on the surface. But you know it’s a threat and you know you should do something about it. This is the brilliance of Caché. No other film captured the paranoia and the tension of this decade like this masterpiece. But like your worst nightmare, it’s never crystal clear. Haneke seems to suggest that cinema is the most penetrating link to our subconscious. If this is the case, we must pay attention, which is what this film forces you to do. It engrosses the viewer and forces you to really look because even if we don’t understand, it doesn’t diminish its ultimate power.

02. Hable con Ella (Talk to Her) (2002)
Sometimes films can make you relate to the most bizarre outcasts, sometimes they can even make you cry for those outcasts. This is one of those films. In one of the most unique and moving stories I have seen on the screen, Almodovar took his offbeat oeuvre to a new level. This flick is like visual poetry from start to finish. The beautiful textures, music and pacing all make for a very strange yet lucid film. There’s boldness to the subject matter that’s tackled in this film, which makes it so appealing. Like Rosaria (a Spanish bullfighter played by Lydia González), Almodovar is constantly fighting a bull, but always in elegant attire and with a fierce set of eyes. Talk to Her is a rather devastating and hard story that’s treated with a tenderness that makes your heart swell.

03. Tetro (2009)
“Tetro" is a film that comes along and breaks expectations and has fun doing it. If you're in for the ride, you're immersed. The style is very modern and classical, fluid but stationary, expressive yet subdued. What’s so refreshing about this film is it’s playful quality. Coppola really is in tune with his childish instincts as an artist and like the main character, Bennie, we understand that this can often be very dangerous, but exceptionally rewarding. "Tetro” reminds me of European cinema in the sixties, is what I would call a calculated risk. It's sharp, witty, satirical and rich. But it’s still a risk in that it says things about its characters, which often aren't said. It devalues fame and fortune. It denounces the power of the audience. It visually burns the influences which came before it. But in that, it accepts its new path. The path may be blinding and dangerous. But I can safely say: Coppola isn't alone on it.

04. Match Point (2005)
Woody Allen created an Opera of sorts with a cast of bumbling fools with too much money and too much mischief in their blood. It serves as an equation for a classic film that packs a very restrained but brutal punch. I feel that “Match Point” really represents the decade because it’s a reminder of aristocratic power running amok. Without the brilliant performances by all, this could have been a bad soap. But each performance is carefully walking the tightrope between despicable and charming. So you’re constantly waiting for them to fall. Despite all of the guiltless sex and violence throughout, Allen always carries a smirk. Could the age we’re entering be as amoral and corrupt as this film makes it out to be? Probably. But, with a little luck, we’ll pull through.

05. C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005)
If I had to pick a film that best described the confusion and beauty of my formative teenage years, with a sweet soundtrack behind it, this would be my choice. There’s an absolute truth in the family dynamic (in comparison to The Royal Tenenbaums, which teetered on caricatures) that makes you feel at home. So you’re with this family from beginning to end, through the laughs and tears. Though its very grounded in reality, it sways into the surreal with its well-crafted visuals. This is a rare example where the heart of the piece is in the right place and the mind behind it orchestrates each note to perfection.

06. The Aviator (2004)
Scorsese’s staggering look at the life of philanthropist Howard Hughes was not only a visual masterpiece, but also a testament to the Golden Age of Hollywood. There’s something very real in the destruction of a seemingly unstoppable mogul and tycoon like Hughes (Wall St. anyone?). There is an attention to the details of this man’s life, which I hadn’t ever seen, a brilliant reflection of Western culture’s obsession with the rich and famous. But like Hughes, when you get too close to the fire, you’re going to get burned. DiCaprio and Scorsese literally went under the skin of this man and walked around, felt him out for his greatest achievements and downfalls. And because Scorsese did his homework, he was free to dabble into the unreal, mimicking the mind of Hughes who was able to see the reality in mere dreams. The Aviator is the true epic of our millennia.

07. Mulholland Dr. (2001)
No other film of the decade was as gorgeous or ugly as Mulholland Dr., a film that is a dream inside a dream inside a dream. If that first line confused you, then this flick’s not for you. If you’re still with me, David Lynch painted one of the most realistic pictures of Hollywood as we know it; a jumbled, disturbing, funny, and mysterious entity. This is the Sunset Blvd. of our day. There is no denying that it’s a finicky labyrinth of sorts, but which of our dreams isn’t? Films like Mulholland Dr., you can constantly revisit because it’s like delicious lasagna. Once you cut into it, you see all the layers and you’re in awe of the ingredients it took to put it all together. But in the end, it’s still just lasagna. Lynch embarks upon the subconscious like no other, but he remains conscious of every aspect, to the point where if he thinks he’s lost you he’ll throw in an absurd laugh just to keep you on the ride. Mulholland Dr. isn’t just a movie, it’s an absorbing experience, one –hate it or love it – you won’t soon forget.

08. Cidade de Deus (City of God) (2002)
Stylish, provocative, realistic, and fast as lightning: careful components to a masterpiece. “City of God” possesses all of these things and more. I think “City of God” set the bar for gangster films for the millennium. Even “The Departed”, the work of a seasoned veteran, couldn’t contain the sheer exuberance that this film did. Only a Brazilian film director like Fernando Meirelles could show the slums of Rio Janeiro, but still make them look golden. There’s an animalistic brutality to these characters that make American gangsters look like pussycats. It doesn’t glorify street violence, but it doesn’t whitewash it either. This film was a true wake up call for the Id of the decade.

09. Last Days (2005)
This is a controversial call, which will definitely lose me some brownie points in the long run. But there’s no denying the very quiet power of this film. Shattering the expectations of the conventional “biopic of drugged out, troubled, musician”, Gus Van Sant created something much more natural and complex. Like the title, it truly depicts the last days of a über rock star like Kurt Cobain. It doesn’t sensationalize or exploit the events. He presents, very clearly, a careful portrait that mocks our obsession over death and self-destruction. So you’re left with something much more interesting and haunting. There’s a tapestry of very long images and one of the best sound designs brought to film to date. The result is a very unsettling, truthful and amusing account of the end of an era. Gus Van Sant, like in his sister piece “Elephant”, truly respect death. Where most filmmakers will have an open casket for the heroes of the past, Van Sant gently cremates them.

10. Dogville (2003)
What I love about flicks like “Dogville” is that they are experiments in cinema, which end up receiving magnificent results. Lars Von Trier wrote one of the tightest scripts of the decade. Like his other works, it’s audacious but contains itself in minimalism. Nothing in the performances or story is minimal. But it’s such a simple, human, story that it requires nothing visually to carry its weight. It’s bare in that regard, but it needs to be. This flick is so raw and engrossing, that the visuals would have distracted or distorted the truth of it. It’s a marvelous, contemporary triumph.  [ END ]

The Rest:

11. Entre Les Murs (The Class) (2009)
12. Oldboy (2003)
13. L'Enfant (The Child) (2005)
14. Memento (2000)
15. Waking Life (2001)
16. DiG! (2004)
17. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
18. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)
19. My Winnipeg (2007)
20. Battle Royale (2000)