Here it is folks, after MUCH painstaking deliberation, the following are my top 20 picks for films I enjoyed most this past decade:
(and because it took me two weeks - until the last day of the decade - to finalize my decisions, I'm going to dispense with posting the movie poster images to avoid further delay)
Requiem for a dream (2000)
There was one failed attempt to see this at TIFF 2000 but I was able to jump on an advanced screening a couple months later. Requiem haunted me and left me speechless, nine years later I own the DVD and dread and anticipate watching it every time. This sparked the short period in my life where Darren Aronovsky could do no wrong - and then he made The Fountain :P)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
My proper introduction to Ang Lee, assisted by Hong Kong's finest actors that guided me through asian cinema growing up. It was also a huge trial getting into this film at TIFF 2000, we were 200+ in the RUSH line at Roy Thomson Hall standing in the rain -- and were among the last batch to get in!
Almost Famous (2000)
Few stories are so lovingly written.
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
The film that Toronto shared with the world, though not my favourite Danny Boyle film (not even top 3) it was deeply moving and endearing and stayed with me for some time. It makes me proud to be a Torontian that first generated buzz about this little film that didn't even have a distributor, truly the little film that could...
Where the Truth Lies (2005)
Big up Canada and Mr Egoyan. You simplified the plot from the book but didn't skimp on talent and story. I thought Where the Truth Lies was underrated, I was captivated by it.
Before Sunset (2004)
The sequel that's better than the original. Who else can't get enough of Jesse and Celine and all the chance encounters they can have together? In my perfect world I would write films like this.
25th Hour (2002)
Monty Brogan may be one of my favourite chatacters of all time, simple, decisive, strong, and insightful. I've never been part of the Spike Lee love-in but sign me up after this film.
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
I love you Quentin for coming up with a snuff film targeted at the one group in history that has zero sympathizers, to live out your beautifully shot and scored fantasies. You even made me like Diane Kruger when no other filmmaker has been able to muster up anything kinder than disdain for her talent.
Oldboy (2003)
It'll never be like it was the first time, but the shock, dread, and horror I felt the first time I watched the ending of Oldboy will be forever ingrained in my mind. For that alone, this film deserves to be on this list.
Gosford Park (2001)
One of Robert Altman's finest. Every time I watch this film (and I just recently saw it for the 4th or 5th time) I can't help but spend the few days following thinking about it. That's what a good story does.
Infernal Affairs (2002)
I've said it since it came out - this is the finest piece of writing to ever come out of Hong Kong. Doesn't matter how many times I see it, I'm completely mesmerized. The story holds up so well that even the Hollywood adaptation (The Departed) was academy award-worthy
Closer (2004)
A simple little play, but really appeals to me the way it delves into the colder functional side of relationships, people as pawns, and the underlying selfishness of man. So universal yet under-represented because humanity doesn't like to own up to it, yet I grasp onto these concepts so...
Dummy (2002)
Funniest film of the decade. Dark, witty, ironic, and all the things I hold dear.
Bad Santa (2003)
Second funniest film of the decade. Ban Santa touched me so that it has now become my Christmas tradition to watch this movie annually. This is film #1 of Terry Zwigoff on this list (which is ironic because I don't usually list him among my favourite directors, yet QT, Danny Boyle, and Wong Kar Wai are all only listed once)
In the Mood for Love (2000)
Eternally moving tragic love story of life in a different place and time, Wong Kar Wai's intricate and authentic sets and basic dialogue manage to show me, someone who knew nothing of this era, the societal and emotional constraints of the time. My heart still breaks every time.
Love Me If You Dare (2003)
The magic of Amelie that everyone raves about, pales in comparison to Love Me If You Dare. Long before Marion Cotlliard's name was spoken on this side of the continent (she's the son's wife in Big Fish!) she made me laugh and cry and dream in this film.
Igby Goes Down (2002)
A modern Catcher in the Rye, really, what's not to love about that?
Conversations With Other Women (2005)
Helena Bonham Carter, you are an excellent freak, but even more so you are enthralling as the mere beautiful jaded outsider. Mix in some of the best dialogue I've ever heard in a movie and some neat camera angles and you've made a film that I will worship forever.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Why, Charlie Kaufman and Michel Gondry, you've gone and made our dreams and nightmare into a movie - and I mean that on so many levels. Your complexities are beautiful, I try not to watch your movie too often because I'm afraid of what parts of my mind it might make me travel to.
And undoubtedly, the best film made in the last decade, that surpassed Trainspotting and Pulp Fiction to become my favourite film of all time...
From director Terry Zwigoff...
Ghost World (2001)
No film ever spoke to me so personally as Ghost World did in 2002 when I first saw it. Until this day I long to give life a try in Enid's shoes and hope a bus comes for me too.
And there you have it, a decade that started very strong. Let's hope it's the same for the decade to come. In the meantime, below is a list of films that did not make the final top 20 cut. It was very painful to have to remove some of them, I would recommend them all without hesitation...
_______________
The Man Who Wasn't There
The Prestige
Spirited Away
Brick
Kill Bill
Sin City
Dark Knight
28 Days Later
Secretary
Big Fish
Warriors of Heaven and Earth
Mysterious Skin
Wall E
Momento
Moulin Rouge
The Pianist
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Grindhouse
2 Days in Paris
Breafast on Pluto
Waking Life
Time & Tide
La vie en rose
