David Lynch’s 2001 neo-noir mystery Mulholland Drive has been named the best film of the Century in a poll conducted by the BBC. The Beeb asked 62 film critics from around the world to name the best films made since 2000. Here’s the full list.
1. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)
David Lynch, weaver of the alluring nightmare, unveiled his most disconcerting film yet in 2001. In a star-making performance, Naomi Watts played a young ingénue who comes to Hollywood with big dreams, and encounters “the stuff dreams are made of”. The plot resisted explanation beyond that… A treatise on Hollywood’s tendency to crush young souls? An unrestrained journey into a lurid, jealous mind? Or simply a tender, tragic love story between two women? Whatever the case, it was damn good cinema.
2. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)
Understated romance set in 1960s Hong Kong from Wong Kar-Wai. Said the New York Times in 2000, “Probably the most breathtakingly gorgeous film of the year, dizzy with a nose-against-the-glass romantic spirit that has been missing from the cinema forever.”
3. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
A breathtaking, sprawling epic about family, faith, power and oil, set on the incendiary frontier of California’s turn-of-the-century petroleum boom. Written and directed by P.T. Anderson (Magnolia, Boogie Nights) featuring a giant Daniel Day-Lewis’ performance.
4. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)
From the legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, follows the fanciful adventures of a ten-year-old girl named Chihiro. Gushed the Hollywood Reporter, “Dazzles and entertains like no other movie this year. Miyazaki is one of world cinema’s most wondrously gifted artists and storytellers.”
5. Boyhood (Richard Linklater, 2014)
Linklater’s 2014 observational coming-of-age drama. Made over 12 years and filmed in annual periods, Boyhood watches a boy (Ellar Coltrane), his dad (Ethan Hawke) and mother (Patricia Arquette in an Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe-winning performance) age and change. Hawke described the unique production as “timelapse photography of a human being”.
6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
From screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and directed by French low-fi innovator Michel Gondry at the height of their powers, starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet as tentative new lovers. Eternal Sunshine resonates with its cinematic trickery and melancholic love story.
7. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)
1950s-set drama from filmmaking master Terrence Malick (Badlands, The Thin Red Line), starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. Winner of the Palme d’Or (Best Film) at Cannes Film Festival.
8. Yi Yi: A One and a Two (Edward Yang, 2000)
Cannes-winning Taiwanese drama. Each member of a middle class Taipei family seeks to reconcile past and present relationships within their daily lives.
9. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
Intricate Iranian drama, winner of Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards and Golden Globes, and Best Film at the Berlin Film Festival 2011.
10. No Country for Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007)
In a filmic match made in heaven, the mighty Coen brothers adapt lyrical novelist Cormac McCarthy’s No Country For Old Men. Follows a hunter (Josh Brolin) who discovers dead bodies, a stash of heroin and $2 million in cash on the Rio Grande.
11. Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2013)
12. Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007)
13. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)
14. The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer, 2012)
15. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, 2007)
16. Holy Motors (Leos Carax, 2012)
17. Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro, 2006)
18. The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke, 2009)
19. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller, 2015)
20. Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, 2008)
21. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)
22. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)
23. Caché (Michael Haneke, 2005)
24. The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012)
25. Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)
26. 25th Hour (Spike Lee, 2002)
27. The Social Network (David Fincher, 2010)
28. Talk to Her (Pedro Almodóvar, 2002)
29. WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008)
30. Oldboy (Park Chan-wook, 2003)
31. Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan, 2011)
32. The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006)
33. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)
34. Son of Saul (László Nemes, 2015)
35. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000)
36. Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako, 2014)
37. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2010)
38. City of God (Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, 2002)
39. The New World (Terrence Malick, 2005)
40. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005)
41. Inside Out (Pete Docter, 2015)
42. Amour (Michael Haneke, 2012)
43. Melancholia (Lars von Trier, 2011)
44. 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen, 2013)
45. Blue is the Warmest Color (Abdellatif Kechiche, 2013)
46. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami, 2010)
47. Leviathan (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2014)
48. Brooklyn (John Crowley, 2015)
49. Goodbye to Language (Jean-Luc Godard, 2014)
50. The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2015)
51. Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)
52. Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004)
53. Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann, 2001)
54. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2011)
55. Ida (Paweł Pawlikowski, 2013)
56. Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr, director; Ágnes Hranitzky, co-director, 2000)
57. Zero Dark Thirty (Kathryn Bigelow, 2012)
58. Moolaadé (Ousmane Sembène, 2004)
59. A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005)
60. Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006)
61. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013)
62. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)
63. The Turin Horse (Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky, 2011)
64. The Great Beauty (Paolo Sorrentino, 2013)
65. Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, 2009)
66. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring (Kim Ki-duk, 2003)
67. The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2008)
68. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001)
69. Carol (Todd Haynes, 2015)
70. Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley, 2012)
71. Tabu (Miguel Gomes, 2012)
72. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch, 2013)
73. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater, 2004)
74. Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine, 2012)
75. Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2014)
76. Dogville (Lars von Trier, 2003)
77. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Julian Schnabel, 2007)
78. The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese, 2013)
79. Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe, 2000)
80. The Return (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2003)
81. Shame (Steve McQueen, 2011)
82. A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2009)
83. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg, 2001)
84. Her (Spike Jonze, 2013)
85. A Prophet (Jacques Audiard, 2009)
86. Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes, 2002)
87. Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)
88. Spotlight (Tom McCarthy, 2015)
89. The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel, 2008)
90. The Pianist (Roman Polanski, 2002)
91. The Secret in Their Eyes (Juan José Campanella, 2009)
92. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, 2007)
93. Ratatouille (Brad Bird, 2007)
94. Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008)
95. Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 2012)
96. Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton, 2003)
97. White Material (Claire Denis, 2009)
98. Ten> (Abbas Kiarostami, 2002)
99. The Gleaners and I (Agnès Varda, 2000)
100. Carlos (Olivier Assayas, 2010)
100. Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky, 2000)
100. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade, 2016)
