BBC Culture names 10 best films of the 21st century that have already become classics

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Very often lately, one can hear complaints about the fact that now they do not make films of the same quality as before. In fact, many really amazing films are shot in the world every year. To find out which films are truly great, BBC Culture editors polled 177 critics from different countries and from all continents except Antarctica. In our today's review - 10 of the greatest films of the XXI century, which have every right to be called the new classics of cinema.

Mulholland Drive, France, USA, 2001

The film by David Lynch about a girl who starts a new life after losing her memory due to an accident is called the pinnacle of the director's work. Intellectual cinema, in principle, is rarely easy to perceive, and Mulholland Drive makes you think over every frame, pay attention to the smallest details. The mystical drama of David Lynch is a real high art, where there are more questions than answers, and its biggest mystery is that it remains completely incomprehensible how the director managed to achieve such full involvement of the viewer in the action.

In the Mood for Love, Hong Kong, 2000

The melodrama directed by Wong Kar-Wai is unmissable. This is a real masterpiece of cinematic art, reminiscent of the poetry of the Silver Age with its sophistication, piercing and sincerity. Here, disappointment is followed by hope, and bitterness and resentment suddenly become the foundation of new love. "In the Mood for Love" is a film after which a soft feeling of light and warmth remains in the soul for a long time.

"Oil", USA, 2007

Filming the classics is not easy, but director Paul Thomas Anderson managed not only not to spoil the novel of the classic of American literature Elton Sinclair, but to add volume and depth to it. At the same time, the director skillfully guides the viewer, forcing him to think and choose, to live his life with the hero, and at the same time to reflect on eternal values and draw the right conclusions.

Spirited Away, Japan, 2001

Animated films are not often included in the rating lists of the best films. But Hayao Miyazaki's anime is unusually atmospheric, it contains everything that distinguishes a good movie: the fullness of each frame, the depth of thought and strength of character of the main character, the main quality of which is kindness. The director gives the viewer the opportunity to enjoy the harmonious visual and musical range and touch the long-forgotten world.

"Boyhood", USA, 2014

The Richard Linklater film seems to have been doomed to success. He made a statement about himself at the very moment when the idea of the painting was just emerging. For 12 years, only an incredibly talented and purposeful person could shoot the same characters, show the stages of a child's growing up, change his relationship with his parents and the world around him.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, USA, 2004

Fantastic melodrama by Michel Gondry, in which worlds and feelings are intertwined, real heroes and images from parallel worlds. "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is impossible to watch, you need to feel this film, immerse yourself in it and absorb its mood. This is a poignant story of love and loneliness, about the thin line between happiness and pain, about the memory of the heart and the games of the mind.

"The Tree of Life", USA, 2010

Terrence Malick reveals the story of a boy caught in the crossfire of different parenting methods. Awareness of the deep meaning of the film goes through many allusions and metaphors and, despite the lack of impetuous action, captures the viewer entirely. And it makes you think not so much about the fate of the hero, lost in the labyrinth of life, as about the person's path to himself.

"One and Two", Japan, Taiwan, 2000

Edward Yang's film is filled with so many events that sometimes you want to stop it and rewind it in order to revisit it again and realize the meaning that the director put into his creation. And to understand that the world is much more multifaceted than a person sees, and sometimes everyone should stop and just look around in order to feel the joy of life again.

"No Country for Old Men", USA, 2007

At first glance, the plot of Ethan and Joel Cohen's film seems very commonplace: a truck found by a simple worker with money, drugs and many corpses around becomes, as a result, the cause of a surge of violence that is almost impossible to stop. But in fact, a very common plot and expected development of events is followed by a lot of questions to which there is no answer. And the open ending makes the viewer again and again come up with his own version of the ending of the picture, as well as reflect on the nature of cruelty and moral principles, on the reasons and motives that force people to make their choice in a given situation.

"Divorce of Nader and Simin", Iran, France, 2011

In the most complex family drama of Asgar Farhadi, there are no intrigues, but questions of relationships and responsibility to the closest and dearest people are raised. How to choose between a daughter and a father, which of them will need a victim more, who will be able to abandon one and give preference to the other without a shadow of hesitation, if the fate of an eleven-year-old daughter lies on one side of the scales, and the life of a father suffering from Alzheimer's disease on the other? Each viewer involuntarily puts himself in the place of the heroes and as a result comes to an understanding: in life, there are too many shades and halftones between black and white.

It often happens that the opinion of experienced critics differs from the way the audience perceives the film. And, it would seem, there is nothing special about this, if the most real incidents did not happen when critically acclaimed and highly acclaimed films are really nothing, and today they even have record low ratings and a lot of negative reviews.