The Best Film the Year You Were Born! (1972–2021)
Great films that you may never have seen before, as well as the ones you have.
Through the Cold War and the rise of incredible technology; through global warming and endless wars; through trips toward the farthest limits of the solar system and the deepest chasms of the human mind… from 1972 onward, immense changes in the world provided a new and vibrant landscape for storytelling to unfold.
The mainstream cinema, competing with television’s meteoric rise, turned out ever-greater spectacles, while indie producers and directors perfected new forms of visual commentary on the changing landscape of a brave new world and the infinite complexity of the human mind.
Before I set out to become a writer, I lived in the world of cinematography. I attended film history and theory classes and even worked on a few simple student films. A giant part of my life revolved around the film world, and I collected a massive library of favorites from across the decades, but soon found that I adored early films beyond almost any others.
I’ve set out to capture the best films from 1931 to 2021 in these two massive articles, thereby chronicling life from the so-called “Silent Generation”, through the “Baby Boomers”, on to Generation X and the Millennials, and finally into the future of “iGen” and “Generation Alpha”.
Cinema is a remarkable medium for exploring what mattered to people at a specific time, and for understanding the state of the world in an intimate, visceral way. Cinema is also an important vehicle for change, capable of enriching minds and shifting public discourse away from, or toward, vital topics not otherwise yet within the mainstream.
One thing you’ll notice is that I don’t always go with the big production hits now that we’re closer to the modern era. I hope to draw out some of the great films that you might not have thought of, or might never have seen before. Check this out, dive on in, watch some of these remarkable films… and when you’re done, check out part one for all the greatest films between 1931 and 1971 as well.
1972
- Cabaret
- Director: Bob Fosse
- Featuring: Liza Minnelli, Michael York
Cabaret is a brilliant musical comedy drama that explores the decline of Germany post-WWI into fascism, while simultaneously investigates the life of people who transgress the norms of society simply by trying to live their lives.
1973
- O Lucky Man!
- Director: Lindsay Anderson
- Featuring: Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren
O Lucky Man! failed to make waves during its initial release, largely because of its surrealistic and darkly satirical approach, as well as its extremely self-reflexive quality (it is, in part, a film trying to explore the meaning of film). But, despite all of that, it’s a classic gem that gets too often looked over in favor of big hitters of the year. Strange, long, dark, and powerful in its way.
1974
- Blazing Saddles
- Director: Mel Brooks
- Featuring: Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder
Blazing Saddles was a madcap annihilation of the romanticized Western, a social commentary, and a modern slapstick work of genius. One of Brooks’ best films, this is a classic for the age.
1975
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
- Director: Miloš Forman
- Featuring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, William Redfield
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is one of those films that made big waves for a reason: it’s a work of dark genius. Jack Nicholson is at his best in this twisted dramatic comedy; probably one of the best films ever made.
1976
- All the President’s Men
- Director: Alan J. Pakula
- Featuring: Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman
All the President’s Men was a thrilling biographical political drama in an age when political scandal at the level of the President of the United States still actually seemed incredible to the public. Taking down the Watergate conspiracy changed American’s perceptions of politics forever, and as the eight Academy Awards for All the President’s Men show, people needed to explore this story to understand what had occurred.
1977
- Star Wars
- Director: George Lucas
- Featuring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness
Star Wars changed the world of cinema, the world of popular culture, and the landscape of stories to come forever after. An accidental masterwork that took the form of what mythology scholar Joseph Campbell would go on to call “a modern myth”, Star Wars set the stage for so much of what we take for granted in the film industry today. It also set the stage for less savory practices, like Disney’s media empire and the normalization of mega toy sales… but the legend that it created for entire generations of people the world over is unmatched by many religions, let alone other film franchises.
1978
- Superman
- Director: Richard Donner
- Featuring: Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve
Superman came out long before superhero films were a normalized part of popular culture, but its acceptance by the public in the box office provided a fertile new landscape to explore. Forever my personal favorite Superman film, it’s a classic that touched on something vital in the American soul: the spirit of who Americans wanted to be, the best that they could be.
1979
- Alien
- Director: Ridley Scott
- Featuring: Sigourney Weaver
Alien gave the world a suspenseful experience of futuristic horror unlike anything seen before, as well as a modern female action hero icon in Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley that had a positive effect on all the generations since. Dark, violent, subtle, brilliant.
Note: this year is tough for me because so many great films came out, from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, to Apocalypse Now. Alien was transformational for horror sci-fi, though, as well as an important feminist benchmark, so it wins.
1980
- Kagemusha
- Director: Akira Kurosawa
- Featuring: Tatsuya Nakadai
Kagemusha was not Kurosawa’s first international hit, not by a long shot, but it one of his finest films, and the stepping stone for eternal greats like Ran. A blisteringly clever tale of Samurai, feuding families, and the shifting landscape of war, Kagemusha is a brilliant piece of both Japanese history and film history wrapped into one.
Kurosawa’s range of 1950s and 1960s films were huge hits, but in the 1970s Kurosawa struggled and even tried to commit suicide, believing he would never be able to direct again. However, a number of American filmmakers, including George Lucas, were huge fans of Kurosawa’s work, and Lucas reached out to offer Kurosawa support in the creation of a new Samurai film. With Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas producing, Kurosawa’s career soared to hits greatest heights yet.
1981
- Time Bandits
- Director: Terry Gilliam
- Featuring: John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, Ian Holm, Michael Palin
Time Bandits is one of Terry Gilliam’s genius works, one of his trilogy of the fantastic (including Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen). It’s a tale of escape, escape from a society of restricted norms and little imagination; it’s the tale of dreams become reality, and old men who learn to see as kids again. It’s bloody brilliant, and you should check it out.
I’m quite depressed to hear that they’re planning on remaking this. Maybe, maybe, if it were headed by Terry Gilliam… but it’s such a product of its age, they’d never be able to capture what made it special in the same way.
1982
- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
- Director: Steven Spielberg
- Featuring: Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is one of the seminal films of the 20th century, a film for the kid in all of us and one of the most hopeful looks at the power of compassion, love, and trust to change the world for the better. Audiences felt this, too, even at the time of release, when E.T. went on to earn more than Star Wars to become the highest-grossing film until Jurassic Park. It is considered one of the greatest films of all time, and has been selected by the Library of Congress for special preservation.
Note: This one was tough for me on a personal level because Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan also came out this year… but E.T. is truly a universal genius film.
1983
- Videodrome
- Director: David Cronenberg
- Featuring: James Woods, Sonja Smits
Videodrome is an overwhelming surrealist horror sci-fi, a musing on politics and technology that captures something inherently true and starkly deadly about our unthinking plunge into new forms of technology — and new forms of social manipulation.
One of the best horror films ever made because, like all great horror, the point is not the terror or the scares: the point is to get viewers to think differently about the nature of their reality. I can’t honestly say that I like this film (I’d be worried about meeting anyone who could say that), but it certainly as heck had an impact on me.
This year we also god Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, and WarGames, two of my favorites, as well as brilliant classics like Strange Invaders.
1984
- Once Upon A Time in America
- Director: Sergio Leone
- Featuring: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern
Once Upon A Time in America is possibly the famous director Sergio Leone’s greatest film, a crime epic about two young men who forge an empire of greed and experience the self-destruction that such a life inherently brings. At four full hours, this is not an easy film to watch in one sitting, but it is absolutely worth it — just, whatever you do, don’t watch the North American slimmed down version.
What a big year for film! Ghostbusters, Gremlins, Brother From Another Planet, The Terminator, and The Karate Kid! All in one year. On a purely personal level, The Karate Kid is the winner for this year, but I think that One Upon a Time does some really special things and doesn’t get enough love.
1985
- Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
- Director: Paul Schrader
- Featuring: Ken Ogata, Kenji Sawada
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters wasn’t the biggest blockbuster in another year of great 1980s hits, but it told a story like no other. A dramatic biopic, the film is based on the life and work of Japanese writer Yukio Mishima who eventually led a failed coup against the Japanese government in 1970.
1986
- Salvador
- Director: Oliver Stone
- Featuring: James Woods, Jim Belushi
Salvador is one of Oliver Wood’s finest films, and though his film Platoon struck it big in the box office the same year, Salvador was swept under the radar. A gritty war drama in which the nature of war and the involvement of superpowers subsidizing conflicts in other lands.
1987
- Good Morning, Vietnam
- Director: Barry Levinson
- Featuring: Robin Williams, Forest Whitaker
Good Morning, Vietnam is one of Robin Williams’ greatest films, a political satire of America’s (up till then) least successful military effort. It’s a slapstick, zany, brilliant piece of comedy that everyone should see.
1988
- Grave of Fireflies
- Director: Isao Takahata
- Featuring: Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi
Grave of Fireflies isn’t as well-known outside fans of anime as it should be. Incredible and harrowing, Grave of Fireflies shredded the hearts of millions of viewers, with its terrifying and surreal look at the criminal destruction of war.
1989
- Dead Poets Society
- Director: Peter Weir
- Featuring: Robin Williams
Dead Poets Society is yet another brilliant Robin Williams-carried film that challenges the preconceptions of the meaning and worth of education and literature.
Blind Fury is my personal favorite of this year, though (judging it by its original German release date).
1990
- Mountains Of The Moon
- Director: Bob Rafelson
- Featuring: Patrick Bergin, Iain Glen
Mountains Of The Moon is the tale of Captain Burton and Lieutenant Speke’s colonial exploitation of Central Africa, with a gorgeously expansive vistas and increase the sense of intensity that some might find surprising given the film’s length and subject matter. It’s a meditative and sorrowful film that doesn’t glorify as much as it introspects.
1991
- The Fisher King
- Director: Terry Gilliam
- Featuring: Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges
The Fisher King is a radio shock jock who destroys someone’s life, and he finds himself hoping for death. But then he meets a Knight, a knight on a quest, and he finds within himself the desire to live… by helping someone else. It’s a brilliant comedic drama about a modern landscape that can only be restored through a sense of the profound.
1992
- Wayne’s World
- Director: Penelope Spheeris
- Featuring: Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Tia Carrere, Rob Lowe
Wayne’s World is a farcical sketch film about modern society, capitalism, and the nature of media. It’s self-reflexive in all the best ways, and a
Another favorite film for this year is Split Second, a brilliant little cult horror sci-fi piece featuring my favorite actor: Rutger Hauer.
1993
- Jurassic Park
- Director: Steven Spielberg
- Featuring: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough
Jurassic Park may have been basd on an anti-intellectual nonsense book, but the film changed the landscape of cinema forever, cementing Spielberg’s brilliance for generations ever after, and offering one of the most epic blockbusters of all time. It was fun, scary, and visually grand in a way that still isn’t matched even in the age of high-end special effects. The performances by the lead cast were likewise excellent, and the script kept the pace zipping at a heart-shattering clip.
1994
- Little Women
- Director: Gillian Armstrong
- Featuring: Winona Ryder, Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes, Samantha Mathis, Susan Sarandon, Christian Bale
Little Women is the tale of an unconventional family in an era of great change. A tale of the human desire to seek meaning in life as well as a tale of love, in all its forms, this is a wonderfully acted and superbly written film that stands up far better than the truly miserable 2019 travesty that bore the same name.
This year was a great year for film, with Interview with the Vampire, The Lion King, Forrest Gump, and The Mask all bursting out of the silver screen. Why’d I choose this one? Partly because the modern remake is just so utterly terrible, and partly because it is an excellent film in its own right.
1995
- Toy Story
- Director: John Lasseter
- Featuring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen
Toy Story made film history and would transform the imaginative landscape of an entire generation of kids, while at once capturing something essential about the nature of being a child that all can forever relate to. It was the film that showed that Pixar could create unparalleled art.
1996
- Fly Away Home
- Director: Carroll Ballard
- Featuring: Jeff Daniels, Anna Paquin
Fly Away Home is undoubtedly one of the finest family films ever made, a tale of loss and love, and the ability of individuals to change the world. Subversive, powerful, and a story that featured prescient themes of environmentalism, this is a film that you need to see.
This year also features one of my favorite schlocky scifi films: Independence Day.
1997
- The Fifth Element
- Director: Luc Besson
- Featuring: Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, Chris Tucker, Milla Jovovich
The Fifth Element is one of the greatest science fiction tales ever made, a story of a Darkness threatening to devour the universe, and the Fifth Element — a living source of incredible power (Milla Jovovich) who is the only hope at stopping it. Zany, wacky, intelligent, superb; this film is pure gold.
This year, we also get one of my favorite films of all time: Princess Mononoke.
1998
- Pleasantville
- Director: Gary Ross
- Featuring: Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon, Jeff Daniels, Joan Allen, William H. Macy
Pleasantville is about the lines that divide us, the way strongmen can lead crowds, and how fear makes otherwise good people double down on terrible choices (a not otherwise unimportant point in the current clime). Through a comedic lens, this film examines our assumptions about society, and also offers some heart-wrenching moments of emotional clarity that few other films can manage to provide.
This year had SO MANY great films, too many to list. But do some digging to find more great pieces. Pleasantville’s message is so important and profound, however, that it wins out.
1999
- The Matrix
- Director: The Wachowskis
- Featuring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving
The Matrix transformed the world. It was one of those films that altered the way we saw cinema, and it offered a vibrant philosophic look at our modern reality (or, as philosopher Jean Baudrillard would say, our “hyperreality”, our state of non-reality). It was action-packed but also incredibly clever, and its like has not been known since.
Also from this year: The Mummy was comedy gold, Ghost Dog was poetic and profound, and American Beauty was twisted and dark. There was also a rather disappointing Star Wars film released this year (Look, I loved it as a kid and will still watch it, but it’s artistically inferior in every way, sorry-not-sorry).
2000
- Almost Famous
- Director: Cameron Crowe
- Featuring: Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Almost Famous is about a kid writer in the 1970s who gets a shot at writing a major Rolling Stone Magazine article, and it manages to be at once funny and disarmingly moving. There are some heavier moments, but the film stays away from the sort of dark grit that other takes on the 1970s Rock’n’Roll scene have taken on — much to its credit.
There were some superb films this year, like Titan A.E., Shadow of the Vampire, and American Psycho.
2001
Best Film for the first time ever… a TIE
I just couldn’t do it, folks! It’s been hard enough picking just one film for all of these. So, this time, we have two. Two of my favorite movies of all time, both incomparable and utterly genius, both transformative, both works of uncontested artistic genius. So, I’m breaking with my own format to bring them both to you, here.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
- Director: Peter Jackson
- Featuring: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin (and a whole cast of brilliant actors too long for this section)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring did something impossible. Just as, before Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings, fantasy was often decried as not of interest to the general public (boy, did Tolkien prove those detractors wrong!), Peter Jackson’s brilliant and faithful reimagining of the classic tale finally shattered any doubt about whether or not fantasy could be something that the whole would love. The epic tale of a dark power bent of the ruin of the mortal world, and the little people who rise to the occasion on the side of Good. It’s one of the most powerful films ever made and, along with its two sequels, is the only film version of Lord of the Rings any of us need. (Dear heck, let us never talk about the nightmarish travesty that is the new “Rings of Power” series from Amazon. Yechhh).
- Amélie
- Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
- Featuring: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz
Amélie is a heartwarming tale so perfect, so real, so magical and brilliant that I could write positive adjectives about it all day. Amélie is tale of a young woman who feels something whimsical for the experience of life — even when the sadness of life is highlighted. It is the tale of her experience, her internal life; we see the world through Amélie’s eyes, and therefore we get to experience the grief and the sorrow, the belonging and the isolation. I could gush about this film forever, but you really just need to watch it.
2001 was another hot year. Not only did we get Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Spirited Away, Shrek, Ocean’s Eleven, Hannibal, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and the Planet of the Apes reboot… we also got Monsters, Inc., a Beautiful Mind, and Moulin Rouge!
2002
- Bowling for Columbine
- Director: Michael Moore
- Featuring: Michael Moore
Bowling for Columbine is one of the most unnerving films of the decade, and whether or not you appreciate Moore’s later work, this is his masterpiece. A deconstruction of the reasons for the pervasive gun violence in the United States as seen through the lens of the horrific Columbine massacre. It is considered one of the greatest documentary films of all time.
2003
- Whale Rider
- Director: Niki Caro
- Featuring: Keisha Castle-Hughes
Whale Rider is considered one of the films everyone should see before they are fourteen by the British Film Institute, and it’s easy to see why. The tale of a young woman who is discovering herself in the middle of a patriarchal society, who must seek the spirit of the ocean and her own spirit as she enters the strange world of adulthood.
Note: Okay, so it technically premiered in 2002 at the Toronto International Film Festival, but its commercial release was 2003
2004
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- Director: Michel Gondry
- Featuring: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood, Tom Wilkinson
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a tale about the power of memory and the things that make us human. It’s a dream about love and life, a musing on the nature of life and human connection. It’s a terrifying nightmare about loss and the isolation so many find themselves within… and about finding yourself when the world feels unreal. One of Jim Carry’s best performances.
2005
- Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
- Director: Shane Black
- Featuring: Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a high-octane dark comedy filled with action, top-notch scripting, and plenty of fun. At a time when Robert Downy Junior was definitely not a household name (unless it was for his personal troubles being splashed over the tabloids), this was a real winner for his acting life. It’s a superb modern noir and a buddy-cop film rolled into one, and offers a thrilling ride from end to end.
There are plenty of films that normally get this top spot, which is why I went a little sideways for this one.
2006
- Pan’s Labyrinth
- Director: Guillermo del Toro
- Featuring: Sergi López, Maribel Verdú
Pan’s Labyrinth is a dark fairytale that makes the world of the fey come alive, utterly realistic alongside the darkness and horrors of a civil war, and the dying innocence of a young girl trying to survive. It is one of the greatest films of all time, and an absolute masterpiece from that most incomparable of directors: Guillermo del Toro.
2007
- Juno
- Director: Jason Reitman
- Featuring: Elliot Page, Michael Cera
Juno stole the scene in 2007 against a line-up of increasingly dark and heavy dramas. Silly and earnest, and very funny in a charming way. It’s become a classic for good reason. Plus, its soundtrack is divine.
2008
- The Fall
- Director: Tarsem Singh
- Featuring: Lee Pace, Catinca Untaru, Justine Waddell
The Fall is a wildly imaginative epic in an age where films that incorporate elements of stage productions were less popular — it offered a tale of daring and epic fantasy, all told with a storyteller’s wit and grace. It’s colorful, unashamedly emotional, and wonderfully fun.
I’m always surprised by how few people know of this one. It’s an absolute GEM.
Technically released in 2006, it only hit theaters in 2008.
2009
- Inglourious Basterds
- Director: Quentin Tarantino
- Featuring: Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth
Inglourious Basterds has been called a revenge flick like no other; it’s the dark wunderkind of Tarantino’s most violent and uninhibited imagination, and one of his darkest comedies to-date. With a brilliant cast, and a whole lot of gore, this is WWII the way it should have ended.
2010
- The King’s Speech
- Director: Tom Hooper
- Featuring: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter
The King’s Speech came out in a hot year for film, but it wins on all fronts as a masterpiece of classic cinema, a film that refused to slide into gimmicks for the sake of sensation and, in an era of increasingly mumbled dialog, gave us some of the best speeches of the day.
2011
- Hugo
- Director: Martin Scorsese
- Featuring: Chloe Grace Moretz, Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen
Hugo tells a tale about the importance of film… through film. Only Martin Scorsese, with his gift for subtly and his love for the art of film, could have managed to create such a powerfully heartwarming film that manages to self-inspect without being overt. It’s magical, heartwarming, and fun.
2012
- Cloud Atlas
- Director: The Wachowskis
- Featuring: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess
Cloud Atlas pulled the utterly genius literary work of David Mitchell onto the silver screen, offering a journey through space and time unlike any other — a glimpse into the past and into twisted futures, with an eye toward the threads that bind us all and, when tugged in any single spot, cause us all to change. Funny, dark, brilliant, courageous. It’s a winner, despite being a different sort of animal from the book.
What a great year! Argo was superb, and so was Life of Pi. Beasts of the Southern Wild also broke the charts.
2013
- Only Lovers Left Alive
- Director: Jim Jarmusch
- Featuring: Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston
Only Lovers Left Alive is a surreal vampire film beyond anything you’ve ever seen. Intimate in ways that films often struggle to be, with a soundtrack that transports you out of your mind, and with some of the best performances of all time by Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston. What does it mean to be alive?
2014
- Director: Jonathan Glazer
- Featuring: Scarlett Johansson
Under the Skin is so incredible because it refuses to handhold the audience, something increasingly rare in cinema these days. It manages to provide a strange and dark science fiction tale that refuses easy interpretation, a film that unsettles, a film that opens upon a visually stunning stage and blends eroticism with softness, power with pain. It’s an incredible movie that will leave you uncertain of everything in the end.
2015
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- Director: George Miller
- Featuring: Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy
Mad Max: Fury Road took the classic premise and shattered all expectations, somehow bringing to life one of the most powerful feminist post-apocalyptic epics of all time. It took all the thrilling power of the Mad Max films, and opened it into a much larger and more vicious world, hyping up both the action and the underlying point about the nature of humanity. It’s a cautionary tale about the crazy people with their oil and patriarchal cults, and those who will oppose them at the end of the world.
2016
- Captain Fantastic
- Director: Matt Ross
- Featuring: Viggo Mortensen, Frank Langella, Kathryn Hahn, Steve Zahn
Captain Fantastic is one of the best films I’ve ever seen, an epic and powerful look at the damage caused by capitalist society, and the damage caused by swinging too far into the wilderness. It’s a film about finding a middle way, and a film about joy. It’s a film about growing up and being alive, a film about the violence of power structures, and a film about a way forward into a better life.
2017
- The Shape of Water
- Director: Guillermo del Toro
- Featuring: Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins
The Shape of Water carries on with Guillermo del Toro’s masterful ability to weave fairytale magic into the darkness of modern reality. One of the most unconventional love tales of all time, it’s heartbreaking, joyful, and beautiful.
2018
- Isle of Dogs
- Director: Wes Anderson
- Featuring: Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Bill Murray, (and a huge cast too big for this space)
Isle of Dogs is an animated masterpiece from genius director West Anderson, a man already responsible for a massive array of incredible films over the years. It’s a stirring and intelligent political tale buried deep within a tale of friendship, action, and love. One of this director’s finest, and featuring some of the best voice acting in years.
2019
- Parasite
- Director: Bong Joon-ho
- Featuring: Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong
Parasite is actually one of the darkest comedies I’ve ever seen, a film that ripples with violence in every funny scene — because the humor itself rests upon the violence and tension of stark class divides.
2020
- Tenet
- Director: Christopher Nolan
- Featuring: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki
Tenet is a brilliantly twisting time-travel action film, as if James Bond were thrown into an inverted reality where space and time challenge the ideas of national defense. It’s smart, high-octane, with a witty script and gorgeous acting. It’s not an easy film to pick apart, and it’s not meant to be: like all Nolan’s films about time travel, this one’s a twister that’s there to make you think.
2021
- The Green Knight
- Director: David Lowery
- Featuring: Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Ralph Ineson
The Green Knight is a powerful re-imagining of the classic Arthurian tale, heaped with twisted and conflicting Christian imagery set against a backdrop of a wider and more ancient pagan philosophy. The young knight Sir Gawain is eager to prove himself to his aging King, and so volunteers to give battle to the mysterious Green Man, a creature of some eldritch power who enters the castle on Christmas day. Only, in rising to face this foe, he finds himself locked in a game of far greater subtlety than his thirst for glory can understand.
It’s a visceral film, with its reliance on practical rather than digital effects, and this lends it a temporality and sureness that many modern films lack. The story stays incredibly close to the legend, save for those few places where it deviates wildly… then returns to the course, leaving the viewer to puzzle out the meaning behind the deviation.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Well, that was quite this list! If you haven’t checked out the first half, do so now! I write about the best films from the Silent Age to the 1970s!
2021 saw quite a few good films, as well as some real letdowns. The Legend of Chang-Chi was a terrible piece of work, and while Black Widow was watchable, I wouldn’tr write home about it, but it was intriguing to see films like The Matrix 4 popping onto the big screen. Dune, likewise, turned out to be a BRILLIANT adaptation and I can’t wait for the next part (though I still love the 1984 version).
I’m still gathering my thoughts on the films of 2022, and I’ll add a “Best of” to this list once the year is out. I’ll also have a list of my top films from 2022 out at some point.
Of course, Covid-19 changed the world of cinema, and not for the better. Many studios started to opt to premiere straight to streaming, and that’s disastrous for local cinemas and small cinema chains.
The pandemic was also disastrous for actors and for audiences, and it hands over an inordinate amount of power to shady corporate monopolies. Whenever possible, make sure to lobby your local cinema to enact safe policies of reduced capacity, masking, and vaccination checks, so that everyone can still enjoy films at the cinema responsibly! If we want to be able to enjoy the incredible experience of cinema in the future, we’re going to need to make sure they stay open — and local businesses are especially vulnerable.