The Top 15
As it turns out, parenting is all-consuming. The reports were not exaggerated; the reports were accurate. All said, amidst the delight and exhaustion and joy of the last five months of parenting Zoe—alongside much of the activity helping to share about my book, Cockroaches, God, Death, and Mangoes, and the work of pastoring and teaching—there just hasn’t been nearly as much time as I would have hoped for this weekly countdown through film reviews and recommendations.
While I lament the inability to do deep dives into every one of these remaining films, I wanted to at least provide a list counting down my Top 15, and provide extended recommendations if you end up enjoying these and want to see more like them. My year end film journal is also on the way, complete with Emily’s one-sentence reviews, so keep your eyes peeled! All said, without further adieu, here are my Top 15 films of the 21st century:
15. Sound of Metal | 2019 | Directed by: Darius Marder
You can read my full review of the film here.
Other Recommendations If You Like Sound of Metal: Whiplash, Coda, Nomadland
14. The Banshees of Inisherin | 2022 | Directed by: Martin McDonagh
You can read my full review of the film here.
Other Recommendations if you like The Banshees of Inisherin: In Bruges, Calvary, Small Things Like These
13. First Reformed | 2017 | Directed by: Paul Schrader
My thoughts upon the latest rewatch:
-Schrader’s transcendentalism has perhaps never been more fully realized, maybe because of the actual spiritual/religious content here. His tendency to linger on images, to strategically place insert shots to prompt meditation, to slow the audience down and immerse them in the decaying psyche of a sick man (physically and mentally), but to do it out of genuine solidarity (and manage to hold onto the something good that has been distorted by his descent): just masterful work in spiritual storytelling. If the dark night of the soul could be captured by images, it’d be tough to rival this film -Hawke’s performance is enrapturing. His journal reads are terrific: they are at once strikingly profound (and packed with truth), and yet all along the way belie a man whose pride and self loathing (which are really the same thing) are the primary blocks he has to experiencing a robust and healthy balance of what he names early in the film: despair and hope. His choice to hold everything in himself, to avoid getting the police involved when he finds a suicide vest, his quite private counseling of Mary (Seyfried is tremendous as well): all of it shows a man desperate for purpose, willing to use others at their expense in order to feel like he matters, that his life is of consequence. The fact that it fails in suicidal fashion should be a wake up call, though it takes a bit longer for him to figure it out (and only by grace and love) -The arrival of a husbandless and pregnant Mary to embrace him as he is on the verge of ending thing is a terrific thematic tie up, ambiguous enough to warrant multiple interpretations but clear enough within the world the film creates. I personally read a hopeful ending (that love really has broken in and saved those on the verge of annihilation), but perhaps that read is due to my theological and eschatological commitments; perhaps every person will read what they want -Every detail in the film connects by the end: the journal, the vest, the barbed wire, the Draino, the joke about the choir director and pastor, the room of the Magical Mystery Tour - all of it, and much more, plays a critical thematic role. No wasted space or wasted images here. -The way Schrader uses foreground, middle ground, and background is striking, and rewards rewatches: his ability to linger on simple images, prompting the audience to explore and wonder and connect thematic dots themselves, is akin to many great works of literature. Indeed, the Bible itself, which has a simplicity that demands examination of each detail, and always rewards revisits, does this same thing. In a movie so biblically dense, the medium matches the message -The dialogue here contains some of the best spiritual reflection (aligned well with Thomas Merton’s work) that I’ve ever seen in a film: “Wisdom is holding two contradictory ideas in our minds, despair and hope.” “I know that nothing can change and there is no hope.” Thomas Merton wrote this. Despair is a development of pride so great that it chooses one’s certitude rather than admit God is more creative that we are. Who am I to talk about pride?” “Some are called for their gregariousness. Some are called for their suffering. Others are called for their loneliness. They are called by God because through the vessel of communication they can reach out and hold beating hearts in their hands. They are called because they have an abiding awareness of the emptiness of all things that can only be filled by the presence of God.” “How easily they talk about prayer, those who have never really prayed.” “Every act of preservation is an act of creation. It’s how we participate in creation.” -Lighting and framing are immaculate: the film looks striking, using aspect ratio, insert shots, and simple staging to produce its meditative quality. Its symmetry is immaculate. -All in all, the initial image of the cross on the steeple of First Reformed church—which is slight in the black during the opening credits and then brightens as the entire shot comes into view—is perhaps the image hanging over it all. That somehow love does break into brokenness, violence, and pain, even if it has to go through such things to get there. -Only critique: in such a well-researched movie, how did they let a quote from Revelation be cited as “Revelations”?! Brutal oversight, which to me warrants a deduction of .5 stars for an otherwise perfect film.
Other Recommendations if you like First Reformed: Silence, The Mission, Taxi Driver
12. The Social Network | 2010 | Directed by: David Fincher
It would be wrong to have a 21st century film list without David Fincher, and this is perhaps his greatest achievement, capturing one of the most transformative (a word here used negatively) cultural artifacts of our time. While maintaining his signature visual style, he hands over writing duties to Aaron Sorkin, which produces some of the most thrilling talking you will ever watch put to film.
Other Recommendations if you like The Social Network: Blackberry, Dumb Money, Moneyball
11. The Grand Budapest Hotel | 2014 | Directed by: Wes Anderson
This is Wes at his funniest, most visually impressive, and most crowd-pleasing. The perfect blend of his signature winsomeness and broad accessibility, and features the best performance in any Wes film from the great Ralph Fiennes.
Other Recommendations if you like The Grand Budapest Hotel: Anything by Wes Anderson, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Hail, Caesar
10. Little Women | 2019 | Directed by: Greta Gerwig
A spiritually and emotionally stirring step up for Gerwig, whose film Lady Bird already showed off her impressive directing chops, this film has a perfectly star-studded 21st-century cast curated to deliver one of the best adapted screenplays of the century. A story worth revisiting, and revisted well by Gerwig.
Other Recommendations if you like Little Women: Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Emma, Marie Antoinette
9. Children of Men | 2006 | Directed by: Alfonso Cuaron
Criminally overlooked, this film should’ve swept at the 2006 Academy Awards. Contains one of the best scenes of the 2000s, and—on top of it all—is a sneaky great Advent/Christmas film.
Other Recommendations if you like Children of Men: Ad Astra, Good Time, Michael Clayton
8. The Zone of Interest | 2023 | Directed by: Jonathan Glazer
A stunning and sobering look at the dangers of complicity in an era of tyranny. A film we all need to watch and solemnly reflect upon in our own time. Visuals that will shake your soul, primarily because of what they don’t include.
Other Recommendations if you like The Zone of Interest: Anatomy of a Fall, Schindler’s List, A Hidden Life
7. Mad Max: Fury Road | 2015 | Directed by: George Miller
This is the greatest action film ever made. A pulse-raising, adrenaline-pumping visceral treat that has set the bar for any action films that follow.
Other Recommendations if you like Mad Max: Fury Road: Furiosa, The Northman, Blade Runner 2049
6. Inglorious Basterds | 2009 | Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Tarantino at his dialogical and visual best. Christoph Waltz gives us one of the greatest villains in film history, we get two of the best scenes of the century, and we ultimately laugh and thrill our way through this revisionist tale of WWII. Perfectly cast.
Other Recommendations if you like Inglorious Basterds: All Quiet on the Western Front, Dunkirk, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
5. No Country For Old Men | 2007 | Directed By: Joel and Ethan Coen
It works as a perfect genre film, but it’s also so much more. A great commentary on American violence, capitalism, and greed, wrapped in a larger spiritual reflection on the nature of evil and its movement in the world (Ecclesiastes!), filled with great performances from Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, and Woody Harrelson, this is a seminal must-watch from all time great directors in the Coens. Someday I’ll write a book about the Coen Brothers’ filmography as contemporary Jewish wisdom literature; until then, I’ll keep rewatching this one.
Other Recommendations if you like No Country For Old Men: A Serious Man, Killers of the Flower Moon, Hell or High Water
4. A Hidden Life | 2019 | Directed by: Terrance Malick
A holy piece of art. Thinking about making this mandatory viewing for any new members of our church. This is a cathedral that you enter, a visual homily, a sensory sermon that will stir your soul.
Other Recommendations if you like A Hidden Life: The Tree of Life, I’m Still Here, Resistance
3. Get Out | 2017 | Directed by Jordan Peele
You can read my full review here. A seamless movie - every scene, every line of dialogue, every bit of information (and when and how it gets presented). Powerfully provocative, socially scathing, hilarious and terrifying.
Other Recommendations if you like Get Out: Sorry To Bother You, Judas and the Black Messiah, Nope
2. Parasite | 2019 | Directed by: Bong Joon Ho
You can read my full review here.
Other Recommendations if you like Parasite: Annihilation, Prisoners, The Wailing
1. There Will Be Blood | 2007 | Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson
An epic of the nature of American culture at the turn of the 20th century, and the battle between religion and industry that shaped everything that was to come. A text that prophetically looks forward as effectively as it reflectively looks back; visuals that are as horrifying as they are gorgeous; and the best work from the career of perhaps our greatest living actor in Daniel Day-Lewis. Also perfectly quotable, and as funny on rewatch as it is compelling on first watch
Other Recommendations if you like There Will Be Blood: One Battle After Another, The Master, The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford