My Top 100 Films of the 21st Century (so far)

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The New York Times recently published a list of the top 100 films of the 21st Century so far (actually, films made from January 1, 2000 to the present).  Here is the list (unfortunately, you may reach a paywall at the NYT site).  I have added the list to my meta-list of best films of the 21st Century (so far), which you can find HERE.  (The meta-list also includes music and books.)

I thought it would be fun to come up with my own list of 100 personal favorites from the first quarter of the new millennium.  I had to make a lot of difficult choices, and many films I rated 9 out of 10 didn’t make the cut.  Here is my list, in chronological order (with an asterisk if the film is on the New York Times list).

  1. Yi Yi (Taiwan, 2000) Dir: Edward Yang*
  2. You Can Count on Me (US, 2000) Dir: Kenneth Lonergan
  3. Memento (US, 2000) Dir: Christopher Nolan*
  4. Best in Show (US, 2000) Dir: Christopher Guest*
  5. In the Mood for Love (China, 2000) Dir: Wong Kar-Wai*
  6. Requiem for a Dream (US, 2000) Dir: Darren Aronofsky
  7. Songs from the Second Floor (Sweden, 2000) Dir: Roy Andersson
  8. Traffic (US, 2000) Dir: Steven Soderbergh
  9. The Piano Teacher (France/Austria, 2001) Dir: Michael Haneke
  10. Ghost World (US/UK/Germany 2001) Dir: Terry Zwigoff
  11. Spirited Away (Japan, 2001) Dir: Hayao Miyazaki*
  12. Waking Life (US, 2001) Dir: Richard Linklater
  13. Fat Girl (France, 2001) Dir: Catherine Breillat
  14. Mulholland Dr. (US, 2001) Dir: David Lynch*
  15. Moulin Rouge! (US, 2001) Dir: Baz Luhrmann
  16. The Royal Tenenbaums (US, 2001) Dir: Wes Anderson*
  17. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (US/NZ 2001) Dir: Peter Jackson*
  18. Talk to Her (Spain, 2002) Dir: Pedro Almodóvar
  19. Dogville (Denmark, 2003) Dir: Lars von Trier
  20. Capturing the Friedmans (US, 2003) Dir: Andrew Jarecki
  21. American Splendor (US, 2003) Dir: Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
  22. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (US/NZ 2003) Dir: Peter Jackson
  23. Oldboy (South Korea, 2003) Dir: Park Chan-wook*
  24. Before Sunset (US, 2004) Dir: Richard Linklater*
  25. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (US, 2004) Dir: Michel Gondry*
  26. Fahrenheit 9/11 (US, 2004) Dir: Michael Moore
  27. Downfall (Germany, 2004) Dir: Oliver Hirschbiegel
  28. Tarnation (US, 2004) Dir: Jonathan Caouette
  29. Born Into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids (US/India, 2004) Dir: Zana Briski & Ross Kauffman
  30. Grizzly Man (US, 2005) Dir: Werner Herzog*
  31. The Squid and the Whale (US, 2005) Dir: Noah Baumbach
  32. Caché [Hidden] (France/Austria, 2005) Dir: Michael Haneke*
  33. A History of Violence (US/Canada, 2005) Dir: David Cronenberg
  34. The Lives of Others (Germany, 2006) Dir: Florian Henckel von Donnersmark*
  35. Once (Ireland, 2006) Dir: John Carney
  36. Children of Men (UK/US, 2006) Dir: Alfonso Cuarón*
  37. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Romania, 2007) Dir: Cristian Mungiu
  38. Encounters at the End of the World (US, 2007) Dir: Werner Herzog
  39. Juno (US, 2007) Dir: Jason Reitman
  40. No Country for Old Men (US, 2007) Dir: Joel & Ethan Coen*
  41. There Will Be Blood (2007) Dir: Paul Thomas Anderson*
  42. Slumdog Millionaire (UK, 2008) Dir: Danny Boyle
  43. Food, Inc. (US, 2008) Dir: Robert Kenner
  44. Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) Dir: Mike Leigh
  45. The White Ribbon (Germany/Austria 2009) Dir: Michael Haneke
  46. Mother (South Korea, 2009) Dir: Bong Joon-ho
  47. Dogtooth (Greece, 2009) Dir: Yorgos Lanthimos
  48. The Secret in Their Eyes (Argentina/Spain, 2009) Dir: Juan José Campanella
  49. Cave of Forgotten Dreams (US, 2010) Dir: Werner Herzog
  50. The Kids Are All Right (US, 2010) Dir: Lisa Cholodenko
  51. Poetry (South Korea, 2010) Dir: Lee Chang-dong
  52. The Tree of Life (US, 2011) Dir: Terence Malick*
  53. A Separation (Iran, 2011) Dir: Asghar Farhadi*
  54. Melancholia (Denmark/Sweden, 2011) Dir: Lars von Trier*
  55. Moonrise Kingdom (US, 2012) Dir: Wes Anderson
  56. The Act of Killing (Denmark, 2012) Dir: Joshua Oppenheimer*
  57. Amour (France/Austria, 2012) Dir: Michael Haneke*
  58. The Master (US, 2012) Dir: Paul Thomas Anderson*
  59. Inside Llewyn Davis (US, 2013) Dir: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen*
  60. The Great Beauty (Italy/France, 2013) Dir: Paolo Sorrentino
  61. Under the Skin (UK/US, 2013) Dir: Jonathan Glazer*
  62. Ida (Poland/Denmark, 2013) Dir: Paweł Pawlikowski
  63. Her (US, 2013) Dir: Spike Jonze*
  64. Boyhood (US, 2014) Dir: Richard Linklater*
  65. Two Days, One Night (Belgium/France, 2014) Dir: Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne
  66. Goodbye to Language (France/Switzerland, 2014) Dir: Jean-Luc Godard
  67. Anomalisa (US, 2015) Dir: Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson
  68. Son of Saul (Hungary, 2015) Dir: László Nemes Jeles
  69. Mustang (France/Germany/Turkey, 2015) Dir: Deniz Gamze Ergüven
  70. Moonlight (US, 2016) Dir: Barry Jenkins*
  71. Toni Erdmann (Germany/Austria, 2016) Dir: Maren Ade*
  72. American Honey (UK/US, 2016) Dir: Andrea Arnold
  73. Paterson (US, 2016) Dir: Jim Jarmusch
  74. The Florida Project (US, 2017) Dir: Sean Baker*
  75. First Reformed (US, 2017) Dir: Paul Schrader
  76. Lady Bird (US, 2017) Dir: Greta Gerwig*
  77. Phantom Thread (US, 2017) Dir: Paul Thomas Anderson*
  78. The Favourite (Ireland/UK/US, 2018) Dir: Yorgos Lanthimos*
  79. Happy as Lazzaro (Italy/Switzerland, 2018) Dir: Alice Rohrwacher
  80. Burning (South Korea, 2018) Dir: Lee Chang-dong
  81. Roma (Mexico/US, 2018) Dir: Alfonso Cuarón*
  82. The Souvenir (UK, 2019) Dir: Joanna Hogg
  83. The Irishman (US, 2019) Dir: Martin Scorsese
  84. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (France, 2019) Dir: Céline Sciamma*
  85. Parasite (South Korea, 2019) Dir: Bong Joon-ho*
  86. Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (US, 2019) Dir: Quentin Tarantino*
  87. Uncut Gems (US, 2019) Dir: Ben Safdie & Joshua Safdie*
  88. I’m Thinking of Ending Things (US, 2020) Dir: Charlie Kaufman
  89. Small Axe: Lovers Rock (UK, 2020) Dir: Steve McQueen
  90. The Worst Person in the World (Norway/France, 2021) Dir: Joachim Trier*
  91. The Power of the Dog (NZ/Australia/UK, 2021) Dir: Jane Campion
  92. The Lost Daughter (Greece/US, 2021) Dir: Maggie Gyllenhaal
  93. Licorice Pizza (US, 2021) Dir: Paul Thomas Anderson
  94. Aftersun (US/UK, 2022) Dir: Charlotte Wells*
  95. Tár (US/Germany, 2022) Dir: Todd Field*
  96. The Zone of Interest (UK/Poland, 2023) Dir: Jonathan Glazer*
  97. Past Lives (South Korea/US, 2023) Dir: Celine Song*
  98. Anatomy of a Fall (France, 2023) Dir: Justine Triet*
  99. Poor Things (Ireland/US/US, 2023) Dir: Yorgos Lanthimos
  100. Anora (US, 2024) Dir: Sean Baker

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