2010s: My Favourite Films
1. 20th Century Women (2017)
2. Best of Enemies (2015)
3. Boyhood (2014)
4. The Social Network (2010)
5. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
6. Carlos (2010)
7. American Honey (2016)
8. O.J. Simpson: Made in America (2016)
9. At Berkeley (2013)
10. Room 237 (2012)
11. The Promised Land (2012)
12. Inside Llewyn Davis (2014)
13. Rabbit Hole (2010)
14. Barbara Rubin and the Exploding NY Underground (2019)
15. Design Canada (2018)
16. Mildred Pierce (2011)
17. Margaret (2011)
18. Bobby Fischer Against the World (2011)
19. Obit (2016)
20. Frances Ha (2012)/Mistress America (2015)/Maggie’s Plan (2015)
I can vouch for the first 11 or 12 of these; the rest involved a certain amount of guesswork, espe-
cially Bobby Fischer and Obit, neither of which I ever saw a second time. The three Greta Gerwig
films at #20 are grouped together because I liked them all and could not tell you from memory which
one is which. Most of these I lifted from yearly top ten lists I’ve been making since 2013; a few
predate that, and for some reason American Honey wasn’t on either my 2016 or 2017 list. I don’t
really have anything from 2019; I saw a Hot Docs screening of the Barbara Rubin documentary in
2018, and had it as my #1 for that year, but it’s listed as 2019 on IMDB. Of the new films I
actually did see in 2019, the Miles Davis American Masters was probably my favourite. It falls
just short of the decade list.
As I began my third or fourth rewatch of Mad Men recently, I said on the I Love Everything message
board that I doubted there was a film from the 2010s that meant as much to me as Mad Men. 20th
Century Women comes close, but I think that statement holds true. Carlos and Mildred Pierce are
technically TV mini-series; not sure where I draw the line on what I feel is okay to list and
what isn't. O.J. Simpson: Made in America also started life on TV, and I think Frederick Wiseman
films like On Berkeley still get played on PBS somewhere between festival screenings and limited
first runs. Honestly, I really don’t care about the relationship between Netflix and the film in-
dustry, the difference between a festival screening and an official release date, or any of that
stuff. I either saw something or I didn’t, and it was--in my mind--either a film or it wasn’t.
I know I’d get grief on the same message board for the almost complete absence of non-English
language films on my list. All I’ve got is Carlos*--I considered Eden, too, the Mia Hansen-Løve
film from 2014 about an aspiring group of club DJs. It’s stayed in my mind for some reason, and
I’ve been hoping to see it a second time. I didn’t really care for acclaimed films by Kiarostami
or Weerasethakul, I again find Godard impenetrable (which, coming from an ornery old guy in his
80s, I do find admirable), and things like Holy Motors and Toni Erdmann held no appeal for me
whatsoever.
I’d guess that I see fewer documentaries now than I did 10 years ago. I’ve probably settled in
the neighborhood of half-and-half, which is close--8/20--to what’s on the list. I went with At
Berkeley for Wiseman, but National Gallery or Ex Libris could have been there instead. I’ve
started but haven’t finished Monrovia, Indiana--not sure about that one yet. Wiseman, about 11
months older than Godard, was my pick for greatest living filmmaker in an ILX poll a few years
ago.
I usually don’t get much from the socially-conscious, more mainstream half of Gus Van Sant’s
career--Good Will Hunting, Milk--but I’ve seen The Promised Land five or six times now. It won’t
show up on any other decade-end lists; it came and went and left no trace. For me, it’s a beauti-
fully modest echo of The China Syndrome, Norma Rae, and other such ‘70s films (one of Hal Hol-
brook’s last performances helps get that mood right).
Now that I’ve moved two hours out of the city, I very much doubt I’ll be able to put together
a decade-end list 10 years from now, not unless some new kind of technology comes along that
teleports me back to the Bloor and the Lightbox a couple of times a week. Last time around, as
the Wussy song says.
*Which, come to think of it, is about 90% English too--so I guess I'm a complete middlebrow
rube after all.