List for a Decade: Chris

2 years ago

List for a Decade: Chris

My most important films of the decade (in order, but not in an order that can’t be completely rearranged at any given point).

by Chris Cantoni

Traffic (2000)

I can’t tell you. I can’t tell you how important this movie is to me. It probably doesn’t belong at the top of this list. Plenty of people don’t think it deserves mention on any decade list. But Traffic left me breathless. Speechless. It showed me what a movie could be in a way I can’t remember feeling before that. Without a doubt, Traffic is the most important movie I have ever experienced, and so it is at the top of my list.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Isn’t Eternal Sunshine great? Fun, inventive, visually stimulating, and yet somehow sad and introspective. Eternal Sunshine is so much a reflection of our minds, while being about what goes on in our minds! So it’s a no-brainer (get it?) being on this list.

WALL-E (2008)

WALL-E is incredible. A robot with heartache who ends up saving humanity? Come on! And despite a good chunk without dialogue, which is a remarkable feat, it didn’t win best screenplay, which is ridiculous. Pixar continues to make movies that go deeper than most pop stuff will dare.

There Will Be Blood (2007)

Daniel Day Lewis. Done. Conversation over. Even given some of its weaknesses (of which there are a few I will fight over), this film is pitch-perfect in oh so many ways. And that music analogy is apt, given the incredible score.

Amelie (2001)

So wonderful. Amelie makes love possible again, and has so much fun doing it. A movie that will always make you happy, and curious, and wanting to go explore.

City of God (2002)

City of God is excruciating. It’s like The Wire jammed into a terrible two hour tour de force of the underworld of Rio de Janeiro.

Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

The awkwardness in all of us, showing us that love is out there and can make you do incredible things.

Donnie Darko (2001)

Sure, everyone is over the whole Donnie Darko thing, and Richard Kelly has yet to create something as memorably good as this, but you should stop and think back to when you first saw it, and how completely swirled your brain was. Or go back even further, to when someone begged you to watch it and they asked you what it was about and there were no words. Because there aren’t. You just have to see it, man.

Kill Bill (2003, 2004)

Both parts, yes! Somehow perfectly balancing so much fun and over the top with a very real, very emotional core drama that you’re never left bored, not even once.

The Constant Gardner (2005)

A love story told through the struggle to improve the third world, or a political story told through two lovers. The Constant Gardner makes you feel a lot of things, but the most important one is that it is good to fight for things. Also, best sex scene of all time.

Spirited Away (2001)

Spirited Away is weird in a way that kids get, like Dr. Seuss artwork. A magical and imaginative world emphasizing the importance of innocent children, I pity you if you can’t enjoy this film.

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Very Unconventional. Juno got compared to this quite a bit, but Little Miss Sunshine is so very different, all the characters given a moment to be important to us, to tell us that it is ok to be who you are, even when people stop liking who you are.

Children of Men (2006)

Everyone loves a good future-tragedy. This one just happens to feature incredible performances from Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, and Michael Caine, as well as a beautiful look and feel from Alfonso Cuarón and company.

28 Days Later (2002)

This movie brought zombies back and changed all the rules, and was shot digitally on a small budget, and has so much to say about humanity, just like the original zombie movies. Also, Cillian Murphy is awesome, Danny Boyle is usually awesome, and Alex Garland is pretty awesome too.

Synecdoche, New York (2008)

Right. So, there are a lot of movies I enjoyed more than Synecdoche. But more than any movie of the decade, Synecdoche attempts completely change movies as we know it, trying to push them toward a new type of art. Maybe that’s ridiculous, but in its artistic regard, it’s a hell of a lot more revolutionary than the one promised by Avatar.

Chris Cantoni is a writer living in Los Angeles. He tumbls here.