Here are the films of the last decade that really struck me as the best of the best.
I’m sure there are a few here and there that I might have missed but if some come back to me I’ll update it.
2000
- Memento (Dir. Christopher Nolan)
- Requiem for a Dream (Dir. Darren Aronofsky)
- Before Night Falls (Dir. Julian Schnabel)
- Traffic (Dir. Steven Soderbergh)
- Ivansxtc (Dir. Bernard Rose)
- In the Mood For Love (Dir. Wong Kar Wai)
2001
- The Piano Teacher (Dir. Michael Haneke)
- The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Dir. Peter Jackson)
- Mulholland Drive (Dir. David Lynch)
- The Man Who Wasn’t There (Dir. The Coen Brothers)
- Spirited Away (Dir. Hayao Miyazaki)
- Y Tu Mama Tambien (Dir. Alfonso Cuaron)
2002
- City of God (Dir. Fernando Meirelles)
- Hero (Dir. Zhang Yimou)
- Bloody Sunday (Dir. Paul Greengrass)
- Adaptation. (Dir. Spike Jonze)
- The Pianist (Dir. Roman Polanski)
- Talk to Her (Dir. Pedro Almodóvar)
- Etre et Avoir (Dir. Nicolas Philibert)
- Rabbit Proof Fence (Dir. Philip Noyce)
2003
- The Fog of War (Dir. Errol Morris)
- The Barbarian Invasions (Dir. Denys Arcand)
- Elephant (Dir. Gus Van Sant)
- Lost in Translation (Dir. Sofia Coppola)
- Touching the Void (Dir. Kevin MacDonald)
- Finding Nemo (Dir Andrew Stanton)
- Oldboy (Dir. Park Chan Wook)
- Capturing the Friedmans (Dir. Andrew Jarecki)
- Punch-Drunk Love (Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
- The Triplets of Belleville (Dir. Sylvain Chomet)
- American Splendour (Dir. Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini)
2004
- Sideways (Dir. Alexander Payne)
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Dir. Michel Gondry)
- The Motorcycle Diaries (Dir. Walter Salles)
- The Incredibles (Dir. Brad Bird)
- Before Sunset (Dir. Richard Linklater)
- Primer (Dir. Shane Carruth)
- Downfall (Dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel)
2005
- The New World (Dir. Terence Malick)
- Hidden (Dir. Michael Haneke)
- Brokeback Mountain (Dir. Ang Lee)
- Grizzly Man (Dir. Werner Herzog)
- The Constant Gardener (Dir. Fernando Meirelles)
- A History of Violence (Dir. David Cronenberg)
- Goodnight, and Goodluck. (Dir. George Clooney)
- Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Dir. Shane Black)
2006
- United 93 (Dir. Paul Greengrass)
- Pan’s Labyrinth (Dir. Guillermo Del Toro)
- Children of Men (Dir. Alfonso Cuaron)
- Deliver Us From Evil (Dir. Amy Berg)
- Tell No One (Dir. Guillaume Canet)
- The Lives of Others (Dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)
- Volver (Dir. Pedro Almodóvar)
- Little Children (Dir. Todd Field)
2007
- There Will Be Blood (Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
- No Country for Old Men (Dir. The Coen Brothers)
- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Dir. Julian Schnabel)
- Zodiac (Dir. David Fincher)
- Taxi to the Darkside (Dir. Alex Gibeny)
- Michael Clayton (Dir. Tony Gilroy)
- I’m Not There (Dir. Todd Haynes)
- 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Dir. Christian Mungiu)
2008
- Hunger (Dir. Steve McQueen)
- Slumdog Millionaire (Dir. Danny Boyle)
- Waltz with Bashir (Dir. Ari Folman)
- WALL-E (Dir. Andrew Stanton)
- The Class (Dir. Laurent Cantet)
2009
- A Prophet (Dir. Jacques Audiard)
- The White Ribbon (Dir. Michael Haneke)
- The Hurt Locker (Dir. Kathryn Bigelow)
- A Serious Man (Dir. The Coen Brothers)
What about you? Leave your favourites from the decade in the comments below.
> Find out more about the films of 2009 at Wikipedia
> Check out more end of decade lists at Metacritic
> Have a look at the Movie City News end of year critics chart
> Check out our best DVD and Blu-ray releases of 2009