The 10 Best Films of the Decade

Ranging over the candidates that might have a shot at making my list for ten best films of the soon expiring decade, it’s strange to notice how some of them remain rooted in our time, very much of the moment, while others already feel like products of a past era altogether. 

The great films released between 2010 and this year are indeed a supremely eclectic lot, from socially charged dramas and exquisitely rendered period pieces to eccentric romances and movies that incisively reflect political movements of their times. They were made in different parts of the world and are emphatically auteurist works, mostly — if not quite all — the progeny of well-known filmmakers asserting themselves at what currently looks like the top of their powers. It’s likely that these films will mature in different ways, with some aging well and others, considered at a distance of another decade or two, forcing critics of the future to wonder what we ever saw in them. 

On top of that, the way content is consumed is changing so quickly that it’s impossible to guess what "films" will mean to viewers a decade or three hence — or if what we now call “films” will even still exist, as opposed to something more sweepingly called image-making or screen product. 

The 10 movies that made my list all seized me one way or the other when I first saw them, the ones I’ve seen again have only grown in stature with re-viewing and, most importantly, they all resonate in major ways when I think about them.