The BBC polled 177 critics all over the world and made a list of the greatest films of the 21st century.
Film professionals talk about the crisis in cinema and complain that good films give place and budgets to stupid blockbusters about the almost identical superheros, heads of production companies fear that streaming services will affect the film industry more than television. The BBC decided to learn whether good films are being made today and figure out what can be called the new classics that can be compared to masterpieces of the last century.
They polled 177 critics from all continents. Some of them write reviews for newspapers, magazines and websites and some are academics and cinema curators. It was allowed to name films released in 2000, though BBC Culture knows the year 2000 is mathematically the 20th century. The conclusion is optimistic – cinema is not dying, on the contrary, it is evolving in all senses.
Dark and surreal Mulholland Drive by David Lynch released in 2001 topped the list. The neo-noir psychological thriller shows the main character looking for her true identity after a car crash that made her amnesiac. Her searchers took her into the dark and mystic depths of her consciousness.
Other best films include Hayao Miyazaki’s animation Spirited Away (2001), Richard Linklater’s drama Boyhood (2014) and Michel Gondry’s romantic drama Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004).
Some directors are mentioned several times. For example, Wes Anderson, Christopher Nolan and Michael Haneke have three films each in the top 100 list.
The biggest number of the best films (ten) were shot in 2012, nine were released in 2013, one of which – Inside Llewyn Davis by Coen brothers – is in the top 10.
Top 10 films by the BBC:
10. Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2013)
9. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
8. Yi Yi: A One and a Two (Edward Yang, 2000)
7. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)
6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
5. Boyhood (Richard Linklater, 2014)
4. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)
3. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
2. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)
1. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)
The full list of the 100 greatest films of the 21st century is available on the ВВС website.
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