Top 15 Films of the 2010s (so far)

We’re a few months past the halfway point of the 2010s, and I thought it’d be fun to take a look back over the past five years and highlight which films I’ve loved the most. It’s funny, while I typically remember 2010 as a weak year for films, after drafting this list, that’s clearly not the case. Most of these movies are about pain. Others are about love. Few, but some, are just plain damn fun.

15. Magic Mike (2012)

dir. by Steven Soderbergh

Yes, really. For one, Magic Mike is a master class in modern cinematography. The harsh color grading, the placement of the camera (notice how Soderbergh, who shot the film himself, isn’t afraid to let the room be the most prominent factor in the shot above), the stark contrast – I’m in love with all of it. I unapologetically, absolutely love this film.

14. Animal Kingdom (2010)

dir. by David Michôd

Animal Kingdom is here for many reasons, it’s complete lack of character empathy chief among them. No character in this film is safe. They may go at any moment, for any reason, which creates a lasting unease over the entire film. And that cast… it couldn’t possibly be any stronger.

13. The Master (2012)

dir. by Paul Thomas Anderson

This one takes more out of me every time I watch it. It’s impossible to not get emotional during Philip Seymour Hoffman’s final scene. What power that man had.

12. Black Swan (2010)

dir. by Darren Aronofsky

Do contemporary gothic mind fuck horror films get any better than Black Swan? Perfect. Yep. It was perfect.

11. Dogtooth (2010)

dir. by Yorgos Lanthimos

I’ve seen a lot of movies. And I have never in my life seen anything remotely like Dogtooth. Equally unique, bizarre and terrifying, this film is a mesmerizing exposé of the macabre.

10. Warrior (2011)

dir. by Gavin O’Connor

I was so emotionally gutted the first time I saw Warrior that I convinced myself I didn’t really like it. It was too real for me, so I retreated from it and tried to pretend it didn’t exist. But when I braved it a second time, I found myself uncommonly moved. Rarely do I connect with films as intensity as I do with this one. And that ending… it still knocks the wind out of me. 

9. Spring Breakers (2013)

dir. by Harmony Korine

For its revolving and relentless editing alone. This flick barely gives us a moment to breathe, while its florescent photography dazzles throughout. Open your mind, don’t take it literally, and invite yourself into a brave new teenage wasteland.

8. The Tree of Life (2011)

dir. by Terrence Malick

A masterpiece of poetic realism. What does it all mean? Where are we going? Do any of us ever really know? Exactly.

7. Incendies (2010)

dir. by Denis Villeneuve

Denis Villeneuve has gained recent domestic notoriety by making Prisoners and Enemy back-to-back, but jump back a few years and you discover his masterful French/Canadian film, Incendies. The film is a nightmarish family tree thriller that stuns from opening frame to last. Damn near impossible to guess where it’s going.

6. Blue Valentine (2010)

dir. by Derek Cianfrance

Many films have fun with the honeymoon phase of a relationship. The flowers, the songs, the talks, the love. Few are confident enough to embrace the emotional hell that many relationships evolve to. Blue Valentine displays both with equal weight. The bliss is as honest as the agony.

5. Upstream Color (2013)

dir. by Shane Carruth

I’ve seen Upstream Color dozens of times and I still feel like I’m uncovering it. As a film, I’m so entranced by the mysticism of its story. As a production, I remain wholly inspired by how this film was made. Shane Carruth wrote, directed, produced (for about $100,000), shot, edited, scored, starred in, marketed, and promoted Upstream Color by himself. Why? Because he could. And his credo in interviews is that if he can, there’s no reason anyone else with talent and drive can’t as well.

4. Rust and Bone (2012)

dir. by Jacques Audiard

The biggest criticism Rust and Bone received was that it showcased a love shared by two unlikeable people. While some find that a fault, I found it inspiring. So often in (American) romance movies, we watch as unlikeable people are made good through love and/or tragedy. Not Rust and Bone. Stéphanie (Marion Cotillard) and Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts) go through hell in this film, and rarely show signs of change. Their attraction is animalistic, stripped of the bullshit materialism we so often see in movies. I love how Rust and Bone embraces pain so brazenly, as if there is literally no other way to tell its story. Stéphanie and Ali are by far my favorite screen couple so far this decade.

3. Boyhood (2014)

dir. by Richard Linklater

Boyhood has the audacity to explore the ordinary. The film is expert at flirting with clichéd sensation (What’s going to happen with that saw?! When is the drunk step father(s) going to hit them?! Look, he actually didn’t sell the GTO!), then casually stepping back to observe the normalcy of life. Boyhood will always be remembered for how it was made, as it deserves to be. But I’ll always be in love with the tenderness of its story.

2. Somewhere (2010)

dir. by Sofia Coppola

Somewhere is one of the best films about isolation that I’ve ever seen. It’s slow yet alive, methodical yet disorderly. It’s a cinematic poem of what it feels like when you don’t (or can’t, or won’t) connect with anything around you. This film should have launched Stephen Dorff (back…?) into the A-list, because his performance as Johnny Marco is a thing of quiet, nuanced, and haunting power. I love to follow this man.

1. Shame (2011)

dir. by Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen’s Shame is one of my Top 10 films of all time. As far as my tastes are concerned, movies just don’t get any better. The film is so aware of what it’s doing, so confident in its merciless method of storytelling. For me, the movie making bar was reset in December 2011, when I sat motionless in a dark movie theater and let this film wash over me. I had never seen anything like it before, yet, at the same time, it was the kind of movie I knew I was born to make. I’ll be working the rest of my life trying to live in the shadow of this painful, beautiful film.

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