Time for another list of great films as decided by critics! This time, the BBC asked critics to name the best films of this century. David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive tops their selections, and it gets more eclectic the deeper you look.
Compared with similar lists about the golden age of Hollywood, BBC’s list has an immediately greater range of expression and ideas. Two international films appear in the top five, including one that’s animated (Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away). Elsewhere in the top 25 films, you can find documentaries (The Act of Killing), action movies (Mad Max: Fury Road), and off-the-wall experiments (Holy Motors). And again, the large number of international films is unique among other American-centric lists.
We can’t complain much about omissions from this list because of the remarkably wide net it casts. Spring Breakers, Before Sunset, and The Turin Horse all land near each other, and that seems like a pretty great microcosm of film.
We have most if all of these films in our collection. Here’s ten call numbers for their top ten:
1. Mulholland Drive – HU DVD 382
2. In the Mood for Love – HU DVD 1520
3. There Will Be Blood – HU DVD 4196
4. Spirited Away – HU DVD 586
5. Boyhood – HU DVD 11713
6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – HU DVD 1020
7. The Tree of Life – HU DVD 9230
8. Yi Yi: A One and a Two – HU DVD 1114
9. A Separation – HU DVD 10336
10. No Country for Old Men – HU DVD 3982