Decade of great movies (2010-2019) - top ten

The International Edition of The New York Times listed ten of the most influential films of the last ten years on Monday 2 December 2019. 

These included: American Sniper (2014), The Avengers (2012), Blackfish (2013), Bridesmaids (2011), Frozen (2013), Get Out (2017), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), Moonlight (2016), Okja (2017), and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). 

In addition, the NYT’s film critics listed their top ten favourite films. Manohla Dargis lists the following ten films: The Assassin (2015), Boyhood (2014), Faces Places (2017), In Jackson Heights (2015), Luminous Intimacy: The Cinema of Nathaniel Dorsky and Jerome Hiler (2015), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), No Home Movie (2016), Poetry (2011), 13^TH(2016), and A Touch of Sin (2013). A.O. Scott’s list includes: Carol (2015), Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), Lady Bird (2017), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Minding the Gap (2018), Moonlight (2016), Norte, The End of History (2014), Timbuktu (2015), Toni Erdmann (2016), and The Tree of Life (2011).

My top ten favourite movies of the decade are (in alphabetical order):

Boyhood by Richard Linklater (2014)

Commencing in 2002, this movie filmed the same actors annually over a period of twelve years. It shows the physical and emotional development of a boy as he becomes a man—and his parents as they influence and react to his decisions and actions. As characters age, so too do actors Ellar Coltrane, Ethan Hawke, and Patricia Arquettte. No other film before has attempted this slow transition, growing up on screen in rapid time, and in real time. Sensational concept.

How to Survive A Plague by David France (2012)

A documentary about the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in America and the activists that aggressively pushed for reforms to public health, taking the virus from a death sentence to a manageable condition. Real news footage and real issues, from aversion to indifference, from hostility to audacity, the documentary covers the struggles with hatred and misinformation and the revolutionary journey towards human rights for all. Compelling. 

Kon-Tiki by Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg (2012)

This historical drama traces Thor Heyerdahl’s epic 1947 expedition by sea in the Kon-Tiki. Building a raft using the same technique of 1,500 years ago, Heyerdahl’s Pacific Ocean journey is remarkably and realistically recreated. The filmmakers shot the movie on the open ocean, and not on set, and shot simultaneously in Norwegian and English. This is unique and stunning. Convincingly crafted. 

Lincoln by Steven Spielberg (2012)

The life of American President Abraham Lincoln, played by Daniel Day Lewis, covers the Civil War to political cabinet decisions to emancipate slaves, as well as the personal struggles of a silent, contemplative, calm man. Spielberg depicts this 1865 historical drama in all its shades of darkness and death. Splendid cast from Sally Field to Tommy Lee Jones. Superlative depiction by Daniel Day Lewis. 

Mad Max: Fury Road by George Miller (2015)

Continuing the Australian Mad Max series of movies, minus Mel Gibson (Max Rockatansky is now played by Tom Hardy), this is the best of its genre and another spectacular masterpiece in movie making. Post-apocalyptic futuristic rebellion and tyranny with a psychotic hero, this is how to make an action movie about survival—of self and humanity. Charlize Theron is fierce and fantastic as Imperator Furiosa in the rise of feminist fury. Amazing stunts. Exhilarating pumped-up action.

Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (2019)

This music documentary is set in 1975 in raw, carnivalesque style as Bob Dylan takes an American road tour. Along the way, he collects an assortment of artists who perform with him: Allen Ginsberg, Patti Smith, Scarlet Rivera, Joan Baez, Sam Shepard, Joni Mitchell, Mad Bear, and Rubin “Hurricane” Carter to name a few – most beginning their careers. The tour enables creatives to experiment, improvise, and perform unrehearsed, against a backdrop of American politics and protests and the country’s involvement in the Vietnam War. Brilliant live performances.

The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius (2011)

Filmed in black and white and silent, this is the rise and fall of silent movies and the career development of one artist, George Valentin (played by Jean Dujardin) who stars in them. The advent of talking movies changes the film industry forever. Using only the technology and film techniques of the silent dancing and mime movies of the 1920s, the film is true to its genre, allowing viewers to focus on the character and plot and not the bells and whistles. Bold, brave, and totally riveting. 

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by Chiwetel Ejiofor (2019)

This is the debut directing of actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, based on the memoir by William Kamkwamba, a rural boy from Malawi, Africa, who turned wind into electricity to save his father’s farm. From absolute nothing but ingenuity and bicycle parts, this is an uplifting story of sheer determination in the face of all adversity and rejection. Ejiofor also takes an acting role as Trywell Kamkwamba in this true tale of trust and tenacity. Inspirational. 

The Loneliest Planet by Julia Loktev (2011)

The spectacular Caucasus Mountains of Georgia feature in this film with Gael Garcia Bernal and Hani Furstenberg, with Georgian actor Bidzina Gujabidze. An engaged young couple hike in the Georgian wilderness with a local guide when their trust in each other is compromised. There is little dialogue throughout the film, for their actions say it all in this haunting ambiguous drama. Thought-provoking in a gently shocking way. 

Timbuktu by Abderrahmane Sissako (2014)

Set in Timbuktu, Mali, West Africa, under the occupation of extremists, jihadists arrest rural cattle herder Kidane for murder. This film powerfully presents the contradiction of ideologies and quiet resistance in an emotionally disquieting and tragic way. Hard to watch, but French-Mauritanian director Sissako masterfully, intellectually, and gracefully presents an impactful message in a subtle way. Extraordinary interpretative drama. 

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author  of: Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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