Best of the Decade: 10-6

Junebug - 2005

The "main character" in "Junebug" is almost not a character at all. The man who brings his new wife to visit his rootsy Southern home has few lines, no real cinematic presence. (I've watched this movie several times and I coudn't even give you the name of the actor.) And yet, his inclusion in a scene brings about huge, poignant moments from the characters around him. "Junebug", on paper, is a fish-out-of-water story, the artsy urban wife (Embeth Davidtz) thrown into the broken interactions of a tightknit, traditional family. But "Junebug" is an incredibly endearing story about goodness, about how to be present for the ones we love, something easily lost when the modern world gives us a false feeling of connectedness.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - 2004
Charlie Kaufman is the generally acknowledged king of post-MTV magical realism. (The urban Kundera, maybe? I don't know. Whatever.) "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation" may go down as his most brain-itchingly intricate pieces, but "Eternal Sunshine" will always be the script where he found his heart or, at least, was finally unafraid to show it. And with Michel Gondry behind the camera and Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey shining in front of it like never before, "Eternal Sunshine" struck an immediate chord with a generation that wasn't sure if it was disaffected by romance or not. Emotionally raw but visually fantastical, "Eternal Sunshine" explored clever hypotheticals about time, love, and memory, but it kept coming back to that beating heart at its center: love is frustrating, painful, complicated, and worth it.

Shattered Glass - 2003
The protagonist is a pathological liar, and a committed one at that. As he spin lies into widely-praised articles for The New Republic in the mid-90s, the film delves deeply into Stephen Glass's fractured psychology and the extreme steps he takes to ensure his stature as a golden boy. Hayden Christensen, of all people, gives a tour-de-force performance across from an equally compelling (but more understated) Peter Sarsgaard as the new editor who suspects Glass of foul play (and loses most of his employees' loyalty for questioning the popular kid.) Despite knowing how it ends, the inside-journalism mystery-cracking is still exciting and the office politics are dead-on. Most of all, though, the film lets the character reveal though his own actions, tics, and lies, the deep-seated (but not easily forgiven) psychological layers that led him to such corruption.

Wall-E - 2008

For the sake of efficiency, I'm just going to reprint what I wrote when I named it the best film of last year:
"Wall-E is, for the first half anyway, nearly an experimental film. The lack of dialogue, the apocalyptic landscapes, the tiny, quirky life of a robot—it almost sounds like a film Dieter would have pitched. And yet, Wall-E is instantly and deeply emotional in its quiet movements. It’s a Chaplin film in which the slapstick is understated and the world is vast and gorgeously colored. And, good Lord, the inventiveness involved is simply staggering, from the overall concept to those incredibly tender moments using—of all things!—music and footage from "Hello, Dolly!" Almost single-handedly, it reminded me just how wondrous the cinematic experience can be.

Wall-E, in its second half, sharply addresses waste-lot/want-lot culture with satire that’s so playful it becomes hopeful. Too many wrongly pigeonholed Wall-E as An Inconvenient Robot; it’s about far more than environmental protection. It’s about clinging to our own identities as human beings rather than our identities as consumers looking for the next fix. (Remember when the bloated future people were offered a new color in their bland, monochrome unitards? Brilliant!)

It’s about the persevering force of optimism. It’s about the very value of life, and it’s revelatory in its presentation of the message. Wall-E feels like—and, I believe, is—a film that will be seen as a groundbreaking achievement in its flawless, technical beauty; in its bold, risky storytelling; and in its ability to ask mass audiences to set down their Extra Large Cokes and pay attention to the present and wonder—quite hopefully—about the future."

Almost Famous - 2000

Show me the music, Cameron Crowe. "Almost Famous" is the rare film in which every character in a large ensemble is perfectly, brilliantly used, from Fairuza Balk's payphone call with William's mother (Frances McDormand in a shoulda-won-an-Oscar performance) to Zooey Deschenal's loving, rebel-spirited flight attendant sister to Jimmy Fallon (!) as a manager who really inaccurately predicts the future of the Rolling Stones. All are wonderfully-drawn escorts on William's Odyssey-like journey of trying to write an article for Rolling Stone about the band Stillwater. But he's also trying to reaffirm his untainted faith in his rock god idols and they're trying to let him reaffirm their faith in the music. Sharp and poetic, unexpectedly moving, it just may be the best film ever made about rock and roll.

Any guesses at what #1 will be? Hint: it's very likely that it's the only film you've ever seen by its director.