Best of the Decade - 2010s

I know. It's April. Kind of late for a 2010s decade retrospective. Or is it? 

The truth is, even the best critic hasn't seen everything from the past ten years. It's not possible. I've done my best to catch up with notable titles I've missed in preparation for this list, which is one reason it's so tardy. But there's still much to see, and I imagine that will remain the case for a very long time. Let's appreciate such cinematic surplus, even when it can be overwhelming!

It was a great decade for film, even with the dismaying reality of a handful of IPs almost totally devouring mainstream American cinema, leaving the state of Hollywood as dismally, creatively bankrupt as it's ever been. But the independent scene thrived, national cinemas blossomed and continued to go strong around the globe, and a Korean film won Best Picture right at the end of it all. Not bad, huh?

Because ten isn't enough, I've elected to make a Top 25 (roughly ranked, outside of the top two or three - especially the top, because it is the decade's definitive work of cinema). 

The closest runners-up: Toy Story 3 (2010), Melancholia (2011), A Separation (2011), The Master (2012), Amour (2012), Lincoln (2012), Nebraska (2013), Her (2013), All is Lost (2013), Gravity (2013), National Gallery (2014), Spotlight (2015), The Lobster (2015), The Forbidden Room (2015), Jackie (2016), Toni Erdmann (2016), A Ghost Story (2017), Good Time (2017), Phantom Thread (2017), Faces Places (2017)

The list, told in images, after the jump!

25.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), dir. Céline Sciamma 

24.

Ex Machina (2015), dir. Alex Garland

23.

Inherent Vice (2014), dir. Paul Thomas Anderson

22.

Son of Saul (2015), dir. László Nemes

21.

The Act of Killing (2013) and The Look of Silence (2015), dirs. Joshua Oppenheimer and Christine Cynn

20.

American Honey (2016), dir. Andrea Arnold

19.

Frances Ha (2013), dir. Noah Baumbach

18.


Cemetery of Splendor (2015), dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul

17.


Sister (2012), dir. Ursula Meier

16.


At Berkeley (2013), dir. Frederick Wiseman

15.


Paterson (2016), dir. Jim Jarmusch

14.


Leviathan (2013), dirs. Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel

13.


Lady Bird (2017), dir. Greta Gerwig

12.


Cameraperson (2016), dir. Kirsten Johnson

11.


Certified Copy (2010), dir. Abbas Kiarostami

10.


Mr. Turner (2014), dir. Mike Leigh

9.


Carol (2015), dir. Todd Haynes

8.


The Social Network (2010), dir. David Fincher

7.


First Man (2018), dir. Damien Chazelle

6.


A Quiet Passion (2017), dir. Terence Davies

5.


This is Not a Film (2011), dir. Jafar Panahi

4.


24 Frames (2017), dir. Abbas Kiarostami

3.


Holy Motors (2012), dir. Leos Carax

2.


Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), dirs. Joel and Ethan Coen

1.


The Tree of Life (2011), dir. Terrence Malick

The only one.