Film4's 100 Must-See Films of the 21st Century
Created by Nuked.
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Drawn from 29 countries around the world, the most recent release on our list is Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, which stormed into the chart at number 5. Other recent releases in the top 20 include Steve McQueen’s landmark 12 Years A Slave and Jonathan Glazer’s mesmeric Under The Skin. Glazer is one of just a handful of directors with two films on the list – the others are the afore-mentioned Linklater, indie essentials the Coen brothers, US powerhouse David Fincher and of course Austrian auteur Michael Haneke.
Something else we’re really proud of is the mixture of different types of film this list represents – there’s everything from modern teen classics like the Tina Fey-scripted Mean Girls, to massive animated blockbusters like Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee’s Frozen, to Oscar winners like Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, to austere art-house triumphs such as Kelly Reichart’s Old Joy, to the acutely humane social realism found in The Selfish Giant by Clio Barnard. And much, much more.
The difficulty with these lists is always what gets left off (we're saving documentaries for another list entirely). Our long-list ran to an unwieldy 300+ which we had originally intended to cut down to a top 50 before realising that the 21st century has already generated too much brilliant cinema to represent in any meaningful way with 50 films. So with apologies to the many wonderful filmmakers whose work we were unable to include, we present our list of 100 must-see films of the century so far...
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103 new
Casino Royale
2006, in 7 top lists Check -
102 new
A Knight's Tale
2001, in 0 top lists Check -
101 new
Irréversible
2002 — a.k.a. Irreversible, in 10 top lists Check -
100 new
Goon
2011, in 1 top list Check -
99 new
Slumdog Millionaire
2008, in 13 top lists Check -
98 new
The Wind that Shakes the Barley
2006, in 2 top lists Check -
97 new
Nymphomaniac: Vol. II
2013, in 1 top list Check -
96 new
Nymphomaniac: Vol. I
2013, in 1 top list Check -
95 new
The Avengers
2012, in 7 top lists Check -
94 new
Finding Nemo
2003, in 17 top lists Check -
93 new
Adventureland
2009, in 0 top lists Check -
92 new
District 9
2009, in 10 top lists Check -
91 new
We Need to Talk About Kevin
2011, in 5 top lists Check -
90 new
The Mother
2003, in 0 top lists Check -
89 new
Young Adult
2011, in 0 top lists Check -
88 new
Frozen
2013, in 5 top lists Check -
87 new
25th Hour
2002, in 7 top lists Check -
86 new
Attack the Block
2011, in 2 top lists Check -
85 new
How I Live Now
2013, in 0 top lists Check -
84 new
American Psycho
2000, in 12 top lists Check -
83 new
The Wolf of Wall Street
2013, in 13 top lists Check -
82 new
Lost in Translation
2003, in 19 top lists Check -
81 new
Stoker
2013, in 0 top lists Check -
80 new
Old Joy
2006, in 5 top lists Check -
79 new
Four Lions
2010, in 0 top lists Check -
78 new
Seukaendeul - Joseon namnyeo sangyeoljisa
2003 — a.k.a. Untold Scandal, in 1 top list Check -
77 new
In Bruges
2008, in 6 top lists Check -
76 new
The Dark Knight
2008, in 27 top lists Check -
75 new
Archipelago
2010, in 1 top list Check -
74 new
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
2001, in 11 top lists Check -
73 new
Batoru rowaiaru
2000 — a.k.a. Battle Royale, in 9 top lists Check -
72 new
The Hurt Locker
2008, in 13 top lists Check -
71 new
The Man Who Wasn't There
2001, in 4 top lists Check -
70 new
This Is England
2006, in 4 top lists Check -
69 new
The Puffy Chair
2005, in 0 top lists Check -
68 new
Tyrannosaur
2011, in 0 top lists Check -
67 new
The Tree of Life
2011, in 13 top lists Check -
66 new
Bridesmaids
2011, in 8 top lists Check -
65 new
Shaun of the Dead
2004, in 13 top lists Check -
64 new
Magic Mike
2012, in 0 top lists Check -
63 new
La mujer sin cabeza
2008 — a.k.a. The Headless Woman, in 8 top lists Check -
62 new
Mean Girls
2004, in 4 top lists Check -
61 new
The Selfish Giant
2013, in 1 top list Check -
60 new
Fish Tank
2009, in 8 top lists Check -
59 new
Elephant
2003, in 10 top lists Check -
58 new
Ginger Snaps
2000, in 6 top lists Check -
57 new
The Descent
2005, in 4 top lists Check -
56 new
Berberian Sound Studio
2012, in 2 top lists Check -
55 new
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2003, in 29 top lists Check -
54 new
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2002, in 26 top lists Check
Last updated on Aug 5, 2014; source