Film4's 100 Must-See Films of the 21st Century
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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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76 new
The Dark Knight
2008, in 27 top lists Check -
9 new
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2004, in 28 top lists Check -
55 new
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2003, in 29 top lists Check -
53 new
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2001, in 31 top lists Check -
54 new
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2002, in 26 top lists Check -
11 new
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi
2001 — a.k.a. Spirited Away, in 39 top lists Check -
21 new
El laberinto del fauno
2006 — a.k.a. Pan's Labyrinth, in 33 top lists Check -
25 new
No Country for Old Men
2007, in 23 top lists Check -
94 new
Finding Nemo
2003, in 17 top lists Check -
65 new
Shaun of the Dead
2004, in 13 top lists Check -
51 new
Cidade de Deus
2002 — a.k.a. City of God, in 22 top lists Check -
3 new
There Will Be Blood
2007, in 20 top lists Check -
92 new
District 9
2009, in 10 top lists Check -
82 new
Lost in Translation
2003, in 19 top lists Check -
30 new
The Social Network
2010, in 13 top lists Check -
99 new
Slumdog Millionaire
2008, in 13 top lists Check -
77 new
In Bruges
2008, in 6 top lists Check -
84 new
American Psycho
2000, in 12 top lists Check -
1 new
Mulholland Dr.
2001 — a.k.a. Mulholland Drive, in 26 top lists Check -
95 new
The Avengers
2012, in 7 top lists Check -
32 new
The Royal Tenenbaums
2001, in 8 top lists Check -
47 new
Das Leben der Anderen
2006 — a.k.a. The Lives of Others, in 20 top lists Check -
26 new
Låt den rätte komma in
2008 — a.k.a. Let the Right One In, in 14 top lists Check -
103 new
Casino Royale
2006, in 7 top lists Check -
83 new
The Wolf of Wall Street
2013, in 13 top lists Check -
10 new
Zodiac
2007, in 14 top lists Check -
62 new
Mean Girls
2004, in 4 top lists Check -
17 new
Before Sunset
2004, in 18 top lists Check -
23 new
Brokeback Mountain
2005, in 21 top lists Check -
42 new
Gravity
2013, in 12 top lists Check -
6 new
Fa yeung nin wah
2000 — a.k.a. In the Mood for Love, in 30 top lists Check -
72 new
The Hurt Locker
2008, in 13 top lists Check -
5 new
Boyhood
2014, in 16 top lists Check -
73 new
Batoru rowaiaru
2000 — a.k.a. Battle Royale, in 9 top lists Check -
74 new
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
2001, in 11 top lists Check -
20 new
12 Years a Slave
2013, in 22 top lists Check -
67 new
The Tree of Life
2011, in 13 top lists Check -
45 new
Punch-Drunk Love
2002, in 12 top lists Check -
19 new
Jodaeiye Nader az Simin
2011 — a.k.a. A Separation, in 15 top lists Check -
40 new
Ghost World
2001, in 8 top lists Check -
66 new
Bridesmaids
2011, in 8 top lists Check -
88 new
Frozen
2013, in 5 top lists Check -
24 new
Salinui chueok
2003 — a.k.a. Memories of Murder, in 17 top lists Check -
38 new
A History of Violence
2005, in 11 top lists Check -
15 new
Hable con ella
2002 — a.k.a. Talk to Her, in 12 top lists Check -
31 new
La vie d'Adèle
2013 — a.k.a. Blue Is the Warmest Colour, in 13 top lists Check -
91 new
We Need to Talk About Kevin
2011, in 5 top lists Check -
70 new
This Is England
2006, in 4 top lists Check -
101 new
Irréversible
2002 — a.k.a. Irreversible, in 10 top lists Check -
87 new
25th Hour
2002, in 7 top lists Check
Last updated on Aug 5, 2014; source