The Playlist's The 100 Best Films of the Decade [2010s]

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Look, making a Best of Decade list is an impossibility. As the 2010s come to a close, we’ve been agonizing over this (long-delayed) list for half a year now and even had to take a break and put it away this summer when things got too contentious and overwhelming. And then there’s the notion of resonance and what really lasts and is released too late (Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women” is phenomenal, for example, but it’s not even released yet, and it’s just going to have to sit this one out). Still, lists like these become an exercise in compromise, frankly, and a reality of having to live with things, crying a little bit, enduring threats of people quitting and others throwing themselves on the tracks at the last minute in their pleas to be heard (joking, sort of).

Such is life, with lots of hard, hard, sometimes bitter choices to be made. Before you get mad—and it’s very possible you might—keep in mind, we’ve already made a Best Horror Films Of The Decade list, where some terrific films are already represented, we’re running a Best Documentaries Of The Decade list too. We will likely do something with animation also, at some point. Excising (most) docs and animation from this list was tough, but in a way, it just made things more manageable. You could even consider this the Best feature-length live-action films of the Decade if it helps you sleep better (with a few notable exceptions, we just couldn’t leave out).

But impact aside, and weighing so many different factors, cultural factors, quote-unquote importance, what’s enjoyable about making a Best Of Decade list is looking at the films that last and have whose resonance possesses meaningfulness in their timbre and echo.

So, we won’t lean any harder into our apologist stance, after much hand-wringing, our Best Films Of The Decade list (the 2010s) is done. It’s not science, nor consensus, but a from-the-heart snapshot of the 2010s and what we, and many of us believe are the greatest, most resonant movies of the past 10 years. Enjoy, and look for more Best Of Decade features, Best of 2019 coverage and much more. Without further ado, our picks for the Best Films Of The Decade [2010s] —intro by Rodrigo Perez, published on December 2nd, 2019

More best of year and decade content is here too, the 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2020, The 100 Best Films Of The Decade, the 25 Best Films Of 2019, the Best Performances Of The Decade, Best Cinematography of the Decade, Best Soundtracks of the Decade, Best TV of the Decade, Best Documentaries Of The Decade, Best Animated Films Of The Decade, Best TV of 2019, Best Posters, and Trailers of 2019 and more to come.

Honorable Mention
Again, putting this list together was impossible, and we agonized about the order and what made the cut and what didn’t and for too damn long. Ten films that came extremely close to making the list, but got nixed in favor of something else—literally at the last minute—(and if you wanna consider them 101-110, feel free), Edgar Wright’s “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World,” Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Drive” Luca Guadagnino’s “I Am Love,” Lars Von Trier’s “Melancholia,” Charlie Kaufman’s animated movie “Anomalisa,” Dee Rees’ “Pariah,” Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers,” Dan Gilroy’s “Nightcrawler,” Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story,” and Damien Chazelle’s “Whiplash” tied with Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk.” That’s a pretty solid list of films in of itself, and in some regards, there’s a lot of heartbreak in these lists, and we could easily go to 200, but that’s life.

Other films many of us love and many of us vied for—and probably spent a few months on the list before they were ultimately cut— include Francis Lee‘s “God’s Own Country,” John Crowley‘s “Brooklyn,” “Cold War,” Paul Thomas Anderson‘s “Inherent Vice,” Greta Gerwig‘s “Lady Bird,” “The Favorite,” (yes, almost all of Lanthimos’ films made the list), “The Tribe,” Sebastián Lelio‘s original 2013 version of “Gloria,” Jason Reitman’s “Young Adult,” Edgar Wright’s “Baby Driver,” and “The World’s End,” Martin Scorsese’s “Silence,” and “The Irishman,” Spike Lee’s “BlackKklansman,” Bong Joon Ho’s “Snowpiercer,” Dennis Villeneuve’s “Sicario,” “Prisoners” and “Blade Runner 2049,” Robert Eggers’ “The Witch” (on our horror list, so it got a bit of a pass), “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping,” “Eighth Grade,” “Paddington 2,” “Hereditary,” “Birdman,” “La La Land,” the Coen Brothers’ “True Grit,” “Uncut Gems,” “Green Room,” Sofia Coppola’s “Somewhere” and “The Bling Ring,” Eliza Hitman’s “Beach Rats” and Andrey Zvyagintsev‘s “Loveless,” just to name a few. We could comfortably sit here and list out 1,000 films, but who has that time?

The long lists were pretty endless, to be honest. Still, a reminder, lists dedicated to documentaries, and animation are coming soon (and yes, we realize there were exceptions on this list). But if we wanna shout out a few more—and of course we do—let’s give mention to Derek Cianfrance’s “The Place Beyond the Pines,” JC Chandor’s “Margin Call” and “A Most Violent Year,” David Fincher’s “Gone Girl,” Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan,” Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar,” Steven Soderbergh’s “Magic Mike” and Ryan Coogler’s “Creed” and “Black Panther.” The decade produced countless masterworks, so as always feel free to sound off, or go apoplectic in the comments section, and stick around for more Best of The Decade coverage, Best of 2019 coverage and Most Anticipated 2020 coverage as well.

— Edited by Rodrigo Perez and Jason Bailey.

— Writers: Nicholas Laskin, Max Roux, Andrew Bundy, Lena Wilson Ella Kemp, Rodrigo Perez, Drew Taylor, Jason Bailey, Nik Grozdanovic, Christian Gallichio, Joe Blessing, Johnathan Christian, Bradley Warren

— Special thanks to the always invaluable early input of Oliver Lyttelton, Kevin Jagernauth, Jessica Kiang.