The Top 50 Films of 2000-2009:#25-21

25. Million Dollar Baby (US, 2004)

He may be one of Hollywood’s greatest acting icons, but after two decades of directorial work, Dirty Harry’s greatest legacy will be his efforts behind the camera.  With a filmography that includes Mystic River, Unforgiven and Letters from Iwo Jima, Clint Eastwood has established himself as one of Hollywood’s most consistently engaging artists.  No other filmmaker balances between the visceral and the sentimental better than him.  His understanding of the Classic Hollywood tradition is so refreshing and full of life that it’s hard to realize he’s doing anything traditional at all.

While discussing Million Dollar Baby, people focus so much on the controversial third act they forget what makes the film’s final moments so unforgettable: The culmination of the elaborate interweavings of characterization and narrative.  The characters are so clearly established in script and on screen that the final-act shocker ends up not being so shocking at all.  It’s just what these interesting people would do in that situation.  Through a well-paced, rhythmic technique, Eastwood is able to turn something very real and horrifying into something honest and beautiful.

Memorable Moment: As Frankie drives Maggie to a boxing match at night, their faces fall in and out of shadows as Maggie discusses their friendship.

Photo from Reeling Reviews

24. Let the Right One In (Sweden, 2008)

The resurgence in the popularity of vampires in cinema and television is something I haven’t really been able to get behind.  While this may have something to do with the fact that I’m not a thirteen-year-old girl (sorry, that’s kind of a cheap shot, fans, please forgive me), I think it has more to do with the fact that most of these offerings lack anything of real substance aside from sex (whether its repressed in Twilight or widely exhibited in True Blood), blood, or fangs.

Let the Right One In is something entirely different and unique.  It’s a horror film with a strong heart and emotional backbone.  Yes, it’s about boy who befriends a girl vampire in his apartment complex, and at its core it’s definitively a love story, but the film is ultimately a powerful tale of loneliness, companionship, and growing up.  The relationship between the children is beyond endearing and provides some of the more poignant moments I’ve ever seen in a movie of this kind.  The mixed genres of horror and romance are perfectly intertangled here.  Richly photographed with beautiful, arresting night cinematography, Let the Right One In is visual and narrative storytelling at its most balletic.

Memorable Moment: Eli takes Oskar’s bullies for a swim in the pool.

Photo from The Film Stage

23. Knocked Up (US, 2007)

Team Apatow was the gold standard for comedy during the aughts.  Even when he wasn’t helming projects himself, the characteristics that have come to define his brand of comedy have surfaced in films he was only involved with tangentially.  Now any movie that uses “from the producers of Superbad” in the trailers has become the focal point of all comedic discussion.  His influence is unparalleled.

It may not be the funniest film to spawn from the Judd Apatow comedic canon, but Knocked Up may be his most representative entry.  It includes the majority of the major players (Rogen, Hill, Rudd, Mann) found in his films and it skillfully blends his juvenile stoner humor with adult related themes with a more consistent balance than his other creative efforts.  It also offers non-stop laughs.

Memorable Moment: After Debbie suspects Pete of cheating on her, she takes Alison and Ben to investigate, only to find that Pete was secretly attending a fantasy baseball draft.  “I got Matsui!” gloats Pete.

Photo from Film On Air

22. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (US, 2005)

If every company’s CEO was forced to watch this documentary upon its release in 2005, I’d be shocked if the 2009 financial crisis still would have occurred.  At the very least, it would have made them all look in the mirror.  Destined to be inserted into business ethics seminars for eternity, Enron chronicles the story of one of the largest financial scandals in history with painstaking focus and attention to detail by its chief informative players.  The story is told in such an engaging, controlled way that the chaos feels organized, seamlessly cataloged for people of all different backgrounds.  It requires multiple viewings to gain a firm grasp on just how troubling the events of this case were, but you don’t have to be a Wall Street dweller to feel its impact.  You just need to have a soul.

Memorable Moment: Video footage of a share holders meeting in which top Enron executives tell employees to buy stock in the company.

Photo from Documentary Review

21. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (Romania, 2007)

Perhaps the most emotionally exhausting film of the decade, 4 Months follows the trials and tribulations of college-aged heroine Otilia as she attempts to help her foolish friend receive an illegal abortion in 1980’s Communist Romania.  It’s far from being a popcorn flick, but this winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes is a filmmaking marvel.  It’s heartbreaking and painful, but a stunningly beautiful work of art.  Shot almost entirely in stilted, desaturated long takes, the film is an experiential wonder.  Director Cristian Mungiu wants us to suffer through the process just as much as the girls involved with the procedure.  Instead of handling the film’s delicate subject matter with a heavy hand, he paints his canvas with delicate brush strokes.  He places the focus on the friend, not the girl having the abortion, which allows us to see the emotional effects the process can have on anyone involved.  In the end, it’s not a fetus that is lost, it’s humanity itself.

Memorable Moment: In a long take, Otilia sits in anguish at her boyfriend’s dining room table as his family humiliates her.  The phone rings in the background, but she can’t answer it.

Photo from Film Confessional

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