The 100 Best Films of The 21st Century By The Guardian
A list made by The Guardian's Critics. "Gangsters, superheroes, schoolkids, lovers, slaves, peasants, techies, Tenenbaums and freefalling astronauts – they’re all here in our countdown of cinema’s best movies since 2000"
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100 titles
- DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsDaniel Day-LewisPaul DanoCiarán HindsA story of family, religion, hatred, oil and madness, focusing on a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.
- DirectorSteve McQueenStarsChiwetel EjioforMichael Kenneth WilliamsMichael FassbenderIn the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free Black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.
- DirectorRichard LinklaterStarsEllar ColtranePatricia ArquetteEthan HawkeThe life of Mason, from early childhood to his arrival at college.
- DirectorJonathan GlazerStarsScarlett JohanssonJeremy McWilliamsLynsey Taylor MackayA mysterious young woman seduces lonely men in the evening hours in Scotland. However, events lead her to begin a process of self-discovery.
- DirectorKar-Wai WongStarsTony Leung Chiu-waiMaggie CheungSiu Ping-LamTwo neighbors form a strong bond after both suspect extramarital activities of their spouses. However, they agree to keep their bond platonic so as not to commit similar wrongs.
- DirectorMichael HanekeStarsDaniel AuteuilJuliette BinocheMaurice BénichouA married couple is terrorized by a series of surveillance videotapes left on their front porch.
- DirectorCharlie KaufmanStarsPhilip Seymour HoffmanSamantha MortonMichelle WilliamsA theatre director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he creates a life-size replica of New York City inside a warehouse as part of his new play.
- DirectorBarry JenkinsStarsMahershala AliNaomie HarrisTrevante RhodesA young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.
- DirectorLucrecia MartelStarsDaniel Giménez CachoLola DueñasMatheus NachtergaeleBased on the novel by Antonio Di Benedetto written in 1956, on Don Diego de Zama, a Spanish officer of the seventeenth century settled in Asunción, who awaits his transfer to Buenos Aires.
- DirectorTrey ParkerStarsTrey ParkerMatt StoneElle RussPopular Broadway actor Gary Johnston is recruited by the elite counter-terrorism organization Team America: World Police. As the world begins to crumble around him, he must battle with terrorists, celebrities and falling in love.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsNaomi WattsLaura HarringJustin TherouxAfter a car wreck on Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.
- DirectorLászló NemesStarsGéza RöhrigLevente MolnárUrs RechnA Jewish-Hungarian concentration camp prisoner sets out to give a child he mistook for his son a proper burial.
- DirectorTodd HaynesStarsJulianne MooreDennis QuaidDennis HaysbertIn 1950s Connecticut, a flustered housewife faces a marital crisis and mounting racial tensions in the outside world.
- DirectorClaire DenisStarsIsabelle HuppertChristopher LambertIsaach De BankoléAmidst turmoil and racial conflict in a Francophone African state, a white French woman fights for her coffee crop, her family and ultimately for her life.
- DirectorKore-eda HirokazuStarsLily FrankySakura AndôKirin KikiOn the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by loyalty, a penchant for petty theft and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence.
- DirectorJoshua OppenheimerAnonymousChristine CynnStarsAnwar CongoHerman KotoSyamsul ArifinA documentary which challenges former Indonesian death-squad leaders to reenact their mass-killings in whichever cinematic genres they wish, including classic Hollywood crime scenarios and lavish musical numbers.
- DirectorPaolo SorrentinoStarsToni ServilloCarlo VerdoneSabrina FerilliJep Gambardella has seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades, but after his 65th birthday and a shock from the past, Jep looks past the nightclubs and parties to find a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.
- DirectorEthan CoenJoel CoenStarsMichael StuhlbargRichard KindSari LennickLarry Gopnik, a Midwestern physics teacher, watches his life unravel over multiple sudden incidents. Though seeking meaning and answers amidst his turmoils, he seems to keep sinking.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsDaniel Day-LewisSally FieldDavid StrathairnAs the Civil War rages on, U.S President Abraham Lincoln struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on his decision to emancipate the slaves.
- DirectorAlfonso CuarónStarsYalitza AparicioMarina de TaviraDiego Cortina AutreyA year in the life of a middle-class family's maid in Mexico City in the early 1970s.
- DirectorMichael HanekeStarsChristian FriedelErnst JacobiLeonie BeneschStrange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. Who is responsible?
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsDaveigh ChaseSuzanne PleshetteMiyu IrinoDuring her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.
- DirectorLarry CharlesStarsSacha Baron CohenKen DavitianLuenellKazakh TV talking head Borat is dispatched to the United States to report on the greatest country in the world.
- DirectorPawel PawlikowskiStarsAgata KuleszaAgata TrzebuchowskaDawid OgrodnikA novice nun about to take her vows uncovers a family secret dating back to the German occupation.
- DirectorJordan PeeleStarsDaniel KaluuyaAllison WilliamsBradley WhitfordA young African-American visits his white girlfriend's parents for the weekend, where his simmering uneasiness about their reception of him eventually reaches a boiling point.
- DirectorEdward YangStarsNien-Jen WuElaine JinIssei OgataEach member of a middle-class Taipei family seeks to reconcile past and present relationships within their daily lives.
- DirectorWes AndersonStarsRalph FiennesF. Murray AbrahamMathieu AmalricA writer encounters the owner of an aging high-class hotel, who tells him of his early years serving as a lobby boy in the hotel's glorious years under an exceptional concierge.
- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsBrad PittSean PennJessica ChastainThe story of a family in Waco, Texas in 1956. The eldest son witnesses the loss of innocence and struggles with his parents' conflicting teachings.
- DirectorAlexander PayneStarsBruce DernWill ForteJune SquibbAn aging, booze-addled father makes the trip from Montana to Nebraska with his estranged son in order to claim a million-dollar Mega Sweepstakes Marketing prize.
- DirectorAndrey ZvyagintsevStarsAleksey SerebryakovElena LyadovaRoman MadyanovIn a Russian coastal town, Kolya is forced to fight the corrupt mayor when he is told that his house will be demolished. He recruits a lawyer friend to help, but the man's arrival brings further misfortune for Kolya and his family.
- DirectorDuke JohnsonCharlie KaufmanStarsDavid ThewlisJennifer Jason LeighTom NoonanA man crippled by the mundanity of his life experiences something out of the ordinary.
- DirectorAlfonso CuarónStarsSandra BullockGeorge ClooneyEd HarrisDr Ryan Stone, an engineer on her first time on a space mission, and Matt Kowalski, an astronaut on his final expedition, have to survive in space after they are hit by debris while spacewalking.
- DirectorWes AndersonStarsGene HackmanGwyneth PaltrowAnjelica HustonThe eccentric members of a dysfunctional family reluctantly gather under the same roof for various reasons.
- DirectorJean-Pierre DardenneLuc DardenneStarsJérémie RenierDéborah FrançoisJérémie SegardBruno and Sonia, a young couple living off her benefit and the thefts committed by his gang, have a new source of money: their newborn son.
- DirectorAndrew HaighStarsCharlotte RamplingTom CourtenayGeraldine JamesA married couple preparing to celebrate their wedding anniversary receives shattering news that promises to forever change the course of their lives.
- DirectorAsghar FarhadiStarsPayman MaadiLeila HatamiSareh BayatA married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.
- DirectorLars von TrierStarsNicole KidmanPaul BettanyLauren BacallA woman on the run from the mob is reluctantly accepted in a small Colorado community in exchange for labor, but when a search visits the town she finds out that their support has a price.
- DirectorNuri Bilge CeylanStarsMuhammet UzunerYilmaz ErdoganTaner BirselA group of men set out in search of a dead body in the Anatolian steppes.
- DirectorKelly ReichardtStarsMichelle WilliamsBruce GreenwoodPaul DanoSettlers traveling through the Oregon desert in 1845 find themselves stranded in harsh conditions.
- DirectorJoanna HoggStarsKathryn WorthHarry KershawEmma HiddlestonA woman in an unhappy relationship takes refuge with a friend's family on holiday in Tuscany.
- DirectorPark Chan-wookStarsKim Min-heeHa Jung-wooCho Jin-woongA woman is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, but secretly she is involved in a plot to defraud her.
- DirectorCristian MungiuStarsAnamaria MarincaLaura VasiliuVlad IvanovA woman assists her friend in arranging an illegal abortion in 1980s Romania.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsLeonardo DiCaprioJonah HillMargot RobbieBased on the true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stock-broker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government.
- DirectorAva DuVernayStarsMelina AbdullahMichelle AlexanderCory BookerAn in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.
- DirectorPedro AlmodóvarStarsPenélope CruzCarmen MauraLola DueñasAfter her death, a mother returns to her home town in order to fix the situations she couldn't resolve during her life.
- DirectorKenneth LonerganStarsAnna PaquinMatt DamonMark RuffaloA young woman witnesses a bus accident, and is caught up in the aftermath, where the question of whether or not it was intentional affects many people's lives.
- DirectorTerence DaviesStarsGillian AndersonDan AykroydEleanor BronA woman risks losing her chance of happiness with the only man she has ever loved.
- DirectorMichael WinterbottomStarsSteve CooganLennie JamesJohn ThomsonIn 1976, Tony Wilson sets up Factory Records and brings Manchester's music to the world.
- DirectorRichard LinklaterStarsEthan HawkeJulie DelpyVernon DobtcheffNine years after Jesse and Celine first met, they encounter each other again on the French leg of Jesse's book tour.
- DirectorAng LeeStarsChow Yun-FatMichelle YeohZiyi ZhangA young Chinese warrior steals a sword from a famed swordsman and then escapes into a world of romantic adventure with a mysterious man in the frontier of the nation.
- DirectorAlejandro G. IñárrituStarsEmilio EchevarríaGael García BernalGoya ToledoAn amateur dog fighter, a supermodel, and a derelict assassin, all separately struggling to find love, find their lives transformed by a devastating car wreck in Mexico City.
- DirectorGianfranco RosiStarsSamuele PucilloMattias CucinaSamuele CaruanaCapturing life on the Italian island of Lampedusa, a frontline in the European migrant crisis.
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsJesse EisenbergAndrew GarfieldJustin TimberlakeAs Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, he is sued by the twins who claimed he stole their idea and by the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business.
- DirectorAleksandr SokurovStarsSergey DreydenMariya KuznetsovaLeonid MozgovoyA 19th century French aristocrat, notorious for his scathing memoirs about life in Russia, travels through the Russian State Hermitage Museum and encounters historical figures from the last 200+ years.
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsMichael DouglasMatt DamonScott BakulaA chronicle of the tempestuous six-year romance between megastar singer Liberace and his young lover Scott Thorson.
- DirectorDebra GranikStarsThomasin McKenzieBen FosterJeffery RifflardA father and his seventeen-year-old daughter are living an ideal existence in a vast urban park in Portland, Oregon when a small mistake derails their lives forever.
- StarsTom HardyCharlotte RileyAndrew LincolnFoundling Heathcliff is raised by the wealthy Earnshaws in Yorkshire but in later life launches a vendetta against the family.
- DirectorAnurag KashyapStarsManoj BajpayeeNawazuddin SiddiquiTigmanshu DhuliaA clash between Sultan and Shahid Khan leads to the expulsion of Khan from Wasseypur, and ignites a deadly blood feud spanning three generations.
- DirectorSeth MacFarlaneStarsMark WahlbergMila KunisSeth MacFarlaneJohn Bennett, a man whose childhood wish of bringing his teddy bear to life came true, now must decide between keeping the relationship with the bear, Ted or his girlfriend, Lori.
- DirectorJoanna HoggStarsNeil YoungTosin ColeJack McMullenA young film student in the early '80s becomes romantically involved with a complicated and untrustworthy man.
- DirectorAbderrahmane SissakoStarsKhatra Ould Abder KaderMaata Ould Mohamed AbeidMohamed Mahmoud Ould MohamedThe story of two people who cross paths in Nouhadhibou.
- DirectorLynne RamsayStarsTilda SwintonJohn C. ReillyEzra MillerKevin's mother struggles to love her strange child despite the increasingly dangerous things he says and does as he grows up. But Kevin is just getting started, and his final act will be beyond anything anyone imagined.
- DirectorBrad BirdStarsCraig T. NelsonSamuel L. JacksonHolly HunterWhile trying to lead a quiet suburban life, a family of undercover superheroes are forced into action to save the world.
- DirectorAlice RohrwacherStarsAdriano TardioloAgnese GrazianiAlba RohrwacherAn unceasingly kind Italian peasant and his family are blatantly exploited by a tobacco baroness.
- DirectorAng LeeStarsJake GyllenhaalHeath LedgerMichelle WilliamsEnnis and Jack are two shepherds who develop a sexual and emotional relationship. Their relationship becomes complicated when both of them get married to their respective girlfriends.
- DirectorYorgos LanthimosStarsChristos StergioglouMichele ValleyAngeliki PapouliaA controlling, manipulative father locks his three adult offsprings in a state of perpetual childhood by keeping them prisoner within the sprawling family compound.
- DirectorMike LeighStarsTimothy SpallPaul JessonDorothy AtkinsonAn exploration of the last quarter century of the great, if eccentric, British painter J.M.W. Turner's life.
- DirectorPaul KingStarsBen WhishawHugh GrantHugh BonnevillePaddington, now happily settled with the Brown family and a popular member of the local community, picks up a series of odd jobs to buy the perfect present for his Aunt Lucy's 100th birthday, only for the gift to be stolen.
- DirectorAdam McKayStarsWill FerrellChristina ApplegateSteve CarellIn the 1970s, an anchorman's stint as San Diego's top-rated newsreader is challenged when an ambitious newswoman becomes his co-anchor.
- DirectorNadine LabakiStarsZain Al RafeeaYordanos ShiferawBoluwatife Treasure BankoleWhile serving a five-year sentence for a violent crime, a 12-year-old boy sues his parents for neglect.
- DirectorAri FolmanStarsAri FolmanRon Ben-YishaiRonny DayagAn Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.
- DirectorWhit StillmanStarsKate BeckinsaleChloë SevignyXavier SamuelLady Susan Vernon takes up temporary residence at her in-laws' estate and, while there, is determined to be a matchmaker for her daughter Frederica--and herself too, naturally.
- DirectorJacques AudiardStarsTahar RahimNiels ArestrupAdel BencherifA delinquent Muslim man struggles to get by in prison until he is taken under the wing of a powerful mob boss. But his gradual rise through the mob's ranks brings him in conflict with his mentor.
- DirectorStephen FrearsStarsJudi DenchSteve CooganSophie Kennedy ClarkA world-weary political journalist picks up the story of a woman's search for her son, who was taken away from her decades ago after she became pregnant and was forced to live in a convent.
- DirectorAbbas KiarostamiStarsMania AkbariAmina MaherKamran AdlA visual social examination in the form of ten conversations between a driving woman and her various pick-ups and hitchhikers.
- DirectorSofia CoppolaStarsBill MurrayScarlett JohanssonGiovanni RibisiA faded movie star and a neglected young woman form an unlikely bond after crossing paths in Tokyo.
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsGeorge ClooneyBrad PittJulia RobertsDanny Ocean and his ten accomplices plan to rob three Las Vegas casinos simultaneously.
- DirectorVincent ParonnaudMarjane SatrapiStarsChiara MastroianniCatherine DeneuveGena RowlandsA precocious and outspoken Iranian girl grows up during the Islamic Revolution.
- DirectorDarren AronofskyStarsEllen BurstynJared LetoJennifer ConnellyThe drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island people are shattered when their addictions run deep..
- DirectorAndrea ArnoldStarsKatie JarvisMichael FassbenderKierston WareingEverything changes for 15-year-old Mia when her mum brings home a new boyfriend.
- DirectorSarah PolleyStarsMichael PolleyJohn BuchanMark PolleyA film that excavates layers of myth and memory to find the elusive truth at the core of a family of storytellers.
- DirectorNanni MorettiStarsNanni MorettiLaura MoranteJasmine TrincaA psychoanalyst and his family go through profound emotional trauma when their son dies in a scuba-diving accident.
- DirectorApichatpong WeerasethakulStarsBanlop LomnoiSakda KaewbuadeeHuai DessomA romance between a soldier and a country boy, wrapped around a Thai folk-tale involving a shaman with shape-shifting abilities.
- DirectorLee Chang-dongStarsYoo Ah-inSteven YeunJeon Jong-seoJong-su bumps into a girl who used to live in the same neighborhood, who asks him to look after her cat while she's on a trip to Africa. When back, she introduces Ben, a mysterious guy she met there, who confesses his secret hobby.
- DirectorEthan CoenJoel CoenStarsTommy Lee JonesJavier BardemJosh BrolinViolence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong and over two million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande.
- DirectorKen LoachStarsCillian MurphyPádraic DelaneyLiam CunninghamAgainst the backdrop of the Irish War of Independence, two brothers fight a guerrilla war against British forces.
- DirectorMatteo GarroneStarsGianfelice ImparatoSalvatore AbbruzzeseToni ServilloScampia Vele is the Corbusian architecture which has become a stronghold for Mafia of Naples, Italy.
- DirectorClio BarnardStarsConner ChapmanShaun ThomasSean GilderTwo thirteen year-old working-class friends in Bradford seek fortune by getting involved with a local scrap dealer and criminal.
- DirectorMegan GriffithsStarsJamie ChungBeau BridgesMatt O'LearyA young Korean-American girl, abducted and forced into prostitution by domestic human traffickers, cooperates with her captors in a desperate ploy to survive.
- DirectorNicolas PhilibertStarsGeorges LopezAlizéAxel ThouveninA documentary portrait of a one-room school in rural France, where the students (ranging in age from 4 to 11) are educated by a single dedicated teacher.
- DirectorKathryn BigelowStarsJeremy RennerAnthony MackieBrian GeraghtyDuring the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his work.
- DirectorRoy AnderssonStarsElisabeth HelanderJörgen NohallJan WikbladhYou, the Living is a film about humankind, its greatness and its baseness, joy and sorrow, its self-confidence and anxiety, its desire to love and be loved.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsRussell CroweJoaquin PhoenixConnie NielsenA former Roman General sets out to exact vengeance against the corrupt emperor who murdered his family and sent him into slavery.
- DirectorLuca GuadagninoStarsTimothée ChalametArmie HammerMichael StuhlbargIn 1980s Italy, romance blossoms between a seventeen-year-old student and the older man hired as his father's research assistant.
- DirectorTamara JenkinsStarsKathryn HahnPaul GiamattiGabrielle ReidAn author is undergoing multiple fertility therapies to get pregnant, putting her relationship with her husband on edge.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreGeorge W. BushBen AffleckMichael Moore's view on what happened to the United States after September 11 and how the Bush Administration allegedly used the tragic event to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
- DirectorChristopher NolanStarsChristian BaleHeath LedgerAaron EckhartWhen the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, Batman must accept one of the greatest psychological and physical tests of his ability to fight injustice.
- DirectorJane CampionStarsAbbie CornishBen WhishawPaul SchneiderThe three-year romance between 19th-century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne near the end of his life.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsLeonardo DiCaprioBrad PittMargot RobbieA faded television actor and his stunt double strive to achieve fame and success in the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age in 1969 Los Angeles.
- DirectorMaren AdeStarsSandra HüllerPeter SimonischekMichael WittenbornA practical joking father tries to reconnect with his hard working daughter by creating an outrageous alter ego and posing as her CEO's life coach.