Critics Poll: ‘Mulholland Drive' Named Best Film of the 2000s

Is “Mulholland Drive,” David Lynch’s hypnotic and surreal ode to la la land, really the best film of the aughts? According to 200 movie experts, it seems that it is. World of Reel surveyed film critics, actors, directors, academics, and curators from over a dozen countries to compile a list of the best films released between 2000-2009.

Lynch’s surreal neo-noir bested Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” (#2) by just 3 votes. Almost 2/3 of the poll’s participants were American. Established publications, including Variety, The New York Times, The L.A. Times, USA Today, Film Comment, The Wall Street Journal and Vanity Fair, participated in the poll. Each critic was asked to send their five picks, unranked, for the decade. There were 13 films in the top 30 that were in a foreign language, beating the previous record holder of 10 from our 2010s poll.

The vast amount of films to choose from led to only one director having 2 of his films featured in the top 30; that would be Alfonso Cuaron, whose “Children of Men” (#6) ended up being the big winner of the poll. After being largely ignored upon its release in December of 2006, the sci-fi classic has become a film for our times and been deemed largely relevant with each passing year. Another film that seems to have aged like a fine wine is Spike Lee’s 2002 masterpiece, “25th Hour” (#12). Also released in December, the film was originally met with moderate-to-favorable reviews, but is now seen as one of the defining post-9/11 statements in American cinema.

The only title in the top 50 to not have a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes was Michael Mann’s adaptation of the ’80s TV series, “Miami Vice.” (#38) Despite a 47% rotten rating, Mann’s movie garnered 6 list mentions, placing it in the top 35. The reappraisal for “Miami Vice” has been building steadily over the years, with Uproxx critic, Steven Hyden, writing about its “burgeoning reputation as a cult favorite” over the years and remarking how it is “one of the most expensive art films ever made.” Other defenders of the film include French director and critic Jean-Baptiste Thoret and director Harmony Korine, who cited  “Miami Vice” as a major influence on his 2012 film, “Spring Breakers.”

In all, close to 400 movies were mentioned by those polled.

A full list of the critics who participated – with all of the individual lists – can be found here.

1) Mulholland Drive (David Lynch)
2) There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)
3) Zodiac (David Fincher)
4) In the Mood For Love (Wong Kar-Wai)
5) No Country For Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen)
6) Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron)
7) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry)
8) Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki)
9) Yi Yi: A One and A Two (Edward Yang)
10) Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola)

11) The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan)
12) Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro)
13) 25th Hour (Spike Lee)
14) 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days (Cristi Mungiu)
15) The New World (Terrence Malick)
16) Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee)
17) Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
18) Y Tu Mamá También (Alfonso Cuaron)
19) The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson)
20) The Departed (Martin Scorsese)

21) City of God (Fernando Meirelles)
22) WALL-E (Andrew Stanton)
23) The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Peter Jackson)
24) Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe)
25) Talk to Her (Pedro Almodovar)
26) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee)
27) Oldboy (Park Chan-wook)
28) The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
29) Dogville (Lars Von Trier)
30) The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu)

31) Caché (Michael Haneke)
32) The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik)
33) Memento (Christopher Nolan)
34) Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman)
35) Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr)
36) Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
37) Rachel Getting Married (Jonathan Demme)
38) Miami Vice (Michael Mann)
39) Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
40) Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly)

41) Up! (Pete Docter)
42) Adaptation (Spike Jonze)
43) Sideways (Alexander Payne)
44) Moulin Rouge (Baz Luhrmann)
45) The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke)
46) Punch-Drunk-Love (Paul Thomas Anderson)
47) A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg)
48) Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff)
49) The Prestige (Christopher Nolan)
50) The Incredibles (Brad Bird)

Past polls:

Critics' Poll: ‘Goodfellas' Named Best Movie of the 1990s
Critics' Poll: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road' Named Best Movie of the 2010s