Poll: The Best Films of the 2020s, So Far

The 2020s were marred by the pandemic. Productions shut down. Movies got delayed. Studios started fearing, more and more, creative balsiness. Then the strikes occurred, and that vicious cycle happened again, further interfering in the production process.

You basically have A24 and NEON holding the throne in terms of prestige arthouse in the U.S. — although A24 now wants to branch out more into mainstream filmmaking. Foreign cinema seems to be doing a tad better but has also shapeshifted because of COVID. Some are even questioning the future of movies, despite the success “Barbenheimer.”

Do we even have a film that could claim to have reinvented the language of cinema in the 2020s? I can’t think of one. Don’t get me wrong, there have been some great films, and always will be, but in which direction is the medium moving? The ‘90s had “Pulp Fiction” reinventing the way a film can be told. The 2000s also had filmmakers continuously experimenting on narrative (Nolan, Lynch, PTA). Where are the groundbreakers this decade?

If anything, what’s marked the decade so far has been a major growth in female filmmakers. Never in movie history have there been more women behind the camera, and it’s resulted in great films from the likes of Kelly Reichardt, Jane Campion, Kitty Green, Eliza Hittman, Julia Ducournau, Audrey Diwan and Justine Triet.

We’re now in the fifth year of the present decade and I thought it’d be a good time to poll our readers about their best films of the 2020s, so far. You can list them below, 5-10 titles will suffice. I’ll post the results next week (which is also when our best of the 1950s critics poll will be published).

So, I ask again, what films actually defined this present decade? Quite honestly, I don’t know. I believe we are presently going through the worst decade for movies since the silent era. That’s not a hyperbole. I truly mean it.

Regardless, I just hope things get better in the next few years. What we need are some new voices to reinvigorate the language of the medium and I don’t see many of them out there at the present moment. 2024 isn’t looking so hot either, with the strikes having delayed many new films from worthwhile directors.

I’ll publish my own personal list after the results go live.