Next Critics' Poll — The Best Films of the 2020s

We’re now in the fifth year of the present decade and I thought it’d be a good time to poll critics about their best films of the 2020s. I’ll start sending out the ballots by the end of the week. The goal is to have the results posted by the end of the month.

So far, the 2020s have been marred by the pandemic. Productions shut down. Movies got delayed. Studios started fearing, more and more, the creative balsiness to make great art. Then the 2023 strikes occurred, and the vicious cycle happened all over again, further interfering in the production process.

Another major, shapeshifting event in the 2020s has been the rising popularity of streaming, which has hurt theatrical exhibition and slashed down the number of adult-oriented dramas greenlit by the studios. It’s only going to get worse by decade’s end. Certainly not better.

Earlier in the year, I polled our readers to name their best films of the 2020s, with almost 300 ballots having been counted, and these were the results:

1) Tár (Todd Field) 59 votes
2) Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan) 49
3) The Zone of Interest (Jonathan Glazer) 44
4) Aftersun (Charlotte Wells) 38
5) The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin Mcdonagh) 37
6) Killers of the Flower Moon (Martin Scorsese) 36
7) Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi) 34
8) The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier) 24
9) Past Lives (Céline Song) 21
10) Power of the Dog (Jane Campion) 21

It should be noted that “Dune: Part II” hadn’t even been released yet when the ballots started coming in. Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi sequel still managed to get an impressive 10 votes, most likely from people who had gone to the preview screenings of the film on Sunday and Thursday.

As expected, some of out readers are still championing Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon” (#17) Ari Aster’s “Beau is Afraid,” (#21) and Andrew Dominik’s “Blonde” (#22). These are three films that were ill-received by critics but have managed to find a passionate base of fans who absolutely swear by their brilliance.

If anything, what’s marked the decade so far has been the major growth of female filmmakers. There’s never been a time in cinema history with 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.