The Projector #27: One Last Look at the 2010s (Patreon)

by Keith Phipps

So help us out: Scott and I are planning to do a special bonus episode looking back at the 2010s, and we’re toying with a couple of different approaches. In one, we’d bring a list of our favorite films of the decade and count them down and discuss them. (Mine’s been public for a while, but we’d still get a pretty good conversation out of this format, I’m guessing.) Scott has proposed mixing it up with a best directors of the decade approach. 

I think they both have their advantages. Everyone does lists, but that’s because we like lists. There’s something satisfying about shaping order out of chaos and there’s a kind of art to curating and crafting a list. It’s a fool’s game to try for a list that’s objectively the best film of a decade (or of a year, or a genre). The trick is to use the list to tell a story. You begin with the odd and the unexpected then build to the titles that loom largest over the subject.

I like Scott’s idea too, however. In making my list, I limited myself to one film per director. This presented some conundrums: Which Paul Thomas Anderson movie? Which Jarmusch? Which Reichardt? Etc. It would be nice to talk about which directors had great decades, ten years that they helped define or used to redefine themselves. (And you know who didn’t slow down or rest on his laurels? Scorsese. Scott and I discovered that when talking about The Irishman.) 

At the same time, this works against late arrivers and slow workers. Upstream Color feels like one of the decade’s signature movies, but it’s all Shane Carruth did as a director. Paul Schrader, out of nowhere, turned in one of the best movies of his career.

Do you have a preference? Let us know. (And maybe we’ll end up dong both, who knows?)

In the meanwhile, get ready for a pair of World War I movies starting with Peter Weir’s great Gallipoli and carrying over with next week’s discussion of Sam Mendes’ 1917, a Best Picture nominee (and current favorite to win).

Also, some stuff to read:

• At Vulture, Bilge Ebiri offered a behind-the-scenes look at Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life (great movie, see it if you can).

• For Fangoria, Keith Phipps took a late look at Jim Jarmusch’s despairingly funny The Dead Don’t Die.

• At The New York Times, Jason Bailey talked to David Letterman about his divisive stint hosting the Oscars.

• Want more Bong Joon-Ho? Sandi Tan has you covered at Vanity Fair.