What happens when six Hollywood reporter film critics gather to choose their 50 favorite films of the 21st century so far? Debating, deliberating, voting, coming up with a nerdy point system, doubting, adjusting, deliberating again, guessing again, adjusting – you get the idea.
But now the list has been published, and below are things we thought readers might find interesting about our picks. Some of these things also surprised us.
- 18 movies not in English: 4 French, 3 Japanese, 2 Korean, 2 Romanian, 2 Mexican, 1 Spanish, 1 Taiwanese, 1 Hong Kong, 1 Russian, 1 Mauritanian
- 11 movies directed by women
- 9 movies directed by black filmmakers
- 6 documentaries
- 2 animated movies
- 4 first movies
- 5 directors with multiple films on the list: Jane Campion (2), the Coen brothers (2), Alfonso Cuarón (2), David Fincher (2), Richard Linklater (2)
- 2 Best Picture Oscar winners (Moonlight And Parasite)
- 3 Cannes Palme d’Or winners (4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days; Shoplifters; Parasite)
- 2 winners of the Golden Lion of Venice (The return And Brokeback Mountain)
- Years with most films represented: 2016 and 2018 (4 each)
- Actors with most films represented: Kirsten Dunst (3), Michelle Williams (3) — co-stars in 1999’s Dick!
- Movies that it broke our hearts not to see them on the list or honorable mentions:
- Jon Frösch: Blue is the warmest color (Abdellatif Kechiche)
David Rooney: The world (Jia Zhangke)
sheri linden: The savages (Tamara Jenkins)
Lovia Gyarkye: Coco (Lee Unkrich)
Leslie Felperin: Paddington2 (Paul King)
Jordan Munzer: This isn’t a movie (Jafar Panahi, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb)
- Jon Frösch: Blue is the warmest color (Abdellatif Kechiche)
