Tag: Roma

Top 10 (well, 11) Movies Of The 21st Century

This past week, The New York Times published a list of what their critics consider the 100 best movies of the 21st Century, with Parasite topping the list. At a cursory glance, I’ve seen 97 of the 100 on the list, and probably agree with a number of them. I myself did not participate in the poll (which was open to readers) because (a) I no longer subscribe to The New York Times (they normalized the current occupant of the White House, which I find intolerable), and (b) more to the point, as per usual, I was unable to narrow my list to 10. However, I’m happy to play along, so here are my choices of the top 10 (well, 11) of the 21st century. If Claude and I talked about them, I will include a link to that podcast episode:

(1) The Tree of Life (2011) (Terrence Malick) (link to follow)

(2) Children of Men (2006) (Alfonso Cuaron)

(3) Almost Famous (2000) (Cameron Crowe)

(4) Zero Dark Thirty (2012) (Kathryn Bigelow)

(5) Drive My Car (2021) (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)

(6) There Will Be Blood (2007) (Paul Thomas Anderson)

(7) Roma (2018) (Alfonso Cuaron)

(8) (tie) Broker (2022) (Hirokazu Kore-eda), Parasite (2018) (Bong Joon-Ho)


(9) Brokeback Mountain (2005) (Ang Lee)

(10) La La Land (2016) (Damien Chazelle) (to be discussed in an upcoming episode, where we will also be talking about The Independent)

Reel 51: Alfonso Cuaron’s Mexico

It’s not going out on a limb to say that Alfonso Cuarón has directed a wide variety of films. From the sex comedy Sólo con tu pareja to the near-future Children of Men (which we discuss in Episode 11), to the pure fantasy of the third film in the Harry Potter series, to the films we discuss in this episode, it’s pretty much impossible to point to a specific genre of film, or even a specific quirk of his films that allow you to say “And that’s what makes it a Cuarón film.” He just can’t be pinned down.

And yet, so much of what he does is just so good, it kind of makes you a little crazy. But it also means that when he makes these epic-length films, you don’t mind it, because you want to stay in that world as long as possible.

So Sean and Claude start with Y Tu Mama Tambien, which genre-wise lands somewhere between sex comedy and coming-of-age film. In this 2001 film, two teenagers take a road trip to a nearly-fictional beach (if you’ve seen the film, you understand what’s meant by that) with an older, attractive, married woman. It’s all kinds of fun and all kinds of horny, and what ultimately happens is guaranteed to be surprising in some areas and not at all surprising in others.

From there we jump to 2018 and a film called Roma, shot largely on location in Mexico City. It’s a period piece that centers on perhaps one of the most mundane characters in the film, and yet you can’t help but love her, and the people around her. Most of them, anyway.

COMING ATTRACTIONS: 

We continue journeying south, clear down to South America, for a couple of films with very different storylines and viewpoints. We’ll begin with State of Siege, from 1972 and directed by Costa-Gavras. It’s a story about political upheaval in a largely-unnamed country. From there we move on to The Secret in Their Eyes, the story of an ongoing murder mystery that’s partly told in flashback. You should definitely see this film before listening to the episode, because the ending isn’t a big twist, but it will definitely shock you.