The last 25 years of filmmaking have seen blockbusters grow bigger, indie films gain new platforms to shine, and international cinema reach global audiences like never before. Filmmakers have played with technology, amplified underrepresented voices and blended genres to take on challenging subjects, all against a backdrop of transformation in how movies are made and consumed. These 10 films have stayed with our critics, writers and filmmakers long after the final credits rolled. How many have you seen?
Amelie (2001) Is there a more warm-hearted and touching film that showcases the wonders of Paris than Amelie? Is there a more charming actress than Audrey Tautou, playing a pixielike waitress determined to do good deeds? There are many French contenders for best film of this century list – The Artist, The Intouchables, Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, A Prophet, Rust And Bone, Amour, Anatomy Of A Fall, The Diving Bell And The Butterfl y and Titane among them – but Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s romantic comedy tops them all. It’s beautifully written, directed, designed, shot, scored, edited and, of course, acted. Garry Maddox
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) Wes Anderson first made his mark in the 1990s as American filmmaking’s young fogey, and The Royal Tenenbaums is typical of his style – a wholly original comedy dressed up to resemble a literary adaptation. Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman), his wife, Etheline (Anjelica Huston), and their adult children, played by Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson and Gwyneth Paltrow, live in a Manhattan apartment that feels as if it’s been constructed out of old New Yorker Talk of the Town columns. All three Tenenbaum offspring are prodigies who have ended up as has-beens, a scenario that could have made a Eugene O’Neill tragedy. Instead, Anderson composes a goofy, sophisticated cartoon out of it. Every cast member comes with an eye-catching collection of eccentricities, and there are no false moves. Somehow, you do more than laugh. Yo
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