What happens when six Hollywood Reporter film critics get together to pick their 50 favorite movies of the 21st century so far? Debating, deliberating, voting, the devising of a nerdy point system, second-guessing, fine-tuning, re-deliberating, re-second-guessing, re-fine-tuning — you get the picture.
But now the list is published, and below are things we thought readers might find interesting about our selections. Some of these things surprised us, too.
- 18 films 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 films directed by women
- 9 films directed by Black filmmakers
- 6 documentaries
- 2 animated films
- 4 first films
- 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 Venice Golden Lion winners (The Return and Brokeback Mountain)
- Years with the most films represented: 2016 and 2018 (4 each)
- Actors with the most films represented: Kirsten Dunst (3), Michelle Williams (3) — co-stars in 1999’s Dick!
- Films it broke our hearts not to see make it onto the list or honorable mentions:
- Jon Frosch: 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: Paddington 2 (Paul King)
- Jordan Mintzer: This Is Not a Film (Jafar Panahi, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb)
