Best by Decade

2000s

1. The New World (Terrence Malick, 2005)
2. No Country for Old Men (Coens, 2007)
3. Bright Star  (Jane Campion, 2009)
4. 2046 (Wong Kar-Wai, 2004)
5. Love Exposure (Sion Sono, 2009)
6. A Serious Man (Coens, 2009)
7. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, 2007)
8. Maelstrom (Denis Villeneuve, 2000)
9. Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007)
10. Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis, 2001)

1990s

1. The Double Life of Veronique (Krzysztof Kieslowski,  1991)
2. Twink Peaks: Fire Walk with me (David Lynch, 1992)
3. Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995)
4. Exotica (Atom Egoyan, 1994)
5. Orlando (Sally Potter, 1991)
6. Chungking Express (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994)
7. The Limey (Steven Soderbergh, 1999)
8. Trois Couleurs: Bleu (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1993)
9. The Secret Garden (Agnieszka Holland, 1993)
10. The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan, 1997)

1980s

1. Les Bons Debarras (Francis Mankiewicz, 1980)
2. Possession (Andrzej Zulawski, 1981)
3. Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1982)
4. The Man Who Planted Trees (Frédéric Back, 1987)
5. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
6. Paris Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984)
7. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds (Hayao Miyazaki, 1984)
8. My Neighbor Totoro  (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988)
9. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
10. Crimes and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen, 1989)

1970s

1. McCabe and Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman, 1971)
2. Catch-22 (Mike Nichols, 1970)
3. The Marriage of Maria Braun (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1979)
4. The Long Goodbye (Robert Altman, 1973)
5. Black Christmas (Bob Clark, 1974)
6. Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977)
7. Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, 1975)
8. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1973)
9. Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese, 1974)
10. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (Russ Meyer, 1970)
11. Two-Lane Blacktop (Monte Hellman, 1971)

1960s

1. The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963)
2. Jules et Jim (Francois Truffaut, 1962)
3. Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967)
4. La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini, 1960)
5. L’Avventura (Michaelangelo Antonioni, 1960)
6. The Servant (Joseph Losey, 1963)
7. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966)
8. Through a Glass Darkly (Ingmar Bergman, 1961)
9. The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
10. The Virgin Spring (Ingmar Bergman, 1960)

1950s

1. The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
2. Some Like it Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)
3. Sunset Blvd. (Billy Wilder, 1950)
4. The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955)
5. Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk, 1959)
6. Baby Doll (Elia Kazan, 1956)
7. An American in Paris (Vincente Minnelli, 1951)
8. Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
9. Kiss me Deadly (Robert Aldrich, 1955)
10. Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958)

1940s

1. The Red Shoes (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1948)
2. Cluny Brown (Ernst Lubitsch, 1946)
3. To Be or Not to Be (Ernst Lubitsch, 1942)
4. It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946)
5. The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)
6. Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincente Minnelli, 1944)
7. ‘I Know where I’m Going’ (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1945)
8. State Fair (Walter Lang, 1945)
9. Black Narcissus (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1947)
10. The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946)

1930s

1. The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939)
2. City Lights (Charlie Chaplin, 1931)
3. Make Way for Tomorrow (Leo McCarey, 1937)
4. The Awful Truth (Leo McCarey, 1937)
5. Other Men’s Women (William A. Wellman, 1931)
6. The Scarlet Empress (Josef Von Sternberg, 1933)
7. Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939)
8. Safe in Hell (William A. Wellman, 1931)
9. The 39 Steps (Alfred Hitchcock, 1935)
10. Stella Dallas (King Vidor, 1937)

1920s

1. The Big Parade (King Vidor, 1925)
2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928)
3. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (F.W. Murnau, 1927)
4. Pandora’s Box (G.W. Pabst, 1929)
5. Ménilmontant (Dimitri Kirsanoff, 1926)
6. Lucky Star (Frank Borzage, 1929)
7. Diary of a Lost Girl (G.W. Pabst, 1929)
8. Faust (F.W. Murnau, 1926)
9. Sherlock Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1924)
10. The Wind (Victor Sjöström, 1928)