The Best Dramatic Films of the Decade

.Narrowing down a list of the best drama films of the decade was much more difficult than I expected it to be. Writing this has brought to my attention just how many truly great films were made this decade. (It also brought to my attention just how many films I watch, but that's another issue.) Here are the top ten best dramas of the aughts:

10. Junebug (2005)

There are some movies that feel so familiar, so realistic, that they don't even seem like movies. Junebug is one of these. At no point when watching this film do you feel like you are watching actors reciting dialog written by screenwriters. No, the whole film, from the costume and set designs to the interactions between characters, feels like it really happened. Much has been made of Amy Adams' star-making performance in this movie, and with good reason -- her dissatisfied yet sunny turn as the pregnant Ashley was astonishing, but every other performance was almost equally noteworthy. Check out, for example, the reactions from each of the actors when Alessandro Nivola's George sings "Softly and Tenderly" in the church basement.

9. Children of Men (2006)

Children of Men manages to do something that few movies bother with: it creates a fully realized universe, even down to the minutest details and completely immerses the audience within it. Children of Men is set in a dystopian future, yet still creates a sense of urgency that never wanes. The cinematography alone would be enough to make this film memorable, but the plot and the characters make it one of the best dramas of the decade.

8. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

The Assassination of Jesse James has flaws, to be sure (it could have been shorter, for one), but its winning qualities more than make up for it. It's been a long time since a movie has dared to be so deliberate and so slow, and I have to say that that plus the often breath-taking cinematography definitely make this one of the decade's best.

7. You Can Count on Me (2000)

You Can Count on Me is a quiet film that centers mostly on family and the ways in which we disappoint one another, but it is a powerful one. More is said in the pauses and looks in You Can Count on Me than in all the dialog in most movies. The acting is understated and realistic, and the whole film just sticks with the viewer long after it's over.

6. There Will Be Blood (2007)

There Will Be Blood is a sprawling epic of a film, there is no doubt about it. What makes the film special, though, is that it takes the sprawling epic and makes it personal. Of course the acting (Paul Dano and Daniel Day-Lewis play off of one another in a way that is seldom seen on film) and the direction (Paul Thomas Anderson at his very best) are extraordinary and awe-inspiring, but the real heart of the film is its story. The tale of greed and corruption left unchecked and the monster it creates is simply perfect, and honestly there isn't a single misstep to be found. There can be no argument that this is one of the best films of the decade.

5. The Dark Knight (2008)

Had you told be at the beginning of this decade that a superhero movie would make it into my top ten dramas of the decade, I probably would have laughed in your face. But that was before Christopher Nolan took the Batman franchise in a direction that no one saw coming. The Dark Knight is complex and, well, dark, and at times downright frightening. This film strips away all the fat, and we're left with a look at the gray area that exists between right and wrong.

4. Brokeback Mountain (2005)

If asked to name the most beautiful and heartbreaking love stories of all time, I'd be remiss not to mention this one. Brokeback Mountain got plenty of backlash on its initial release and was made the butt of plenty of jokes, but years later it still remains just as moving and powerful as it was when I first saw it in the movie theater. Aside from being visually stunning (a trait Ang Lee brings forth in abundance in each of his films), the movie is an epic about love, loss, and denial.

3. Zodiac (2007)

I'll admit to being a sucker for movies that deal with obsession and the many forms it can take, and Zodiac is one of the best movies about obsession of all time. It certainly doesn't hurt that the film's director, David Fincher, is famous for his perfectionism and his, yes, obsessive tendencies behind the camera. Zodiac is a decade-spanning film that nevertheless feels claustrophobic. The viewer is stuck in the same obsessive loop as the characters, who chase a killer (each in his own way) that the rest of the world has long since stopped caring about. There are sequences in Zodiac that are absolutely jaw-dropping, and the intricate detail makes the film an obsession in and of itself.

2. Memento (2000)

At first glance the structure of Memento may seem like a bit of a gimmick, and perhaps it is. However, it is a gimmick that holds up viewing after viewing. Memento is one of those films that you have to watch more than once to fully appreciate, yet it loses nothing on the rewatch. In fact, the film becomes more complex and more lovely with time. It's like a puzzle that, once solved, becomes even more interesting. Christopher Nolan has since proven himself a director of amazing talents, but Memento may stand out as his best film of all.

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

It's difficult for me to put into words what I love about Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I could talk about the direction, and the writing, and the acting, and that heart-wrenching story, but that doesn't really do it justice. Something else in this movie just works. There is such a realism buried in the abstractness of this movie. Even though the elements are science-fiction, the central relationship is perhaps the most realistic ever put to celluloid. I can't really express the power of this film, but in leaving the movie theater after seeing Eternal Sunshine for the first time I felt like I had just seen something special, something that would stick with me for a long time.