SEE BY CRITIC

So, how was your decade? There are many ways to chart 10 years, but because we’re in the business of writing and thinking about movies, it’s only natural that we would chart the 2010s’ impact through the films that stood the test of time. Hence, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s Best of the Decade poll, compiled by asking each of our members to submit a ballot of 10 films, ranked or unranked, to find the 2010s’ best movie. Memberships — and tastes — can shift over 10 years, but what we discovered was that, for the most part, we largely agreed with our annual awards votes. Indeed, our top eight films were either Best Picture or runner-up in their respective years. Who says critics are an unpredictable, contrarian lot?

In the top spot was Moonlight, the extraordinary portrait of Chiron, whose life we observe during three crucial periods. Back in 2016, we gave Barry Jenkins’ sophomore effort four awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, acknowledging not just its considerable artistic merit but also how it served as a compassionate response to a contentious moment in our country’s history. In her essay included in that year’s awards booklet, LAFCA president Claudia Puig noted, “At a time when toxic masculinity is seemingly condoned, even encouraged, Moonlight explores manhood with sensitivity and wisdom. … In an era when the significance of black lives is shockingly up for debate, it presents the life of one young African-American in all its value and complexity.” But if Moonlight was inseparable from its dark cultural moment — the anguish of Black Lives Matter and the disillusioning election of Trump — its victory in our poll suggests that Jenkins’ film will also transcend its epoch, offering a timeless study of self-discovery and tenderness. Or, perhaps, we remain so fixated on Moonlight because, sadly, we still find ourselves in the dispiriting reality this exceptional film unconsciously chronicled so vividly.

Trailing right behind Moonlight was a very different vision of apocalypse and rebirth: Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller’s gonzo action film that, appropriately, ended up in second place in our voting back in 2015 as well. (That year, it took home three prizes, including Best Director, but was bested by Spotlight for the top honor.) From there, our members singled out three powerfully immersive — but by no means similar — portraits of family: Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, and Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. If this decade was about the fracturing of communities and the cruel marginalization of the powerless, perhaps it’s no surprise that our members responded to films that celebrated individuals who found their tribes.

As always with polls like this, part of the fun is the surprises, like seeing Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s enduringly mystifying and beautiful Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives just missing the Top 10. When it came out in 2011, this Palme d’Or winner barely made a dent in our end-of-the-year awards voting, but those who loved it then have lost none of their ardor over time. Same goes for Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation, our deserving Best Screenplay winner of 2011, which landed at No. 9, right behind our 2019 victor, Parasite. That’s one of the reasons why a best-of-the-decade poll can be so rewarding: It gives us another chance to champion the films we feel like didn’t get their due the first time around.

Ranked ballots were assigned 10 points for the first-place film, nine points for second place, etc., while each film on an unranked ballot was assigned 5.5 points. We decided that, no matter how acclaimed, TV series weren’t eligible, a ruling that displeased several members who wanted to cast votes for Twin Peaks: The Return. (Who knows: Maybe David Lynch, who topped this decade poll 10 years ago with Mulholland Dr., might have once again been our winner.)

We collected a total of 40 ballots, and I encourage you to check out each voter’s picks to see just how individual each of our members’ preferences are. Any poll that features solitary votes for Sausage Party, Spring Breakers, Film Socialisme and The Tribe is a group I’m proud to be a part of — and I’m not just saying that because one of those movies was on my ballot.

Here’s to a healthy and happy 2020s — however it plays out, though, we’ll be watching.

– Tim Grierson