Alexander Crisp’s Top Ten Films of the Decade (2009-2019)

5. 12 Years a Slave

Naked portrayal of historical event is a road for few biopics choose to go down, and I could think of a few reasons why. It’s perhaps unusual that the event could stand on its own with relatively little narrative to appease the viewer. On some level that does the writing here a disservice – I’ve seen stories as important as this hobbled by compositional shortcomings. Indeed, a late resolutory cameo by Brad Pitt is the only time this one faulters. But I digress. Sometimes we all have to shut up and watch. It is unbearably hard to watch, but watch it we must.

4. The Revenant

Violence is a Hollywood staple, yet most films that contain it never seek to probe its implications – to explore violence as an end itself. That’s the crux of the survival epic that finally ended the Liverpool Football Club of actor’s long wait for an Academy Award. It’s wonderfully made – framing shockingly real bloodshed against the beauty of its cinematography. A testament to endurance in more ways than one.

3. Captain Phillips

Story time. I first saw Captain Phillips in theatres back in 2013, and it was one of the most profound viewing experiences of my life. One of film’s greatest clichés is its ability to transport you into a different world. The truth is that’s rarely how it happens; even great movies can entertain and delight you without altering your perception. But this was different.

Never before – and never since to the same extent – has a movie so completely removed me from my surroundings. The sweat, the salt, the overpowering stench of the lifeboat that provides the bulk of the film’s drama – I felt like I’d been on board the entire time, from opening scenes that sunk my heart into the pit of my stomach – a suffocating dread that gave way to nauseating tension, culminating in a finale only Paul Greengrass could deliver. The performances too were masterful – perhaps a career best from Tom Hanks – a statement that means more than it does for most.

Reframe that in the second person and you have the essentials for this thriller, one that lives up to the word.

2. Inception

To date the last great film Christopher Nolan has made. I hope, no, I’m sure, it isn’t his last. An ingenious piece of film-construction – the literal levels its second half operates on make the fact it’s even coherent a minor miracle, let alone soaring as one of the most thought-provoking heist films ever made.

1. Blade Runner 2049

Overwhelming. Reviewing this film was very difficult, but then how do you go about condensing this much information into a digestible form? There’s barely a scene that doesn’t have enough substance to warrant a 2000-word essay. As I said earlier, Denis Villeneuve is a poet with the lens, his artisan’s eye can’t be overstated. But every element of the production here has combined to realise dystopia that makes it feel like the concept has never been portrayed before – foremost by ground-breaking visual effects, serving its medium by demonstrating the power of the image. Art installation as blockbuster cinema – if that idea bores you or thrills you, you’ll know whether this is up your street. Guess which reaction I had.

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