What I am doing today is something that I have had as an idea in my mind for some time, which is to try and find my favourite year in film. However, when I sat down to write this up it became clear that it would be disingenuous of me to do so. This is because I couldn’t put one year above the other, it was far too tricky. And so, I came up with a solution, and this is that solution. I have gone through each decade from the 1950s to the 2010s and picked my favourite year from each decade while including some of the years that came close as well. I should clarify that this is based on the films I have seen over the years and not every film released that year. This was hard enough as is, and even now I am not sure I made the right choice on some of these and if you were to ask me again tomorrow, I would probably change my tune; we should probably get started before I do just that.
1950s
1954 – Seven Samurai, Rear Window, On the Waterfront, Godzilla
1957 – 12 Angry Men, Throne of Blood, Paths of Glory, The Seventh Seal
This was the easiest of the decades to choose due to the lack of films I have seen from the decade, which left only two years which were ever really in contention. But they are both great years with classics of film scattered throughout. However, when it comes down to it, there is only really one winner out of these two years. While Seven Samurai and Rear Window are two of my favourite films, I can’t look past 1957. For one, you have Throne of Blood, my favourite Akira Kurosawa film over Seven Samurai, and 12 Angry Men which is for my money one of the greatest films of all time. Throw into that Stanley Kubrick’s most underrated film in Paths of Glory and arguably the most renowned of Ingmar Bergman’s filmography and it is a no contest.
1960s
1960 – The Apartment, Psycho, Peeping Tom, Breathless
1961 – Through a Glass Darkly, Yojimbo, West Side Story
1964 – Kwaidan, Onibaba, Woman in the Dunes, Dr Strangelove, Goldfinger, Mary Poppins
This is another case of my lack of knowledge hindering the decade, and in this instance, it has led to what I feel is the weakest year out of all the years I have picked. Not to say 1964 is a bad year of films or I was scraping the bottom of the barrel with it. Kwaidan is a masterpiece and is backed up by two classics of the Japanese New Wave with Onibaba and Woman in the Dunes. You also have one of the more famous of the James Bond films and two further classics in Dr Strangelove and Mary Poppins. Both 1960 and 1961 also have strong cases for being picked here, but it simply came down to a numbers game with 1964 being more stacked than the other two years.
1970s
1975 – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Jaws, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Mirror, Barry Lyndon
1977 – Hausu, Annie Hall, Star Wars: A New Hope, Suspiria, Saturday Night Fever, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1979 – Manhattan, Life of Brian, Apocalypse Now, Alien, Castle of Cagliostro, The Brood
This was possibly the hardest decade for me to choose a year from (alongside the 2000s) and even looking at it now I am not sure I have made the right choice. And can you blame me for feeling like that? I mean, just look at some of those films. If I’m being perfectly honest with myself, I think my heart lies with either 1977 or 1979 over 1975, and again I think it comes down to the number of films I love in each of those years. The fact that I had two Woody Allen films to choose from really helped here, as I prefer Manhattan over Annie Hall and that did go some way to my choosing. That being said, my favourite film of this decade is Jaws and my favourite film out of the two years I kept flipping on is Hausu so you can see the conundrum I had. I best move on before I change my mind again.
1980s
1980 – The Empire Strikes Back, The Shining, Airplane, Raging Bull, Friday the 13th
1984 – This is Spinal Tap, Paris, Texas, Blood Simple, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
1986 – Big Trouble in Little China, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Manhunter, Stand by Me, Blue Velvet, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Chopping Mall, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
1988 – Grave of the Fireflies, Akira, My Neighbor Totoro, Cinema Paradiso, Beetlejuice, Die Hard
Another difficult one here, and what I find interesting while looking at these years now is that each of the years that I didn’t choose as my favourite have at least one of my top ten films of all time included in them, with 1980 even managing to have two of them. But this, for me, simply came down to a numbers game. And so, I landed on 1986, a year which has no films from my top ten but has more films that I think are great than the rest of the years. It even includes two of my favourite schlocky films that would usually not have any place next to films like The Shining or Akira but I have to account for my taste. This one feels like another one that could change tomorrow but for now, 1986 takes it.
1990s
1995 – Maborosi, Ghost in the Shell, Whisper of the Heart, Goldeneye, Before Sunrise, Toy Story, Se7en
1997 – Perfect Blue, Princess Mononoke, Good Will Hunting, Cure, The Full Monty, Boogie Nights, Jackie Brown
1998 – After Life, Ringu, The Big Lebowski, Pi, The Prince of Egypt, Mulan, Saving Private Ryan, The Truman Show
1999 – Audition, Fight Club, Being John Malkovich, The Iron Giant, The Sith Sense, The Matrix, Toy Story 2
It turns out the 1990s is a year where animations took centre stage, and it was the animated films that helped sway my decision. This is another decade where every year I have listed here might take the number one on any given day, but I have gone for 1998 based a lot on the strength of The Prince of Egypt and Mulan which are two of my favourite animated films of all time. It does help that that year also includes one of my favourite horrors of all time, a Spielberg film and a classic from the Coen brothers. Add to that After Life which has quickly become a film I think about often despite having only seen it for the first time a few months ago and it only seemed right to put this top of the pile for the 90s.
2000s
2000 – American Psycho, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Unbreakable, Battle Royale, Almost Famous, Requiem for a Dream, O Brother, Where Art Thou, Joint Security Area, Memento
2001 - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Pulse, Spirited Away, Amelie, The Devil’s Backbone, Mulholland Drive, The Royal Tenenbaums
2002 – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Ju-On: The Grudge, Spider-Man, 28 Days Later, Hero, City of God, Dark Water, 8 Mile
2003 – Lost in Translation, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, School of Rock, Oldboy, One Missed Call, Kill Bill, Tokyo Godfathers
2004 – Shaun of the Dead, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Incredibles, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Spider-Man 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Team America: World Police
I mentioned earlier that this decade was one of the hardest to pick a year from, and now I am looking at it again I would like to change my stance and say it is definitely the hardest to choose from. It is also interesting that from the decade the years I chose are all in succession. Five continuous years of incredible films. So many of these films are some of my favourites ever and it is so hard to just pick one year. What eventually made my decision for me was the inclusion of my favourite film of all time Lost in Translation. That holds a lot of weight in my sentimental mind and it became the deciding factor. Luckily it is backed up by several of my other favourite films ever as well as some newer inclusions in the lists of my favourite films. Again, ask me tomorrow and I’m sure this would change, and that change could go to any of the other years listed here.
2010s
2016 – Your Name, Manchester by the Sea, Train to Busan, La La Land, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Moonlight, A Silent Voice
2017 – Blade Runner 2049, The Shape of Water, Lady Bird, Get Out, You Were Never Really Here, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Happy Death Day, Mary and the Witch’s Flower, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
2019 – Parasite, Marriage Story, Weathering with You, Saint Maud, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, The Lighthouse, Little Women, Midsommar, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, 1917, Uncut Gems
This decade was an odd one to choose. Despite the number of quality films in the years I’ve chosen, there are only two or three that I would profess to love which is down from other decades. Maybe this is due to the fact I have only seen a lot of these films once which wouldn’t help, but it is something to note. In the end, I went for the year that included two of the films I love, Parasite and Marriage Story. That year is also backed up by Robert Eggers and Ari Aster who have become filmmakers working today who I will watch all of their films, and Tarantino with his best film since Inglorious Basterds. Perhaps this decade will become harder the more these films marinate with me, but for now, it was one of the easier ones.
So, there we are, my favourite year in film from each decade since the 1950s and it was very tough to pick some of these. And like I have said throughout this, if you ask me on any other day, it is likely a lot of these would change so don’t take these picks as gospel. And you may very well feel like I’m totally wrong so let me know, what did I miss? What are your favourites? Why was I wrong with all of my choices?
Comments