Dan Schindel

Comments

These are the films I chose for my list when I sat down to compile it. On a different day, I would make another list, possibly with an entirely different set of choices. I say that not to suggest that I did not take this ballot seriously, but to acknowledge the enormity of such an assignment. I strove to capture some diversity across backgrounds, periods, and subject matter. If there is a unifying element, it is perhaps a certain vibe. I suspect that, with many critics and filmmakers of my generation (as well as those even younger) participating in this decade's poll, there will be much more discussion of "vibes," both within the poll itself and in the wider discourse. That wasn't a conscious part of my own process, but looking at my list now I can't miss the common themes of alienation, disorientation, societal uncertainty, and even hypernormalisation that run through many of these titles. This is, again, something which I suspect will recur in many other ballots besides my own. A lot could be said about "what this means" about the world today versus at the times of previous lists. I shall let these films voice all my own thoughts on such matters.