Director David Lynch’s 2001 neo-noir thriller Mulholland Drive has been voted the greatest film of the 21st Century. A poll by BBC Culture asked 177 film critics and film curators from across the globe to name their favourite films of the last 16 years. Each critic was allowed to submit 10 films, and from the total 599 submissions, a list of 100 was made.
The resulting top 100 list also includes German director Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann which was released in 2016, Richard Linklater’s Boyhood and Hong Kong-based director Wong Kar Wai’s In The Mood For Love.
“We believe that the new classics on this list are destined to become old classics. Whether or not that happens is ultimately up to you, the moviegoers. But one thing is certain: cinema isn’t dying, it’s evolving,” the BBC website said.
The most popular directors in the list, all with three films each, were Wes Anderson, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Christopher Nolan, Michael Haneke, Paul Thomas Anderson and Joel and Ethan Coen.
The most popular year for films was 2012, with 10 films in the top 100 including The Act of Killing and Holy Motors. Nine films from 2013 also featured, including 12 Years a Slave and Blue is the Warmest Colour.
Interestingly, some of the most popular films of the last 16 years like the Harry Potter series, LOTR and the Pirates of Caribbean are not featured on the list.
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Mulholland Drive is set against the backdrop of Hollywood’s film industry, features two women (Naomi Watts and Laura Herring) in the lead. The film’s idea was initially a failed TV pilot. Lynch had pitched Mulholland Drive as a series in 1998 for US cable network ABC. However, the network was unimpressed with the series and took it down. He, later, made it into feature-length format. The film, apart from being a great example of brilliant filmmaking, makes a commentary on Hollywood’s market-driven film industry. Mulholland Drive has an unconventional narrative that moved back and forth past and present, and dream and reality. It was Lynch’s ninth feature film. His other notable works include Blue Velvet and The Elephant Man.