Blog post

J. Hoberman's 21 Films of the 21st Century

Jennifer Pan15 November 2012

Is it possible to speak of a twenty-first century cinema barely a decade into the millennium? Acclaimed film critic J. Hoberman’s new book, Film After Film, is a timely and provocative collection of writings that chronicle how the advent of digital technology has led to the displacement of the medium of film—and the very relationship between movies and reality. This sea change in filmmaking also spanned the 2000 American presidential election and the trauma of 9/11, events that reshaped world politics and left an indelible imprint on the emerging aesthetic of the new century’s cinema. 

In his book, Hoberman presents considerations of the defining movies of the twenty-first century. GoWatchIt—a new platform and social network that allows users to track where they can watch movies online and share their picks with other users—has assembled a channel where viewers can browse and watch Hoberman's 21 selections.

View Hoberman's list below, or skip right to the channel to watch online:

1. In Praise of Love (Jean-Luc Godard, 2001)

2. Avalon (Mamoru Oshii, 2001)

3. Avant-Garde Goes Digital: *Corpus Callosum, Cotton Candy, and Razzle Dazzle

4. Russian Ark (Alexander Sokurov, 2002)

5. Ten (Abbas Kiarostami, 2002)

6. Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-liang, 2002)

7. Dogville (Lars von Trier, 2003)

8. The World (Jia Zhangke, 2004)

9. Battle in Heaven (Carlos Reygadas, 2005)

10. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu, 2005)

11. Day Night Day Night (Julia Loktev, 2006)

12. Southland Tales (Richard Kelly, 2006)

13. Inland Empire (David Lynch, 2006)

14. Between Darkness and Light (After William Blake) (Douglas Gordon, 1997/2006)

15. LOL (Joe Swanberg, 2006)

16. Flight of the Red Balloon (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2007)

17. Hunger (Steve McQueen, 2008)

18. Opening ceremonies, Beijing Olympics (August 8, 2008)

19. Carlos (Olivier Assayas, 2010)

20. The Strange Case of Angelica (Manoel de Oliveira, 2010)

21. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2011)


Visit the GoWatchIt channel to watch the list online.