Blockbusters and indie hits: the 20 greatest movies of 2004
Cinema was an exciting place four years after the turn of the new millennium, with the industry’s newfound technologies allowing filmmakers to take audiences to pretty much any universe they desired. While this led to an influx of CGI-heavy fantasy flicks and vibrant animations, such as Studio Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle and Shrek 2, the year might be best known for its low-budget success.
Contemporary directors, performers, and producers decry the disappearance of mid-budget flicks like Dodgeball, Anchorman, and The Butterfly Effect, which used to prop up the industry and thrived in 2004. Thanks to their moderate size, these movies could take considerable stylistic risks, resulting in this aforementioned trio, alongside countless others, being highly memorable even decades after their release.
Such was also the case for independent cinema, too, with micro-budget films like Napoleon Dynamite and Primer gaining significant traction thanks to their quirky style and ingenious modes of production. Even Quentin Tarantino, who has become used to large budgets, managed to squeeze out Kill Bill: Volume 2 for just $30million, a modest price in comparison to his modern releases.
Boasting an eclectic offering of movies, 2004 was such a great year for cinema that the likes of Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby, Martin Scorsese’s Aviator and Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou couldn’t find a space on the list.
The 20 greatest movies of 2004:
20. Dead Man’s Shoes (Shane Meadows)
Even in some of Shane Meadows’ darkest moments, there have been glimmers of comedy, but with Dead Man’s Shoes, he eschewed his ubiquitously Midlands humour to deliver one of his best-ever works. Dead Man’s Shoes sees Paddy Considine play a soldier who returns to his Derbyshire home to deliver vengeance against those who bullied his mentally disabled brother during his absence.
With Toby Kebbell playing the younger brother, Dead Man’s Shoes is simmering with acting quality. Still, the intense narrative combined with a realistic production gives Meadows’ film’s overall quality. Based on true stories from the director’s childhood, Dead Man’s Shoes is a harrowing film that explores the inevitable consequences of humanity’s most depraved actions.
19. Fahrenheit 9/11 (Michael Moore)
The political spectrum in 2004 feels somewhat trite in comparison to 2024. However, at the turn of the millennium, the war on terror was in full effect, and the most scathing commentary on the situation that followed the tragedy of 9/11 was Michael Moore.
Dissecting the intricate tapestry of a post-9/11 world was always likely to cause a stir, and this documentary made Moore a conservative target forevermore. Moore’s movie took a closer look at the Bush administration, keenly exposing the patriotic dogma that had confounded a nation into believing a Middle Eastern war was the only way to restore its national pride. Meticulous research and a visceral set of storytelling touchpoints make this an impossibly watchable documentary.
18. Mean Girls (Mark Waters)
‘Chick flicks’ often get an unfair reputation, but Mean Girls is sole proof that the genre is full of comedy gems. Mark Waters’ film is an iconic piece of 2000s cinematic history, widely regarded as one of the best teen movies ever made. Lindsay Lohan stars as Cady Heron, a girl who moves to an American high school after being home-schooled in Africa. At her new school, she is introduced to the different cliques, from the jocks to the nerds and the popular squad, the Plastics, which she soon infiltrates.
Hoping to enact revenge on behalf of two outcasts, Janis and Damian, who she befriends, Cady soon finds herself becoming more and more like the Plastics than she’d care to admit. A quotable and timelessly funny comedy, Mean Girls has endured for 20 years, even inspiring a musical, which was then transformed into a film in early 2024.
17. Team America: World Police (Trey Parker)
There’s naturally always been an element of satire to anything the creators of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, have created. Still, with Team America: World Police, they took their over-the-top comedy to complete new levels by delivering a puppet movie that mocks the action movie genre and the kind of patriotism that runs through the American consciousness.
Focusing on a Broadway actor who joins a global counterterrorism force to save the world from Kim Jong-Il and his coalition of Islamic terrorists and Hollywood stars, Team America is rife with classic moments that only Parker and Stone could deliver. From egregious retching to simulated puppet sexual intercourse, Team America is as raucous as it is controversial.
16. Czech Dream (Filip Remunda, Vít Klusák)
In 2004, Czech students Filip Remunda and Vít Klusák released one of cinema’s greatest-ever movie pranks. Both a clever comment on their country’s approach to joining the European Union and an insightful look into contemporary advertising and consumerist culture, the documentary followed the director’s efforts to construct a fake supermarket in the middle of nowhere to see how many people would come.
Giving the new store a full advertisement campaign, using TV adverts, magazine space and physical billboards, the pair’s efforts are entirely documented in the highly enjoyable film, which speaks to the creativity of low-budget movie making.
15. The Motorcycle Diaries (Walter Salles)
Coming of age movies rarely feature such prominent political figures as The Motorcycle Diaries. The film captures the journey of Ernest ‘Che’ Guevera and his friend Alberto Granado as they travel across South America on their steel stallion.
Blessed with breathtaking landscapes, Walter Salles’ film tracks the soulful journey of Guevera as he precedes a life of political revolution with an epic navigation of his own soul. More than just a travelogue with a compelling score, the movie accurately captures Guevera’s change from an idealistic medical student to one of the world’s leading revolutionaries with aplomb.
14. Vera Drake (Mike Leigh)
Mike Leigh has been making incredible social realism films since the early 1970s, but by the end of the 1990s, he began to incorporate period dramas into his repertoire. Starting with Topsy-Turvy, Leigh then created Vera Drake in 2004, which takes place in 1950s-era London. Imelda Staunton plays the titular character, a generous woman who likes to help others despite being poor herself.
One of her kindest acts includes carrying out secret abortions for women desperately in need. She doesn’t charge women for abortions, and she is eventually caught and arrested, leading to an array of issues, including family conflict. Leigh received ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Original Screenplay’ nominations at the Academy Awards, while Staunton was nominated for ‘Best Actress’.
13. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater)
Nine years after the beautiful Before Sunrise, Richard Linklater re-teamed with Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke for the second instalment of the series, which would be rounded out with Before Midnight in 2013. While many people consider Before Sunrise to be the best in the trilogy – after all, that’s where it all began – there’s a case to be made for Before Sunset actually being equally as good or better.
The film picks up almost a decade after Jesse and Celine first met on a train, leading them to spontaneously spend the night together in Vienna. We discover that Jesse has since written a book inspired by the encounter, but he also has a wife and a kid. Celine is also in a relationship, but once the two reconnect, the chemistry is palpable. They walk around Paris, ending up back in Celine’s apartment where she performs a song for Jesse about their magical night in 1995.
12. 2046 (Wong Kar-wai)
Wong Kar-wai blended science fiction and romantic drama with reality and fiction in 2046, a compelling continuation of Su Li-zhen and Chow Mo-wan’s story, which was explored in the director’s most celebrated film, In The Mood For Love. Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung reprised their roles, which they also played in 1990’s Days of Being Wild. The beauty of 2046 is that it stands as a gorgeous film on its own, but it also ties into his previous works.
Actors like Faye Wong, Gong Li, and Takuya Kimura also star, with Wong taking an unconventional narrative approach, weaving between different characters. Chow uses his affairs with women to inspire his writing, with the film centring around a train that can take passengers to a room, ‘2046’, where memories can be regained, but sadness does not exist. The movie might not be as acclaimed as some of Wong’s other works, but it’s still excellent, proving him to be one of modern cinema’s most idiosyncratic filmmakers.
11. Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
When discussing the very best contemporary filmmakers, the Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul rarely gets the credits he deserves. Nominated for a Palme d’Or at Cannes, his extraordinary 2004 film Tropical Malady tells the tale of a romance between a soldier and a young man from the countryside before the second half goes in an entirely different direction, delving into folklore as it explores an ancient folk tale following a shape-shifting shaman.
A stunning work of originality, Tropical Malady is a mesmerising tale that carries a power unlike any other, with Weerasethakul having the remarkable ability to instil his films with a sense of magic that seems to permeate through the screen and into the soul.
10. Birth (Jonathan Glazer)
Before The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer made his second feature, Birth, in 2004. He recruited Nicole Kidman for the main role, playing a woman who is convinced that a 10-year-old boy she meets at her engagement party, played by Cameron Bright, is actually her ex-husband, who passed away a decade prior. She becomes obsessed with the idea after the boy explains that he really is her deceased partner, desperately trying to warn her not to go through with her second marriage.
The movie also starred Lauren Bacall, Anne Heche, and Danny Huston and gained significant controversy for its themes, including one scene where Kidman and Bright appear to be naked in the bath together. Birth is an underrated masterpiece that is frequently overlooked in favour of Glazer’s other movies, but it’s just as compelling as everything else he’s done.
9. Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright)
Director Edgar Wright is certainly best known, at least in his native United Kingdom, for his brilliant Cornetto Trilogy, which kicked off in 2004 with the romantic zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead. Naturally starring frequent collaborators Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, with the likes of Dylan Moran and Billy Nighy in support, Shaun of the Dead is a brilliant take on the zombie movie genre.
When the zombie apocalypse hits London, downbeat salesman Shaun must do everything in his admittedly limited powers to make sure his best friends, family and loved ones make it out alive. Cue some of the best moments of 2004 comedy with Wright delivering his usual stoner-esque brand of humour straight out of the Spaced playbook.
8. Nobody Knows (Hirokazu Koreeda)
Perhaps one of the most harrowing yet movingly beautiful films on this list, the Hirokazu Koreeda film Nobody Knows is a stunning piece of cinema by the legendary Japanese filmmaker. Koreeda has often delivered emotion in the most heart-wrenching of terms, but with Nobody Knows, he cranked the sorrow up a notch and revealed the joy that can lie behind our darkest moments.
Based on the 1988 Sugamo child abandonment case, Nobody Knows tells the story of four young children who are forced to contend with their mother’s sudden departure and who must stay in the confines of their small apartment to avoid detection from their landlord. The film sees a remarkable performance from Yuya Yagira as the eldest child who seeks to find a way to make his siblings happy despite their awful predicament.
7. Moolaade (Ousmane Sembène)
Arguably robbed of the Palme d’Or (which instead went to the great but not distinguished documentary Fahrenheit 9/11), Moolaade is perhaps the greatest African film of 21st-century cinema. Helmed by the Senegalese director Ousmane Sembène, Moolaade addresses the heinous real-life practice of female genital mutilation, focusing on a mother who prevents her daughter from partaking against the will of her community.
As well as an urgent piece of cinema that addresses an indefensible practice, Sembène’s film is also a gripping human tale that brims with humour, stunning visual charm and pure love for the human spirit. Delving into the hierarchy of power that exists in every community and the durability it takes to go against their vigour, Moolaade is an exceptional piece of storytelling.
6. Oldboy (Park Chan-wook)
Widely considered one of the best South Korean movies ever made, Oldboy, by Park Chan-wook, is a true masterpiece of thriller cinema. The film sees Choi Min-sik give a stunning performance as Oh Dae-su, a man imprisoned for 15 years without knowing his captor’s identity or reasoning. Upon release, Dae-su aims to take vengeance against his captor but still finds himself caught up in conspiracy and conceit.
Oldboy is known for one of the best action sequences of all time: a single-shot scene down a claustrophobic hallway in which Dae-su battles his way through a series of violent foes. Beyond that, though, Oldboy is a masterpiece of suspense narrative, with some of cinema history’s best twists and turns. An American reboot arrived years later, but Park’s original is the only version worth watching.
5. The Incredibles (Brad Bird)
Ever since the dawn of the cinematic medium, animation has never quite received the adoration it deserves, with many considering them to merely be ‘children’s movies’. Yet, to say this is to ignore the remarkable artistry of such masterpieces as Brad Bird’s The Incredibles, no doubt the greatest superhero movie of the new century, which is constructed with pitch-perfect attention to technical and narrative detail.
Released at the pinnacle of Pixar’s powers, Bird’s film harnessed the creativity of the animation company when it was at its very peak, telling the story of a family of superheroes attempting to live as close to a ‘normal life’ as possible. Inspired by the artistic style of the ‘Silver Age of Comics’, Bird’s tale took place in 1962 and was designed with the era in mind with jagged edges and a gorgeous colour palette.
With no dead weight at all, The Incredibles is a slick and stylish animation that purposefully refuses to be pigeonholed, placing a superhero narrative inside a James Bond-esque spy flick to make visual magic.
4. Sideways (Alexander Payne)
The beloved Oscar-winning comedy Sideways, by Alexander Payne, is a wry, melancholic journey through California’s wine country. With the rich characters and storyline at play, it encapsulates the bittersweet complexities of midlife crisis and friendship. But it is perhaps best enjoyed as one of Paul Giamatti’s finest performances.
Giamatti’s portrayal of Miles, a failed novelist, is both acerbic and heartbreakingly vulnerable, counterbalanced by Thomas Haden Church’s ebullient Jack, a washed-up actor grasping at the last straws of youthful exuberance. Payne’s direction deftly navigates the duo’s vinous odyssey, blending humour and pathos with the nuanced sophistication of a fine wine. Sideways is a cinematic symphony, rich in character and landscape, where every sip of wine mirrors the tangled, unpredictable flavours of the human experience.
3. Collateral (Michael Mann)
Collateral is a nocturnal odyssey through the sprawling, indifferent labyrinth of Los Angeles and acts as one of Michael Mann’s finest productions. Tom Cruise’s Vincent, a silver-haired, philosophical hitman, and Jamie Foxx’s Max, a dreamer shackled by his own inertia, form an unlikely duo whose tense, existential journey unfolds over one fateful night.
It’s the perfect set-up for a wildly intriguing watch. The result is an unstoppably watchable thriller that feels both rich in nuance and sharp and intent.
Mann’s direction captures the city’s neon-lit essence, transforming it into a character as unpredictable as its human counterparts. The set piece is simply dripping in delectable noir. With taut dialogue and a relentless pace, Collateral is a masterclass in suspense and character study, probing the moral ambiguities of its protagonists and the stark dichotomy between fate and choice. It is with these tools that Mann delivers one of the smartest productions of his career.
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry)
The perfect sci-fi to commemorate the beginnings of the new millennium, Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was more Black Mirror than Star Wars, preempting the contemporary obsession with the dark side of technology. Starring Jim Carrey, who had only recently turned to more serious dramatic roles and the consistently brilliant Kate Winslet, Gondry’s Oscar winner told the story of a couple who agree to erase all memory of each other after their relationship breaks down.
Penned by the great Charlie Kaufman, Eternal Sunshine is a near-perfect drama that speaks to the pain and torment that comes with a romantic breakup, with the screenwriter and director proving to be a formidable duo in their expressive illustration of such life-changing pain.
While terrifically constructed, much of the magic comes through the magnetic chemistry between Winslet and Carrey, with the pair’s relationship emanating organically through the screen. A breakup movie for the 21st century, few romance flicks can compare to the majesty of Eternal Sunshine.
1. Downfall (Oliver Hirschbiegel)
Hundreds of movies have been made about WWII, from Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan to Elem Klimov’s Come and See, but few can come close to how tragically accurate Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Downfall feels. One of the few films to directly tackle the reign of Adolf Hitler, Downfall depicts the dictator’s final days in a Berlin bunker during the final days of the conflict.
Led by a baffling performance from Bruno Ganz, who captures at one point the might of the German leader and the next his innate fragility, Downfall paints a devastating portrait of the notorious icon of 20th-century history. Speaking of magnificent casting, Juliane Köhler is stunning as Eva Braun, and whoever found Ulrich Matthes to play Joseph Goebbels deserves a medal for their contribution to the art form.
Both a stellar portrait of the abhorrent figure whose facade of influence slowly dissipated and an accurate portrayal of the final act of war in which Berlin was brought to its knees and civilians bore the consequences, Downfall is one of the finest war movies ever made.
