The three greatest sci-fi movies of the 21st century, according to Denis Villeneuve
Without a doubt, Denis Villeneuve is one of modern cinema’s most essential science-fiction directors, creating some of the genre’s most successful releases over the past decade.
Interestingly, the Canadian filmmaker began his career creating dramas before moving on to thrillers and, eventually, the rich world of sci-fi. Yet, it seemed a natural conclusion for him. After all, he once said, “My birth of the love of cinema was born with Close Encounters and 2001. Those sci-fi movies I saw when I was a little kid.”
Evidently, with the levels of success that Villeneuve has found with his recent sci-fi endeavours, such as Blade Runner 2049 and the Dune franchise, it seems the director has finally found his true cinematic calling. That’s not to say that his previous movies weren’t also fantastic, with releases such as Incendies, Prisoners and Sicario all receiving significant commercial and critical acclaim.
Yet, when it comes to science fiction, Villeneuve knows how to master the genre, using it as a vessel to explore the complexities of the human condition. He once told Little White Lies that his love for sci-fi emerged at a very young age and even went beyond the screen. He said: “My father was obsessed by technology and all those scientific magazines about new discoveries, like Popular Mechanic or Science et Vie.”
He continued, “So there was that presence of how the world could evolve with technology – of what the world of tomorrow could be.” The future and the imagination that it could foster fascinated Villeneuve just as much as it does today.
As he added, “I must not underestimate the presence of a nuclear power plant that I could see from my kitchen. I was raised in the atomic age, where the big fear of the time was not the climate but the atomic bomb.”
The filmmaker cites classic sci-fi movies such as Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner as some of his favourites of the genre. However, he’s not averse to newer sci-fi movies, citing three 21st-century picks as some of his other favourites.
The modern masterpieces that inspire Denis Villeneuve
Talking to The New York Times, Villeneuve said: “When I started making movies at the end of the 20th century, the previous generation of filmmakers said cinema was dead. Well … long live cinema!” Thus, he picked Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men as one of the greatest films of the 21st century. The stunning dystopian thriller was released in 2006 and is based on P.D. James’ novel of the same name.
The movie explores a world plagued by infertility, leading to societal chaos. While Children of Men doesn’t have all of the stereotypical sci-fi tropes, it presents a terrifying world that isn’t as far removed from the current state of society as we’d like to think.
Villeneuve also selected Christopher Nolan’s Inception, released in 2010. The director has taken significant inspiration from his contemporary, once excitedly telling IndieWire: “To bring intellectual concepts and to bring them in that scope to the screen right now,” he said, “it’s very rare. Every movie that [Christopher Nolan] comes out with, I have more admiration for his work.” The link is evident in the films that he creates himself.
Finally, Jonathan Glazer’s phenomenal exploration of alienation and the human condition, Under the Skin, from 2013. Villeneuve told The New York Times that when it comes to his favourite movies, “There are specific shots that went directly through my skull, like a bullet spreading particles of my brain on my walls”.
He said, “following Scarlett Johansson in a pool of darkness” in Under the Skin as one of his examples. The fascinating film, buoyed by Johansson’s incredibly hypnotic performance and Mica Levi’s stellar score, is undoubtedly a British masterpiece even though responses were peculiarly muted upon release back in 2013.
All of these movies are propelled primarily by gripping stories and how they pull you into their world. This is something that the Canadian has always admired. As he once proclaimed, “Very early on, I was writing stories, and I was amazed at Spielberg’s movies when I was young.”
Adding, “Coming from the countryside, I was so impressed with the way he was able to tell stories and the way he was able to deal with le merveilleux – the wonders.” He’s now made a living proudly exploring le merveilleux himself.
Denis Villeneuve’s favourite modern sci-fi movies:
- Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)
- Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)
- Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013)
