Yorgos Lanthimos names his five favourite movies of the 21st century
It’s impossible to talk about the greatest filmmakers of contemporary cinema without mentioning the Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos in the same sentence. Rubbing shoulders with the likes of Ruben Östlund, Jonathan Glazer and the Safdie brothers in the ranks of the most innovative modern directors, Lanthimos has transformed cinema with his darkly comic approach to bleak subject matters.
First announcing himself back in 2005 with the release of Kinetta, it wasn’t until the release of his Oscar-nominated drama Dogtooth, released four years later, that the world of cinema would properly turn its head. Winning the Un Certain Regard award at the Cannes Film Festival, Dogtooth illustrated many of the director’s later hallmarks, telling a dark tale about a manipulative father who keeps his children locked up in a state of perpetual childhood.
His breakout film was followed by the largely underrated drama Alps in 2011, before he took his talents to Hollywood, helming The Lobster in 2015, starring Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz and Olivia Colman. Ever since, the director has become an alternative Hollywood icon, receiving a ‘Best Picture’ nomination for his 2019 period drama The Favourite, an award he should have won despite being pipped to the post by the dismal Green Book.
Having inspired countless burgeoning filmmakers in the modern industry, Lanthimos once picked his own favourite contemporary flicks from the 21st century, choosing an eclectic range of classics.
First on his list is the unlikely Paul Greengrass action movie The Bourne Ultimatum, starring Matt Damon, a flick he has adorned with much praise over the years. Speaking in an interview back in 2010, he stated of the film: “Like, I enjoyed the Bourne Ultimatum. I think it’s a masterpiece! It’s a masterpiece of this type of cinema. It’s perfect: pure action, no bullshit dialogue. It’s action to the highest degree of beauty and perfection. I think he [Paul Greengrass], is a very good director”.
Elsewhere, in the realm of more independent cinema, he also adores the 2005 Cristi Puiu film, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, a strange, surreal comedy that is right up Lanthimos’ street. The film tells the story of a dying old man who is taken from hospital to hospital and handed from one doctor to the next, with no one agreeing as to what exactly is wrong with him.
Sticking with independent cinema, Lanthimos’ third choice is the 2013 Amat Escalante film Heli, which follows a young man who is forced to protect his family when his sister mistakenly gets involved in a crime gang. Speaking about the visceral film, Lanthimos expresses his amazement at the film’s approach towards animal violence, stating, “It’s an extremely violent film. You have people hanging from bridges, you have people’s dicks…and then this cop takes up a little dog and twists its head and kills it, and the whole cinema goes like [deep gasp], and they didn’t make a sound for the rest of the film. I was like, isn’t this culture amazing?”.
Elsewhere, he includes a film from the legendary Thai director and screenwriter Apichatpong Weerasethakul in the form of 2006’s Syndromes and a Century, another strange film that follows the biographical memories of the director growing up in a hospital environment. Much like The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, we’re not surprised that Weerasethakul’s film is a favourite, being an inventive examination of life, death and memory.
The final film to grace his list is a more mainstream modern classic, the Safdie brothers’ Uncut Gems. Starring Adam Sandler as a jewellery seller who has an unhealthy obsession with gambling, the Safdie’s film arrived like a bombshell in the contemporary craft, with Lanthimos recalling: “The rhythm is relentless, the sound too, I would even dare say that it’s like watching a Robert Altman film that was dipped in acid”.
Take a look at the full list below.
Yorgos Lanthimos’ favourite modern movies:
- The Bourne Ultimatum (Paul Greengrass, 2007)
- The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu, 2005)
- Heli (Amat Escalante, 2013)
- Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006)
- Uncut Gems (Josh & Benny Safdie, 2019)
