The MoFo Top 100 of the 2010s Countdown

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Maybe the YouTube link is intentionally broken? That's why it could be Arrival. Difficulty communicating with aliens and all that.



Maybe the YouTube link is intentionally broken? That's why it could be Arrival. Difficulty communicating with aliens and all that.
But it does work if you click "Watch on YouTube".
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210 points, 15 lists
Shoplifters
Director

Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2018

Starring

Lily Franky, Sakura Ando, Mayu Matsuoka, Kairi Jo
#18








212 points, 15 lists
Drive
Director

Nicolas Winding Refn, 2011

Starring

Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks
#17






Sorry if I'm rude but I'm right
Shoplifters is still good but it's long past Koreeda's good years.

Drive Is amazing but it's after that movie that Refn really took off with his neon-soaking style that repels both normies and elitists.
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Trivia

Shoplifters - Director Hirokazu Koreeda said that he developed the story for Shoplifters when considering his earlier film Like Father, Like Son (2013), with the question "what makes a family"? He had been considering a film exploring this question for years before making Shoplifters. Koreeda described it as his "socially conscious" film. With this story, Koreeda said he did not want the perspective to be from only a few individual characters, but to capture "the family within the society", a "wide point of view" in the vein of his 2004 film Nobody Knows (2004). He set his story in Tokyo and was also influenced by the Japanese Recession, including media reports of how people lived in poverty and of shoplifting.
Drive - The Driver and Irene actually say very little to each other, primarily because Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan felt that their scenes should be more focused on the mood and refused to say many of the scripted lines. Mulligan summarized making the film as "staring longingly at Ryan Gosling for hours each day."





Drive was #49 on the MoFo Top 100 of the Millennium while Shoplifters was #72 on the MoFo Top 100 Foreign Films.
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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra



Haven't seen Shoplifters.

Drive is one of those that I didn't fully *get* at first, but warmed up to quite well afterwards. I think it's pretty darn good, even if I'm still not as in love with it as most people. Regardless, great performances and great direction by Winding Refn.


Here's where I'm at, including the chances for the rest of my list...

Seen: 64/84

My ballot:  


Percentage adjustment coming soon!



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I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
I'd sort of given up on Shoplifters this high up, although I'd thought it was a given at the start. Very good film, not on my list but glad to see it here.


Drive likewise, good film, not on my list.



MoFo Reviewers

Shoplifters

It's pretty stunning to realize just how well the film tells the story of each of the characters and illuminates their desires and what they do to achieve them. The character I identified with the most was Nobuyo (Sakura Ando), the mother of the family. It's a character filled with a heady mix of longing and pragmatism, and it's interesting to watch how different events bring out those opposing sides of her personality.
Read the full review here.

Drive

The fact that The Driver never truly feels invincible -- the fact that he does seem like he could be killed -- adds to the truth that he's not quite a real man. He is a silent pinup male model -- he never feels invincible. This movie reminded me of the Pam Grier 1970's Blaxploitation films that I love, like Coffy and Foxy Brown, where Pam is a badass mofo who is getting revenge and always succeeding. Pam had more life and power than Ryan Gosling does here. It bothers me that Ryan Gosling didn't. I blame the script for the most part. Ryan's silent presence doesn't come off as silent but deadly. He's sexy, but it's all surface. He is not sexy under the surface. If any ugly guy had played that character, nobody would care about Drive. Nobody. He really needed more life in him. It was frustrating just watching him act like a stump. The other men in this movie were loud and intimidating -- I can't really buy that Ryan Gosling was able to do battle with them. At least when Pam Grier went to battle, she was loud, she was sassy - she was a killer mama. Ryan Gosling is like cancer -- he might win, but he might lose. And for a movie like Drive, where he's a stunt driver and a mechanic... I don't think it works. He's hollow and he should be filled up with all kinds of complex stuff. There's nothing interesting about his mysteriousness. Even his apartment is really seen only in darkness. There's nothing to give him life. He's dead.
Read the full review here.



Delighted to see Shoplifters show as I'd pretty much given up on it when we got into the top 20 - my #6 and second-favourite Koreeda of the decade. Unlike most I'm not that keen on the opening to Drive but once that is out of the way it's a thoroughly enjoyable affair that I actually expected to figure in the top 10.

Seen: 67/84 (Own: 40/84)
My ballot:  


Faildictions  



Drive is great. The perfect balance for Refn using his old raw filmmaking with the more clean and neon-infused world. It was not on my list but it’s certainly one of the best from the decade…

I have not seen Shoplifters but it’s on the watchlist.



I haven't seen Shoplifters yet. I'll probably get to it at some point though.

Drive is a pretty good gateway thriller, but I'm not in love with it or anything.



Nah, that's a spoiler for The Christmas Chronicles. Oh dang, I just did it again!
That's a shame. Because if it turned out Kurt Russell's character in The Hateful Eight was actually Santa Claus, you might convince me to watch the film.

As for the two most recent reveals, Shoplifters was my #17. I think that it shows how messy and complicated families (even found families) can be, and how poverty can further complicate it.

I enjoy Drive, though I have a few quibbles with it. I read the book a little while back and might revisit it now with some of the ideas from the novel.



Really happy to see Shoplifters this high up. It's among my favourite Koreeda's and was number 10 on my list.

Drive is excellent entertainment. Missed out on my ballot but it's so rewatchable.



When I first saw the trailer and poster for Drive, I had no desire to see it. I thought it looked way too slick and stylized and movies like that nearly always leave me feeling cold. But I've seen Drive twice now and it manages to be slick and stylized while still being warm and allowing its characters to be fully human. I really loved Gosling's character and the story. I really debated on whether to vote for it and different versions of my ballot had Drive on them, but the one I submitted did not. I'm very happy to see it rank so high without my help.

I haven't seen Shoplifters.

Seen: 46/84
My Ballot:
7. Joker (#60)
8. Django Unchained (#27)
11. The Man From Nowhere (#95)
14. Inside Out (#59)
20. Jojo Rabbit (#89)
25. Kitbull (One Pointer)

Reviews in My 2010s Countdown Preparation Thread

My Most Recent Review For Drive:


Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2011)
(Rewatch)

I first watched this movie back in 2020 when it was chosen for me in a Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame after I'd intentionally avoided it for 9 years. I've never had much of an opinion of Ryan Gosling, the movie just looked so slick, and I often find highly stylized movies to be a big turn off.

But I was treated to a pleasant surprise. Whereas stylish movies often come across as cold, Drive does well to balance the cool elements with a little bit of warmth and humanity. Ryan Gosling does a great job of carrying this movie with his performance - ever cool and collected, with just that little smirk to betray any kind of emotion. He's a badass with a heart of gold: One moment we see the driver gently putting a young child to bed or tenderly kissing his girl and another moment we see him kicking a guy's head in. He's complicated. He exists in a gray area between good and bad. And I love that.

One thing I didn't love on the first watch though was that I felt we didn't get to see enough of his tender side, or at least not enough for me to buy his motivations for the risks he takes and the sacrifices he makes. But this time around I wasn't bothered at all by that and was fully immersed in the experience of the film.

Ultimately I don't know if it'll get my vote - I'm just too spoiled for choices here - but I do very much hope it places high on the countdown.




Two very good films.

Drive was something that came out around the time I started to get into films and like many people, I thought it was awesome. A really cool movie, dripping with style. I was obsessed with the music from Cliff Martinez and would listen to it on repeat. I've seen the film a few times and enjoyed it each time, but it's been a long time since my last viewing.

I've only seen Shoplifters once which I believe was actually at the cinema. It's a film that grew in my mind after watching it but I think it's overshadowed unfortunately by Parasite which tackles similar themes.

71/84 seen.
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