One that I knew had no chance, my #20,
Upstream Color
One night while she's out at a nightclub, a woman is abducted by a man who seems to have hypnotized her by forcing her to inhale a tape-worm like creature. After using his control over her to steal all of her money and then surgically removing the worm from her body, he puts her back in her home. The film follows this character, Kris (played brilliantly by Amy Seimetz), as she tries to figure out what happened to her, eventually connecting with a man who had a similar experience.
This film, about trying to understand a trauma/experience that the characters can't even
name had a huge impact on me when I first watched it and on subsequent viewings. As Kris tries to make sense of everything, often treated with disbelief or disdain (including a terrible and harrowing visit to the hospital), she must try to find a way forward.
If I'd made my top 25 list ten years ago (okay, that would have still been in the 2010s, whatever!), this movie would have been at or very near the top of my list. It's not just that I've seen other great movies in that time, but unfortunately the way that real life intrudes into my enjoyment of art has dealt this one a blow. Shane Carruth (who wrote, directed, and stars as the man Kris meets and teams up with to figure out what happened to her) was in a relationship with Seimetz and, um, was apparently horribly abusive to her. It's really impacted my ability to watch the film and enjoy it, knowing what he put her through.
Still, there are aspects of the film I find undeniably powerful--including the lead performance from Seimetz--and so it didn't feel right to bump it from my list.