10 Most Perfect Movies Released Since 2020, Ranked

There is no shortage of great films being made today, even if a significant portion of the decade’s best releases were only available in a select number of theaters in coastal cities. Here are the ten most perfect films released since 2020, all of which seem guaranteed to be remembered as classics in the decades to come.

10 ‘The Father’ (2020)

The Father is a radical work of drama that explored the consequences of dementia in a way that had never been done before. Although there have been films in which characters struggle with the illness, The Father director Florian Zeller explored a story from the perspective of an elderly man as he gradually began to lose his grasp on the fabric of reality.

The Father features an amazing performance by Anthony Hopkins, who was able to do some of his best work after a lifetime of amazing projects. While there is no doubt that Hopkins is one of the greatest actors to ever live, the raw confusion, heartbreak, and fear that he conveys in his Academy Award winning performance is bound to strike a nerve with anyone who has had a relative or friend who has dealt with similar circumstances.

9 ‘Asteroid City’ (2023)

Asteroid City was a true return to form for Wes Anderson, as while Isle of Dogs and The French Dispatch were both entertaining, his 2023 film showed an ability to break down the fundamentals of construction and say something deeper about the way that art is used as a source of healing. It wouldn’t be absurd to compare the multi-faceted story Anderson tells in Asteroid City to all-time classics like 8 ½, Stardust Memories, or Persona, even if it retains his trademark sense-of-humor.

Asteroid City includes many of Anderson’s returning cast members, including Jason Schwartzman in the most profound, mature, and deeply moving performance of his entire career. It also featured a number of exciting new additions to his troupe, including Tom Hanks, who was able to give a classical comedic performance after decades of almost exclusively doing dramatic parts.

8 ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ (2023)

Killers of the Flower Moon confirmed that Martin Scorsese is one of the few directors to make at least one masterpiece in six different decades, as it actually showed he could do something new within a familiar genre. Scorsese has always been drawn to stories about crime and the death of the American dream, but Killers of the Flower Moon was a timely exploration of the genocide committed against native people, and how history has been kept under wraps so that it is doomed to be repeated.

Killers of the Flower Moon provided a breakout performance for Lily Gladstone, whose breathtaking work carried the dignity of an entire group of people. It also provided an opportunity for Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, Scorsese’s two most frequent collaborators, to appear in a film together for the first time since Celebrity.

7 ‘The Green Knight’ (2021)

The Green Knight is a brilliant fantasy film that took a new spin on the legends of Arthurian mythology by showing the story of Sir Gawain (Dev Patel), the nephew of the King (Sean Harris), who was doomed to face of with a fabled knight (Ralph Ineson) with supernatural powers. David Lowery is a filmmaker who has embraced earthy, naturalistic stories that feel both grounded and existential, and his unusual approach ensured that The Green Knight didn’t look or feel like any other medieval film.

The Green Knight tells a fascinating story about facing death that offers an interesting interpretation on a legendary work of literature that has been debated by scholars for centuries. It’s also a visually beautiful achievement that features a better mix of computer-generated imagery and actual practical effects than most of the films that vastly surpass it in length.

6 ‘Marty Supreme’ (2025)

Marty Supreme is a truly generational epic that is set in the ‘50s, draws from the history of World War II, features music from the ‘80s, yet feels like the type of New Hollywood production that could have only been made in the ‘70s. However, there’s not an inch of Josh Safdie’s masterpiece that feels overtly nostalgic, as Marty Supreme is clued into the anxieties felt by a modern generation when it comes to faith, family, and finances.

Timothee Chalamet gives the performance of his career, which is not a statement to be made lightly when considering how much he has accomplished at such a young age. It’s a testament to his abilities that the titular character in Marty Supreme is obnoxious, volatile, and at times downright cool, but is simultaneously impossible to not at least somewhat root for as an underdog.

5 ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ (2022)

The Banshees of Inisherin is both one of the funniest and bleakest films of the decade, which is something that only a brilliant writer/director like Martin McDonagh could have pulled off. While it is a hilarious comedy about the extent to which men will torment each other so that they don’t have to talk about their feelings, it also offers a swift and heartbreaking message about the destructive nature of personal friendships.

Colin Farrell has long since been one of the best actors working today, and The Banshees of Inisherin allowed him to finally start getting some credit for being the best part of everything that he does. Farrell finally earned his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor; with all due respect to Brendan Fraser and his performance in The Whale, the Oscar should have gone to Farrell.

4 ‘One Battle After Another’ (2025)

One Battle After Another is the film that Paul Thomas Anderson has been building towards for his entire career, as it is both a story about a found family and an action-packed odyssey set within a divided America. While it includes the type of needle drops and snarky humor that is reminiscent of Anderson’s earlier work, it also tells a mature father-daughter story that shows how the director’s real experiences raising a child during a dangerous period of time has affected him.

One Battle After Another is a searing commentary on how militarism and racism have taken grasp of America’s institutions, but it's also a true romp with loads of laugh-out-loud humor. Anderson has always made films on an impressive scale using classical techniques, but One Battle After Another proved to be an experience that was necessary to seek out in the IMAX format.

3 ‘Oppenheimer’ (2023)

Oppenheimer is a true once-in-a-generation masterpiece that feels like a classical Hollywood epic that still retains everything that makes Christopher Nolan a unique filmmaker. It’s a film of incredible scale in which Nolan used practical techniques to recreate pivotal moments in history, and featured an outstanding cast of actors as significant figures during the end of World War II and rise of the Cold War era.

Nolan used a brilliant technique of using both color and black-and-white to show different eras of the timeline, and was able to make a 3 hour film about science, ethics, and politics into a blockbuster event that made nearly $1 billion at the global box office. It was all anchored on the back of Cillian Murphy, whose performance will go down in history as a legendary encapsulation of a controversial man who changed the world.

2 ‘The Fabelmans’ (2022)

The Fabelmans isn’t just one of the best films that Steven Spielberg has ever made, but easily his most personal because he cast Gabriel LaBelle as an aspiring filmmaker named “Sammy Fabelman” who was based on himself as a young man. The Fabelmans is a moving story about a Jewish family in the 1950s trying to live their American dream, but it’s also a profound work of therapy on Spielberg’s part as he examined the complicated relationship between his real mother and father, portrayed brilliantly in the film by Michelle Williams and Paul Dano.

There are few better things than a new Spielberg film with a score by John Williams, and The Fabelmans ends with a terrific cameo by David Lynch (portraying the legendary director John Ford) that feels like a way to acknowledge multiple geniuses of the cinematic craft.

1 ‘The Brutalist’ (2024)

The Brutalist is a bold, controversial, and thought-provoking historical epic that represents everything that cinema should be. While many of the decade’s best films are understandable from highly respected directors with a wealth of experience, The Brutalist was a recognition of new talent in Brady Corbet, a young actor who made an ambitious drama about the lies of the American dream and the insurmountable harm of genocide.

The Brutalist became a truly exciting cinematic event because of the appeal of getting to see it in exclusive formats, and because it was long enough to have an old-fashioned intermission. While perhaps he gave an overlong acceptance speech for Best Actor that had the audience annoyed, Adrien Brody deserved to become a two-time Academy Award winner for his undeniable performance as a tormented artist forced to wage a silent act of rebellion through his creation.