By Lisa Laman | Film | December 24, 2024 |
This week, the National Film Registry, a Library of Congress-sanctioned group of movies chosen for preservation, announced its annual cluster of 20 new movies added to the collection. These works ranged wildly from Sam Wood’s 1942 The Pride of the Yankees to the 1895 Edison Manufacturing Company short film Annabelle Serpentine Dance to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. This unspeakably important institution can house films of any genre, runtime, and creative ambitions. They simply must qualify as American cinema—that’s the only major pre-requisite!
This variety manifested within the smattering of 21st-century movies entering the National Film Registry this year. This crop included Spy Kids and The Social Network. A movie must be at least ten years old to qualify for National Film Registry placement. This has ensured that the collection doesn’t feature a slew of movies released from 2000 onwards. As of this writing, only 23 of the 900+ National Film Registry titles are 21st-century motion pictures. That’s incredibly understandable and even outright justified. After all, the earliest movies (especially ones from the silent era of cinema history) are most in danger of vanishing altogether.
Preservation should occur first and foremost for these productions rather than spending resources on ensuring Paul Blart: Mall Cop or From Justin to Kelly endure. Still, the fact that titles like No Country for Old Men and Shrek do exist in the National Film Registry reflects that 21st-century films can find a place in this esteemed canon. When December 2025 rolls around (at which point 2015 features can qualify for National Film Registry placement), which 21st-century films should join? What modern motion pictures need to persist no matter what?
Seven American movies from 2000 onward immediately leap to mind as especially essential examples of modern motion pictures. Though not equivalent to the seven best 21st-century movies, they are especially grand examples of what modern cinema can look like. The National Film Registry and society as a whole would benefit tremendously from bestowing preservation efforts on these exemplary movies!
Boyhood
It’s honestly astonishing Boyhood wasn’t added to the National Film Registry this year, the first year it could qualify for the collection. It won’t be long before Richard Linklater’s incredibly ambitious cinematic experiment gets the preservation treatment, though. Though 10+ years on it’s easy to take for granted, Linklater and actors like Patricia Arquette committing to this production for over a decade of their respective lives is still a tremendous artistic feat. The fact that the film is one of the greatest vessels for Linklater’s trademark quiet introspection on the passage of time is extra impressive. One of 2010s cinema’s greatest accomplishments, Boyhood is a no-brainer for National Film Registry placement.
Ratatouille
“Not everyone can be a great artist…but a great artist can come from anywhere.” Those immortal words solidified a closing speech in Ratatouille as one of the all-time great movies. To think, it’s just one of many unforgettable lines and moments in this Brad Bird directorial effort! This 2007 motion picture takes an outlandish premise (a rat wants to be a chef…in Paris, France!) and makes something deeply emotionally moving out of it. The plight of rodent Remy is one rich with humanity, not to mention depictions of how society boxes us all in on how we’re “supposed” to behave and dream.
It’s also got a killer Michael Giacchino score that still stands as some of his greatest work in a remarkable and jam-packed discography. Ratatouille more than qualifies as “great art”—it’s a piece of cinema as scrumptious as any of the delectable French cuisine on-screen. With WALL-E and Toy Story already in the National Film Registry, Ratatouille desperately needs to join this collection!
But I’m a Cheerleader
Few things in cinema are as glorious as a deeply silly movie steadily revealing that it’s gotten you emotionally absorbed in the characters on-screen. In the blink of an eye, you realize a farce is actually something much more powerful. So it is with Jamie Babit’s masterpiece But I’m a Cheerleader. Debuting in general release at the dawn of the 21st century, Cheerleader is chock full of vibrant production design, silly gags, and intentionally campy bursts of dialogue. The history of cinema is littered with tragic gays defined dimly by gruesome deaths.
Cheerleader provides a counterpoint to that standard with its zippy aesthetic applied to a conversion camp. However, a climactic cheerleading routine performed by the protagonist to express her love for her crush is bound to make even the most hardened moviegoer shed tears. But I’m a Cheerleader’s final unabashedly and successfully sentimental note confirms a vibrant heart underneath candy-colored dark humor. If that’s not National Film Registry worthy, I don’t know what is.
D.E.B.S.
Spy Kids getting into the National Film Registry in 2024 should solidify this collection making way for another early 2000s comedic espionage movie, D.E.B.S. Opening with instantly unforgettable bombastic voice-over narration, D.E.B.S. depicts the budding romance between a lady spy and a supervillain tired of being a single woman. Within this feature, director Angela Robinson demonstrates as much of a panache for comic timing as she does for balancing gags with a sincere heart. Her script also crafts incredibly smart material condemning how society’s default view of same-sex attraction between women innately dehumanizes these relationships. The production also crams in several winning performances, including Jordana Brewster’s entertaining turn as one-half of the primary romantic relationship. Better than any 21st-century 007 movie by a considerable margin, D.E.B.S. is an early 2000s gem that should sit side by side next to Spy Kids in the National Film Registry.
Mulholland Drive
Do NOT go to the dumpster behind Winkie’s. Seriously, you’ll regret it. The National Film Registry won’t regret, though, giving David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive a National Film Registry spot. This surreal tale of Hollywood romance shatters reality and viewer expectations at every turn. Alternatively sexy, trippy, and quietly devastating, Mulholland Drive contains some of Lynch’s most audacious and striking filmmaking. It’s the kind of motion picture you just can’t get out of your head once you finish watching it. Lynch’s craft beckons you back to reconsider it, and it’s always rewarding to reconsider this film’s many pleasures. So long as whatever lurks behind Winkie’s doesn’t suddenly start showing up every day at the Library of Congress, Mulholland Drive would be a perfect fit for the National Film Registry.
Carol
Next year, 2015 American movies can finally enter the National Film Registry. If there’s any motion picture from this 12-month slice of history that needs automatic National Film Registry membership, it’s Carol. This romantic drama is a microcosm of everything that makes Todd Haynes such a treasure, particularly his gift for taking old cinematic influences and making something new out of them. He doesn’t just point to Alan J. Pakula, Douglas Sirk, or Bob Dylan (among others) in his works and remind people they existed. Instead, his features build upon older artistic groundwork to create strikingly original creations. So it is with Carol, which echoes classic Hollywood romantic dramas but is very much its own captivating beast.
How could it not be so distinctive when it’s anchored by such mesmerizing Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara turns? Just a silent gaze from either of these two communicates so much captivating yearning! Then there’s Carol’s visuals, which are decked in luscious colors, not to mention a softness in the images exuding an appropriate dream-like quality. Haynes is in cinematic master mode with Carol, an accomplishment worthy of National Film Registry recognition ASAP.