3. DANCER IN THE DARK
 
Denmark/Sweden/etc.
dir. Lars von Trier
world premiere 2000
U.S. release 2000
 

 
Because even though the cinema at large and even von Trier himself mostly avoided the kinds of emotional, formal, and political dares that this film laid down at the dawn of the decade, Dancer's wild, divisive spirit, howled out with the same uncanny power as Björk's inimitable tunes, hasn't remotely subsided. Saturated with color, sound, feeling, and conviction.