with Ratcatcher, accumulates small, vivid, offhand moments to access the behavior of a woman whos dealing with loss in her own peculiar and sometimes unfathomable way. The mixtape gives her misadventures a through-line and leads to an ending of unexpected transcendence.27. What Time Is It There? (2001)A master of melan-comedy, Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang spent the decade doing minor variations on his patented fusion of deadpan comedy and urban alienation (and an occasional dollop of musical fantasy), but never quite with the exquisite balance of What Time Is It There? Volleying between the rhyming destinies of a son (Tsai alter-ego Lee Kang-sheng) mourning his fathers death and a young woman (Chen Shiang-Chyi) adrift on the streets of Paris, Tsai captures their loneliness and uncertainty without losing his sense of humor or mystery. Shooting in single, static, exquisitely composed takes, he pays subtle homage to silent greats like Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton while revealing his usual strong affinity for characters who are unmoored from the world around them.26. The Incredibles (2004)Brad Birds superhero story doesnt entirely have the tender nuance of Up, the childish glee of Ratatouille, or the stunning sweep of Wall-E, but it does have a crackerjack story (written by Bird) in which every character trait and every fleeting moment are all part of a well-honed machine that serves a precise purpose. Its also exciting as hell, with expansive setpieces tuned into tightly controlled thrill-rides where only immense cleverness as well as superhero muscle can save the day from the latest threat. What makes it exceptional, thoughand noticeably a Pixar projectis that on top of being a terrific superhero story, its also a terrific family story, in which five people with different problems learn how to overcome their flaws, see each other as people instead of obstacles, and use their natural talents and their love for each other to meaningful purpose. With a lot of explosions.25. Together (2000)Swedish writer-director Lukas Moodysson has become disappointingly didactic over the past few years, but he used to be capable of warm, humanistic films like the shambling comedy Together, in which varying countercultural types convene in a commune in 1975 and spend more time debating the nature of their social experiment than they do actually living their principles. Moodysson divides his attention between the bickering grown-ups and the impact their life of rigid idealism has on their kids, who dream of toy guns and hot sausages. Nobody is too good or too bad in Together; theyre all just muddling through, the same as anyone. At a time when we seem increasingly divided by our beliefs, its useful to be reminded that no matter how much people posture in public, in private we all have something in common: were all compromised.24. Yi Yi (2000)In Yi Yi (A One And Two...), late Taiwanese director Edward Yangs gentle but unblinking look at life in turn-of-the-millennium Taipei, one era gives way to another like the changing of seasons. A multi-generational saga concerned more with repetition and unseen connections than dramatic happeningsthough the film has those as wellYangs film