Dating back to the beginning of the earliest cinematic works, many of our greatest stories were being told in black and white. Far from being stripped of the color of our world, these films were given depth precisely because of their visual palette. Most films nowadays are shot in color, meaning the occasion to see a true black and white film has become far less common. However, that doesn’t mean they are non-existent. In fact, some of the best films of all time were most recently shot in black and white. They still are worth seeking out for the variety of different genres they cover as well as the ways they create distinctly enthralling stories which draw you into each lovingly realized frame.

Now with Kenneth Branagh’s newest film Belfast hitting theaters, it is worth taking a look at some of the best recent films to similarly shoot in black and white. This list will be focused on the last decade, meaning it won’t include works that precede that time frame. Also, films like Parasite or Mad Max: Fury Road that had created a different black and white version separate from their original release won’t count even as they are also worth checking out. Thus, here are the ten best black and white films that lit up the screen in the last decade.

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10. Belfast

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Image Via Focus Features

As previously mentioned, this is the most recent film on this list though it already has proven to be deserving of your consideration. A deeply personal film for Branagh that draws from much of his own childhood, Belfast focuses on one family struggling to find a future when faced with sectarian violence in 1960s Northern Ireland. The approach the film takes is rather light as the story is seen through the eyes of 9-year-old Buddy, played by Jude Hill in his debut feature, who is caught between the joys of growing up and the turmoils taking hold of the world around him.

The approach at times softens the seriousness of the story being told, though it makes sense since it is Buddy’s perspective that drives the story. The late-night arguments of his parents, delicately played by Jamie Dornan and Caitriona Balfe, bring the fear of the future close to home. However, it is truly the scenes of the grandparents, played by Judi Dench and Ciarán Hinds, that prove to be most impactful. Dench in particular gets a deeply resonant series of scenes including one monologue towards the end that pulls it all together. The loving depiction of one family is beautifully realized, using sentiment and sweetness to bring their world to life.

9. Mank

Amanda Seyfried and Gary Oldman in Mank
Image via Netflix

Tis I, the Mank defender! Yes, the David Fincher film was not at all what many expected from the director who was more known for his stories about serial killers and graphic violence. However, don’t let that take away from the more interesting aspects of this cutting look at the history of Hollywood. The film focuses on Gary Oldman's ornery Herman Mankiewicz, a brooding man most known for penning the script for the iconic Citizen Kane. The film is dedicated to detail in capturing the sets of the period and the grinding nature of the industry, though it is by no means the standard "love letter" to old Hollywood's story.

What makes Mank so great is how it eschews the trappings that befall lesser films which become far too engrossed in rose-tinted nostalgia. The story here is far more cynical, showing how the magical world of movies wasn’t always so great behind the scenes. Not only are the workers themselves exploited, but the magic of cinema is also used to ensure those in power get to stay there. The wit of Mankiewicz masks a growing disillusionment that the film brilliantly peels back to reveal the more nefarious ends of those that used cinema for their own benefit.

8. Roma

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Image via Netflix

The overwhelmingly beautiful Roma is one of director Alfonso Cuarón’s best, high praise for such a dedicated master of his craft who has made some of the most spectacular films of recent memory. The story centers on Cleo, played with a quiet yet enthralling grace by Yalitza Aparicio. Cleo is the maid to a family in Mexico City that cares for them while also facing down her own struggles, often alone. The film takes us through some of the most challenging parts of her life as well as some of the most beautiful, creating a complex yet thorough look at her life.

The way Roma portrays Cleo’s relationship to the family she works for reveals a complicated class relationship that is painful in its authentic precision. The family will at times treat Cleo like she is one of them while also chastising her when she isn’t absolutely perfect. Through all the disrespect her character is shown, Aparicio builds a profound sense of compassion for Cleo. In one scene where she runs along the street, her joy bursts free in a manner that only makes it all the more tragic to see her face routine cruelties. However, it transcends both to create an interesting study of both time and place.

7. Frances Ha

The brilliant Frances Ha is a wonderful collaboration between Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig who wrote the film together. In addition, Baumbach directed and Gerwig starred as the titular Frances herself, who is struggling to find her way in life as she begins to see her work and best friend slip away. Gerwig gives her best performance thus far in capturing the uncertainty and absurdity in navigating early adulthood without a real sense of the direction your life is going.

Amid all the tempestuousness of her life, there are brief glimpses of happiness for Frances that offer hope for her future. One such moment is a great extended dance she does down the streets to David Bowie’s "Modern Love," an homage to the 1986 film Mauvais Sang. There is so much to latch on to and connect with Frances as she flounders through life. There is humor to her struggles, though also a profoundly realized relatability as we see much of ourselves in her.

6. Nebraska

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Image via Paramount

A road movie of sorts that is equal parts comedic and tragic, Nebraska tells the story of a father and son who go on a journey to claim a supposed million-dollar prize. Bruce Dern is the elderly Woody and Will Forte is his son David. The two have a strained relationship as Woody is a borderline alcoholic who hasn’t always been a great father or husband. Despite it all, David agrees to drive him all the way from Billings, Montana to Lincoln, Nebraska even as the “prize” is most certainly a scam. Woody still clings to the possibility that it is true as one last hope.

The futility and meaninglessness of it all becomes the point. It is clear that when they arrive, there isn’t going to be any sort of prize available for him. Yet the journey getting there is compelling and emotionally engaging, with every stop along the way bringing new situations that explore more of the familial dynamic. Dern is outstanding though it is Forte who gives one of his most dynamic performances. He delivers lines that are both deeply funny and also terribly sad thanks to his defeated tone. The film still finds triumph in the end, a testament to the work of writer-director Alexander Payne to bring it all to a heartfelt destination.

5. Cold War

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Here's where we start to get into the bleaker films. One of the best films of 2019, Paweł Pawlikowski's Cold War is one of the most searing and honest depictions of love playing out across time that you will ever see. Tomasz Kot as Wiktor and Joanna Kulig as Zula give so much of themselves to every single frame. It becomes a tapestry of love spanning many years that almost blur together in how fleeting and fast it passes, a statement on how quickly life can slip through our fingers.

The pain and suffering that soon befalls Wiktor when he is put in a work camp is a turn of events that serves as an effective catalyst for the rest of the film. Zula must make a deep sacrifice to save him, setting them both on a path towards an inevitably depressing existence. The final scenes where the two agree to find a way out together sneak up on you, tearing out your heart and breathing along with it. It remains one of the most affecting pieces of work of recent memory.

4. The Lighthouse

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Image via A24

A glorious descent into madness, Robert EggersThe Lighthouse puts Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe center stage as two lighthouse keepers who struggle to maintain a hold on reality. Both actors are named Thomas—yes, this is significant—and become so lost together that it becomes deeply hard to know what is real anymore. As they are trapped on an island with no way out, time begins to blur as the world around them becomes increasingly sinister.

The film is a dedicated display of acting from both leads who go from boisterous and loud arguments to quieter moments where they even dance together. There is a persistent tension about whether they will be the death of each other as well as themselves. The more that time has passed since its release, the more my appreciation has grown for just how unrestrained of a vision the film is. It's mythical and grand in scale without losing sense of who the characters trapped within it are. It is a film that grabs tightly hold of you and doesn’t let go.

3. The Eyes of My Mother

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Image via Magnet Releasing

A film that works best the less you know about it, which shouldn’t be a problem since it is lesser-known, The Eyes of My Mother is a short yet mesmerizing horror that defies your expectations in the best way possible. What begins as a brutal turn of events for a family living on a farm becomes a more menacing and dark exploration of the psyche of the daughter. A committed Kika Magalhães is Francisca, a lonely and disconnected woman whose mind becomes consumed by her isolation. As she becomes more desperate for connection, she begins to commit increasingly violent acts in order to find someone to be close to.

Of all the entries on this list, this film is one that is most certainly not for everyone. There are many gruesome elements—and a heaping dose of body horror—that may overwhelm those not prepared. However, there is a beauty in the visual composition even as they capture some of the most unsettling things you’ll ever see. From a figure cast in a barn's shadow to the opening scene of a woman walking along the road before lying down, it all is entrancing to look at. Even if you want to avert your eyes, you can’t.

2. Embrace of the Serpent (El abrazo de la serpiente)

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Image via Diaphana Films

An unflinching and wholly original look at the impacts of colonialism on a people, Embrace of the Serpent is one of the most significant pieces of cinema ever made. It centers on Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman and last survivor of his people, who guides two explorers years apart deep into the world where he grew up. Played at different ages with equal gravitas by Nilbio Torres and the late Antonio Bolívar, it is the most comprehensive glimpse of the Amazon ever put to screen. Named as Colombia’s first-ever foreign-language nomination, the film wasn’t about trying to win any awards or get Oscar buzz. Rather, it was about telling the story of a people through the life of a single man seen decades apart.

There is just so much richness to the characters and the setting that you feel every detail. The gorgeous cinematography only makes the harrowing reality of how the indigenous people of the Amazon were killed over resources all the more devastating. The journey it takes often shifts into dreamlike visuals, capturing the beauty of the world and the people fading away after generations of persecution. Director Ciro Guerra approaches the story with compassion for the indigenous people he has cast, ensuring the portrait he paints of them is both respectful and considerate to their history. In an act of destruction towards its conclusion, the film makes a statement that can't be ignored.

1. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

There are no punches to be pulled here: Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night is the greatest vampire film of the last decade and one of the greatest films of all time. In creating her own surreally cinematic world that feels like a western crossed with a horror film, the writer and director shook up what was possible when it came to blending genres. Taking place in the Iranian ghost-town known as "Bad City," the film follows Sheila Vand as a mysterious skateboard-riding vampire who stalks the city and enacts justice on the men who roam its streets, until she forms a connection with a young man named Arash (Arash Marandi).

The two soon draw closer as they both navigate whether they could ever truly be together when bringing their own separate problems to the table. It becomes a love story of sorts that is as fraught as it is frightening. Even with the use of horror conventions, the moments that truly shine in the film are the ones that aren’t about scares. It is an interaction the two characters share in her humble room that sticks with me. As she selects the song "Death" by The White Lies, which sets the scene perfectly as it plays diegetically, the two remain silent and yet are pulled together by desire. Is it a desire for blood? For love? It keeps you riveted, an encapsulation of the brilliant work of art that the film becomes. You find yourself forever changed after seeing it.

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