Has anyone seen The Best of Youth? I thought it was obscenely beautiful. Parts of it are over the top and a bit soap opera-ish, but I found it far more engrossing than any 6 hour film has a right to be. Also, it gave me my first man-crush on a fictional character.

My favorite is Dogville. I'm also a big fan of Dancer in the Dark and Breaking the Waves. His only film that went too far for me was The Idiots. But it's hard to get really pissed off when the guy is deliberately trying to piss people off.

It's a really good movie, I'd say it's a solid B+. But best of the decade? I think that's a tough sell.

Also, Head-On and Good Night, and Good Luck.

It's my favorite Soderbergh of the decade. But I haven't seen Che yet, I've got to get on that.

Jesse James is damn good.

How About
The Best of Youth, The Lives of Others, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford?

You don't forget a national anthem in a minute.

Shakespeare
Oh, what a pussycat.

I appreciate you not going crazy, because of course, I'm not putting Kunkel in Shakespeare's league. I hear your point on the first person novel vs. the play, but even in a first person novel there's plenty of room for a variety of voices. I thought Indecision was mostly about Dwight finally being able to hear an…

Fair point, Indecision is definitely a navel-gazer. I know most people consider that inherently unbearable, but I've always felt that there's good navel gazing and bad navel gazing. If Hamlet was published today, would it be dismissed as navel gazing?
I'm not a fan of Foer's but I liked both of Krauss's novels.

Actually, I meant the 19th Century, which comes before the 2oth. You know, the century of Tolstoy, Melville, Flaubert, Henry James, the Brontes, George Eliot, Chekhov, Wilde, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, etc. But thanks for the helpful advice.

I thought Prep was entertaining even if it was a bit slight. But I give her a lot of credit for the chapter called "Parents' Weekend"; I thought that could have made for a masterful short story.

Catching up on the 19th Century but…
1. Indecision- Benjamin Kunkel
2. Everyman- Philip Roth
3. The Savage Detectives- Roberto Bolano
4. The History of Love- Nicole Krauss
5. Old School- Tobias Wolff
6. The World Made Straight- Ron Rash
7. The Good Life- Jay McInerney

I found Atonement painfully boring. But most of my friends are in love with that book.

I haven't gotten to 2666 yet, but I loved The Savage Detectives. The opening 100 pages or so was one of my favorite things I've read in a long time. The rest of it felt a bit like Bolano showing off all his different voices- but man, Bolano has a lot to show off about.

Damn You
Zulu

@TomWaits
Good call on Johnny Cash- I tend not to think of him relative to this decade. His version of God's Gonna Cut You down is all kinds of awesome.

@ortenzia, @Claude.
Also, Josh Rouse always reminds me of Josh Ritter and he had 2 songs that I love- "Girl in the War" and "Thin Blue Flame".
Another great song is "The Beat that My Heart Skipped" by Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip.

@ortenzia, great list. I especially love Sparrows over Birmingham. I'm off to check out the few I didn't recognize.