There’s ultimately no accounting for taste, especially when it comes to making lists about movies. Even if you attempt to make a poll as scientifically objective as possible by compiling votes from hundreds of reputable film experts, there will always be those who take offense at the final results, especially when you omit one of the best directors of recent times.
The list for the “100 Best Movies of the 21st Century” published by The New York Times in June 2025 is a case in point. It’s not just that the results of the poll divided movie fans. They unquestionably overlook most of the best Spanish-language movies of the century, as well as the entirety of one particular Mexican director’s output.
Alejandro González Iñárritu is celebrated not only for his Spanish-language psychological drama Amores perros, but for multiple English-language masterpieces. Iñárritu famously made his 2014 movie Birdman as though it was sH๏τ in one take, while his 2015 work The Revenant won Leonardo DiCaprio his only Oscar. The New York Times includes neither among the 100 best films of this century, however.
Alejandro González Iñárritu Is Completely Absent From The 100 Best Movies Of The 21st Century
The Director Has At Least 2 Movies That Should Have Been On The List
None of Iñárritu’s critically acclaimed movies made it onto The New York Times list of the 21st century’s best movies. In addition to Birdman, Amores perros, and The Revenant, his 2003 crime thriller 21 Grams, starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts, would have been a worthy inclusion on the list.
The Revenant is perhaps the least eligible for the list among these four movies in terms of overall critical appraisal, but it did win five Academy Awards, including Best Director for Iñárritu, as well as Best Cinematography. Birdman and Amores perros are really glaring omissions, as they are two of the most ingeniously inventive movies of the past 25 years.
With Iñárritu’s next movie being a comedy project with Tom Cruise that’s already well into production, the director is set to add another innovative work to a wonderfully idiosyncratic collection of artistic endeavors. It’s easy to imagine that future industry polls will recognize at least one of his movies among the best of its generation.
Iñárritu Missing Out Reflects The List’s Underrepresentation Of Spanish-Language Filmmakers
Only 4 Spanish-Language Movies Made The 100
It’s one thing for Iñárritu’s films to be omitted from an industry poll of the 21st century’s top 100 movies. It’s quite another thing for an entire language encompᴀssing more than 20 nations of filmmakers to be noticeably underrepresented in the poll. Yet, Iñárritu is only one of many Spanish-language directors who don’t feature on the list.
It’s not just the directors who are completely absent that’s the problem, either. Iconic Mexican director Guillermo del Toro has only one film on the list. His masterful fantasy Pan’s Labyrinth – Guillermo del Toro’s best movie and a genuine contender for the top 10 movies of the century so far – languishes in 54th place, immediately below Borat.
Twice as many of Alfonso Cuarón’s movies feature as all the other Spanish-speaking directors put together.
Meanwhile, revered Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar has just one movie in the 100 – Volver, at number 80 – while his greatest work, Hable con ella, is notable for its absence. Apart from Pan’s Labyrinth and Volver, there are just two other Spanish-language movies on the list, which were both directed by Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón.
With his films Y Tu Mamá También and ROMA included in the 100, as well as the American-made, English-language movies Children of Men and Gravity, Cuarón is arguably overrepresented in The New York Times’ list, especially in relation to other Latin American filmmakers. Twice as many of his movies feature as all the other Spanish-speaking directors put together.
The total of four Spanish-language movies on the list is a mᴀssive underestimation of the Spanish-speaking world’s cinematic output in the 21st century. By comparison, there are five French movies in the list, despite there being far more Spanish-language movies out there from filmmakers across three continents.
The Omission Of Several All-Time Great Spanish-Language Movies Is Particularly Glaring
Hable Con Ella, Amores Perros, Nostalgia For The Light & La Ciénaga Should Have Been Shoe-Ins
The most disappointing aspect of the “100 Best Movies of the 21st Century” underrepresenting Spanish and Latin American cinema is that some of the best films in Spanish ever made were eligible for the list, but somehow didn’t make it.
Hable con ella is generally regarded as an all-time great romance story. Meanwhile, Amores perros signaled the beginning of a new wave of Mexican cinema focused on intensely human drama, along with Y Tu Mamá También. All three films should have been in the list, and Hable con ella should have been near the very top.
Patricio Guzman’s visually otherworldly documentary Nostalgia for the Light is another shocking omission. So is the darkly comic La ciénaga, the directorial debut of Argentine filmmaker Lucrecia Martel.
It’s difficult to fathom how so many generationally significant Spanish-language directors have been left off a list of this century’s best movies. Alfonso Cuarón isn’t the only Spanish-speaking director whose career is closely intertwined with Hollywood. Even if poll participants primarily voted for household names, for the list to feature so few films in Spanish is deeply perplexing.
