Per tradition, we at Cine-File conclude each year by sharing lists of our favorite movies we’ve seen in the past year. Like most film writers, we tend to focus on new releases, but we also discuss favorite older films we’ve either discovered or rediscovered. When you expand your search to encompass past and present (in addition to narrative, documentary, and experimental) cinema, you find there’s really no such thing as a bad year for movies. Our contributors’ lists can be found below.
📽 Rob Christopher
11 FAVORITES FROM 2021
More than most years, in 2021 I found myself quoting Laurie Anderson an awful lot. Probably that was because of the six lectures she presented virtually over the course of the year, courtesy Harvard's Mahindra Humanities Center; they're all available via YouTube now, and I can't recommend them highly enough. If I never needed them before, her words of insight and Zen wisdom were sorely needed this year. For example, paraphrasing Sol LeWitt: "If you're feeling stuck, do your worst work." I'm afraid this little note must fall into that classification. I think I wrote a total of one entry for Cine-File this year. Beyond that I was content to let films just wash over me, saving up any kind of focused analysis for ... what or when, I don't know. Maybe I'm waiting till it feels easier to have conversations about film again; maybe I'm weary, for the moment, of trading monologues via social media. Though I watched some truly wonderful films this year, both "brand new" and "old," I really miss going to movies with people and talking about them afterwards. I'm certainly at peace with solo movie-viewing—I just haven't felt the need as much to set down my thoughts when the movie's over. I'm counting on 2022 to be different. Until then, as Laurie might say, this is the Time and this is the Record of the Time:
ABOUT ENDLESSNESS (2019, Roy Andersson)
C'MON C'MON (2021, Mike Mills)
MINARI (2020, Lee Isaac Chung)
THE PINE BARRENS (2018, David Scott Kessler)
THE POWER OF THE DOG (2021, Jane Campion)
PREPARATIONS TO BE TOGETHER FOR AN UNKNOWN PERIOD OF TIME (2020, Lili Horvát)
QUO VADIS, AIDA? (2020, Jasmila Žbanić)
SHAME (1968, Ingmar Bergman)
SON OF THE WHITE MARE (1981, Marcell Jankovics)
TIME (2020, Garrett Bradley)
WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY (2021, Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
Honorable mentions:
COLLECTIVE (2019, Alexander Nanau)
GRASSHOPPERS (2021, Brad Bischoff)
SYMBIOPSYCHOTAXIPLASM: TAKE ONE (1968, William Greaves)
THE WHELMING SEA (2020, Sean Hanley)
📽 Cody Corrall
Top of 2021 … no rankings, just vibes 😎
ANNETTE (Leos Carax)
BENEDETTA (Paul Verhoeven)
BILLIE EILISH: THE WORLD’S A LITTLE BLURRY (R.J. Cutler)
THE CARD COUNTER (Paul Schrader)
DRIVE MY CAR (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
DUNE (Denis Villeneuve)
THE FRENCH DISPATCH (Wes Anderson)
THE GREEN KNIGHT (David Lowery)
I’M YOUR MAN (Maria Schrader)
THE MATRIX: RESURRECTIONS (Lana Wachowski)
MY DARLING SUPERMARKET (Tali Yankelevich)
NORTH BY CURRENT (Angelo Madsen Minax)
OLD (M. Night Shyamalan)
PIG (Michael Sarnoski)
TEST PATTERN (Shatara Michelle Ford)
TITANE (Julia Ducournau)
TOGETHER TOGETHER (Nikole Beckwith)
SPENCER and EMA (Pablo Larraín)
VIOLATION (Dusty Mancinelli, Madeline Sims-Fewer)
ZOLA (Janicza Bravo)
📽 John Dickson
2021
MEMORIA
WIFE OF A SPY
BENEDETTA
ZEROES AND ONES
ANNETTE
WEST SIDE STORY
IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE
LICORICE PIZZA
CRY MACHO
NAOMI OSAKA
📽 Steve Erickson
My favorite dozen new releases in the U.S. during 2021 (as time and "release qualification" continue to mutate):
THE DISCIPLE (Chaitayna Tamhane)
DRIVE MY CAR & WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
THE EMPTY MAN (David Prior)
FRANCE (Bruno Dumont)
HER SOCIALIST SMILE (John Gianvito)
LABYRINTH OF CINEMA (Nobuhiko Obayashi)
THE POWER OF THE DOG (Jane Campion)
SIBERIA and ZEROS AND ONES (Abel Ferrara)
THIS IS NOT A BURIAL, IT'S A RESURRECTION (Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese)
WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED: A HISTORY OF FOLK-HORROR (Kier-la Janisse)
📽 Megan Fariello
Top Ten Favorite New Films
1) ZOLA (Janicza Bravo, 2020)
2) THE POWER OF THE DOG (Jane Campion, 2021)
3) TEST PATTERN (Shatara Michelle Ford, 2019)
4) DUNE (Denis Villeneuve, 2021)
5) PIG (Michael Sarnoski, 2021)
6) TITANE (Julia Ducournau, 2021)
7) THE INHERITANCE (Ephraim Asili, 2020)
8) SPENCER (Pablo Larraín, 2021)
9) ANNETTE (Leos Carax, 2021)
10) FEAR STREET PART ONE 1994 (Leigh Janiak, 2021)
📽 Marilyn Ferdinand
Favorite New Features
1. IT MUST BE HEAVEN (Elia Suleiman)
2. HOPE (Maria Sødahl)
3. WEST SIDE STORY (Steven Spielberg)
4. BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN (Radu Jude)
5. THE BETA TEST (Jim Cummings and PJ McCabe)
6. PASSING (Rebecca Hall)
7. DRIVE MY CAR (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)
8. FABIAN: GOING TO THE DOGS (Dominik Graf)
9. THE POWER OF THE DOG (Jane Campion)
10. SLALOM (Charlène Favier)
11. LANGUAGE LESSONS (Natalie Morales)
12. THE SOUVENIR: PART II (Joanna Hogg)
13. THE RED POST BOX ON ESCHER STREET (Sion Sono)
14. THE PERFECT CANDIDATE (Haifaa Al-Mansour)
15. THE SUMMIT OF THE GODS (Patrick Imbert)
Favorite New Documentaries
1. WRITING WITH FIRE (Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh)
2. AILEY (Jamila Wignot)
3. SUMMER OF SOUL (Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson)
4. THE VELVET QUEEN (Marie Amiguet and Vincent Munier)
5. KNOTS: A FORCED MARRIAGE STORY (Kate Ryan Brewer)
6. THE NEUTRAL GROUND (CJ Hunt)
7. CAN YOU BRING IT: BILL T. JONES AND D-MAN IN THE WATERS (Tom Hurwitz, Rosalynde LeBlanc)
8. VAL (Ting Poo & Leo Scott)
9. ROY’S WORLD: BARRY GIFFORDS’ CHICAGO (Rob Christopher)
10. PARIS CALLIGRAMMES (Ulrike Ottinger)
Favorite Older Films First Seen in 2021 (chronological)
THE FIRST DEGREE (Edward Sedgwick, 1923)
CHESS FEVER (Vsevolod Pudovkin and Nikolai Shpikovsky, 1925)
PAVEMENT BUTTERFLY (Richard Eichberg, 1929)
SHE HAD TO SAY YES (George Amy and Busby Berkeley, 1933)
TO NEW SHORES (Douglas Sirk, 1937)
GUILTY BYSTANDER (Joseph Lerner, 1950)
EARLY SUMMER (Yasujirô Ozu, 1951)
THE BEAST MUST DIE (Román Viñoly Barreto, 1952)
THE WHITE SHEIK (Federico Fellini, 1952)
THE PASSIONATE THIEF (Mario Monicelli, 1960)
I KNEW HER WELL (Antonio Pietrangeli, 1965)
THE CONFESSION (Costa-Gavras, 1970)
FAT CITY (John Huston, 1972)
THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE (Victor Erice, 1973)
A SPECIAL DAY (Ettore Scola, 1977)
UNRELATED (Joanna Hogg, 2008)
THE SAPPHIRES (Wayne Blair, 2012)
MUSEUM HOURS (Jem Cohen, 2012)
THE ASSISTANT (Kitty Green, 2019)
Hall of Fame
Patrick Friel, for his many years of service to the film community and especially as managing editor of Cine-File.
Dr. Allison Arwady, for appearing at the Gene Siskel Film Center for her screening choice, CONTAGION, and for autographing my mask.
📽 Jonathan Leithold-Patt
My Top 10 of 2021:
1. MEMORIA (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
2. BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN (Radu Jude)
3. TICK, TICK... BOOM! (Lin-Manuel Miranda)
4. LICORICE PIZZA (Paul Thomas Anderson)
5. C'MON C'MON (Mike Mills)
6. A HERO (Asghar Farhadi)
7. DUNE: PART ONE (Denis Villeneuve)
8. RED ROCKET (Sean Baker)
9. LUCA (Enrico Casarosa)
10. THE LOST DAUGHTER (Maggie Gyllenhaal)
📽 Ben Sachs
Favorite new releases of 2021:
1. MEMORIA (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
2. BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN (Radu Jude)
3. ANNETTE (Leos Carax)
4. THE SOUVENIR: PART II (Joanna Hogg)
5. A COP MOVIE (Alonso Ruizpalacios)
6. BABI YAR. CONTEXT (Sergei Loznitsa)
7. FAYA DAYI (Jessica Beshir)
8. NO SUDDEN MOVE (Steven Soderbergh)
9. LICORICE PIZZA (Paul Thomas Anderson)
10. THE POWER OF THE DOG (Jane Campion)
Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order):
AZOR (Andreas Fontana), BENEDETTA (Paul Verhoeven), CRY MACHO (Eastwood), THE DISCIPLE (Chaitanya Tamhane), DRIVE MY CAR (Ryusuke Hamaguchi), FABIAN: GOING TO THE DOGS (Dominik Graf), LINGUI: THE SACRED BONDS (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun), OLD (M. Night Shyamalan), RED POST ON ESCHER STREET (Sion Sono), THE UNITED STATES VS BILLIE HOLIDAY (Lee Daniels)
I also want to give special mention to Adam Curtis’ six-part, eight-hour essay series CAN’T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD, which premiered on the BBC in February and quickly got disseminated online. Intellectually provocative, exhaustive, and (deliberately) exhausting, this “emotional history of the modern world” spurred some of the most stimulating conversations I had all year.
📽 Kat Sachs
Here’s a list of my favorite films released in 2021:
1. THE POWER OF THE DOG (Jane Campion)
2. THE SOUVENIR: PART II (Joanna Hogg)
3. ANNETTE (Leos Carax and Sparks)
4. WEST SIDE STORY (Steven Spielberg)
5. THE LOST DAUGHTER (Maggie Gyllenhaal)
6. GREAT FREEDOM (Sebastian Meise)
7. NORTH BY CURRENT (Angelo Madsen Minax)
8. ZOLA (Janicza Bravo)
9. SPENCER (Pablo Larraín)
10. MEMORIA (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
📽Michael Smith
My 10 Favorite Films of 2021:
10. FAYA DAYI (Jessica Beshir)
9. IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE (Hong Sang-soo)
8. THE SOUVENIR PART II (Joanna Hogg)
7. BENEDETTA (Paul Verhoeven)
6. CRY MACHO (Clint Eastwood)
5. ANNETTE (Leos Carax)
4. THE POWER OF THE DOG (Jane Campion)
3. SHADOW KINGDOM (Alma Har'el)
2. DRIVE MY CAR (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
1. WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
For a list of Smith’s ten runners-up and commentary and links to capsule reviews, visit his blog.
📽 Drew Van Weelden
Here are my favorite new releases:
THE CARD COUNTER (Paul Schrader)
C'MON C'MON (Mike Mills)
DRIVE MY CAR (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
DUNE (Denis Villeneuve)
FABIAN: GOING TO THE DOGS (Dominik Graf)
FAYA DAYI (Jessica Beshir)
THE FRENCH DISPATCH (Wes Anderson)
THE HUMANS (Stephen Karam)
MAD GOD (Phil Tippett)
PIG (Michael Sarnoski)
SPENCER (Pablo Larraín)
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME (Jon Watts)
TITANE (Julia Docournau)
WEST SIDE STORY (Steven Spielberg)
WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
Also, if I can shout out some shows I am gonna list a few noteworthy things from this year!
Arcane (Christian Linke and Alex Yee)
The Beatles: Get Back (Peter Jackson)
Midnight Mass (Mike Flanagan)
Succession - Season 3 (Jesse Armstrong)