Best Film of 2021: My Top 13 — So Far
With cinemas closed for the better part of the first six months, streaming became a cinephile’s best friend. From VOD to Netflix, Hulu…
With cinemas closed for the better part of the first six months, streaming became a cinephile’s best friend. From VOD to Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max (among many, many other options), there was a plethora of film to behold. If the pandemic has proven anything when it comes to consumption of pop culture it’s that there is no one right way to get it in front of your eyeballs. There’s nothing like watching a movie in a cinema. However, it’s nice to know in this crazy, uncertain world that you can be safe and get your movie fix, regardless of location or screen size.
Wanna know what’s worth watching that you might have missed? Wanna see if your favorite made the cut? Cast your peepers below.
13) Moxie
Shy teen Vivian (a delightful Hadley Robinson) finds her voice when a new friend and her mom’s rebellious past inspire her to create a ‘zine calling out the rampant sexism at her high school in this adaptation of the Jennifer Mathieu novel. A fun, aspiring call to arms with a kickass soundtrack and a winsome cast, including Amy Poehler, who also directed.
12) Dance of the 41
Ignacio de la Torre led a double life. To the world, he was the son-in-law to the President with political aspirations of his own. To those who knew him best, he was a closeted homosexual and belonged to a secret society whose members celebrated their sexuality — and he had just fallen in love. Set in late 19th Century Mexico and based on a true story, the film features a strong turn by Alfonso Herrera and an emotional gut punch of an ending.
11) Plan B
After throwing a party (without parental permission, natch) in the hope of luring their potential love interests, two best friends cross state lines in a race against time to get the Plan B pill and end up on a raucous road trip with wildly unexpected results. Kuhoo Verma and Victoria Moroles shine as the besties who have each other’s backs no matter what. Natalie Morales’ directorial debut will leave with you a smile on your face and a yen for your BFF.
10) Shiva Baby
A sex worker walks into a Jewish wake…. What follows is a service filled with increasingly uncomfortable encounters for college student Danielle (a wonderful Rachel Sennott) who arrives with her parents in tow and finds her life flashing before her eyes in the worst possible ways. Cringe comedy at its best, the film never hides its beating heart or its sense of humor, proudly displaying both whenever possible.
9) Riders of Justice
Mads Mikkelsen gives a bravura performance as a grieving husband who must learn to reconnect with his daughter after a horrific train crash kills his wife and her mother. The soldier turns his attention instead on enacting revenge on the alleged perpetrator of the incident inciting a wildly surprising chain effect. This dark thriller/screwball gem comes from the brilliant Anders Thomas Jensen, who always knows how best to use his cast, especially his leading man.
8) Raya and the Last Dragon
One of the best Disney animated films to emerge from the studio, this tale of a young woman’s quest to save her people and reunite with her father by tracking down the last dragon in the realm seamlessly weaves humor, heart, pathos, and legend into a captivating tapestry. A first-rate voice cast led by Kelly Marie Tran and Awkwafina, and a team of talented artists deliver the goods in this gorgeous epic.
7) Supernova
Hopelessly devoted couple Tusker and Sam (Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth, both never better) are road tripping through England’s Lake District one last time before Tusker’s dementia completely takes hold. It’s a beautiful, powerful love story exquisitely rendered by Tucci and Firth, whose real-life, years long friendship bleeds through. Writer-director Harry Macqueen brings out the beauty in Tusker and Sam’s relationship via a delicate yet grounded script and a keen eye for the intricacies of their bond.
6) In the Heights
The musical that put Lin-Manuel Miranda on the map gets the big screen treatment and it’s every bit as magical as you would expect. Bodega owner Usnavi (a terrific Anthony Ramos) dreams of an idyllic life away from his beloved Washington Heights neighborhood. While he struggles with whether he should seize the opportunity and make his dream a reality, his friends are are also trying to follow their own desires in order to live their best lives. Boisterous, passionate, magnetic, director Jon M. Chu delivers a valentine to the lovers and the dreamers in all of us.
5) The Mitchells vs the Machines
Fresh, original, and hilarious, this is what all family-friendly, animated comedies should aspire to be. What starts as a typical family road trip to drop young filmmaker Katie off at film school turns out to be anything but when an irate AI, pissed that she was tossed aside by the tech wunderkind who created her for a newer model, decides to take over the world. The Mitchells are far from your stereotypical nuclear family and the story is better for it. A fantastic voice cast featuring Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Eric Andre, and Olivia Colman only cement how brilliantly executed this film is.
4) The World To Come
The frontier was a wild, untamed place. This also can describe a love that burns bright between two people. A pair of very different neighboring couples are put to the test not only by the difficulty of carving out a life in an unforgiving environment, but by the intimate bond born between the wives who unwittingly fall for each other. Stunning in its raw beauty and in the delicate, fiery chemistry between leads Katherine Waterston and Vanessa Kirby, its poetry will stir your soul.
3) Judas and the Black Messiah
The infiltration of the Black Panthers’ Illinois chapter in the late 1960s by an FBI informant is the focus of this taut, powerful film that for many will serve as introduction to the man under the Feds’ scrutiny, chairman Fred Hampton. LaKeith Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya score a one-two punch as informant William O’Neal and Hampton, respectively. Strikingly relevant, it’s a sobering reminder that the fight continues and how little has changed after fifty years.
2) Saint Maud
Writer-director Rose Glass crafts an audacious masterwork regardless of genre. Young nurse Maud (Morfydd Clark in a breakout performance) is a devout Christian who seeks a higher purpose and believes she finds it when she’s sent to care for caustic artist Amanda (Jennifer Ehle, having a ball). To say anything more would be a sin. Fantastical while emotionally grounded, it’s an experience you’re unlikely to repeat.
1) Promising Young Woman
Carey Mulligan’s dark avenger targets men who take sexual advantage of impaired women without giving it a second thought — or paying the price for their actions. A brilliant, subversive morality play that has more twists and turns than your big budget thrillers, this is one of the films you’ll want to gift to your female friends. Mulligan, turning in one of her best performances, is a natural fit with writer-director Emerald Fennell’s fantastically clever mind. May this be the first of many projects for them.
BEST OF THE REST
Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar; The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It; Cruella; Luca; One Night in Miami…; and A Quiet Place Part II.
Joanne Thornborough is pop culture junkie with a particular love for film, TV and the printed word. Find her at @cinelitchick on Twitter.