Top Fifteen Films of 2021
- Heather German
- Jan 22, 2022
- 12 min read
Now that we’ve gone over the worst films of the past year, let’s talk about some of the best. 2021 was a monumental year for independent and foreign releases, and we also saw some honest to goodness genre pics and Blockbusters creeping back into the fold to provide some much-needed variety. So much that was postponed in 2020 finally found its way to theaters, and a whole batch of fresh new titles came out as well.
So today I’d like to reflect on the best films that 2021 had to offer. The year’s best were bold, creative visions that centered humanity and its many quirks and struggles in intimate, empathetic ways. They pushed the envelope in fascinating and innovative ways, and showcased old masters and new, fresh talents alike in top form.
Without further ado, let’s begin.
First, some honorable mentions…
Cryptozoo: Cryptozoo is a dazzlingly animated feast for the eyes, a whimsical and bittersweet adventure that simultaneously explores ideas of otherness, conservationism and anti-capitalist critique. Its unique style and weird story might be a little too off-putting for some, but for those who want to see what kind of weird stories independent animators are capable of telling, this is absolutely a must-watch.
Dune: Dune is a bit of a tough beast for me to talk about because it fails to live up to its full potential for one inevitable reason; it’s literally incomplete. We will have to wait until Dune: Part Two in 2023 to properly evaluate this film, but in the meantime, it’s genuinely refreshing to see a large Hollywood blockbuster with a genuine sense of scope, texture and atmosphere to it. A captivating experience all around, though one that will need re-evaluation in years to come.
Love, Spells and All That: Easily the most niche film on this list, Love, Spells and All That is a low budget queer Turkish character drama that more than makes up its lack of resources with some of the most vibrant and human characters of the year. So much of this film is just people talking, but the performances are authentic and heartfelt and every word draws you into the story of these two women and the tragic lost love that continues to bind them together after 20 years. But tragedy soon turns to hope, and with it comes a catharsis that most big budget Hollywood films would kill to have.
Playing With Sharks: The first of many excellent documentaries to appear on this list, Playing With Sharks is at times nostalgic, at times whimsical, at times quite mournful, but always inspiring. It not only pays homage to a legendary figure in marine conservation, but also leaves you with a desire to explore the world and nature, to have fun and appreciate and love the wildlife around us, especially those creatures who are the most misunderstood.
The Tragedy of Macbeth: A refreshingly stripped back approach to the classic story, shaving away the epic battles and typical period piece flourishes in favor of stark, black and white photography and simple yet impressionistic sets that create one of the most palpable atmospheres of any film released this year. Joel Coen is an absolute master of his craft, and Denzel Washington brings a new layer of introspective pathos to the titular role.
15. My First Summer
Director: Katie Found
Cast: Arthur Angel, Markella Kavenagh, Steve Mouzakis
Synopsis: Isolated Claudia hides away on a remote property after her mother's death. Shocked when spirited local teen Grace appears in her garden, the pair find support and love in each other.
Genre: Drama, Romance
This film is chicken soup for the teenage lesbian soul. It’s simple nearly to a fault, but it’s such a soft, tender, dazzlingly bright cinematic experience that I can’t help but love it. It did something that only a special set of films can do; it made me feel emotions that were entirely my own, that I wanted to keep as my own, and not share with anybody else. The story of these two girls in their private home hidden away just for them is like a precious fable with some darker undertones beneath that all come to a head in a bittersweet ending that manages to at least be somewhat hopeful for the future, which is all too rare in lesbian cinema.
14. Censor
Director: Prano Bailey-Bond
Cast: Niamh Algar, Michael Smiley, Nicholas Burns
Synopsis: After viewing a strangely familiar video nasty, Enid, a film censor, sets out to solve the past mystery of her sister's disappearance, embarking on a quest that dissolves the line between fiction and reality.
Genre: Horror, Mystery
I could talk about how Prano Bailey-Bond’s debut film Censor is a bit scattershot in both its artistic critique and its central mystery, but that’s really missing the point of why I love this film so much. This is one of the most atmospheric horror films I’ve seen in a long time, dripping with the dreary, paranoid atmosphere of 1980’s London and the moral panics plaguing it. Niamh Algar’s performance is incredible, and her descent into madness is slow, painstaking and highly surreal, just the way I like it. Even the apparent plotholes and inconsistent societal critiques feed into this; it’s a confused, angry film trying desperately to point fingers out of a desperate ploy for control - just like the time period it represents, and just like its tormented protagonist. It’s also an incredibly fun ode to a particularly grisly moment in film history.
13. Promising Young Woman
Director: Emerald Fennell
Cast: Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie
Synopsis: A young woman, traumatized by a tragic event in her past, seeks out vengeance against those who crossed her path.
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Promising Young Woman is a film that shook me to my core. While its trailer promises an almost inappropriately “sexy” and “edgy” revenge thriller, the actual film subverts all expectations, becoming a story not about the actions of evil men but about the trauma of their victims, unable to move on from the past because of a world which never provided justice. Promising Young Woman is one of the most thorough and scathing critiques of rape culture I’ve seen from a film even somewhat mainstream, and it seemingly left no stone unturned in its brutal quest to discover every shred of culpability in society, in individuals, and even the viewer themselves. Far from an easy watch, but an important one, and while I am still not entirely sure how I feel about its ending, I don’t think it ruins the experience either.
12. Pig
Director: Michael Sarnoski
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Alex Wolff, Adam Arkin
Synopsis: A truffle hunter who lives alone in the Oregonian wilderness must return to his past in Portland in search of his beloved foraging pig after she is kidnapped.
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Lots of films have been made recently about the nature of grief and loss, but few have been as quietly devastating as Michael Sarnoski’s Pig. With a bleak atmosphere and perhaps the best Nicolas Cage performance in decades, Pig is ultimately a film about a man whose agony shattered his view of the world; struck down every social construct we hold up to keep the despair at bay and left him alone and broken. In the end, though, it’s also a film that eventually arrives at a very quiet but powerful catharsis; it reminds us that while most of society is built upon fabrication, the bonds and the memories that we share with each other are perhaps the only exceptions. I’m not ashamed to say that this movie made me sob.
11. Little Girl
Director: Sébastien Lifshitz
Cast: Sasha
Synopsis: The touching portrait of eight-year-old Sasha, who questions her gender and in doing so, evokes the sometimes disturbing reactions of a society that is still invested in a biological boy-girl way of thinking.
Genre: Documentary
One of the most touching and earnest films of the year, Little Girl is a stunning vérité documentary following a French family and their young transgender daughter as they struggle to gain society’s acceptance. There are moments of pain and heartbreak, but what’s refreshing about Little Girl is that it’s far less concerned with the pain of ostracization than it is with the wonders of acceptance. Every member of this girl’s family is staunchy committed to supporting and protecting her, and the result is a trans girl with a genuine chance at a happy, fulfilling childhood. It’s an absolutely beautiful thing to see, and by the time the credits roll, you’ll be almost as attached to this young girl as her own family.
10. C’mon C’mon
Director: Mike Mills
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Gaby Hoffman, Woody Norman
Synopsis: When his sister asks him to look after her son, a radio journalist embarks on a cross-country trip with his energetic nephew to show him life away from Los Angeles.
Genre: Drama
Mike Mills’ C’mon C’mon is a film that feels incredibly important and meaningful without ever feeling full of itself. In fact, it couldn’t be more quaint. It’s a story about love and family and communication, but most of all, it’s about how adults and children need each other. Children need adults to protect them, to show them a world that they can belong in, to help find who they want to be, and adults need children to remind them how to live in the moment and have fun and feel joy and wonder and love. C’mon C’mon says all of that without being a prescriptive and socially conservative lecture on the importance of parenthood, because it’s not a film encourage you to have your own kids; it’s something far more simple yet universal than that.
9. A Sexplanation
Director: Alex Liu
Cast: Laurie Betito, Kristen Gilbert, Donal Godfrey
Synopsis: To right the wrongs of his all-American sex education, a 36-year-old goes on a quest to uncover naked truths and hard facts - no matter how awkward it gets. He's on a mission to strip away his sexual shame by meeting with the researchers and educators who are helping us build a healthier, sexier future.
Genre: Documentary
A Sexplanation is perhaps the most mainstream-friendly rallying cry for sex positivity I’ve seen. It’s funny, charming, relatable, oddly wholesome and incredibly good at starting a conversation. I watched it with a friend and we spent more time discussing the film and how it related to our own lives than we did watching it. Alex Liu advocates for comprehensive sex education while also trying to figure out where it all went wrong in our country, showcasing the ways in which our system has failed in this area while never getting tooupsetting. It’s light-hearted and fun, but it’s also incredibly important. It’s a fascinating journey, and definitely one I’ll remember for a while yet.
8. Shiva Baby
Director: Emma Seligman
Cast: Rachel Sennott, Danny Deferrari, Fred Melamed
Synopsis: At a Jewish funeral service with her parents, a college student runs into her sugar daddy.
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Shiva Baby captures the anxiety of post-grad life better than any film I’ve ever seen. Throughout it’s entire runtime, I found myself flashing back to all the times I had to explain to my relatives what my major even was, answer questions about plans after college, pretend I was living up to everyone’s high expectations while the truth was I was terrified. Shiva Baby takes that tension and amps it up to 11, providing what is at once an absurd, intense melodrama and also a genuine commentary on the difficulties of young adult life. It’s an anxiety-inducing chaotic bisexual mess, and quite frankly an astonishingly difficult watch for something that’s mostly just a dark comedy about people talking, but it’s incredibly rewarding.
7. The Night House
Director: David Bruckner
Cast: Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg, Vondie Curtis-Hall
Synopsis: A widow begins to uncover her recently deceased husband's disturbing secrets.
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
There’s a very specific type of allegorical ghost story that’s starting to run its course, but David Bruckner’s The Night House manages to make it fresh and scary again. Starring Rebecca Hall in one of the most underrated performances of the year, The Night House is a story about grief, depression and hopelessness in the face of loss and death. It’s a gripping mystery and an incredibly bleak and frightening portrayal of depression and suicidal ideation, and it was one of my personal favorite experiences of the year. Even the ending, which some have criticized, remained lodged in my mind and still sends chills up my spine now as I’m thinking about it.
6. Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror
Director: Kier-La Janisse
Cast: Kevin Kölsch, Dennis Widmyer, Piers Haggard
Synopsis: WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED explores the folk horror phenomenon from its beginnings in a trilogy of films - Michael Reeves' Witchfinder General (1968), Piers Haggard's Blood on Satan's Claw (1971) and Robin Hardy's The Wicker Man (1973) - through its proliferation on British television in the 1970s and its culturally specific manifestations in American, Asian, Australian and European horror, to the genre's revival over the last decade. Touching on over 100 films and featuring over 50 interviewees, WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED investigates the many ways that we alternately celebrate, conceal and manipulate our own histories in an attempt to find spiritual resonance in our surroundings.
Genre: Documentary
What was once supposed to be a DVD special feature expanded into a full 3 and a half hour documentary deep dive into the history and relevance of the folk horror genre. This is part love letter, part encyclopedia, part academic critique, and it is unbelievably comprehensive and chalk full of atmosphere, heart and admiration. It’s three hours long but not a second feels wasted; every moment has something interesting to say; every new topic brings something interesting to the table. This is an utterly fascinating documentary that may be my personal favorite of the year, and would be the best if it weren’t for one that was just slightly above it.
5. Licorice Pizza
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn
Synopsis: The story of Alana Kane and Gary Valentine growing up, running around and going through the treacherous navigation of first love in the San Fernando Valley, 1973.
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Okay okay, stick with me on this one. Paul Thomas Anderson films are monumental events in the world of cinema. Even when his films don’t entirely hit (looking at you Inherent Vice) they’re still incredibly interesting, ambitious and well-crafted. He’s a master of the art form and has more control of subtext and tone than almost any other director working in the business. The relationship at the heart of Licorice Pizza is toxic and problematic, but in my eyes the film is well aware of this, and is most concerned with trying to understand why these two people keep circling around each other, unable to break away but unsure if they should really get closer. It’s a story of two people trying desperately to grow up but unable to do so. Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the only filmmmakers who could have pulled off this pitch-perfect tightrope of tone off, and the result is truly exhilarating to behold.
4. Nomadland
Director: Chloé Zhao
Cast: Frances McDormand, David Strathairn, Linda May
Synopsis: A woman in her sixties, after losing everything in the Great Recession, embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
Genre: Drama
There’s never been a time in my life more than this past year where I’ve wanted to just hit the road and drive far away from all of my worries. Of course, there isn’t really anywhere that the pandemic hasn’t already hit, but the urge remains regardless. Nomadland is a beautiful film about the landscapes and people of the American countryside, and the freedom and self-actualization that can still come with aging and loss. It could use a more biting critique of the systems that cast its protagonist out in the first place, but her journeys are absolutely incredible to witness, and the way it’s shot and edited hit it all home. This is one that will stay with me for a long, long time.
3. Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Director: Questlove
Cast: Dorinda Drake, Barbara Bland-Acosta, Darryl Lewis
Synopsis: Summer Of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) is a feature documentary about the legendary 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival which celebrated African American music and culture, and promoted Black pride and unity.
Genre: Documentary, Music
Summer of Soul is an incredibly important document of a crucial but forgotten touchstone of Black culture in the 1960’s, and it was a privilege to see it brought to life in this manner. On those merits alone, Summer of Soul is an important and incredible concert film with some absolutely stunning footage, but it takes things one step further and smoothly integrates interviews and talking heads with musicians and crowd members who were there, demonstrating the relevance and importance of the music and culture to the wider societal movements occuring at the time. This blend of concert film and conventional documentary creates an ingenious collage of Black culture and civil rights solidarity that is easily the best documentary of 2021.
2. The Green Knight
Director: David Lowery
Cast: Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgarton
Synopsis: A fantasy retelling of the medieval story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
I still haven’t seen David Lowery’s critically acclaimed A Ghost Story, but if The Green Knight is anything to go off of I’ve got to get on that ASAP. This retelling of the classic epic poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is slow, ponderous and abstract in the best way, creating a suffocatingly thick medieval atmosphere while telling an incredibly rich and emotionally resonant story about honor, consequences and masculinity. Every single shot is beautiful and fascinating, every twist and turn brings something new and interesting to the table, and the ending is quite possibly the best of any film released this year. I was left absolutely speechless by this epic, and it’s one of the two films this year I actually saw in theaters twice.
1. Titane
Director: Julia Ducournau
Cast: Vincent London, Agathe Rousselle, Garance Marillier
Synopsis: Following a series of unexplained crimes, a father is reunited with the son who has been missing for 10 years. Titane: A metal highly resistant to heat and corrosion, with high tensile strength alloys.
Genre: Drama, Horror, Science Fiction
I’m not sure what’s crazier about about Julia Ducournau’s newest shocker; the actual plot itself, which takes twists and turns that most directors couldn’t even dream up on a drug trip, or the fact that somehow this film, with all of its grisly violence and grotesque subject matter, somehow winds up being one of the most charming, heartwarming and thematically consistent character drama I’ve ever seen. This is the kind of film that you should go into 100% blind – even the synopsis I posted above is highly misleading. It’s an incredibly grotesque work to be sure, but for those who can stomach it it’s one of the most rewarding and enriching experiences of the year, with themes of love, connection, gender, sexuality and identity telling an incredible story. Simply sublime.
And that’s a wrap on 2021! It’s been quite the year of highs and lows, but despite everything there were some incredible films released. These are my top fifteen (plus a few more) but everyone’s list is bound to be different! I’m interested to hear yours, and I’m excited to move forward into 2022! I’m hoping to do some more reviewing this year, so stay tuned!
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