Another year is now in the history books. 2021 had a lot more movies than 2020 did, and that made it harder to assemble a best movies list. This isn’t an exhaustive list: it’s skewed towards movies that I have seen, so sorry if you were expecting to see The Worst Person in the World or No Sudden Move. Feel free to share your own best of 2021 list in the comments!
Licorice Pizza
Paul Thomas Anderson crafts a strange romance around fifteen-year-old Gary (Cooper Hoffman, son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman) and twenty-six-year-old Alana (Alana Haim, from the band Haim). Gary is a successful child actor who declares, upon meeting Alana, that he’s going to marry her someday. If the age gap makes you nervous, don’t worry, you aren’t the only one.
As the two of them flirt with each other and get closer, they try to escape the smallness of their hometown, Encino and make it big. On the way, they meet characters from Hollywood portrayed by the likes of Sean Penn, Tom Waits, and Bradley Cooper. Infused with a great soundtrack, this seventies romp is full of the wide-eyed romance one encounters in their teen years.
The Last Duel
Ridley Scott’s latest period epic takes a Rashomon-style approach to its three perspectives, belonging to Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon), his wife, Margueritte (Jodie Comer) and his erstwhile friend, Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver). The movie begins at the titular duel and then works its way backward, showing how Jean became progressively more frustrated at Jacques winning their Lord, Pierre’s (Ben Affleck) favor and getting the lands and titles that Jean was supposed to get. This culminates in Margueritte accusing Jacques of raping her, and we see both her and Jacques’ perspectives on the traumatic event, showing how uncomfortably twisted the mindset of most men in that time period were.
The performances from the main cast are all great, and the climactic action sequence is good as any other battle that Scott has shot throughout his illustrious career.
Annette
Who would have thought we would see two Adam Driver-starring films back to back in this list? Annette is a delightfully weird musical about a couple falling in love and then falling apart, with the husband (Adam Driver) getting to raise their daughter, Annette, who seems to be just as musically gifted as her mother (Marion Cotillard). There are several strange choices, such as the very literal songs and the fact that Annette is played by a puppet for most of the runtime. As sweet and sincere as the movie is, it can also get quite dark. Adam Driver carries the movie with his performance, but Cotillard and also Simon Hellberg do well with their parts as well.
The French Dispatch
The French Dispatch might be Wes Anderson’s most eclectic movie yet. Combining the talents of Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Jeffrey Wright, Frances McDormand and Timothée Chalamet, among others, the movie tells a series of disparate stories tied together by the titular magazine. Some have called it a love letter to The New Yorker’s style of journalism. As usual, Wes Anderson puts his meticulous mastery of the silver screen on display with precisely cultivated images and humorous asides from the characters. Their stories vary wildly but they are all meditations on art, culture, revolution, and, of course, filmmaking itself.
CODA
CODA is a simple but heartwarming tale of a young girl, Ruby (Emilia Jones) who serves as the interpreter for her deaf family. Her priorities begin to shift when her music teacher encourages her to try out for Boston’s Berklee College of Music. When her family wants her to be more present and help them with their efforts to turn their fishing business around, she faces the dilemma of having to choose between her family and her passion. Director Sian Heder treats the subject matter with the utmost care and authenticity. All three members of Ruby’s family are portrayed by deaf actors, including Oscar winner Marlee Matlin. The Rossis feel like a real family with relatable chemistry and realistic problems, and the way the movie ends will tug on the heartstrings of even the most emotionally distant viewer.
Dune
Dune is a cinematic achievement that reminds me of the scale and scope of The Lord of the Rings movies when they came out almost two decades ago. Dune is large scale in almost every respect- from the sweeping vistas of Caladan and Arrakis to the rich worldbuilding attached to this world and its cultures. This is the property that feels like the most likely successor to Game of Thrones’ acclaim, although it’s in another genre altogether. The story centers around Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) as he grapples with his destiny and political subterfuge between his family and their rivals, the Harkonnens. Dune is an incomplete story, but hopefully, its sequel will live up to its promise.
The Green Knight
Dave Lowery’s The Green Knight is a fantasy film unlike any other. It puts a fresh spin on Gawain’s (Dev Patel) story, painting him as a doubtful young man who finds himself undertaking a momentous quest that’s likely to end in his death. It’s a surreal journey, taking Gawain through marshlands, fields, and forests where he encounters mysterious foxes, giants, and eventually, a temptress (Alicia Vikander). It’s the atmosphere that makes the film, with an ever-present unease that turns into dread. It’s also buoyed by great performances, not only from Patel and Vikander, but also from supporting actors such as Joel Edgerton, Erin Kellyman and Barry Keoghan. As great as the film is, it’s the ending that elevates it even further.
King Richard
It might seem like a strange choice to do a biopic about Venus and Serena Williams’ father instead of themselves, but King Richard pulls it off. Part sports film, part biopic, the film balances the sensibilities of both as it shows how Richard’s (Will Smith) relentless commitment shaped his daughters. Credit must also be given to their mother, who balances Richard’s intensity and teaches them to also trust their intuition. Perhaps, the biopic sanitizes too much of Richard’s behavior, but Smith’s performance carries the mostly conventional film through its two-and-a-half-hour runtime.
Pig
It’s hard to tell what you’re going to get from a Nicolas Cage performance these days. With Pig, fortunately, you get what is probably the best Cage performance in recent years. Pig is a pensive, sorrowful examination of a broken man who must come back to the world after years of self-imposed solitude. He is a reclusive truffle hunter who partners with his buyer Amir (Alex Wolff) to find his prize pig. Michael Sarnoski uses this narrative frame to show the different stages of loss and how people come to terms with it. Pig is far from the revenge thriller the trailers painted it as. In fact, it’s almost surprisingly quiet for most of the time, giving its protagonist ample space to reflect on his circumstances.
The Power of the Dog
The Power of the Dog is Jane Campion’s first film as a director since 2009, but she doesn’t seem to have missed a step. She contrasts sweeping vistas with tiny details in the 1920s Montana setting. The film is characterized by dueling perspectives on masculinity, championed by the mean-spirited but secretly erudite Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) on hand and the effeminate Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) on the other hand. Powered by solid performances and a great soundtrack by Jonny Greenwood, this is a book adaptation that changes key aspects of the story but still manages to tell a powerful story, including a climax that most people won’t see coming.
