After having to watch the bulk of our films from our living rooms in 2020, the slow but sure return to cinemas in 2021 was more than welcome. And the year rewarded us with many Top 10 list worthy contenders. I’ve narrowed mine down to the list below. You can also check out fellow film writer Chris Piper’s list here, as well as my 2020 list here. Now stop reading lists, and go seek these out!
- 10.) Nightmare Alley
For his follow up to his 2017 Oscar-winner The Shape of Water, Director Guillermo del Toro has made this second film adaptation (the first was in 1947) of the 1946 novel of the same name. del Toro proves himself a virtuoso of classic noir here, as he immerses us in the seedy life of carnies, grifters, and con artists. Bradley Cooper, Rooney Mara, and Cate Blanchett, as the iciest of icy femme fatales, helm the all-star cast. They bring us a gritty but beautifully shot tale of arrogance, determination, and survival in the face of an unforgiving, cold, cruel world of haves and have nots.
A sequel that’s as good as–or better than–its original is a rare find, but actor turned writer/director John Krasinski manages to make that happen here. In this continuation of his original 2018 picture about monsters who prey when they hear the slightest sound, Krasinski keeps the seat-gripping thrills of the first film while also adding a deeper theme about the resiliency and strength of children. Deaf actress Millicent Simmonds carries the picture, and her bravery and ferocity easily equal more seasoned adult action movie heroines like Sigourney Weaver’s iconic Ripley.
8.) The Dry
A murder mystery in which both the central character (Eric Bana’s investigator Aaron) and the parched setting become as fascinating as the whodunnit, this Australian feature played the San Francisco Film Festival in April before its theatrical run in May. Bana’s deft portrayal of a man confronting his past in a place he’d just as soon forget makes for a psychologically taut, True Detective-esque noir thriller.
7.) Drive My Car
This adaptation of acclaimed Japanese author Haruki Murakimi’s 2014 short story of the same name has already garnered a host of awards and nominations, and with good reason. The Japanese-language film clocks in at three hours, but you’ll hardly notice the time passing, and will wish for more time with the film’s leads, theater director Yusuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and his driver Misaki Watari (Toko Miura). The slow building of trust and connection between the pair unspools in an unhurried and natural way, and is beautiful to watch. A meditation on grief, art, relationships, and the power of kindness, director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s film shouldn’t be missed.
6.) Power of the Dog
Oscar-winning writer/director Jane Campion (The Piano) drops us into the sparse landscape of 1920s Montana in this gothic neo-western psychological drama about a rancher, George (Jesse Plemons), who takes a new bride, Rose (Kirsten Dunst), much to the dismay of his hard-hearted brother, Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch). A subtle but constant sense of danger and foreboding pervades the picture, and Campion takes her time unfolding the story so that by the time the film ends, we’re surprised, awed, and impressed. Dunst, Plemons, and especially Benedict Cumberbatch and Kodi Smit-McPhee (who got his start in another smart Western) as Rose’s more-than-meets-the-eye son Peter all are at the top of their game under Campion’s flawless direction. This picture is one you’ll want to watch more than once to fully appreciate its extraordinary complexity and depth.
5.) The Lost Daughter
Not everyone is meant to be a mother, and even those who are may experience regrets or ambivalence. Actress turned writer/director Maggie Gyllenhaal, adapting Elena Ferrante’s novel of the same name, takes this seldom talked about truth and spins an often tense, sometimes uncomfortable, but always mesmerizing story. Leda (Olivia Colman) meets a young mother (Dakota Johnson) while on a solo vacation in Greece, and their interactions spur memories of Leda’s own time as a young mother (Jessie Buckley, in flashbacks). Sharply directed, painfully poignant, and always authentic, Gyllenhaal’s picture is a bold and penetrating look at a topic that has seldom been examined on screen before with such piercing acuity.
4.) Being the Ricardos
The truth is both compressed and stretched a bit in writer/director Aaron Sorkin’s biographical drama about Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, but this poetic license more than works. The film is an absorbing treat not just for I Love Lucy fans, but for anyone who loves dishy, behind-the-scenes looks at some of Hollywood’s most famous subjects, especially the infamous Hollywood blacklist and infidelity. I was as skeptical as anyone about Nicole Kidman portraying Lucille Ball, but she manages to inhabit Lucy fully. J.K. Simmons and Nina Arianda (as Fred and Ethel actors William Frawley and Vivian Vance) nearly steal the show from Kidman and Javier Bardem’s Desi, and supporting turns by Arrested Development alumni Alia Shawkat and Tony Hale also make the picture a lot of fun.
3.) Coda
Director Sian Heder’s Sundance Film Festival’s triple threat winner brings new dimensions to the typical coming of age picture by focusing on a hearing Child Of Deaf Adults (CODA). Ruby (Emilia Jones) not only must deal with typical teenage growing pains, but also struggles under the pressure of being the essential support to her deaf parents and brother, at a time when independence begins to beckon. Heder turns what could have been sappy after-school-special material into an emotionally rich, layered, and deeply affecting family drama.
2.) Worth
Back in 2015, Sara Colangelo’s under-appreciated Little Accidents made my Top 10, and now she’s back with this similarly underappreciated 9/11 drama. The film premiered at Sundance in 2020 and was released theatrically in late summer of this year, but seems to have been missed by many, which is a real shame. Based on a true story, the picture dramatizes the creation of the process by which the families of 9/11 victims received compensation for their losses. It features outstanding performances from Michael Keaton, Amy Ryan, and Stanley Tucci, as their characters grapple with the most difficult of philosophical questions: What is a life worth?
1.) The Rescue
This film is the first documentary I’ve selected as my number one in the seven years I’ve posted my annual Top 10 Films list. But Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi’s doc plays out like an exceptional feature film thriller, and is all the more intriguing for being an actual true story. The masterfully told drama about the rescue of a Thai boys’ soccer team trapped in a flooded underground cave chronicles an intense collaborative effort, involving divers, doctors, and engineers from numerous countries. The filmmakers had access to never-before-seen footage, and obtained insightful interviews with key players, including the widow of a dead rescue diver and the man who oversaw the rescue operations. The picture will reinforce your faith in the compassion, perseverance, and ability of humans to pull together when we need each other most.
Honorable Mentions: Street Gang: How we Got to Sesame Street, Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible, Old Henry
