BEST MOVIES OF 2021 (Lists)

[Chris Knipp]

Chris Knipp's 2021 Best Movie Lists
Films for a not-yet-final annual movie best list for 2021:
Favorite features and documentaries of the Year among those that I have seen so far. Some are films I saw last year that had theatrical release this year.

A work in progress.

Categories IndieWire asks you to list: Best Film (top 10), Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best First Film, Best Documentary, Best Performance, Best International Film, and the Best 2022 Release You've Already Seen.

Favorite features
THE HAND OF GOD/È STATA LA MANO DI DIO (Sorrentino) - seen and added later
THE FRENCH DISPATCH (Anderson)
THE CARD COUNTER (Schrader)
KING RICHARD (Green)
THE SOUVENIR: PART II (Hogg)
ABOUT ENDLESSNESS (Andersson)
THE DISCIPLE (Tamhane 2020) - but seen in the virtual NYFF last year
UNDINE (Petzold)
SPENCER (LARRAÍN)
BEGINNING (Kulumbegashvili) - same as THE DISCIIPLE
THE DIG (Stone)
WIFE OF A SPY (Kurosawa)

Also liked:
THE VIGIL (Thomas)
TITANE (Dumoustier)
DUNE (Villeneuve)
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH (King)
NIGHT OF THE KINGS (Lacote)
PASSING (Hall)
I CARRY YOU WITH ME (Ewing)
RIDERS OF JUSTICE (Jensen)
TICK, TICK...BOUM! (Larson)
SUMMER OF 85 (Ozon)
AZOR (Fontana)
THE FEAST (Jones)
DAYS (Tsai Ming-liang)

Best Documentaries:
THE RESCUE (Chin, Evasarhelyi)
THE THINGS WE DARE NOT DO (Razo)
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND (Haynes)
SABAYA (Hirori)
SUMMER OF SOUL (Thompson)*
ACASĂ, MY HOME (Ciorniciuc)
YOUNG PLATO (McGrath, Ní Chianáin)

Other 2021 films I also need to see
(when I have seen these, my favorites list may change):
BEING THE RICARDOS (Sorkin) - seen, did not like
COMPARTMENT NO. 6 (Kuosmanen)
DRIVE MY CAR (Hamaguchi)
LICORICE PIZZA (P.T. Anderson) - seen, somewhat disappointed
MEMORIA (Weerasethakul)
NIGHTMARE ALLEY (Del Toro)
THE POWER OF THE DOG (Campion)- seen, chilled but impressed
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH (Coen)
DON'T LOOK UP (McKay)- seen; witty but not successful as a movie
WEST SIDE STORY (Spielberg) - coming Dec. 9/10
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*But I have to remember that SUMMER OF SOUL is ruined despite its great performances by constant interruption for commentary and historical footage.

...and also the remaining NYFF 2021 Main Slate films I've not seen yet, a few of which I might like:--at least the starred ones:
*PARALLEL MOTHERS (Almodóvar) - seen, liked
CHIARA (JCarpignano)
*AHED'S KNEE (Lapid)
BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN (Jude) - seen, not much liked
*BENEDETTA (Verhoeven)
IL BUCO (Framarttino)
THE FIRST 54 YEARS (Moghrabi)
*FLEE (Rasmussen)
FUTURA (Marcello, Munzi, Rohrwacher)
THE GIRL AND THE SPIDER (R and S Zurcher)
*HIT THE ROAD (Panahi)
OTHER Hong Sangsoo film
INTEGRALDE (Munteen)
*NEPTUNE FROST (Williams, Uzeyman)
*PETITE MAMAN (Sciamma)
PRAYERS FOR THE STOLEN (Huezo)
UNCLENCHING THE FISTS (Kovalenko)
VORTEX (Noe)
*THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (Trier)

Additional 2021 releases I'd forgotten:

THE REASON I JUMP (Jerry Rothwell)

A HERO (Asghar Farhadi) METACRITIC reviews (80%)