BEST MOVIES OF 2021 (Lists)

[Chris Knipp]

I was confusing FIRST COW with PIG (just joking), which I haven't watched. I saw FIRST COW at the NYFF and remember where I was sitting, which is usually a good sign about a movie-watch. My Ten Best lists are often very approximate, easily may not be the actually best. But I make the list, unlike you who take three years to make a list. That isn't of much value to anybody but you.
CAHIERS usually hates everything everybody else loves, but I always look for where their review of a film ranks on ALLOCINE, and also INROCKUPTIBLES, because they take independent stands.
AZOR was good and got good reviews after I saw it.
I loved HAND OF GOD, I won't give that up. But SPENCER and KING RICHARD may not stand the test of time. CARD COUNTER, I'm not sure....
I seem to have missed QUO VADIS, AIDA. Some very good reviewers, ones I respect a lot, are cited for it on Metacritic.

[oscar jubis]

Another film (that I think was a 2021 release) that I watched recently and would make my Top 10 is NOCHE DE FUEGO aka PRAYERS FOR THE STOLEN. This is the first fiction feature of Tatiana Huezo, a documentarian primarily concerned with the experience of violence in Central America and Mexico from a female perspective. It was part of the NYFF last year. But it was seen by a relatively low number of critics compared with other films with recognizable or famous actors and bigger advertising and marketing budgets. All 14 reviews on metacritic are "positive". I think that part of what facilitates a good performance in these lists, generally speaking, is the exposure that the film has had. There are movies that make it into few top 10s because few people have seen them. You can have a sense of a film's exposure by the number of critics' review it receives. In Metacritic, for example. "Prayers for the Stolen" has 14 reviews; a film directed by an Almodovar or a Campion, with stars, gets over 40 reviews and a better chance to get into the lists than films of equal quality that few people get to watch (for many reasons).

[Chris Knipp]

As you see my NYFF coverage was incomplete last year and I haven't caught up on this one. 14 years on Metacritic isn't bad. Almodovar or Campion is an unfair comparison.

[Chris Knipp]

PIG (Michael Sarnoski 2021)

I caught up on this highly praised film of last year today on Amazon, perhaps because I was thinking of seeing Andrea Arnold's COW to catch up on this year's most admired). It's a slow, distinctive little film shot in 20 days, set Oregon about a reclusive truffle hunter (Nicolas Cage) whose companion and truffle-hunting tool has been kidnapped. Some think its rich in many-layered meanings (Mike D'Angelo, for instance), others think it's shallow and pseudo-profound (Richard Brody). All agree it's one of Cage's best performances, and an impressively tamped-down one. It's No. 14 on IndieWire's 50 Best Movies of 2021 list and 82% Metacritic rating. A unique little movie that may be especially thought-provoking for those interested in the mystique surrounding food and trendy restaurants - if you've sat through a lot of Nicolas Cage performances and want to see him do something that shows what he's really capable of.