I saw far fewer movies than my colleagues here at the SunBreak, so I don’t feel particularly well-equipped to attach any great overarching themes to the films of 2021.
The low-ish tally of 2021 releases under my belt also ensures that I missed some films that—had I seen them—would be well worth including here. And let’s not even get started on what a movie even is in the first place nowadays, what with streaming-only releases and limited series thoroughly muddying those waters.
If there is a unifying trait to my favorite films of the year, it’s that I either saw them in a theater, or that they offered the kind of visual storytelling that richly merited viewing them on a theater screen. Wonderful as streaming is, there’s a seismic visceral impact to meeting a movie on its own terms, in a darkened theater. And the ten films that most rocked my world in 2021 richly deserved presentation in that forum.
Below please find my Ten Favorite Movies of 2021.
10. Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro)
Guillermo del Toro’s take on Edmond Goulding’s 1947 adaptation of the William Lindsay Gresham novel doesn’t quite level the psychological or emotional gut-punch of the best films noir, but it remains one of the most succulent, irresistible boxes of cinematic eye candy I consumed all year.
(Nightmare Alley is currently in theaters.)
9. Pig (Michael Sarnoski)
Nicolas Cage’s acting work has been earmarked by operatic thespian excess for most of this century, so it’s downright thrilling to see Cage’s nuance and command as he carries Michael Sarnoski’s strange, surprisingly tender drama about a man searching for his kidnapped truffle pig.
(Pig is currently streaming on Hulu, and On Demand.)
8. The Sparks Brothers (Edgar Wright)
Sometimes all you need is a fascinating subject, and a filmmaker’s immeasurable love for said subject, to craft a satisfying documentary. Edgar Wright doesn’t blaze any new trails in the rock-doc pantheon here, but his subjects—eccentric siblings Ron and Russell Mael—have spent five decades puncturing rock pomp and cliches with the sharpest of pins, and Wright gleefully taps into the impish wit that centers the Maels’ sonic comic universe.
(The Sparks Brothers is currently streaming on Netflix, and On Demand.)
7. The Green Knight (David Lowery)
If you ever wondered what you’d get when noted indie slow-burn studio A24 puts its name on a fantasy blockbuster, wonder no more. I fell hard for this slow-burn, mesmerizing, immersive trek into the darkest of fairy-tale forests, and its surprising resonance as a meditation on mortality.
(The Green Knight is currently streaming on Demand.)
6. The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion)
Yes, Jane Campion’s latest is as languidly-paced as you’ve heard. Yes, there’s a lot of slow, slow, gradual buildup to its payoff. But that buildup ushers in one of the most satisfying denouements I saw in a 2021 feature film, and the cast acts the living hell out of it.
(The Power of the Dog is currently streaming on Netflix.)
5. East of the Mountains (SJ Chiro)
PNW filmmaker SJ Chiro’s sophomore feature reaffirms the director’s unerring gift for delivering universal truths in the most affectingly intimate of packages—this time anchored by a career-best performance from the criminally underrated Tom Skerritt.
(East of the Mountains is currently streaming at Amazon On Demand.)
4. The Card Counter (Paul Schrader)
Veteran writer/director Paul Schrader directs a defiant middle finger at the notion of quietly going into that good night, bashing out a powerful and organically timely neo-noir that thrums with the kind of barely-coiled tension and terse eloquence from which modern classics are born.
(The Card Counter is currently streaming On Demand.)
3. The Tragedy of Macbeth (Joel Coen)
Speaking of film noir; Joel Coen backs up his ongoing obsession with classical literary allusion by directly tackling one of Shakespeare’s decidedly proto-noir works. The end result finds Coen drawing deep visual inspiration from Orson Welles’ expressionist takes on The Bard, anchored by two terrific central performances from Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand.
(The Tragedy of Macbeth is currently in theaters, and due to hit AppleTV+ early next year.)
2. Summer of Soul (Ahmir “Questlove” Johnson)
Questlove hasn’t just done an invaluable cultural service by unearthing hours of footage from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, including jaw-dropping performances by some of the 20th century’s most important musicians. By documenting the explosion of artistry that rose from one of the most fractious and turbulent times in American history, the Roots drummer/first-time director provides a monument to the sustained power of art to soothe, galvanize, and exhilarate the world—even when that world seems ready to collapse in on itself.
(Summer of Soul is currently streaming at Hulu.)
1. Last Night in Soho (Edgar Wright)
When it comes down to it, my favorite movie of 2021 wasn’t the most perfect one. It was the one that felt (to me, at least) like the year’s most sprawling, passionate mash note to filmmaking. And seeing it in a theater likely clinched it for me.
Edgar Wright’s polyglot genre opus cherry-picks from late ‘60s British coming-of-age dramas, Hitchcock, Polanski, and Italian Giallo cinema, demonstrating an unjaded directorial eye that delivers dream logic and batshit nuttiness without condescension or irony. It also represents a ravishing, invigorating inversion of homage: Wright shrewdly basks in the allure of nostalgia while also presenting, in richly cinematic brushstrokes, the dangers of viewing the past through rose-tinted glasses. I doubt I’ll see a cinematic dark fairy tale done better, anytime soon.
(Last Night in Soho is currently streaming On Demand.)
All of the Sunbreak’s Year-end lists: Josh | Morgen | Chris | Tony