2021 in Films
Format adapted from Charles François, who I still hope will one day rediscover his cinephilia and start hanging out with myself and the Skandies crew again. It’s been ten years since he last used it and I hereby declare it in the public domain.
Combine the first two columns for a list of films
released (or "released") in 2021, and the last two columns for films seen
in 2021. Ordering is preferential when ratings are identical.
Seen Previously
Movies I saw in 2020 {or before} that were released in the U.S. in 2021.
Films not yet released but currently scheduled for this year are indicated by a (→). |
Seen in 2020
Movies I saw shortly before, during or after their 2021 U.S. run.
Asterisks (*) indicate films seen prior to their actual release. TV-only
"runs" (arbitrarily deemed eligible) get a (†). |
To Be Released
Movies I saw in 2021 which are still awaiting a U.S. release. Those known
to have lined up distribution are indicated by a (→). Production
{year} is listed if film is more than two years old. |
A For All Time
A- Event
|
*Memoria
(Apichatpong) 90 |
|
B+/A- Near Great
|
|
→ In Front of Your Face
(Hong) 81 |
|
*The Killing of Two Lovers
(Machoian) 78 |
|
B+ Must See
B/B+ Warmly Recommended
|
*Enemies of the State
(Kennebeck) 72 |
|
|
|
Short Vacation
(Kwon, Seo) 71 |
|
The Night House
(Bruckner) 70 |
|
|
*Petite Maman
(Sciamma) 69 |
|
B Recommended
|
*The Power of the Dog
(Campion) 68 |
|
|
|
→ Paris, 13th District
(Audiard) 68 |
|
*No Sudden Move
(Soderbergh) 67 |
|
| About Endlessness
(Andersson) 65 |
|
|
|
West Side Story
(Spielberg) 64 |
|
|
*I'm Your Man
(Schrader) 64 |
|
B-/B Recommended with Mild Reservations
|
|
→ Întregalde
(Muntean) 63 |
|
*Anne at 13,000 Feet.
(Radwanski) 63 |
|
|
*White Lie
(Lewis, Thomas) 62 |
|
|
Monday
(Papadimitropoulos) 62 |
|
|
|
→ The Girl and the Spider
(Zürchers) 62 |
|
Operation Varsity Blues
(Smith) 61 |
|
|
Beginning
(Kulumbegashvili) 61 |
|
|
*Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
(Hamaguchi) 60 |
|
|
Prayers for the Stolen
(Huezo) 60 |
|
|
|
→ Compartment No. 6
(Kuosmanen) 60 |
B- Recommended with Strong Reservations
|
|
A Tale of Love and Desire
(Bouzid) 59 |
|
The Velvet Underground
(Haynes) 59 |
|
|
*Drive My Car
(Hamaguchi) 58 |
|
|
*The Tragedy of Macbeth
(Coen) 58 |
|
|
*The Year of the Everlasting Storm
(various) 57 |
|
|
*Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
(Jude) 57 |
|
|
Slow Machine
(Felten, Denardo) 57 |
|
|
The Hand of God
(Sorrentino) 57 |
|
|
Summer of Soul (...or, When the
Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
(Thompson) 57 |
|
|
The French Dispatch of the Liberty,
Kansas Evening Sun (Anderson) 56 |
|
|
The Disciple
(Tamhane) 56 |
|
|
The Lost Daughter
(Gyllenhaal) 55 |
|
|
|
Montana Story
(McGehee, Siegel) 55 |
|
*The Souvenir Part II
(Hogg) 55 |
|
C+/B- On the Fence, Leaning Forward
|
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten
Rings (Cretton) 54 |
|
|
*Keep an Eye Out
(Dupieux) 54 |
|
|
The Worst Person in the World
(Trier) 53 |
|
|
|
Neptune Frost
(Williams, Uzeyman) 53 |
|
Licorice Pizza
(Anderson) 52 |
|
|
|
The Other Tom.
(Plá, Santullo) 52 |
|
*The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
(Sharpe) 52 |
|
| State Funeral
(Loznitsa) 52 |
|
|
|
What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
(Koberidze) 51 |
|
|
The Green Knight
(Lowery) 51 |
|
|
Prisoners of the Ghostland
(Sono) 51 |
|
C+ Take It or Leave It
|
|
Futura
(Marcello, Munzi, Rohrwacher) 50 |
|
Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar
(Greenbaum) 50 |
|
|
|
→ The Tsugua Diaries
(Fazendeiro, Gomes) 50 |
| The Salt of Tears
(Garrel) 49 |
|
|
|
Judas and the Black Messiah
(King) 49 |
|
|
Dune: Part One
(Villeneuve) 49 |
|
|
|
→ Lingui: The Sacred Bonds
(Haroun) 49 |
|
*The Ice Road
(Hensleigh) 48 |
|
|
*Flee
(Poher Rasmussen) 48 |
|
|
Nightmare Alley
(Del Toro) 47 |
|
|
*The Mad Women's Ball
(Laurent) 47 |
|
|
|
The Story of My Wife
(Enyedi) 46 |
| The Woman Who Ran
(Hong) 46 |
|
|
C/C+ On the Fence, Leaning Backward
|
The Matrix Resurrections
(Wachowski) 45 |
|
|
*Preparations to Be Together for an
Unknown Period of Time (Horvát) 45 |
|
|
*No Man of God (Sealey)
45 |
|
|
There Is No Evil
(Rasoulof) 44 |
|
|
|
Three Floors
(Moretti) 43 |
|
Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue
(Jia) 43 |
|
| I Carry You With Me
(Ewing) 43 |
|
|
C Pass
|
*Bergman Island
(Hansen-Løve) 42 |
|
|
*12 Mighty Orphans
(Roberts) 42 |
|
|
*There's Someone Inside Your House
(Brice) 40 |
|
|
|
Earwig
(Hadzihalilovic) 40 |
|
Wrath of Man
(Ritchie) 40 |
|
|
|
Casablanca Beats
(Ayouch) 39 |
|
|
→ Unclenching the Fists
(Kovalenko) 39 |
|
No Time to Die
(Fukunaga) 38 |
|
| Spoor
(Holland, Adamik) 38 |
|
|
|
Parallel Mothers
(Almodóvar) 37 |
|
|
The Card Counter
(Schrader) 37 |
|
|
*Outside the Wire
(Håfström) 37 |
|
C- Ugh
|
*The Alpinist
(Mortimer, Rosen) 36 |
|
|
Tragic Jungle
(Olaizola) 32 |
|
|
Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard
(Hughes) 31 |
|
D+ Double-Ugh
|
*The Unforgivable
(Fingscheidt) 26 |
|
D Bomb
F Burn the Negative
Walk-outs Channel Surfing
|
*All Light, Everywhere
(Anthony) |
|
|
|
All the Light We Can See
(Escoto) |
|
|
Are You Lonesome Tonight?
(Wen) |
|
|
Bebia, à mon seul désir
(Dobrachkous) |
|
|
El gran movimiento
(Russo) |
|
*Eyimofe (This Is My Desire)
(Esiris) |
|
|
|
Friends and Strangers
(Vaughan) |
|
|
The Good House
(Forbes, Wolodarsky) |
|
|
The Gravedigger's Wife
(Ahmed) |
|
Identifying Features
(Valadez) |
|
|
*The Lost Daughter
(Gyllenhaal) |
|
|
|
Mi Iubita, Mon Amour
(Merlant) |
|
|
Mr. Bachmann and His Class
(Speth) |
|
|
→ Moon, 66 Questions
(Lentzou) |
|
|
No One's With the Calves
(Sarabi) |
|
One Night in Miami...
(King) |
|
|
Quo Vadis, Aida?
(Źbanić) |
|
|
|
Radiograph of a Family
(Khosrovani) |
|
Raya and the Last Dragon
(Hall, López Estrada) |
|
|
|
→ Rock Bottom Riser
(Silva) |
|
|
→ Stop-Zemlia
(Gornostai) |
|
|
Taming the Garden
(Joshi) |
|
This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection
(Mosese) |
|
|
|
The Trouble With Being Born
(Wollner) |
|
|
→ We're All Going to the World's Fair
(Schoenbrun) |
|
|
You Are Not My Mother
(Dolan) |
Incomplete Mishap/Bad Timing
