Top Ten 2021

Without much effort, my Top Ten for 2021 could all be movies made outside the U.S.; only a personal affinity for Don’t Look Up, a movie more scorned by the critics, prevented a shutout. Whether this had anything to do with Covid restrictions on film production, I don’t know. I do know that it relates to my preference for movies about real people and real-life situations, a genre that seems to mainly reside outside Hollywood. I’ve relegated the single most affecting movie I saw, In the Same Breath (made in the U.S. but filmed largely in China), to a separate category of Documentaries and will list the ten best feature films in alphabetical order:

A Hero The title is just as ambiguous as the numerous moral issues addressed directly and obliquely in this warm but chilly thriller from Iran.
Belfast Wonderful actors inhabit Kenneth Branagh’s recalled childhood and a historic time in Van Morrison’s Northern Irish capital.
Don’t Look Up  On the one hand, this is the most ‘unrealistic’ film on this list. On the other hand, it’s the starkest depiction of the world I feel I’m living in.
Drive My Car Quietly engrossing, this film about theater delved the deepest into humanity, both Japanese and universal.
Hand of God Paolo Sorrentino’s specifically Neapolitan reminiscence was good-hearted and colorful, producing smile after smile.
I’m Your Man A German thesis movie in which the recognizable and gripping human dimensions made one forget the “sci-fi” setting.
The Lost Daughter Elena Ferrante’s world of psychological quandaries, albeit in Greece, not Italy, intensely conveyed by Jessie Buckley and Olivia Colman.
Parallel Mothers Pedro Almodovar and Penelope Cruz–what could go wrong?–and some Spanish history, routine but masterful.
The Power of the Dog For plot, bravura acting, serious (New Zealand) scenery, this was the one to think about, talk about and debate.
The Worst Person in the World A clever scrapbook of an immensely appealing Renate Reinsve’s relationships in an everyday Oslo.

Best Documentaries
In the Same Breath A literally breath-taking account of Covid in Wuhan and a depressing coda of Covid in America.
Velvet Underground Todd Haynes’s direction created a visual counterpart to the music, mixing archival footage and reminiscent interviews.
Lost Leonardo Documented all sides in the Salvador Mundi saga, letting the viewer come to their own conclusion.

Honorable Mention
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
CODA
Munich: The Edge of War
Tragedy of Macbeth
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy