Movies of 2021

 

Wrapping up my year-end lists, it’s time to consider the movies that have enriched my life in the last twelve months. I haven’t been to a theater since March 2020, for obvious reasons, so all of the films that I’ve enjoyed have been at home on DVD or on Netflix. So, I’ve undoubtedly missed out on some independents and foreign films that I might have seen if I still lived in a city with a thriving cinema scene. Regardless, these are my favorites for 2021:

1. The Mauritanian - Political thrillers are few and far between these days, so it was a pleasure to watch this Jodie Foster vehicle about the struggle of a Guantanamo Bay inmate to exonerate himself of charges of terrorism. The real surprise for me here was Benedict Cumberbatch as the military prosecutor tasked with the job of bringing the central character to trial. His quiet, nuanced performance grounds the morality of the piece.

2. Summer of Soul - Questlove has quietly become one of the most important chroniclers of black music, from his exhaustive study of Soul Train to his leadership role in The Roots on The Tonight Show. In his latest project, he combed through 60 hours of footage from a 1969 concert series in Harlem. It represents the cream of soul music of that era, including electric performances by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, B.B. King and Gladys Knight and the Pips.

3. Licorice Pizza - Paul Thomas Anderson’s movies are always events for me, as they bring back the heyday of mid-70s film auteurship. Like Robert Altman or John Cassavetes, Anderson weaves a loose narrative structure around a group of compelling characters. “Licorice Pizza,” which is set in 70s San Fernando Valley, features stand-out performances from Sean Penn and Bradley Cooper, as well as an interesting debut by Alana Haim and a stellar cast of supporting actors including Tom Waits, Maya Rudolph and John C. Reilly.

4. The Power of the Dog - I’ve never been fond of the Western as a film genre - too much romanticism of America’s past for my taste - so it takes a director of the stature of Jane Campion to attracted me to one. Beautifully filmed in Montana, it centers on a titanic struggle between two rancher brothers played brilliantly by Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons.

5. Bo Burnham: Inside - Alternative stand-up comedian Bo Burnham spent the pandemic retreating into his apartment, far from hubbub of New York comedy clubs, and filmed himself in a claustrophobic environment, on the state of the culture. The result is “Inside,” one of the sharpest and funniest commentaries on the state of culture. His songs, particularly “White Girls Instagram” are the highlight.

6. Stillwater - This thriller starring Matt Damon as a Midwestern dad investigating his daughter’s legal has obvious parallels with the Amanda Knox murder trial (Knox even attacked the film for being exploitative). However, it reminded me most of “Missing,” the 1983 Jack Lemmon drama based on the Pinochet coup. Damon excels in a slow burn role.

7. The Sparks Brothers - Sparks was never my favorite band in the 70s, but Edgar Wright’s documentary treatment of the Mael Brothers’ history, was great enough to encourage me to go down a rabbit hole of Sparks music.

8. I Care A Lot - J. Blakeson’s clever thriller involving a con artist played sharply by Rosamund Pike swindling elderly wards out of their life savings could have been a paint by numbers melodrama. However, a major twist about thirty minutes in elevates it and when Peter Dinklage shows up, you know you’re in for a wild ride.

9. The French Dispatch - Wes Anderson can be an acquired taste for many but I nearly always enjoy his quirky pieces, crammed with his loyal band of actors, this time including Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and Adrien Brody alongside Anderson newcomers Timothee Chalomet and Tilda Swinton. The plot line, as usual, is beyond the point - this is all about the cinematic ambiance that Anderson creates with his cast.

10. Passing - Rebecca Hall channeled her own complicated family history in this Netflix drama featuring two women played by Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga as two light-skinned African American school friends who employ very different strategies to navigate the treacherous waters of race and class in 1920s Harlem.

Notable Others:
The Last Night in Soho
This Changes Everything
Tick, Tick…Boom!
The Woman in the Window

Disappointment:
There wasn’t a particular film that disappointed me this year. Rather, it’s the profusion of corporate-generated, paint-by-number superhero and science fiction films cluttering up theaters that continues to distress me. Of course, there are others more notable than I am - Martin Scorcese, for example - who have made this complaint. However, I’ll say this from a personal perspective. When I do finally feel safe enough to return to the multiplex, I hope that there will be some interesting movies made for adults to watch.