I’ve been making Top 10 Films lists since 2002, and they’re really more for me than anyone else. They’re little snapshots of what I thought were the best films of the time, and then it’s fun to see how much I’ve changed or if the film has any resonance past its initial release. Sure, there’s a recommendation aspect—general audiences are strapped for time, and they want to know what they absolutely need to see from a given year. The lists serve a function even though they’re kind of silly and critics like me probably take them far too seriously.But I did see a fair number of movies this year, and I wanted to call out the ones that left a last impression. Maybe I’ll feel differently six months from now, but as we reach the end of 2021 (and it should be noted that I’m writing this before seeing Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Matrix Resurrections because that’s how the timing shook out with me leaving Collider), I feel like I can make an informed list of films that shocked me, stirred me, and moved me. I hope that you’ll make time for the following movies you haven’t seen yet.
10) Malignant
When it comes to films that caused me sheer, unadulterated, and unexpected joy, it’s hard to top Malignant. James Wan’s horror film kind of came out of nowhere, and Warner Bros. wisely kept the movie under wraps not because it was bad, but because it was so bonkers that it would almost inevitably get spoiled. When the horror landscape seems divided between IP and “elevated” horror put out by A24, it’s hard to see where a film like Malignant fits, but I’m so glad that it got made because it caused much hooting and hollering in the Goldberg household. We should applaud films like this that take big, wild, insane swings, and the go-for-broke madness of Malignant remains absolutely exhilarating.
9) West Side Story
Spielberg, the King. The sheer audacity to make his first musical a remake of one of the greatest musicals ever made is mind-boggling, but I guess not if you’re Steven Spielberg. While his last few movies were fairly forgettable, West Side Story is the director at the top of his game and brings new life to the classic. Screenwriter Tony Kushner knows how to put a perfect point on the story’s subtext while never making it overbearing or pedantic. The filmmaking always carries you along from one thrilling musical number to the next and provides a showcase for exciting young talents like Rachel Zegler, Mike Faist, and Ariana DeBose. When Spielberg is playing at the level he is here, it’s easy to see why he’s one of the greatest filmmakers ever.
8) The Last Duel
The only thing I may have liked more than The Last Duel is Ridley Scott’s devil-may-care press tour for the film and for House of Gucci. The filmmaker shows no signs of slowing down, and while sometimes that results in less-than-stellar work, with The Last Duel he’s made one of his best, a Rashomon-like narrative that explores the frailty of men. While the film could have easily devolved into mansplaining sexual assault, it instead works as a searing indictment of toxic masculinity by showing the gulf between how men see themselves and who they actually are. While Matt Damon, Adam Driver, and Ben Affleck are all terrific, the film belongs to Jodie Comer who has to exist not only as the film’s heart and soul but also represent its cold, hard reality.
7) Flee
I love how director Jonas Poher Rasmussen pushes at the boundaries of a documentary with this animated film. It’s a true story and it’s being told by Amin, who recounts his life as a refugee, bouncing from Afghanistan to Russia and ultimately finding his way to Denmark, but being afraid to live as his true self due to all the fears he amassed fleeing from one country to another. To tell Amin’s story with documentary footage would be impossible because there were no cameras there to capture it, so the choice is between reenactment and animation, and animation, ironically, makes it feel more real. The touches that Rasmussen can provide in animation helps to convey the depth of Amin’s incredible story, one that brings the complexities of refugee life to the surface.
6) The Worst Person in the World
It’s not easy to convey why Joaquim Trier’s drama works so well when its initial premise seems fairly mundane. Julie (Renate Reinsve) is in a relationship with Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie), but after meeting Eivind (Herbert Nordrum) at a party, she feels drawn to a new relationship. However, the story plays out over twelve chapters with a prologue and epilogue covering the span of four years, and when you watch this relationship play out on such a large canvas, you gain a unique perspective on all the characters. It’s a movie about how the hardest thing about relationships is that people change and that in this world, everything is ephemeral, including love. The Worst Person in the World understands that while the trajectory of love, marriage, and children may be prescribed by society, it’s far from simple or even advisable.
5) The Mitchells vs. The Machines
I will continue to operate under the belief that Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (who serve as producers here) are making movies especially for me. Everything they do is completely on my wavelength, and the sweet, charming, and hilarious The Mitchells vs. The Machines is no exception. The animated style that director Mike Rianda brings to the film is brilliant, and while other animated family movies have done the whole “My family is the worst” thing, Mitchells perfectly grounds it in real emotional conflict that feels authentic. Both parents and their kids would love to be understood for who they are, and sometimes the harder they try to make themselves known, the more they end up pushing their loved ones away. It’s an emotional complicated story that rides a wave of euphoria with goofy robots, a dog that could be confused for a loaf of bread, and a little bit of scathing satire about how our online world has left us feeling further apart.
4) Drive My Car
If you can get me to watch a three-hour drama that’s not in my native language while sitting at my computer, you’ve probably done something right. While it may have an epic length, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s is all about intimacy. The story follows acclaimed theater actor and director Yüsuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima), who discovers that his beloved wife is having an affair. Before he can confront her about it, she dies unexpectedly. Two years later, Kafuku decides to stage a new production of Uncle Vanya only to end up casting his wife’s former lover. In lesser hands, this may feel like a contrived soap opera, but Hamaguchi brilliantly weaves together every single emotional thread to create a stunning tapestry of love, loss, grief, guilt, and catharsis. There was only one movie in 2021 that moved me to tears, and it was this one.
3) The Green Knight
David Lowery’s telling of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is hypnotic. You can always count on Lowery making an interesting film, but here he’s happy to dwell in the metaphorical and abstract while not making his movie so dense as to be impenetrable. There’s no problem following the basic quest narrative, but what Lowery does so brilliantly (aside from working with top-notch collaborators including star Dev Patel, composer Daniel Hart, and cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo) is that he’s made a film about what it means to live with honor. Since death is certain, what would it mean if you could somehow evade it and what would that life look like? What does it mean to be “worthy” and how does one establish oneself with great deeds, especially if it comes at the cost of being a good person? The Green Knight ruminates over these questions as you sink into its dark, enchanting atmosphere.
2) Licorice Pizza
It’s kind of stunning how Paul Thomas Anderson approaches love stories over the course of his career, and while he was willing to get pretty twisted for Punch-Drunk Love and Phantom Thread, Licorice Pizza is the director at his sweetest. It’s even hard to see much sexuality in its love story since the relationship is so oddly chaste. Leads Gary (Cooper Hoffman) and Alana (Alana Haim) may be motivated by sex at times, but really their story is how they’re repeatedly drawn and intrigued by each other. It’s both a coming-of-age story and a romance and one that doesn’t really play by the rules of either genre as if the San Fernando Valley just makes things weirder by its very nature. And yet this off-kilter approach always works wonders as Anderson has made the year’s funniest movie while never losing sight of its emotional stakes.
1) The Power of the Dog
It’s weird to say, “This western about loneliness and masculinity feels made for me!” but it does appeal to my interests! Jane Campion’s film is haunting in all the best ways as it explores what it means to be a man, and how that usually involves aloofness and cruelty that will eat away at your own soul. Benedict Cumberbatch is brilliantly cast in the lead role of Phil Burbank, a wealthy rancher who can’t stop performing masculinity as a way to hide the deep longing and loss in his soul. When his brother George (Jesse Plemons) marries Rose (Kirsten Dunst), her loneliness reflects Phil, and rather than bonding the two, it only serves as a harsh reminder of their insecurities and pain. The Power of the Dog is not an easy film, but it’s consistently thoughtful, heartbreaking, and melancholic in all the best ways.
Honorable mentions (listed alphabetically): Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar, C’Mon C’Mon, Free Guy, Pig, and The Souvenir: Part II