Snapshots of moviegoing in the year in-person cinema returned with a vengeance.
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A nurse attempts to treat Andre when he spews explosive vomit all over a bar.
Its not gotcha comedy, its comedy in which the whole world is a co-conspirator.
9.The Disciple
9.
8.Dune
8.
7.Pig
7.
But Michael Sarnoskis mournful, tender movie is so much richer and more interesting than a revenge saga.
6.Drive My Car
6.
5.Petite Maman
5.
4.West Side Story
4.
3.The Worst Person in the World
3.
2.Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
2.
1.The Lost Daughter
1.
No other film this year feels so ruthlessly, breathtakingly grown-up.
served as reminders of a world we had come close to losing.
Of course,In the Heightsis all about the fact that we were already losing these things.
This is a work of art about a work of art that makes it clear that art is work.
6.Pig
Theyre not real.
You get that, right?
None of it is real.
The critics arent real, the customers arent real, becausethisisnt real.Youarent real.
Derek, why do you care about these people?
They dont care about you none of them.
They dont even know you because you havent shown them.
Every day, you wake up and therell be less of you.
You live your life for them, and they dont even see you.
You dont even see yourself.
We dont get a lot of things to really care about.
Derek, who has my pig?
It also has what might be the most powerful climax of any film Ive seen this year.
And I couldnt be happier to see that it has been greeted enthusiastically by audiences and awards-giving bodies.
Frankly, many of todays more experienced directors could learn a lot from this stunning picture.
Its also the best musical of a year replete with them.
Michael Boyce Gillespie asks in his powerful work of criticismFilm Blackness.
What if black film was immaterial and bodiless?
What if film is ultimately the worst window imaginable and an even poorer mirror?
Characterization that feels soulful.
Aesthetics that pierce the imagination, no matter how gently and quietly.
Joachim TriersThe Worst Person in the Worldprovided me with all that and then some.
1.Faya Dayi
Writing a top-ten list is a tender prospect.
OtherMovieHighlightsFromThisYear
Throughout 2021, our critics maintained Best Movies of the Year (So Far) lists.
Many of those selections appear above in our Top 10 picks.
Below are more of the films (but not all) that stood out to them this year.
Alison Willmore(Available to stream onAmazon,Sling TV, andPhilo.)
Scenes weave in and out of each other.
Time jumps backward and forward.
Death is intercut with passion, as tragedy and glory tangle onscreen.
Bilge Ebiri(Available to stream onNetflix.)
ButAcasais not exactly a movie about paradise lost.
Ciorniciuc seamlessly blends intimacy and lyricism with a clear-eyed honesty about what hes depicting.
(Available to rent onAmazon,YouTube,Google Play, andVudu.)
(Available to purchase onAmazon,YouTube,Google Play, andVudu.)
(Available to rent onAmazon,YouTube,Google Play, andVudu.)
Dick looks and feels like a cult leader, assured in his lunacy.
In effect, it winds up being about the mysteries of the human experience.
(Available to rent onAmazon,YouTube,Google Play, andVudu.)
And be prepared it does.
And it ends on one of the most subtly unsettling images in recent memory.
(Currently unavailable to stream.)
The movie captures something elemental, a vague but familiar terror scratching at the edge of our consciousness.
(Available to rent onAmazon,YouTube,Google Play, andVudu.)
(Available to purchase onDisney+,Amazon,YouTube, andGoogle Play.)
But lose all these melodramatic curlicues and oversize narrative distractions, and youd lose what makes the film special.
There, in its great, glorious bloat, lies the movies heart.
It earns its self-importance.
(Available to stream onHBO Max.)
(Available inselect theaters.)
(Available to rent onAmazon,YouTube,Google Play, andVudu.)
(Available to stream onParamount+and to rent onYouTube,Google Play, andVudu.)
The film portrays a reality in which the background noise of technology often reveals our true feelings.
But beneath it all, the film also has some affection for its attention-deficit universe.
The film is too human for any kind of categorization.
Its a delicate, authentic look at the complicated ways in which abuse works.
Although we know where things are generally headed, almost nothing inSlalomfeels specifically predictable.
Hes a broken narcissist who doesnt understand anything about boundaries, or agency, or even trust.
So we dont necessarily understand these animals.
We are, however, transfixed by them.
Its the rare action movie that concludes with the idea that everyone should have just gone to therapy.A.W.
Krasinski directs like an old suspense master.
Because characters usually cant talk, story beats and revelations have to be conveyed visually through cinematic language.
But he also brings subtlety, artistry, and texture to the story.
F9
Theydrove a car in space.
One baby, Hayat, survives the sacrifice thanks to the last-minute mercy of her father.
When she grows up, she distinguishes herself by her ability to hunt down and kill the mermaids.
Things get way weirder, and way darker, from there on out.
Sharks were a natural area of focus.
Plus, Kristin Bauer van Straten makes for an impressively sadistic big bad.
The results, as stylishly directed by Rodo Sayagues, are nasty and tremendously fun.
It didnt matter how major or minor the event was they got incredible footage.
fleeing in the Bronco?
The footage of Sean Penn and Madonnas wedding?
In doing so, however, they hyper-accelerated the sensationalization of modern news.
Along the way, their own relationship was incinerated, and theres a fascinating personal story here as well.
Bergman Island
Despite the title, Mia Hansen-Lves multilayered movie isnt actually about Ingmar Bergman.
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