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

*Pig (Sarnoski) 84

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

*Annette (Carax) 72

*Enemies of the State (Kennebeck) 72

Short Vacation (Kwon, Seo) 71

→ Ahed's Knee (Lapid) 71

Benediction (Davies) 70

→ Petite Maman (Sciamma) 69

B Recommended

→ The Power of the Dog (Campion) 68

*No Sudden Move (Soderbergh) 67

Cliff Walkers (Zhang) 66

Onoda (Harari) 65

About Endlessness (Andersson) 65

*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

→ The Girl and the Spider (Zürchers) 62

Operation Varsity Blues (Smith) 61

Beginning (Kulumbegashvili) 61

Days (Tsai) 60

Wood and Water (Bak) 60

→ Compartment No. 6 (Kuosmanen) 60

B- Recommended with Strong Reservations

A Tale of Love and Desire (Bouzid) 59

*Stowaway (Penna) 59

Drive My Car (Hamaguchi) 58

Teenage Emotions (Da) 58

→ France (Dumont) 58

*The Year of the Everlasting Storm (various) 57

Slow Machine (Felten, Denardo) 57

Ali & Ava (Barnard) 56

The Disciple (Tamhane) 56

→Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Hamaguchi) 55

Montana Story (McGehee, Siegel) 55

→ The Souvenir: Part II (Hogg) 55

C+/B- On the Fence, Leaning Forward

*Keep an Eye Out (Dupieux) 54

→ One Second (Zhang) 54

Oxygen (Aja) 54

Saloum (Herbulot) 54

*Mandibles (Dupieux) 53

Neptune Frost (Williams, Uzeyman) 53

The Other Tom. (Plá, Santullo) 52

State Funeral (Loznitsa) 52

Undine (Petzold) 51

Prisoners of the Ghostland (Sono) 51

C+ Take It or Leave It

*The Courier (Cooke) 50

Futura (Marcello, Munzi, Rohrwacher) 50

Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (Greenbaum) 50

The Tsugua Diaries (Fazendeiro, Gomes) 50

*Rams (Sims) 50

The Salt of Tears (Garrel) 49

Judas and the Black Messiah (King) 49

→ Lingui: The Sacred Bonds (Haroun) 49

MLK/FBI (Pollard) 48

*The Ice Road (Hensleigh) 48

→ Flee (Poher Rasmussen) 48

*Summer of 85 (Ozon) 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

Arthur Rambo (Cantet) 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

→ Oh Mercy (Desplechin) 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

*Flag Day (Penn) 42

*12 Mighty Orphans (Roberts) 42

*The Power (Faith) 41

Nine Days (Oda) 41

*Isabella (Piñeiro) 41

Earwig (Hadzihalilovic) 40

Wrath of Man (Ritchie) 40

Notturno (Rosi) 39

→ Unclenching the Fists (Kovalenko) 39

Spoor (Holland, Adamik) 38

→ Introduction (Hong) 38

*Outside the Wire (Håfström) 37

C- Ugh

*The Alpinist (Mortimer, Rosen) 36

*Penguin Bloom (Ivin) 35

*Awake (Raso) 33

Tragic Jungle (Olaizola) 32

Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (Hughes) 31

Malmkrog (Puiu) 28

D+ Double-Ugh

Inexorable (Du Welz) 26

*Here Today (Crystal) 25

Siberia (Ferrara) 22

D Bomb

F Burn the Negative

Walk-outs Channel Surfing

Aleph (Radivojevic)

*All Light, Everywhere (Anthony)

All the Light We Can See (Escoto)

→ Apples (Nikou)

Are You Lonesome Tonight? (Wen)

As in Heaven (Lindeburg)

Atlantis (Vasyanovych)

@Zola (Bravo)

Bebia, à mon seul désir (Dobrachkous)

Dug Dug (Pareek)

Flora & Ulysses (Khan)

Friends and Strangers (Vaughan)

The Good House (Forbes, Wolodarsky)

The Gravedigger's Wife (Ahmed)

Gull (Kim)

In the Heights (Chu)

Limbo (Sharrock)

Luzzu (Camilleri)

Madalena (Marcheti)

Medusa (Silveira)

Mi Iubita, Mon Amour (Merlant)

Mr. Bachmann and His Class (Speth)

→ Moon, 66 Questions (Lentzou)

Murina (Kusijanović)

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)

Ste. Anne (Vermette)

→ Share (Bianco)

Shiva Baby (Seligman)

Small Body (Samani)

→ Stop-Zemlia (Gornostai)

Taming the Garden (Joshi)

This Is My Desire (Esiris)

The Trouble With Being Born (Wollner)

→ We're All Going to the World's Fair (Schoenbrun)

The Wheel (Pink)

Wùlu {2017} (Couilbaly)

You Are Not My Mother (Dolan)