The Best Films of 2021

The 2021 video countdown is out!

Every year, Indiewire film critic David Ehrlich compiles his 25 favorite films of the year into a video countdown, that he releases on his Vimeo channel.

I'm not sure if that qualifies as a film award, but if it does it's hands down my favorite (and definitely the most cinematic).

Here's the full film list:¹

1. Zola (dir. Janicza Bravo)
2. The Card Counter (Paul Schrader)
3. The Tragedy of Macbeth (Joel Cohen)
4. The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier)
5. West Side Story (Steven Spielberg)
6. The Green Knight (David Lowery)
7. Undine (Christian Petzold)
8. All Light, Everywhere (Theo Anthony)
9. Flee (Jonas Poher Rasmussen)
10. Titane (Julia Ducournau)
11. The Matrix Resurrections (Lana Wachowski)
12. Procession (Robert Greene)
13. The World to Come (Mona Fastvold)
14. In the Heights (Jon M. Chu)
15. The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal)
16. Red Rocket (Sean Baker)
17. Saint Maud (Rose Glass)
18. Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson)
19. Pig (Michael Sarnoski)
20. Petite Maman (Céline Sciamma)
21. Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
22. memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
23. The Souvenir Part II (Joanna Hogg)
24. Bergman Island (Mia Hansen-Løve)
25. The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion)

I've seen only five of them (including The Power of the Dog, which totally deserves the accolade), and hadn't even heard of many on the list. In other words, I have homework!

I was surprised to not find other acclaimed releases in the top 25, like The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson) or Dune (Denis Villeneuve). But that also leaves more space for smaller productions, which is great!

Less known films that I'd have added to my own video countdown might have been The Mauritanian (Kevin Macdonald), Inside (Bo Burnham), and Azor (Andreas Fontana).