Best of 2021: Our favourite movies of the year

2021 was a strange year at the movies. Theatres (at least here in Quebec) finally re-opened in spring, allowing audiences to see films theatrically for the first time in months. Then, just as highly-anticipated holiday releases like The Matrix Resurrections and Licorice Pizza were slated to open, theatres were once again shuttered due to rising COVID cases.

With that caveat that we still haven’t had a chance to see a handful of late 2021 releases, here is the list of our favourite films from 2021. While blockbusters like Dune and Spider-Man: No Way Home ruled the box office, many of this year’s best films were deeply singular works that told new stories or spun familiar tales in unique and personal ways.

Scroll below for our top 10 films of the year.

10. Titane

Titane is the most thrilling, upsetting, and outright perplexing film of the year. Julia Ducournau’s follow-up to 2016’s Raw is a film best experienced with as little context as possible. Titane is a film with so many odd twists and turns that it often feels like 3-4 movies in one. What’s most interesting about Titane is the way in which Ducournau seems to effortlessly switch tones throughout the course of the film; you never know where things are going here, which keeps you on your toes through the film’s entire run time.

The film stars Agathe Rousselle as Alexia, a woman with a metal implant in her head after a devastating car accident in her youth that has left her with a unique relationship with cars. That’s really all you need to know before firing up the engine on this hellish, hilarious, and surprisingly heartfelt blast of cinematic insanity.

Titane is designed to be an instant midnight movie, the sort of movie people immediately need to talk about after seeing and one that is sure to be a litmus test for adventurous cinephiles in the years to come. What’s even more shocking than the wild plot twists is the ways in which Ducournau and Rousselle manage to inspire our sympathy for Alexia, even as she becomes one of the most twisted central characters we’ve seen in years. Don’t read any (other) reviews, stay away from the trailer, and give yourself over to this inspiring and utterly unhinged vision from one of our most boundary-pushing filmmakers.

9. Sator

Seven years in the making, filmmaker Jordan Graham’s Sator is a deeply unnerving indie horror film that only gets creepier when you delve into the film’s incredible backstory. While the shoot was already underway, Graham (who handled nearly every aspect of the film’s production, including writing, directing, editing, producing, scoring, and even building the cabin that serves as one of the main sets in the film) brought in his grandmother for what was meant to be a quick cameo.

Yet during her scene, she described her decades-long encounters with a supernatural entity called “Sator.” Graham was so fascinated with the revelation that he incorporated Sator into the film, crafting an unsettling tale that merges his initial narrative idea of a family facing off against a force in the woods with his family’s own haunting connection with the occult.

A hauntingly effective feature with an unforgettable backstory, Sator is an unforgettable horror film that will linger with you long after the credits roll (and may turn you off from the woods for good). Read our interview with Sator filmmaker Jordan Graham here.

Sator is available on VOD. 

8. Pig

Nicolas Cage turns down the histrionics and delivers one of his best performances in years in the first feature film from Michael Sarnoski. While the concept of Cage on a mission to track down his kidnaped truffle-hunting pig sounds like a twist on the John Wick narrative, Sarnoski subverts our expectations and delivers a moving examination of how we choose to live our lives and what truly makes us happy. While it’s always great to witness the next Cage Rage, his toned down and heartbreaking performance in Pig reminds us what an incredible actor he is when paired with the right material and filmmaker.

Pig is available on Blu-ray and VOD now. 

7. Benedetta

Few mainstream directors can push people’s buttons the way Paul Verhoeven can. With a track record including Robocop, Starship Troopers, Showgirls, and Basic Instinct, Verhoeven is a master at crafting titillating films that take aim at the authoritarian power structures of society. With his latest, Benedetta, Verhoeven takes aim at the controlling nature of the Church with this tale of a lesbian nun who may be touched with divine visions.

Set during the 17th century, the film focuses on Benedetta Carlini (Virginie Efira), a real-life nun from Northern Italy. She claims to be receiving visions from Jesus and is soon caught up in an illicit affair with a new arrival at her convent, Bartolomea (Daphne Patakia). While the Church initially shrugs off her claims, she eventually finds a set of believers, even as she is set to be burned alive following an investigation by The Nuncio (Lambert Wilson).

It’s often hard to tell how much of Benedetta is simply there for shock value, which makes it one of the most thrilling and confounding films of the year. Is this simply an extremely well-shot nunsploitation film, or is Verhoeven using the titillating premise to bring attention to the controlling nature of the Church and the corrupting power of faith? Either way, Benedetta is a damned good time.

6. The Card Counter

Writer-director Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver, First Reformed) has long been fascinated with troubled protagonists in search of redemption, a concept he returns to with The Card Counter, a tense and engrossing new drama about a former Abu Ghraib interrogator named William Tell  (played by Oscar Isaac) who now makes his living gambling across the U.S.

Unlike most gambling films, there is nothing romantic about Tell’s work; he is methodical and reserved, playing in small, remote casinos and making just enough to keep him afloat until his next run on his neverending road trip. That plan is put to the test when Tell is approached by a sleek woman named La Linda (Tiffany Haddish) to join her stable of high-stakes poker players. Meanwhile, Tell is semi-mentoring a troubled young man (Tye Sheridan) out for revenge against Army Major John Gordo (Willem Dafoe) who he believes is responsible for his father’s death.

Tell served under Gordo, and his reckoning with the atrocities he committed at Abu Ghraib and his yearning for a simple and quiet life set him on a whirlwind journey. While these are themes Schrader has touched on previously, he employs wildly disorientating visual techniques to showcase the horrors of Abu Ghraib, while pondering who truly pays the toll for these crimes. Read our review of The Card Counter here.

The Card Counter is available on Blu-ray and VOD now. 

5. Summer of Soul

While 2021 was a strong year for music documentaries, Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) feels like an unearthed time capsule. Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s documentary on the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival reveals a groundbreaking musical and cultural festival that has mostly flown under the radar for the past 50 years. Set in Harlem, New York,  over a period of six weeks, the festival included a staggering lineup of Black musicians including s Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson, Sly and the Family Stone, The 5th Dimension, The Staple Singers, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and more.

Questlove includes a number of those thrilling performances but also takes pains to explore why this festival has remained so obscure over the decades, and the incredible story of how the extremely ambitious project ever happened in the first place.

The end result is a thrilling and joyous celebration of timeless music, as well as a reflection of the unique time, place, and personalities that set the stage for this epic festival. Turn it up loud.

Summer of Soul is streaming now on Hulu (U.S.) and Disney+ (Canada). 

4. Red Rocket

Sean Baker (Tangerine, The Florida Project) has repeatedly showcased people working and living on the margins of mainstream life, a trend he continues with the remarkable and often cringe-worthy Red Rocket. The film stars former MTV VJ Simon Rex as Mikey Saber, a down on his luck porn star who returns from L.A. to his small Texas hometown to try and reconnect (and mooch of) his estranged wife Lexi (Bree Elrod).

While back at his old stomping grounds, he meets a young teenage girl named Raybee (Suzanna Son), who he begins grooming as a future porn star to get himself back in the big leagues and out of the depressing small-town existence he’s found himself back in. With Baker’s trademark inclusion of non-professional actors and an incredible central performance from Simon Rex, Red Rocket has an authentic and lived-in feel that makes Sabers’ string of terrible decisions feel all the more resonant and impactful. Mikey Saber may be a scumbag, but the fact that Baker can get audiences to root for a character like this (even against our better judgment) showcases just how much humanity and empathy he brings to this film.

Red Rocket is in theaters now. 

3. The Power of the Dog

Director Jane Campion’s first film in over a decade is a beautifully-shot period western that challenges the very idea of what a western should be. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons as Phil and George Burbank, wealthy landowners in 1920’s Montana. Phil is a gritty cowboy type, while George presents himself as a mild-mannered man-of-leisure.

The brothers become pitted against each other when George meets and soon marries an innkeeper named Rose (played by Plemons’ real-life partner Kirsten Dunst). Phil is particularly vicious towards Rose’s effeminate son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee). Phil constantly mocks Peter and treats Rose so poorly that she soon becomes dependent on alcohol just to be able to cope with Phil’s constant scrutiny.

A twisted psychological tale that examines the very notion of masculinity, The Power of the Dog is a slow-burning film that patiently waits until its final moments to unveil its devastating truth. The Power of the Dog is a film that demands a second viewing to see how all the pieces fall together, and its stunning cinematography and Johnny Greenwood’s spine-tingling score will easily rope you in for another ride.

The Power of the Dog is streaming on Netflix.

2. C’mon C’mon

Filmmaker Mike Mills (Beginners, 20th Century Women) has made a career out of crafting heartfelt and moving films about the joy and pain of family, one he continues with his striking new film black & white film, C’mon C’mon. With revelatory performances from Joaquin Phoenix, Gabby Hoffman, and a star-making turn from child actor Woody Norman, C’mon C’mon is a warm embrace of a film that never shies away from the more difficult aspects of our existence.

Phoenix stars as Johnny, a radio journalist in the middle of a cross-country project to interview children about their thoughts on the future. Helping out his sister (Hoffman), Johnny agrees to watch over her idiosyncratic young son Jesse (Woody Norman). While that may sound like a sappy rehash of films like About a Boy, Mills instead crafts something much more impactful and real as Johnny and Jesse travel the country whole learning about themselves and each other.

Beautifully shot in crisp black & white and with a lush and evocative score from Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National, C’mon C’mon is simply one of the most beautiful movies of the year. The performances are so impactful but feel tossed off in a naturalistic, documentary-like way. Phoenix once again proves why he is one of the best actors of this (or any) generation, but it’s the kooky and humane performance from the wide-eyed Woody Norman that will truly stick with you. Read our review of C’mon C’mon here.

C’mon C’mon is available on VOD.

1. A Hero

Iran’s entry for Best International Feature Film at this year’s Academy Awards, Oscar-winner Asghar Farhadi’s latest, A Hero, is a fascinating and tense look at crime, justice, and honour in modern Iran.

The film follows Rahim (Amir Jadidi) as he is released on a two-day leave from prison. Rahim is serving time due to a large debt he owes to his estranged brother-in-law Bahram (Mohsen Tanabandeh). While spending time with his family at home, Rahim also visits his girlfriend Farkhondeh (Sahar Goldust), who greets him with a bag of valuable gold pieces she’s been keeping for him.

Rahim and Farkhondeh have a plan to get Rahim out of prison and have his debt wiped clean; they plan to rehabilitate Rahim’s image and cast him as a hero, unfairly being held in jail by a spiteful family member. Without getting too far into the twisty plot details, Rahim announces his discovery of the gold pieces and proceeds to put up posters around the neighbourhood in search of their true owner.

Word of Rahim’s selfless act quickly spreads through social media and the news as the public fixates on this prisoner who willingly gave up such a valuable prize (while being imprisoned for owing money the gold might have covered).

Yet for all of the celebration, doubts begin to creep in about Rahim’s story. As the circle of lies continues to grow, it traps his family and friends in his complicated deceit, including his young son with severe verbalization issues who tragically becomes a pawn in Rahim’s PR campaign.

With an unforgettable central performance from Amir Jadidi at its center, A Hero is a morally complex drama that tightens its grip on the audience from its opening moments right through to its inevitable conclusion. Read our review of A Hero here.

A Hero is streaming on Amazon Prime.