2021 list

2021 ICS Awards

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Best Picture

  1. Drive My Car
  2. Can’t Get You Out of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World
  3. Memoria
  4. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
  5. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
  6. West Side Story
  7. A River Runs, Turns, Erases, Replaces
  8. Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time
  9. In Front of Your Face
  10. Annette

Best Director

  1. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Memoria
  2. Hamaguchi Ryūsuke, Drive My Car
  3. Alexandre Koberidze, What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
  4. Steven Spielberg, West Side Story
  5. Leos Carax, Annette

Best Actor

  1. Nishijima Hidetoshi, Drive My Car
  2. Adam Driver, Annette
  3. Vincent Lindon, Titane
  4. Cooper Hoffman, Licorice Pizza
  5. Avshalom Pollak, Ahed’s Knee

Best Actress

  1. Tilda Swinton, Memoria
  2. Miura Tōko, Drive My Car
  3. Léa Seydoux, France
  4. Lee Hye-young, In Front of Your Face
  5. Alana Haim, Licorice Pizza

Best Supporting Actor

  1. Elkín Diaz, Memoria
  2. Okada Masaki, Drive My Car
  3. Mike Faist, West Side Story
  4. Rayan Sarlak, Hit the Road
  5. Simon Helberg, Annette

Best Supporting Actress

  1. Park Yu-rim, Drive My Car
  2. Urabe Fusako, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
  3. Kirishima Reika, Drive My Car
  4. Kawai Aoba, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
  5. Mori Katsuki, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Best Ensemble

  1. Drive My Car
  2. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
  3. Licorice Pizza
  4. The Tragedy of Macbeth
  5. West Side Story

Best Original Screenplay

  1. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
  2. In Front of Your Face
  3. Memoria
  4. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
  5. Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn

Best Adapted Screenplay

  1. Drive My Car
  2. Fabian, or Going to the Dogs
  3. West Side Story
  4. Benedetta
  5. The Tragedy of Macbeth

Best Film Editing

  1. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
  2. Can’t Get You Out of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World
  3. The Velvet Underground
  4. Drive My Car
  5. Fabian, or Going to the Dogs

Best Cinematography

  1. Memoria
  2. West Side Story
  3. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
  4. The Tragedy of Macbeth
  5. Topology of Sirens

Best Production Design

  1. The Tragedy of Macbeth
  2. The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun
  3. West Side Story
  4. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
  5. Memoria

Best Score

  1. Drive My Car
  2. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
  3. The Witches of the Orient
  4. Annette
  5. El Gran Movimiento

Best Animated Picture

  1. Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time

Best Documentary

  1. Can’t Get You Out of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World
  2. A River Runs, Turns, Erases, Replaces
  3. Procession
  4. The Velvet Underground
  5. The Witches of the Orient

Best Sound Design

  1. Memoria
  2. The Velvet Underground
  3. West Side Story
  4. Topology of Sirens
  5. Annette

Best Debut Feature

  1. Topology of Sirens
  2. Pebbles
  3. Hit the Road
  4. El Planeta

Best Breakthrough Performance

  1. Rayan Sarlak, Hit the Road
  2. Devyn McDowell, Annette
  3. Cooper Hoffman, Licorice Pizza
  4. Alana Haim, Licorice Pizza
  5. Karuththadaiyaan, Pebbles

Top 31 of 2021

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2019 seems to have become my benchmark for great release years, but 2021, through the truly heroic distributors who released probably more notable arthouse films the same year they premiered than any year since probably 2016, came pretty close to equaling it. While there wasn’t quite the same amount of masterpieces, the bench was very deep for great films, and spanning a wide swath of filmmaking.

The following list is formed from the reds, oranges, greens, and blues that I have seen at time of writing that were commercially released in New York City or received a virtual commercial release in 2021. A list, not the list.

1. Drive My Car (Hamaguchi Ryūsuke)

2. Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)

3. Days (Tsai Ming-liang)

4. The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin) (C.W. Winter & Anders Edström)

5. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? (Alexandre Koberidze)

6. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Hamaguchi Ryūsuke)

7. Beginning (Déa Kulumbegashvili)

8. West Side Story (Steven Spielberg)

9. The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sang-soo)

10. Wife of a Spy (Kurosawa Kiyoshi)

11. Malmkrog (Cristi Puiu)

12. Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream (Frank Beauvais)

13. Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (Anno Hideaki)

14. Labyrinth of Cinema (Ōbayashi Nobuhiko)

15. Annette (Leos Carax)

16. Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson)

17. Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue (Jia Zhangke)

18. The Tragedy of Macbeth (Joel Coen)

19. The Disciple (Chaitanya Tamhane)

20. Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (Radu Jude)

21. Procession (Robert Greene)

22. The Velvet Underground (Todd Haynes)

23. France (Bruno Dumont)

24. The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion)

25. Notturno (Gianfranco Rosi)

26. The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (Wes Anderson)

27. Fauna (Nicolás Pereda)

28. The Souvenir: Part II (Joanna Hogg)

29. The Metamorphosis of Birds (Catarina Vasconcelos)

30. Benedetta (Paul Verhoeven)

31. Parallel Mothers (Pedro Almodóvar)

My Top 10 Discoveries During 2021 (for first-time viewings of films made before 2001)

  1. Shanghai Express (1932, Josef von Sternberg)
  2. Comrades: Almost a Love Story (1996, Peter Chan)
  3. Shanghai Blues (1984, Tsui Hark)
  4. Tih-Minh (1918, Louis Feuillade)
  5. The Aviator’s Wife (1981, Éric Rohmer)
  6. Canyon Passage (1946, Jacques Tourneur)
  7. Kagemusha (1980, Kurosawa Akira)
  8. Rosa la rose, fille publique (1986, Paul Vecchiali)
  9. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968, Sergio Leone)
  10. The Color of Pomegranates (1969, Sergei Parajanov)

2021 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards Ballot

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Career Achievement
(3) Paul Vecchiali
(2) Nakadai Tatsuya
(1) Claire Denis

The Douglas Edwards Experimental/Independent Film/Video Award
(3) The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin)
(2) Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream
(1) małni — towards the ocean, towards the shore

Best Cinematography
(3) The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin)
(2) Memoria
(1) West Side Story

Best Music/Score
(3) Drive My Car
(2) What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
(1) The Witches of the Orient

Best Supporting Actress
(3) Park Yu-rim, Drive My Car
(2) Urabe Fusako, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
(1) Reika Kirishima, Drive My Car

Best Production Design
(3) The Tragedy of Macbeth
(2) Wife of a Spy
(1) The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun

Best Editing
(3) What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
(2) The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin)
(1) Labyrinth of Cinema

Best Supporting Actor
(3) Elkin Díaz, Memoria
(2) Okada Masaki, Drive My Car
(1) Mike Faist, West Side Story

Best Animation
(3) Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time

Best Screenplay
(3) Drive My Car
(2) Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
(1) The Woman Who Ran

Best Documentary/Non-Fiction Film
(3) Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream
(2) Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue
(1) Procession

Best Actress
(3) Tilda Swinton, Memoria
(2) Miura Toko, Drive My Car
(1) Léa Seydoux, France

Best Actor
(3) Nishijima Hidetoshi, Drive My Car
(2) Lee Kang-sheng, Days
(1) Adam Driver, Annette

Best Director
(3) Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Memoria
(2) Hamaguchi Ryūsuke, Drive My Car
(1) Tsai Ming-liang, Days

Best Picture
(3) Drive My Car
(2) Memoria
(1) Days

Best Film Not in the English Language
(3) Memoria
(2) Days
(1) What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?

New Generation Award
(3) Alexandre Koberidze, What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
(2) Déa Kulumbegashvili, Beginning
(1) Alana Haim & Cooper Hoffman, Licorice Pizza