The Individual Top Tens of 2021 | Features

COLLIN SOUTER
1. “The Green Knight”
2. “Petite Maman”
3. “Belle”
4. “West Side Story”
5. “Licorice Pizza”
6. “Drive My Car”
7. “The Harder They Fall”
8. “The Lost Daughter”
9. “The Worst Person In the World”
10. “Red Rocket”

JONAH KOSLOFSKY
1. “Licorice Pizza” 
2. “The Worst Person in the World” 
3. “Red Rocket” 
4. “The Souvenir, Part 2”
5. “Judas and the Black Messiah” 
6. “The Last Duel”
7. “The Green Knight” 
8. “Dune”
9. “Bad Trip”
10. “The Suicide Squad” 

MARYA E. GATES
1. “Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time” – The best film I’ve ever seen about the horror of falling in love. 
2. “The Power of the Dog” –  Once again Jane Campion proves herself to be the best at exploring the complexities of emotional violence, the tragic toll of toxic masculinity, and never-ending resilience of women. 
3. “Shiva Baby” – Emma Seligman’s deliriously hilarious comedy of manners is calibrated like a horror film and features the breakout performance of the year from Rachel Sennott.
4. “Parallel Mothers” – In his most political film to date, Pedro Almodóvar re-teams with his muse Penélope Cruz for an exploration of motherhood, unexpected attractions, and Spain’s need for reckoning with its own dark past. 
5. “Passing” – Rebecca Hall’s directorial debut featuring sizzling chemistry from its stars Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga in a film that examines race, queerness, and the tension between our innate desire for both comfort and freedom. 
6. “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” – Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock and Tom Hardy as Venom are this year’s cinematic power couple. 
7. “Spencer” – A biopic filmed like a manic nightmare, Kristen Stewart gives the best performance of her career as Princess Diana on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
8. “True Mothers” – Naomi Kawase’s emotional saga teems with empathy as it follows a married couple whose dreams of family are fulfilled through adoption, while also showing the lingering trauma felt by the teenage girl who had to give him up years earlier.
9. “Titane” – Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or-winning body horror about a serial-killing model with a titanium plate in her head and an erotic complusion for vehicular copulation is also the most tender film about the power of chosen family I’ve seen all year.
10. “Pig” – Bless director Michael Sarnoski for giving us a Nicolas Cage role worthy of his immense talent.

MARK DUJSIK
1. “Nine Days”
2. “The Power of the Dog”
3. “Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)”
4. “Procession”
5. “Judas and the Black Messiah”
6. “Quo Vadis, Aida?”
7. “The Green Knight”
8. “Identifying Features”
9. “In the Heights”
10. “Silent Night”

SEONGYONG CHO
1. “The Disciple”
2. “The Green Knight”
3. “The Power of the Dog”
4. “Drive My Car”
5. “Pig”
6. “Petite Maman”
7. “Limbo”
8. “Quo Vadis, Aida?”
9. “Riders of Justice”
10. “Nine Days”

Runners-up (In alphabetical order): “The Amusement Park,” “The Card Counter,” “The French Dispatch,” “Herself,” “Holler,” “Night of the Kings,” “7 Prisoners,” “Shiva Baby,” “Titane,” “Two of Us”

Documentary (In alphabetical order): “In the Same Breath,” “Procession,” “The Rescue,” “Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)”, and “The Velvet Underground”

Animation (In alphabetical order): “Encanto,” “Luca,” ”The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” “Raya and the Last Dragon,” and ”The Summits of Gods“

ABBY OLCESE
1. “West Side Story”
2. “Petite Maman”
3. “The Tragedy of Macbeth”
4. “The Power of the Dog”
5. “Barb and Star Go to Vista del Mar”
6. “F9: The Fast Saga”
7. “Pig”
8. “The Worst Person in the World”
9. “Procession”
10. “Candyman”
Honorable mentions: “Raya and the Last Dragon,” “The Lost Daughter,” “The Sparks Brothers,” “The Mitchells vs. The Machines,” “Summer of Soul,” “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” “Shiva Baby,” “Nightmare Alley,” “The Last Duel”

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