Trace Sauveur’s Top 10 Films of 2021
By Trace Sauveur, Fri., Dec. 17, 2021
1) Licorice Pizza
PTA does coming-of-age in a way only he can. Hilarious, perceptive, and achingly real.
2) The Souvenir: Part II
Joanna Hogg astounds with her continuing self- reflexive investigation of her personal and artistic past.
3) Titane
A radical body-horror spectacle to totally melt your face off.
4) Red Rocket
Simon Rex gives a bravura performance as a down-and-out porn star who returns to his Texas hometown.
5) Dune
The Hollywood spectacle blockbuster manifested as something filled with existential, brutalist dread and fatalism.
6) Malignant
James Wan channels everything from Basket Case to The Matrix in the most joyously bonkers movie this year.
7) The Green Knight
This Arthurian adaptation is gorgeous to look at and full of exhilarating mystery. Dev Patel is a star.
8) The French Dispatch
Anderson at his most Andersonian: melancholic, beautiful, and with a murderer's row of great performers.
9) Spencer
A subversive and surprising take on the biopic formula. Part biography, part ghost story, with a dazzling performance from Stewart.
10) Benedetta
Verhoeven hasn't missed a beat in this deeply funny, sharp, and thoughtful nunsploitation riff.
Near Misses
C'mon C'mon, Pig, The Card Counter.
Most Overrated
The Power of the Dog; tick, tick... BOOM!; The Suicide Squad.
Most Underrated
Old, The Voyeurs, V/H/S/94.
Wild Card
Two insane performances in Ridley Scott films: Ben Affleck in The Last Duel and Jared Leto in House of Gucci.
Acting Kudos (Male)
Simon Rex (Red Rocket), Cooper Hoffman (Licorice Pizza), Nicolas Cage (Pig)
Acting Kudos (Female)
Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza), Agathe Rousselle (Titane), Kristen Stewart (Spencer)
Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza), Joanna Hogg (The Souvenir: Part II), Julia Ducournau (Titane)
Best Original Screenplay
Sean Baker and Chris Bergoch (Red Rocket), Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Nicole Holofcener (The Last Duel), Vanessa Block and Michael Sarnoski (Pig)
Best Adapted Screenplay
Stephen Karam (The Humans), David Lowery (The Green Knight), Denis Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts (Dune)
TV Series/Event
Season 2 of I Think You Should Leave. “YOU GOTTA GIVE!”
Worst Film
Malcolm & Marie, a pretentious, vapid, and actively hostile temper tantrum. Unbearable.
The Little Film That Could
The Humans, which turns a Thanksgiving family dinner into the stuff of nightmares. Six actors, one apartment, totally compelling.
