New York Times chief film critics A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis each featured the 10 best movies of 2021, how many have you seen?
A.O. Scott's Top 10 Films of the Year
01
Summer of Soul Music
Director: Amir-Kalib Thompson
Douban score: 8.1
Synopsis: The Harlem Cultural Festival and the famous Woodstock Festival took place in the same summer, with more than 300,000 people attending, but such a grand festival rarely received mainstream media coverage. The documentary reviews the pomp and circumstances of the time
02
"Unlucky Sex, Crazy Yellow Film"
Director: Radu Jude
Douban score: 7.2
Synopsis: A video goes viral, in which a man and a woman wear masks and make love. Still, the woman was recognized. Worse still, she was a teacher and was supposed to be an example. And this is in a post-socialist society, about to get lost in a social network discourse, with healing attitudes, pseudo-political jackpots, divine chauvinism, and grotesque conspiracy theories. Everyone has their own opinion. The debate became a courtroom about consensual sex, pornography, and so on.
03
The Power of Dogs
Director: Jane Campion
Douban score: 7.6
Synopsis: The charismatic rancher Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch) makes those around him fearful and fearful. When his brother brings home his new wife and her son, Phil torments them in every way until one day he discovers that he also has a glimmer of longing for love.
04
"Little Mama"
Director: Serene Sienma
Douban score: 7.9
Synopsis: The figure of the mother is always so close and so far. When her grandmother died, eight-year-old Nelly returned to her old home with her mother to clean up, but the world of adult grief could not accommodate children entering. Nelly, who is dependent on her father, goes to the forest alone to find the tree house that her mother built as a child, and meets Marianne, who is the same age as her mother, and the two have a short but close friendship. Following the "Portrait of a Girl In The Fire" (2019), With a delicate female touch, Shalian Xiyama sneaks into the sensitive and fragile heart of a child, changes time and space in a childlike dream that seems to be real, meets with new acquaintances, shares sorrows and sorrows, and realizes the beautiful fairy tales that every child has had in his heart. How to love that imperfect life.
05
"Bring Your Team"
Director: Lucy Walker
IMDB has a rating of 7.2
Synopsis: An apocalyptic investigation takes us on a journey that includes firefighters and residents whose mission is to understand the causes of large-scale wildfires throughout history and how to survive, and to discover solutions that have always been here.
06
Bergman Island
Director: Mia Hansen-Love
Douban score: 6.7
Synopsis: Bergman Island tells the story of American filmmakers Chris (Vicki Kripps) and Tony (Tim Rose) who spend their summers on the mysterious island of Fårö. In this stunning wilderness where Bergman lived and filmed his most famous work, they wanted to find inspiration for the upcoming film. As time passes, Chris's fascination with the island and a souvenir of her first love resurface. The line between reality and fiction will gradually blur, making our couples more distant.
07
"Driving My Car"
Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Douban score 8.0
Synopsis: Middle-aged stage actor Jia Fu breaks a derailment of his wife Yin, who is a screenwriter, however, he quietly closes the door and quietly leaves, as if nothing had happened, living with his wife harmoniously and lovingly as usual. Until his wife's death, Jiafu failed to be honest with his wife, which became a knot in his heart.
08
"Memory"
Directed By: Apichatpong Welashaku
Douban score 8.2
Synopsis: Thai director Apichatpong Welashagu will create a new film [Memoria]. Apichatpong has recently completed the creation of the script. The director said of the new film: "In the seventies and eighties, Colombia was more violent than it is now, and when you were driving, you would encounter traffic paralysis caused by an explosion, and you didn't know anything. My films are about people's imaginations and fears of things. "The heroine of the film is a foreign woman living in Colombia, and because she always hallucinates, she tries to find the root cause of the hallucinations and takes her to a small town, where all the secrets have yet to be revealed. Filming will begin in Colombia and is expected to be released next year.
09
West End Story
Directed By: Steven Spielberg
Douban score 6.9
Synopsis: Based on a 1957 Broadway musical, the film follows the fight between the Jets and sharks on the streets of New York in the 1950s, as well as the love affairs of Tony (Ansel Ergot) and Maria (Rachel Ziegler) who belong to different gangs.
10
"Underground Velvet"
Director: Todd Hines
Douban score: 7.5
Synopsis: Todd Haynes will direct a documentary focusing on the legendary underground velvet rock band. The film is currently untitled, and Haynes said that the film will definitely borrow from Andy Warhol's style and will be more culturally significant. Interviews with the band's current living members will be included in the film. The appearance of the documentary also coincides with the 50th anniversary of the release of the band's first classic album " Velvet and Nicole " .
Manohla Dargis' 10 Best Films of the Year
Synopsis: The Harlem Cultural Festival and the famous Woodstock Festival took place in the same summer, with more than 300,000 people attending, but such a grand festival rarely received mainstream media coverage. The documentary reviews the pomp and circumstances of the time.
The Battle of the Impostors
Director: Rebecca Hauer
Douban score: 6.9
Synopsis: The White Pass is based on Nella Larson's famous novel of the same name written in 1929 and revolves around two black women, Irene Redfield (Tessa Thompson) and Claire Kendry (Academy Award-nominated Ruth Negar), who, at the height of the Harlem Renaissance in New York in the late 1920s, were both able to pretend to be white but chose to live in two worlds bounded by skin color. One summer afternoon, two childhood friends meet by chance, and Irene reluctantly asks Claire to visit, which ends up courting Irene's husband (Andre Holland) and her family, and later breaking into her well-connected social circle. As their lives become more closely intertwined, Erin finds her once stable life begins to turn upside down with Claire's appearance.
"Athol"
Director: Andreas Fontana
Douban score: 6.5
Synopsis: A complex mystery is solved in the pressure cooker in Argentina in 1980, revealing how dark and dirty the world of privileged money really is. When his business partners suddenly disappeared, Swiss private banker Ivan Deville and his wife Ines traveled to Buenos Aires, where the military dictatorship continued to "disappear" Argentine citizens. There, Ivan struggled to win the trust and money of his partner's clients, which led him into the high-stakes world of the city's fascinating super elite isolated from the rest of the world. In the process of protecting their wealth, will he have blood on his hands?
"The Card Calculator"
Director: Paul Schrader
Douban score: 6.0
Synopsis: Ter suri only wants to play cards, and Chik is a fragile and irritable young man who is seeking help to carry out his revenge plan against the military colonel (Dafoe). Thiel also saw hope of revenge in Cheek. Supported by the mysterious gambling financier La Linda (Hades), Thiel leads Cheek between casinos until the trio sets their sights on winning the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. But it turns out that keeping Cheek focused won't work, and Thiel is dragged back into the dark shadows of his past.
The Apprentice
Director: Chaitania Tamhani
Synopsis: Sharad Neralka has devoted her life to becoming an Indian classical music singer and striving to follow the traditional ideas and teachings of her predecessors, masters and fathers. But as time passed, Schalard began to wonder if the excellence he was pursuing was really reality.
"Chance and Imagination"
Douban score: 8.4
Synopsis: The film consists of three short films – Magic (more real than magic), The Open Door, and One More Time. It can be said to be a collection of short stories. Three episodes, each revolving around a female character, are divided into three acts. The three short films tell the story of an unexpected love triangle, an attempted temptation and an encounter due to a misunderstanding. Despite the fragmentation, the organic narrative flow is maintained, and even this point is emphasized. Although most of the action takes place in one space, and only two actors participate, the film does not feel like a chamber play. This is not only due to the dialogue, but also to its complex concept of space-time, and the last episode almost became a science fiction film. The moments we witness are all connected to a touching universal destiny, marked by choice, regret, deception and coincidence, which are the real protagonists of the film.
Spencer
Director: Pablo Laraine
Douban score: 6.6
Synopsis: On a pivotal weekend in the early 1990s, Diana is determined that her marriage to Prince Charles will not end well and that she must deviate from the queen's reserve path. The film takes place over 3 days, during the Christmas holiday at Sandringham Manor.