OUR 20 FAVORITE FILMS OF 2021
2021 marked another year of great films. The Q’s list of top films of 2021 is not hierarchical or ranked. A film is defined as released in 2021 if it became available to the general public/streaming services this year. Every mention on this list is incredible, and please check them out!
This list was compiled by and written by The Q staff.
EMA
PABLO LARRAÍN
Everything in Pablo Larraín’s Ema is vibrantly aflame — from its performances to its mesmerizing choreography to the rocky relationship between the film’s protagonist and her lover. Ema revolves around a young and vibrant Chilean dancer named Ema (Mariana Di Girolamo), who makes decisions entirely based on her own volition. The two adopted a boy named Polo, but after a series of unfortunate incidents, they decide to give their son back to the orphanage. The film explores the ways that Ema and Gastón deal with their guilt. In the process, both attempt to destroy each other, while also finding their own version of freedom.
IDENTIFYING FEATURES
FERNANDA VALADEZ
Fernanda Valadez’s Identifying Features is one of the most underrated films of the year. Valadez’s debut film revolves around a woman from central Mexico named Magdalena (Mercedes Hernández) and her quest to find out what happened to her son, Jesús (Juan Jesús Varela), who left home on a dangerous journey three years ago. The only pieces of information she has are gripped with tragedy; the body of Jesús’ friend was found in Mexico, along with the blue bag Jesús carried with him when he left. Valadez’s harrowing use of color emphasizes the dark and violent fates of families like Magdalena, who are torn apart by the mere chance of reshaping their destinies.
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
SHAKA KING
Shaka King’s 2021 film Judas and the Black Messiah is electrifying; it is a story about a movement and those who championed it. Daniel Kaluuya plays Fred Hampton, the murdered chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, and William O’Neal plays FBI informant William O’Neal. By following the perspective of the informant, King offers a compelling and fresh perspective into the operations of the Black Panther Party. The result is a captivating, thrilling story — made all the more so by the performances that carry its spirit.
LIMBO
BEN SHARROCK
Ben Sharrock’s film Limbo is a humorous and introspective twist on tragedy. The film follows Omar (Amir El-Masry), a Syrian refugee who has arrived on a fictional island outside of Scotland alongside other refugees, all awaiting a letter that would either grant them asylum or deportation. Sharrock refuses to turn his film into the tired trope of refugee films that exploit the trauma of refugees to evoke sympathy from their audiences. Rather, he focuses on how their perseverance and ability to dream helped them to find community in a hostile environment.
LOS LOBOS
SAMUEL KISHI
Samuel Kishi’s Los Lobos uses inventive visual mediums — tying together elements of fiction, documentary, and animation — to grapple with the harsh realities of many immigration stories. Kishi’s Los Lobos (“The Wolves”) centers on a mother named Lucía (Martha Lorena Reyes) and her two sons, Max (Maximiliano Nájar Márquez) and Leo (Leonardo Nájar Márquez), who have recently immigrated from Mexico to Albuquerque, New Mexico. In Los Lobos, Max and Leo attempt to turn a tiny motel apartment into a world much bigger than their own — teetering between imagination and reality as a necessary mode of survival.
MINARI
LEE ISAAC CHUNG
Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari revolves around a Korean American family in the 1980s, consisting of father Jacob (Steven Yeun), his wife Monica (Han Ye-ri), and their two kids, David (Alan Kim), the younger 7-year-old brother and Anne (Noel Cho), the slightly older sister. The Yi’s have just uprooted their life in California to move to Arkansas, so Jacob can pursue his dream of cultivating his own farm. To reconcile the move, Monica invites her mom, Soon-ja (Youn Yuh-jung), to come stay with them from South Korea. Soon-ja’s arrival is not without conflict — old tensions between Monica and Jacob arise, and arguments over small annoyances evolve into competitions about whose personal sacrifices have been greater. Many reviews try to praise Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari for its universality, but it comes with the implication that a story that revolves around Asian-Americans can only be considered well-done if it succeeds in entertaining white people. Minari captivates, because it is an honest portrayal of the immigrant experience of every generation — of planting your feet in the ground on soil that you feel like was not made for people like you.
NIGHT OF THE KINGS
PHILIPPE LACÔTE
Philippe Lacôte’s Night of the Kings takes the concept of storytelling and spins it on its head. Night of the Kings is primarily set in the infamous La MACA, a prison in the Ivorian capital of Abidjan that is ruled by the prisoners themselves. A boy named “Roman” (Bakary Koné) is the prison’s newest member, and he is named La MACA’s newest “storyteller” — the prison’s storytelling ritual that comes at every rising red moon. Lacôte interweaves magical and historical realism to highlight the importance of creativity and storytelling in keeping communities alive.
NOMADLAND
CHLOÉ ZHAO
Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland wrangles with the idea of labor and freedom — particularly in a society that proudly claims to champion both. Frances McDormand is the film’s wandering protagonist, Fern. After losing everything in the Great Recession, Fern embarks on a nomadic, van-living journey in the American west. Zhao plays with the mood of the film through lingering landscapes and a pensive soundtrack. Nomadland is a film about observation — whittling down life to elements of solidarity and friendship.
PASSING
REBECCA HALL
Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga’s performances in Passing are brilliant. Rebecca Hall’s debut directorial film explores what happens when Irene (Tessa Thompson) and her childhood friend Clare (Ruth Negga) cross paths after an accidental run-in at an upscale Manhattan hotel. Both Irene and Clare are light-skinned, but in the time since the two old friends were in school together, Clare has decided to live her life “passing” for white. With Passing, Hall seeks to interrogate the ways we all try to pass for something — asking the viewer what type of person they are pretending to be.
QUO VADIS, AIDA?
JASMILA ZBANIC
Jasna Ðuričić gives one of the best performances of the year as the protagonist of Jasmila Zbanic’s Quo Vadis, Aida? Quo Vadis, Aida? recalls the horrific 1995 Srebrenica genocide through the point of Aida (Jasna Ðuričić), a fictional Bosnian UN interpreter and former high school teacher. The film is paralyzing — and the viewer can only sit idly while watching the disastrous catastrophe unfold, as well as the failings of the international community. With Quo Vadis, Aida? Zbanic ensures that the world cannot turn away from the Bosnian genocide, and never forgets that in a moment where the Bosnian people needed help the most, the UN failed to act.
SUMMER OF SOUL
AHMIR “QUESTLOVE” THOMPSON
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s documentary Summer of Soul (...or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) beams with radiating energy — piecing together footage from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival to bring the historical event back to life. The musical celebration not only drew more than 300,000 people, but had a lineup that included Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, Gladys Knight, and B.B. King to name a few. The festival’s attendees and its performers are filled with equally as much energy as tired rage — and the concerts served as a direct response to the nonstop violence and losses of Black activists and community members. Thompson emphasizes the Harlem Culture Festival’s role as a vehicle for social justice by contrasting the revolutionary nature of the festival with the rest of the nation's fixation on becoming a global superpower while failing to take care of many of its own people.
TEST PATTERN
SHATARA MICHELLE FORD
Shatara Michelle Ford’s Test Pattern follows interracial couple Renesha (Brittany S. Hall) and Evan (Will Brill) as they attempt to navigate the aftermath of Renesha’s sexual assault. Ford takes the dynamics of their interracial relationship and places them under the circumstances of Renesha’s sexual assault — using the film’s drama to speak volumes about the prejudice faced by Black women in America, particularly by the judicial and medical systems. And these failures and frustrations that Renesha is so accustomed to are difficult for Evan to understand.
THE DISCIPLE
CHAITANYA TAMHANE
Chaitanya Tamhane’s The Disciple exercises its cinematic hand carefully — quivering at the notion of ‘practice makes perfect’ and asking how much of one’s happiness should be sacrificed in pursuit of chasing a dream. What happens when it is never realized? Tamhane’s The Disciple revolves around a Mumbai-based musician named Sharad (Aditya Modak), who dedicates his life to becoming a master Indian classical music vocalist. Yet, despite all the right structures being in place, it’s obvious that Shahrad is mediocre at best. To stare down a version of success that will always divert its gaze is an unsettling form of dishonesty, and in The Disciple, it’s Shahrad that must unfold his own self-reckoning before the strength of its grip is too tight to let go of.
THE FRENCH DISPATCH
WES ANDERSON
Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch is a celebration of journalism — specifically in the mode of “print,” a medium now many consider to be “dying.” To that, Anderson says, “screw you” and makes an elaborate anthology film that brings to life absurd feature pieces published in a fictional 20th-century newspaper called “The French Dispatch.” The French Dispatch features an ensemble cast — one where every beloved actor and actress starring in the film honors their notable and prominent role. Frances McDormand and Timothée Chalamet end up in bed together, Owen Wilson gives a cycling tour of a town in France, and Bill Murray is a beloved editor. What’s not to love?
THE GREEN KNIGHT
DAVID LOWERY
Dev Patel is at the center of David Lowery’s The Green Knight — a mystical reimagining of the Middle English poem Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight. Patel plays Sir Gawain, King Arthur’s headstrong and reckless nephew. Gawain is intent on confronting the eponymous Green Knight in a challenge that takes him on a quest that will determine his fate. Lowery’s The Green Knight redefines the construction of the medieval through a character-spun and visually stunning journey.
THE HUMANS
STEPHEN KARAM
Sometimes there’s nothing scarier than a Thanksgiving dinner — one that puts pressure on each guest to be as they are, when nobody at the table really knows who each has become. The disillusionment of familial relationships are the forefront of Stephen Karam’s The Humans, adapted from his Tony Award-winning one-act play of the same name.
THE SUMMIT OF THE GODS
PATRICK IMBERT
Patrick Imbert’s The Summit of the Gods is breathtaking — both in the incredible mountaineering adventure it crafts and in its meticulous animations. The Summit of the Gods challenges the notion that death is life’s antithesis — through telling the story of climbers who constantly risk their lives pursuing something they can’t help doing. Imbert’s animated French film, based on Jirô Taniguchi’s manga adaptation of Baku Yumemakura’s 1998 novel, does not try to understand why people do the unthinkable; he already knows there’s no point. Instead, Imbert deftly portrays a pursuit that seems to closely resemble madness — and argues that it might be more innately human than one might think.
WILD INDIAN
LYLE MITCHELL CORBINE JR.
Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr.’s Wild Indian is an interrogation into identity. Traumatic childhood experiences grow into monstrous statues of resentment over the years, and one man’s sense of self is gravely challenged. In his intimate debut feature, The First Nations writer-director conducts a character study — placing two Ojibwe cousins named Mak’wa (Michael Greyeyes) and Ted’O (Chaske Spencer) at the heart of a childhood murder and exploring the way that a decades-old secret embeds itself in their lives and consciousness.
THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD
JOACHIM TRIER
Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World chronicles a quest for love and meaning through following Julie (Renate Reinsve), a twentysomething who finds herself in a stateless cycle of her life. The Norwegian dramedy ponders on the existential and tugs at the possibility that where we are isn’t where we imagined ourselves to be. Trier playfully integrates surreal elements with reality to tap into Julie’s subconscious — emphasizing moments of clarity, even in the entanglement of life’s messes.
ZOLA
JANICZA BRAVO
Janicza Bravo’s Zola is a stripper Saga, a road trip movie, and an epic Twitter thread. On October 27, 2015, a woman named A’Ziah King (“Zola”) posted an insane 148-tweet thead about how her and a white woman named Jessica got roped into an adventure filled with pimps, awkward boyfriends, and guns on a road trip to Florida. Bravo adapted the thread into a film, centering Zola (Taylour Paige) as a Detroit waitress, who becomes friends with customer Stefani. The film feels like an absurdist dream. It’s almost as if someone turned an unhinged tweet into a full-length movie.