Top Ten of 2021

Riley Cassidy
Dec 30, 2021
7 min read

In no way did I see every movie that came out this year. I don't think I even saw half of the movies that I wanted to, but of the many incredible films that I was able to get around to, here are ten that have captured a piece of my heart forever.

10. My Heart Can't Beat Unless You Tell It To dir. Jonathan Cuartas

It really is traumatic just to be alive isn't it? And then sometimes, that trauma shares a room with another person's trauma and their trauma and your trauma mix together into a new trauma and it stews like that for years to come. Eventually, that stew starts overflowing and you get their trauma spilled all over you and your trauma gets splattered on their shoes and you don't even know whose trauma it was to begin with but it's your problem now and you're just trying to get a lid on this fucking stew but it's too hot with all the trauma bubbling out of it and it seems like it's going to fill the entire room before you can get it under control and hey, why didn't anybody think to turn the stovetop down? Maybe then the trauma wouldn't have bubbled over in the first place, but it's here now and it's everywhere and you only have one mop and you don't want to clean up their trauma and they sure as hell aren't going to clean up yours, so into the trauma stew it goes! And it goes on and on like that, forever.

MY HEART CAN'T BEAT UNLESS YOU TELL IT TO is a really special movie about the excruciating lengths that two people will go to to keep their sick sibling alive. It approaches traditionally horrifying subject matter slowly, and with a tenderness that is downright disarming. With incredibly grounded performances from all three lead actors, and confident, heartfelt storytelling, it is a movie that will not leave me for a very long time, and for that I am grateful.

9. Barb and Star go to Vista Del Mar dir. Josh Greenbaum

Sometimes, you just need to experience joy. Many times over the past year, I have turned to BARB AND STAR GO TO VISTA DEL MAR to provide me with an instant rush of joy, and I cannot overstate how much I appreciate that. I don't think I was expecting a big name, studio comedy to be so...weird, but within the first few moments of the movie, I realized exactly the tone that it was taking and I was completely sold.

I think any year would be a good year to be Jamie Dornan, but 2021 is a GOOD year to be Jamie Dornan. I for one have been singing his praises to anyone who would listen since the Fifty Shades days, and it is so exciting to see him absolutely killing it in roles and projects more suited to his skills as a performer. I'd be hard pressed to find any movie moment that made me smile harder this year than Edgar's Prayer.

8. Minari dir. Lee Isaac Chung

It will always sound like nonsense to some people, but I feel such a rush when I turn off a movie and sob and sob as if something devastating has just happened to me. Is MINARI a particularly sad movie? Not really. But it is incredibly earnest, truthful, and heartfelt, all things that when combined with the stunning performances and cinematography work together to emotionally level me. And I love it. I love being able to feel like that after spending a couple of hours in someone else's world. It is one of my favorite things about watching movies and I think to an extent, I am always chasing a variation of that feeling. MINARI is like a soothing balm to the soul, and I love the fact that quiet, simple movies like this one are getting the flowers that they so deserve.

7. Tick, Tick... Boom! dir. Lin-Manuel Miranda

"Why should we blaze a trail when the well worn path seems safe and so inviting?"

Like many other current and former theatre kids, I have spent a good amount of time immersed in the lore of Jonathan Larson. He, and his untimely death, serve as something of a touchstone for a certain sector of creatives, and it seems only natural that one of the biggest theatre kids of them all would take on the telling of his story. And what a loving tribute it is. TICK, TICK..BOOM! sets an incredibly thoughtful example of what a movie musical can be, and even more so, what a biopic has the potential to be.

I will always be fascinated by stories about artists making art. I am someone who feels like a fraud anytime I try to call myself an artist even though I so desperately want to be, so I often satisfy myself by consuming and collecting the genius of others. It is really, really hard to make something, and to see that shown through the astonishingly open performance of Andrew Garfield as Jonathan Larson is so cathartic and inspiring.

6. Malignant dir. James Wan

If the goal of film is to make you feel something, then MALIGNANT is Cinema. Watching MALIGNANT alone on my couch still filled me with the sheer adrenaline of if I had been in a packed late night screening. I miss that feeling more than I am able to properly articulate and it was certainly something I took for granted before the world changed forever in 2020. Because of that, if I ever even get close to that feeling, I am holding on tight and never letting go. So, allow me to be another voice shouting the praises of MALIGNANT. Melodramatic, outrageous, nonsensical, gory, messy, and full of pure joy. After plugging away in the horror genre for almost two decades, James Wan deserves to use his buckets of money to make whatever the hell he wants and honestly, we are all better off for it.

5. The Humans dir. Stephen Karam

"Don't you think it should cost less to be alive?"

Devastating and terrifying and achingly human. THE HUMANS is a wonderful example of how to successfully adapt a piece from stage to screen. Aspects of it, like the setting, that I thought would only be as effective as they were because I was lucky enough to see the play in person, seamlessly transitioned to film to create the claustrophobic and suffocating environment that is essential to the story. Thanksgiving is scary, family is scarier, opening yourself up to being vulnerable is the scariest thing of all. Not to mention creaky floors and unexplained noises, those things are scary too. Stephen Karam so deeply understands the horror of being alive and manages to condense that entire experience perfectly into one film. Plus, we are given the gift of Jane Houdyshell delivering one of the best performances of the year.

4. Pig dir. Michael Sarnoski

"We don't get a lot of things to really care about."

Nicolas Cage is a force of nature. Whether you love him or hate him, you have to admit that the man redefines the notion of "fully committing." I adore watching him go out of his mind (à la Mandy) as much as the next person, but there is something so special about seeing him go just as balls to the walls via a character like Robin who is astonishingly subdued and internal. I don't know how he does it, but I am so happy that he does.

PIG is a story about loss; it's about love and change and identity and family and cooking and the cutest pig in the world. It's about nurturing what brings you joy and what you do with your finite time. Every single movie on this list, in its own way, reveals something to me about myself. These movies piece different elements together to create a mosaic of what I think it means to be a person and to endure the human experience. Who could have expected that that realization could have come from a movie about a man looking for a pig?

3. Zola dir. Janicza Bravo

ZOLA marks the first time I've seen a movie adapted from a Twitter thread, and it far and away proves that it is a format that can work. It is entirely unlike any movie I have ever seen before which is an increasingly rare and special thing. Riley Keough's performance as Stefani feels almost violent in nature, which you may not expect given her bubblegum pink appearance, but the moment she opened her mouth to speak, the entire movie theatre gasped in shock and horror. The whole main cast is pitch perfect, eliciting overwhelming audience responses throughout the film's runtime, making the event of watching it feel like a celebration. Despite knowing how the story of ZOLA would play out, it still felt dangerous and thrilling and that is such a difficult thing to pull off.

2. Annette dir. Leos Carax, music by Sparks

"Can't I love you?"

Speaking of things that are unlike anything I've ever seen before, ANNETTE came out this year and holy god I love it so much. My experience with ANNETTE was absolutely perfect because the first time I pressed play, I had no idea it was a musical. I was suddenly filled with a sense of unease, an indescribable kind of unsteadiness, and I think that's the exact feeling that the movie thrives off of. It is such an exciting, confident film, and if you allow it to sweep you away, it is incredibly rewarding. Simon Helberg gave one of the top performances of the year with his heartbreaking monologue that is impossible to tear my attention away from, no matter how many times I watch the movie. It's the kind of thing that is so inspiring to someone who pretends to be an actor like myself. Each time around brings something new, and I'm going to be watching and rewatching ANNETTE forever.

1. Titane dir. Julia Ducournau

There was no other option for my number one spot.

It is so rare, and so difficult to have an original idea, and even this film's biggest detractors would have to admit that it is alarmingly original. Julia Ducournau has the innate ability to fully realize and execute even the most outrageous of ideas and make them resonate. TITANE is a stunning movie about found family, human connection, morality, and bodily autonomy, all wrapped up in the nice little bow of French body horror. To feel so seen by a character so unlike myself, living in a world so different from my own is the exact reason why film as an art form means so much to me. That is what it's all about. Don't make the mistake of dismissing it as "that movie where the lady has sex with a car." Even though it certainly is that, Ducournau impossibly finds a way to make it so much more than that, and I will be in awe of her forever.