Another weird year.

Remember the best of it with ILT’s top 10…
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10. Red Rocket

Dir: Sean Baker

Sean Baker continues to trail sex workers along the American poverty line with Red Rocket, a stripped back production shot practically on the fly after the pandemic halted the writer-director’s planned follow up to The Florida Project. Simon Rex (remember Scary Movie 3?) is electric as Mikey Saber, a charming yet destructive porn star who slinks back to his Texas hometown only to discover Strawberry, a high school student whom he plans to ride all the way back to the big time. Utilizing his usual brand of vivid direction and tragic humour to highlight a stark, oft-ignored reality, Baker maintains his status as one of America’s most important indie filmmakers.
Watch the trailer here…

9. The Last Duel

Dir: Ridley Scott

Sometimes you just need movie stars to be movie stars. Damon, Driver, and Affleck deliver in Ridley Scott’s 14th century epic, though it is Jodie Comer’s Marguerite de Carrouges who steals the show. Presenting the triple perspective of Marguerite, her dour husband (Damon), and the man she has accused of rape (Driver), Scott weaves a brutal medieval melodrama that, while thoroughly entertaining, already feels like the last hurrah of a bygone era of pre-pandemic Hollywood that may struggle to return in the wake of its own heavy defeat at the box office. Worth seeking out for Affleck’s deliciously tongue-in-cheek turn as Count Pierre d’Alençon.
Watch the trailer here…

8. Dune

Dir: Denis Villeneuve

If there was one director destined to bring Dune to big screen, it was Denis Villeneuve. Having already achieved the impossible by creating a credible follow up to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner in 2017, the French-Canadian filmmaker set his sights on Frank Herbert’s infamously un-filmable science fiction classic, tackled only once before by David Lynch in 1984. The result is an ambitious sensory overload driven by the spectacular cinematography and tension-driven set pieces fans of Villeneuve have long become accustomed to. The complex themes of Herbert’s war-torn interstellar future may never be completely captured on screen, but Villeneuve’s efforts are as close as we’re ever likely to get.
Watch the trailer here…

7. Handle With Care: The Legend of the Notic Streetball Crew

Dir: Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux & Kirk Thomas

In 2002, two kids from Vancouver shot a VHS mixtape that took the global streetball scene by storm. Now, directors Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux and Kirk Thomas have reunited to document the rapid rise and fall of the literal ballers they shared with world decades earlier. Those ballers were the Notic, a crew of young immigrants and working class kids whose passion for the game brought them together in the face of rejection from the local basketball system. An honest and emotional reflection of the crew’s brief yet fascinating journey to its own personal promised land, underpinned by a wealth of mind-bending archival footage, Handle With Care is the definition of a superior amateur sports documentary.
Read ILT’s interview with the Notic’s Joey Haywood here…
Watch the original short film here…

6. PIG

Dir: Michael Sarnoski

Nic Cage lives in the forest with his truffle foraging pig. One night, someone steals his pig. Nic Cage returns to the city to retrieve his pig and…all hell breaks loose. Just kidding. PIG may flirt with the sort of violent revenge flick that another version of Cage would no doubt thrive in, but this restrained, devastating version is just as, if not more appealing at this stage in his career. Cage is a generational talent and his moody turn here, like the film itself, is both unexpected and highly effective. Debut writer-director Michael Sarnoski deserves plenty of credit for crafting a mystery that unravels to reveal the tragedy of love, loss, and fine dining dome smoke.
Watch the trailer here…

5. C’mon C’mon

Dir: Mike Mills

We’re trapped at home a lot these days. Whether the culprit is Omicron, a rainy Sunday, or pent up emotion, C’mon C’mon will provide the release you need. Joaquin Phoenix stars as Johnny, a New York-based radio journalist who flies across the country and back to look after his rambunctious nephew Jesse at the request of his estranged sister. The bond that forms between Johnny and Jesse as they wrestle with their raw relationship and personal trauma is as infectious and endearing as it is impressive, with writer-director Mike Mills coaxing a wondrous performance from Woody Norman, a young British actor in his first feature leading role.
Watch the trailer here…

4. The Card Counter

Dir: Paul Schrader

Somewhere, somehow, for some reason, someone will always give Paul Schrader money to make a film about the deepest, darkest recesses of masculine self-destruction. Basically, thank God for Martin Scorsese, who to this day maintains an unmatched level of faith in his long-term partner. The off-the-wall director who once wrote Taxi Driver and Raging Bull staged somewhat of a comeback with 2017’s First Reformed, setting the scene for The Card Counter, a bleak but gripping dive into America’s modern post-war trauma, hidden behind the eyes of haunted poker player. The titular role was destined for a hypnotic Oscar Isaac performance that builds to a crescendo when he inevitably goes all in.
Watch the trailer here…

3. Licorice Pizza

Dir: Paul Thomas Anderson

Almost a quarter of a century after Dirk Diggler rode his way through the Valley in Boogie Nights, Paul Thomas Anderson returns home with a slightly lighter coming-of-age flick that transports us back to the wild and wholly unsupervised life and times of 1973. A 15-year-old boy befriending a 25-year-old woman may sound weird – because it is – but as usual PTA offers so much style, technical mastery, and depth of character, that the sometimes jarring nature of Licorice Pizza just comes together, spearheaded by colossal debut performances by musician Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman (son of the late, great Phillip Seymour). Established stars wonder in to punch up proceedings, with the likes of Sean Penn and Bradley Cooper manifesting the bizarre, dangerous edge of Hollywood that our leads occasionally find themselves teetering on.
Watch the trailer here…

2. The Power of the Dog

Dir: Jane Campion

“He’s just a man…only another man”. When Kirsten Dunst’s petrified Rose utters those words to her son Peter, we know she does not believe them, for Phil Burbank is not just another man. A salt of the earth rancher with an Ivy League mind and a penchant for psychological torment that stems from his own deep-seated grief, Burbank is actually one of the great and terrifying western antagonists, spurred on by a renewed yearning for what he has long since lost. Benedict Cumberbatch turns in one of his most magnetic performances alongside Dunst and McPhee, while writer-director Jane Campion announces her return to the silver screen with a gorgeous, tension-dipped reel, braced by a score of ominous beauty by longtime PTA collaborator Jonny Greenwood.
Read ILT’s full review here…
Watch the trailer here…

1. Drive My Car

Dir: Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Clocking in at three hours, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s road epic may be the ultimate slow burn of 2021, but it does not drag for even a single second. Trailing Yūsuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) from Tokyo to Hiroshima as he directs a multilingual production of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, all while mourning his late wife Oto, Drive My Car is a painstaking exploration of grief and regret, shared between Kafuku and his young driver Masaki Watari (Tōko Miura). Hamaguchi’s vast script is nothing short of a masterpiece, stretching from Kafuku and Watari’s gradual connection through a compelling supporting cast to the pair’s poignant final journey together. Nishijima is captivating as the crushingly vulnerable Kafuku, while Hamaguchi went two-for-two in 2021, with his anthology Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy not far behind Drive My Car.
Watch the trailer here…

Looking for recommendations from the past decade? ILT can help…
ILT’s Top 10 Films of 2020!
ILT’s Top 10 Films of 2019!
ILT’s Top 10 Films of 2018!
ILT’s Top 10 Films of 2017!
ILT’s Top 10 Films of 2016!
ILT’s Top 10 Films of 2015!

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