My Top Film Festival movies for 2021 (in list order)
In competition at Cannes, Berlin and Venice film festivals. A dark and twisted year to coincide with the world's madness...
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26 titles
- DirectorWes AndersonStarsBenicio Del ToroAdrien BrodyTilda SwintonA love letter to journalists set in an outpost of an American newspaper in a fictional twentieth century French city that brings to life a collection of stories published in "The French Dispatch Magazine".1. The perfect subject matter for Wes Anderson's creative and unique cinematic storytelling that gives hope to the art of modern cinema, with every talented actor knowing Wes' style and playing to it perfectly... (Cannes)
- DirectorJoachim TrierStarsRenate ReinsveAnders Danielsen LieHerbert NordrumThe chronicles of four years in the life of Julie, a young woman who navigates the troubled waters of her love life and struggles to find her career path, leading her to take a realistic look at who she really is.3. Reinsve is simply amazing as Julia, as she journeys through the tribulations of life and love and all the mess that comes with it... (Cannes)
- DirectorPaolo SorrentinoStarsFilippo ScottiToni ServilloTeresa SaponangeloIn 1980s Naples, young Fabietto pursues his love for football as family tragedy strikes, shaping his uncertain but promising future as a filmmaker.5. Pure cinema joy reminiscent of Fellini and other Italian greats as Sorrentino takes the autobiographal path and delivers all manner of emotions... (Venice)
- DirectorMariano CohnGastón DupratStarsPenélope CruzAntonio BanderasOscar MartínezA wealthy businessman hires a famous filmmaker to help make a smash hit film.5. The amazing cast make this a wickedly funny satire on the machinations of movie making and the madness it creates... (Venice)
- DirectorRyûsuke HamaguchiStarsHidetoshi NishijimaTôko MiuraReika KirishimaA renowned stage actor and director learns to cope with a big personal loss when he receives an offer to direct a production of Uncle Vanya in Hiroshima.6. The burden of self afflicted moral guilt and the consequences it has on your way of life, carried out in supreme storytelling style with every aspect of the film falling into place perfectly... (Cannes)
- DirectorJacques AudiardStarsLucie ZhangMakita SambaNoémie MerlantÉmilie meets Camille who is attracted to Nora, who crosses paths with Amber. Three girls and a boy - they're friends, sometimes lovers and often both.29. The lives of 13th District inhabitants cross paths as they first search for sexual fulfillment until love is the answer in this wonderful observation on modern urban living... (Cannes)
- DirectorMichel FrancoStarsTim RothAlbertine Kotting McMillanSamuel BottomleyNeil and Alice Bennett are the core of a wealthy family on vacation in Mexico until a distant emergency cuts their trip short. When one relative disrupts the family's tight-knit order, simmering tensions rise to the fore.29. Tim Roth perfectly cast as an empty vessel roaming the lower-end holiday beaches of Acapulco in this cinematic observation on completing one's existence on their own terms... (Venice)
- DirectorSean PennStarsMitchell McCormickTom AnnikoDylan PennA father lives a double life as a counterfeiter, bank robber and con man in order to provide for his daughter.30. The film artistry of Penn... (Cannes)
- DirectorArnaud DesplechinStarsLéa SeydouxDenis PodalydèsAnouk GrinbergAn American novelist living for a time in London converses with his wife, his mistress, and other female characters he may have dreamed up.37. An ageing writer finds a muse in L'amante anglaise (the English lover), and they share thoughts and love in this intelligent take on the creative process of an author... (Cannes)
- DirectorLeos CaraxStarsAdam DriverMarion CotillardSimon HelbergA stand-up comedian and his opera singer wife have a two-year-old daughter with a surprising gift.39. Carax and the Spark brothers make the perfect zany and surreal combination to this operatic musical that has you journey on so many emotional levels that by the end of it you are exhausted, but in the most creative good way... (Cannes)
- DirectorNanni MorettiStarsRiccardo ScamarcioElena LiettiAlba RohrwacherThe story of three families living in three apartments in the same bourgeois condominium.46. Moretti places the residents of an Italian apartment building under life's microscope over three sections in a ten year span and creates an intelligent soap drama with many a moral challenge... (Cannes)
- DirectorAna Lily AmirpourStarsKate HudsonJeon Jong-seoCraig RobinsonA girl with unusual powers escapes from a mental asylum and tries to make it on her own in New Orleans.53. Amirpour is back with another wonderful twisted tale about an outsider in life attempting to make sense of the world that made her what she is, with a little help from the folks of New Orleans who are more weirder... (Venice)
- DirectorPaul SchraderStarsOscar IsaacTiffany HaddishTye SheridanWilliam Tell is an ex-military interrogator living under the radar as a low-stakes gambler. When he encounters a young man looking to commit revenge against a mutual enemy, he takes him on the casino circuit to set him on a new path.57. Scorsese backs Schrader in this somewhat modern version of Taxi Driver, but instead it is a gambling card player roaming aimlessly to get away from his ghosts, only to bring him back to his haunted past, done all in Schrader style... (Venice)
- DirectorSean BakerStarsSimon RexBree ElrodSuzanna SonMikey Saber is a washed-up porn star who returns to his small Texas hometown, not that anyone really wants him back.57. Simon Rex is perfect as the down and out porn star who returns home to create chaos instead of sorting his life out... (Cannes)
- DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsVirginie EfiraCharlotte RamplingDaphné PatakiaA 17th-century nun in Italy suffers from disturbing religious and erotic visions. She is assisted by a companion, and the relationship between the two women develops into a romantic love affair.65. Take thee to a Verhoeven nunnery where all is blasphemy in this absurd take on the life of a wicked twisted nun, but better for us viewers... (Cannes)
- DirectorPedro AlmodóvarStarsPenélope CruzMilena SmitIsrael ElejaldeThe story of two mothers who bond in unexpected way after giving birth the same day.71. Only Almodóvar can mix a melodrama with a political side story (dealing with Spain's fascist history in the most subtle way) and keep the viewer enthralled on all levels... (Venice)
- DirectorJane CampionStarsBenedict CumberbatchKirsten DunstJesse PlemonsCharismatic rancher Phil Burbank inspires fear and awe in those around him. When his brother brings home a new wife and her son, Phil torments them until he finds himself exposed to the possibility of love.81. Homo erotica in the final phase of the wild west with a twisted Cumberbatch making you feel uneasy... (Venice)
- DirectorJustin KurzelStarsCaleb Landry JonesJudy DavisSean KeenanEvents leading up to the 1996 Port Arthur massacre on Tasmania in an attempt to understand why and how the atrocity occurred.85. The re-teaming of director, Kurzel, and writer, Shaun Grant, takes us back into the darkness haunting mind of an individual with serious issues... (Cannes)
- DirectorCéline SciammaStarsJoséphine SanzGabrielle SanzNina MeurisseNelly has just lost her grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother's childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods. One day she meets a girl her age building a tree-house.90. Touching tale about a child helping to clean out her deceased grandparent's house, and in the process steps back in time to understand her mother's grief and grandmother's dilemma... (Berlin)
- DirectorMia Hansen-LøveStarsVicky KriepsTim RothMia WasikowskaA couple retreat to the island that inspired Ingmar Bergman to write screenplays for their upcoming films when the lines between reality and fiction start to blur.96. Ingmar Bergman's home on an island inspires those that praise the legend, but there are others with mixed feelings in this little art film that will somewhat delight the Bergman fans... (Cannes)
- DirectorAlonso RuizpalaciosStarsMónica Del CarmenRaúl BrionesMaría Teresa Hernández CañasTwo professional actors undergo an immersive process to find out what it takes to be a cop in Mexico City.122. Unique storytelling device used on the life of Mexican police... (Berlin)
- DirectorJulia DucournauStarsVincent LindonAgathe RousselleGarance MarillierFollowing a series of unexplained crimes, a father is reunited with the son who has been missing for ten years.130. Can a psychopath with an erotic fixation to motor vehicles (or anything metal) be tamed by true parental love? This surreal dark piece touches on that and other issues via a story that always has you guessing where it is heading, thanks to the new auteur director, Julia Ducournau... (Cannes)
- DirectorMaggie GyllenhaalStarsOlivia ColmanJessie BuckleyDakota JohnsonA woman's beach vacation takes a dark turn when she begins to confront the troubles of her past.131. Colman excels, and Gyllenhaal's direction of allowing the actors to take control with plenty of intense close-ups is a most wondrous thing, but story sometimes lags... (Venice)
- DirectorMaria SchraderStarsMaren EggertDan StevensSandra HüllerIn order to obtain research funds for her studies, a scientist accepts an offer to participate in an extraordinary experiment: for three weeks, she is to live with a humanoid robot, created to make her happy.132. What at first seemed to be a whimsical rom-com ended up dealing with important issues of human relations with robots... (Berlin)
- DirectorApichatpong WeerasethakulStarsTilda SwintonAgnes BrekkeDaniel Giménez CachoA woman from Scotland, while traveling in Colombia, begins to notice strange sounds. Soon she begins to think about their appearance.179. The sound to our existence in an art-form sort of way... (Cannes)