Best and Worst of 2121

The Worst Person in the World
Julie’s inability to commit to relationships is just part of Danish filmmaker Joachim Trier’s (Oslo, August 31st) sophisticated story of a young woman who runs into considerable confusion as she looks for her place in the world. Renate Reinsve projects a sexy and charismatic screen presence in the role of a good-hearted character who is both likable and infuriating.
Annette
On the heels of a revelatory documentary about the duo Sparks comes their first musical, a stagey, outrageous, and audacious operetta sung and performed by Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard, Simon Helberg, and a puppet infant. Directed by the mad French director Leos Carax. (Arts Fuse review)

A scene from Drive My Car.Drive My Car
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s film is adapted from a Haruki Murakami short story and it is set at the staging of a trilingual production of Uncle Vanya (including one ASL actress). The actor-director tasked with mounting the production is required to have a driver. The woman who is hired, the actors, the actor-director, and his deceased wife are given backstories, secrets, and frustrations that intersect with themes of Chekhov’s tragicomic masterpiece. This is a masterfully layered three-hour meditation on life, art, love, and loss. (Arts Fuse review)
C’mon C’mon
Three inspiring performances anchor a story of a documentary filmmaker (Joaquin Phoenix) who is helping to raise his sister’s son (Gaby Hoffman and Woody Norman, both exceptional) in New York while she attends to her bipolar husband in Los Angeles. Incorporating a series of  interviews with real-life young people, the narrative glides beautifully between the particulars of child-rearing and the future hopes and dreams of the generations to come.
Red Rocket
This study of an ethically and morally challenged motor-mouthed ex-porn star (Simon Rex) returning to his hometown is nasty and often inappropriate. But it is hysterically funny. Director Sean Baker continues to spotlight America’s underbelly, finding the perfect cast to dramatize this unsavory tale.
The Power of the Dog
Director Jane Campion delivers a beautifully nuanced story of masculinity in 1920s Montana, spotlighting the country’s vast landscapes and gothic interiors. (Arts Fuse review)
Licorice Pizza
PT Anderson returns to the time and place of Boogie Nights with this take about precocious L.A. adolescents raised in the circus world of show biz and water beds. Cooper Hoffman (Phillip Seymour’s son) and Alana Haim (of the band Haim, for whom Anderson has filmed music videos) head a superb cast in a rambling story filled with Hollywood oddballs and zealous casting agents.

Magdalena Koleśnik in a scene from Sweat.Sweat
From Sweden comes Magnus von Horn’s study of an online fitness influencer, played (powerfully) by Magdalena Koleśnik. The film is both a psychological profile and a  penetrating commentary on celebrity culture. The director has taken a cinéma vérité approach (reminiscent of the films of Michael Haneke and Ruben Östlund), to the point that I was, at first, genuinely confused about whether this is a feature film or a documentary.
About Endlessness
Another home run from Scandinavia: love him or hate him, no one creates surreal imagery as meticulous as Roy Andersson. His dioramas float on the wings of dream. (Arts Fuse Review)
France
Bruno Dumont’s (Jeanette: the Childhood of Joan of Arc) films vary between disturbing realism and elaborate fantasies. France falls somewhere in between: it is the story of a beautiful and highly successful television journalist who begins to question the meaning of her work and her life. All Dumont’s films pit the good intentions of his protagonists against the barbarism inherent in human nature. France includes plenty of dry humor, which might make this his most commercial film.
Runners-up
The Killing of Two Lovers, Language Lessons, Titane, Don’t Look Up, Quo Vadis Aida, A Chiarra, I Am No Longer Here, A Hero, Hand of God, The French Dispatch, Zola, Benedetta, Old Henry.
Documentary

A scene from ProcessionProcession: Throughout his career director Robert Greene (Actress, Kate Plays Christine) has been crafting performative documentaries. For Procession, survivors of sexual assault by Catholic priests were asked to write short scenarios detailing their abuse, which were used as the basis for therapeutic recreations. This sensitive collaboration treats filmmaking as a healing process. There is nothing sensational or exploitative here: the film is sad, frustrating, liberating, and utterly engrossing.
The Velvet Underground: Todd Haynes’s smartly edited film puts Lou Reed, John Cale, and their legendary band into the cultural context of the ’60s.
Summer of Soul: QuestLove offers a gift to music lovers by resurrecting footage of the Harlem Cultural Festival concert series, lost for 50 years. This vibrant film features performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, and the 5th Dimension.
Sabaya: Director Hogir Hirori follows two brave men as they rescue Yazidi women from a camp where they are held by ISIS to be sold as sex slaves, known as sabaya. An important observational documentary that is a study of true heroism. This is one of the best of a number of revelatory documentaries that have been made possible by cell phones and small cameras.
How It Feels to Be Free
This “American Masters” production, directed by Yoruba Richen, puts the radical and pioneering artistry of Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone, Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson, and Pam Grier into a much needed — and entertaining — perspective.
Disappointments
Last Night in Soho – A laughable blend of horror and excessive editing that comes off like Georgy Girl directed by Dario Argento
Land – Robin Wright’s directorial debut about a woman looking for meaning in the wilderness falls flat due to stagy scenes and implausible situations.
Cry Macho – The trophy for the most wooden acting of the year goes to the cast in Clint Eastwood’s film, which wearily limps (once again)  though the worn theme of  “what makes a man a man.”
The Night House – Chockablock with disconnected horror tropes that even Rebecca Hall’s committed performance can’t connect.