2021
2021: new
1. (third study for) Swedge of Heaven (Richard Forbes-Hamilton, UK 2021, 15m) 9/10 {25/28}
2. In Shallow Water (Marek Moučka, Slovakia 2021, 10m) 9/10 {25}
3. Train Again (Peter Tscherkassky, Austria 2021, 20m) 9/10 {24}
4. Young Guns (Andreas Thaulow, Denmark 2021, 20m) 8/10 {23}
5. Looking for Venera (Norika Sefa, Kosovo etc 2021, 111m) 8/10 {22}
6. The Dust of Modern Life (Franziska von Stenglin, Germany 2021, 81m) {22}
7. The Suicide Squad (James Gunn, USA 2021, 132m) 8/10 {22}
8. The King’s Man (Matthew Vaughn, UK/USA 2021, 131m) 8/10 {22}
9. Friends and Strangers (James Vaughan, Australia 2021, 84m) 8+/10 {22}
10. A Dog You Are (Benjamin Laabmayr, Austria 2021, 12m) {22}
8/10 {22}
The Blood Is White (Óscar Vincentelli, Spain/Venezuela 2021, 13m)
Day after… (Kamar Ahmad Simon, Bangladesh 2021, 115m) {22}
Naya: Der Wald hat tausend Augen (Sebastian Mulder, Netherlands 2021, 24m)
8/10 {21}
Bird Atlas (Olmo Omerzu, Czech Republic etc 2021, 92m)
Capsules / Portraits #1 (Jules Bourbon, France 2021, 2m)
Compartment No.6 (Juho Kuosmanen, Finland etc 2021, 108m)
Happy Valley (Simon Liu, Hong Kong/USA 2020, 12m)
Her Violet Kiss (Bill Morrison, USA 2021, 5m)
Landscapes of Resistance (Marta Popivoda, Serbia 2021, 95m)
Mafifa (Daniela Muñoz Barroso, Cuba, 77m)
Minimal Sway While Starting My Way Up (Stéphanie Lagarde, Netherlands 2021, 16m)
O (Paul Wenninger, Austria 2021, 6m)
ROTOЯ | SONIC BODY (NO1, Austria 2020, 13m)
3 Songs For Saturn (Misho Antadze, Netherlands 2020, 12m)
7+/10 {20+}
earthearthearth (Daïchi Saïto, Canada 2021, 30m)
7/10 {20}
All the Crows in the World (Yi Tang, HK/China 2021, 14m)
Benedetta (Paul Verhoeven, Netherlands/France 2021, 131m)
Capsules / portraits #2 (Jules Bourbon, France 2021, 2m)
KaleidoSkeleton Ti: The Desi Cyborg (Aminder Virdee, UK 2020, 2m)
Malignant (James Wan, USA 2021, 111m)
Merak (Dzhovani Gospodinov, Luxembourg 2020, 22m)
Parallel Mothers (Pedro Almodóvar, Spain 2021, 120m)
Red Rocket (Simon Baker, USA 2022, 128m)
7/10 {19}
Attention All Passengers (Marek Moučka, Slovakia 2021, 20m)
The Coast (Sohrab Hura, India 2020, 17m)
Days and Nights of Demetra K. (Eva Stefani, Greece 2021, 72m)
Displaced (Samir Karahoda, Kosovo 2021, 15m)
Dissolution Prologue (Extended Version) (Siegfried A Fruhauf, Austria 2020, 6m)
The Elegy of Laurel (Dušan Kasalica, Montenegro/Serbia 2021, 93m)
The Father (Florian Zeller, UK / France 2020 97m)
Feiertage (Katharina Pichler, Austria 2021 11m)
Four Pills at Night (Leart Rama, Kosovo/Switzerland 2021, 25m)
Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song (Daniel Geller & Dayna Goldfine, USA 2021, 116m)
Husek (Daniela Seggiaro, Argentina 2021, 89m)
Letters From a Window (Nigel Gavus, İlkin Beste Çırak, Austria 2021, 4.5m)
My Uncle Tudor (Olga Lucovnicova, Belgium etc 2021, 20m)
Nomadland (Chloé Zhao, USA 2020, 108m)
Paradise Lost: History in the Un-making (Andy Howlett, UK 2021, 84m)
Prokop (Danilo Stanimirović, Serbia 2021, 12m)
Rampart (Marko Grba Singh, Serbia 2021, 62m)
The Ring (Bill Morrison, USA 2021, 8m)
Eine Sekunde in Fränkli (Douwe Dijkstra, Switzerland 2021, 10m)
A Thousand Fires (Saeed Taji Farouky, France/Switz/Neth/
veils_yr_sleep [#0000FF☽] (Sweætshops®, Scotland 2020, 3.5m)
Zeros and Ones (Abel Ferrara, UK/Germany/Italy 2021, 85m)
7/10 {18}
Bad Luck Banging, or Loony Porn… (Radu Jude, Romania etc 2020, 106m)
Bestia (Hugo Covarrubias, Chile 2021, 16m)
Cake-Zilla (Johan Klungel, Netherlands 2021, 1m)
Boiling Point (Philip Barantini, UK 2021, 94m)
Bulletproof (Todd Chandler, USA 2020, 83m)
Civilization (Christoph Schwarz, Austria 2021, 23m)
Coming Home in the Dark (James Ashcroft, New Zealand 2021, 93m)
Eskape (Adeline Neary Hay, France 2021, 71m)
Graft (aka Kalem, Luka Matić, Croatia 2021, 10m)
Granny’s Sexual Life (Djukić & Pigeard, Slovenia/France 2021, 14m)
Gritt (Itonje Søimer Guttormsen, Norway 2021, 119m)
Into the Wild (Markus Maicher, Austria 2020, 4m)
The Little Moon (Elena Kairytė, Lithuania 2020, 26m)
Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, USA 2021, 139m)
One Take Grace (Lindiwe Matshikiza, South Africa 2021, 90m)
Sideral (Carlos Segundo, France/Brazil 2021, 15m)
Singing in the Wilderness (Dongnan Chen, China 2021, 99m)
Spring Will Not Be Televised (Michael Heindl, Austria 2020, 6m)
Three Songs for Benazir (Mirzaei & Mirzaei, Afghanistan 2021, 22m)
Topology of Sirens (Jonathan Davies, USA 2021, 106m)
The Trees (Ramzi Bashour, Lebanon 2020, 23m)
Venice Beach, CA (Marion Naccache, France 2021, 79m)
Visions of the Empire (Joana Pontes, Portugal 2021, 93m)
Warhorse: Atlatl (Gašper Milkovič Biloslav, Slovenia 2021, 4m)
Wild Roots (Hajni Kis, Hungary/Slovakia 2021, 98m)
The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier, Norway etc 2021, 128m)
notable performances in 2021 world-premieres
1 Întregalde : Luca Sabin
2 Looking For Venera : Kosovare Krasniqi
3 Wild Roots : Gusztáv Dietz
4 Gritt : Birgitte Larson
5 Drive My Car: PARK Yurim
6 Bird Atlas : Miroslav Donutil
7 Coming Home in the Dark : Daniel Gillies
8 Boiling Point : Stephen Graham
9 Licorice Pizza: Cooper Hoffman
10 Malignant : Maddie Hasson
then
Compartment No6: Yuriy Borisov, Seidi Haarla
Wild Roots : Zorka Horváth
Red Rocket: Simon Rex
Spiderman – No Way Home: Willem Dafoe
Boiling Point : Vinette Robinson, Alice Feetham, Lauryn Ajufo
The Hand of God : Dora Romano
No Time To Die : Ana de Armas
The King’sman : Ralph Fiennes
archival: best film and best performance year by year, 1945 to date
2021: archival
1. Red Psalm (Miklós Jancsó, Hungary 1972, 87m) 10/10 {28}*
2. Bad Company (Robert Benton, USA 1972, 93m) 10/10 {27}”
3. A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, USA 2005, 96m) 10/10 {27}”
4. Chinatown (Roman Polanski, USA 1974, 131m) 10/10 {27}”
5. The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich, USA 1971 118m) 10/10 {27}”
6. The Commune (Paris 1871) (Peter Watkins, France 2000, 210m version) 9/10 {26}*
7. Dead Man’s Shoes (Shane Meadows, UK 2004, 90m) 9/10 {26}”
8. Excalibur (John Boorman, USA 1981, 141m) 9/10 {26}”
9. You Like It, I Love It (James Vaughan, Australia 2013, 15m) 9/10 {26}*
10. Two Lovers (James Gray, USA 2008, 110m) 9/10 {25}”
then
9/10 {25}
Klute (Alan J Pakula, USA 1971, 114m)”
Sunset Blvd. (Billy Wilder, USA 1950, 110m)”
Toby Dammit (Federico Fellini, Italy 1968, 40m [segment from Spirits of the Dead, 121m])*
9/10 {24}
Culloden (Peter Watkins, UK 1964 TV, 69m)*
Dog Soldiers aka Who’ll Stop the Rain (Karel Reisz, USA 1978, 126m)”
I Just Can’t Go On (John Cook, Austria 1973, 50m)”
8+/10 {23+}
Happy Days (Aleksei Balabanov, USSR 1991, 86m)*
8/10 {23}
The Christening (Marcin Wrona, Poland 2010 86m)”
D.O.A. (Rudolph Maté, USA 1949, 83m)”
The House of Mirth (Terence Davies, UK/Ger/USA 2000, 135m)”
Inferno (Dario Argento, Italy/USA 1980, 106m)”
The Wolf’s Mouth (La Bocca del lupo, Pietro Marcello, Italy 2009, 68m)”
Fallen Angels (WONG Kar-wai, Hong Kong 1995, 99m)”
I, Pierre Rivière, Having Slaughtered My Mother, Sister and Brother… (René Allio, France 1976, 130m)*
Point Blank (John Boorman, USA 1967, 92m)”
Sawdust City (David Nordstrom, USA 2011, 97m)”
Some Came Running (Vincente Minnelli, USA 1958, 136m)”
8/10 {22}
Bullitt (Peter Yates, USA 1968, 113m)”
Deliverance (John Boorman, USA 1972, 109m)”
The Funeral (Abel Ferrara, USA 1996, 99m)*
Electra, My Love (Miklós Jancsó, Hungary 1974, 72m)*
The Ice House (Derek Lister, UK 1978 TV, 34m)
Mafioso (Alberto Lattuada, Italy 1962, 100m)*
Putney Swope (Robert Downey Sr [a prince], USA 1969, 84m)*
Shoot Don’t Shoot (William E. Jones, USA 2012, 5m)*
Under Fire (Roger Spottiswoode, USA 1983, 123m)”?
The Hired Hand (Peter Fonda, USA 1971 [2001 restoration / director’s cut], 93m)*
L’uomo il fuoco il ferro (Kurt Blum, Italy 1960, 10m)*
What Price Hollywood? (George Cukor, USA 1932, 88m)*
* first-time view, ” other