Jacob Mouradian’s Top 10 Films of 2021

5. Hellbender

One of the biggest surprises of the year for me, but a wholly welcome one at that! The Addams family (no, not that one) has made a name for themselves in indie circles over the past decade for their ultra-low-budget films of auteurist sensibilities as well as their family-centric mode of production, and while Hellbender doesn’t waver from any of those distinctions it might be the family’s most refined outing yet. Such a blend offers up playful scares and rough-around-the-edges DIY fun, but buried beneath those twigs is a prickly and complex rumination on spiritual corruption, self-determination, reformation, and historical awareness – particularly in how it applies to institutionalized misogyny and what that suggests about future cultural literacy. A real treat for all future Halloween binges.

4. Tin Can

It takes a lot for a movie to make me squirm and potentially throw up, and Seth A. Smith’s pandemic-set psychological thriller takes the nasty, gross cake in that regard. Smith utilizes minimal locations and industrial settings to make us feel just as claustrophobic as his characters do: while they are trying to figure out the puzzle of why they’re trapped, we’re trying to figure out the puzzle of Smith and co-writer Darcy Spidle’s entrapping narrative. We become aware of the ironic parallels of the characters’ inorganic settings to the deadly flaws that exist within their own psyches, and how it’s not just a fatal fungus that can leave you feeling dead and at a loss of humanity. Body horror at its disgustingly finest.

You can read my full review of the film here.

3. Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror

The fact that three documentaries have already made my Top 10 list is kind of amazing to me, but what’s just as amazing is this absolute tome of knowledge that documentarian Kier-La Janisse has constructed here. Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched is a deep dive into what initially sounds like an off-hand branch of horror and examines how its tendrils bury deep into various other genres, literary movements, and cultural histories the world over. There’s not an excessive amount of flair nor medium experimentation going on here, but the sheer breadth of knowledge that Janisse covers makes it play like its own college-level anthropology course. A necessary watch for any self-proclaimed cinephile, horror fan or not.

You can read my full review of the film here.

2. Minari

Sometimes a soft-spoken film is all you need to make a profound statement, and that’s exactly what Lee Isaac Chung did here. There’s an episodic and slice-of-life nature to this whole endeavor, but Chung allows each of those moments to simmer and ride out their ultimate purpose. It’s an atypical portrait of the hollowness of the American Dream in that it reveals how it’s not one defining factor that makes it a difficult goal to achieve but rather it’s a concurrence of numerous trials and tribulations. It may feel episodic at times, but it adds up to a thorough and life-defining whole.

You can read my full review of the film here.

1. Swan Song

No, not the Mahershala Ali vehicle (I still need to see that one); the Udo Kier one.

One of my other 2021 film festival surprises that I nearly passed up, and that I’m so glad I didn’t. At first glance it seems likely to be a typical indie dramedy that plays off more quirk than quip, yet director Todd Stephens reveals so, so much more is going on underneath its mildly campy surface. What seems like a silly road trip soon turns into a treatise on the historical shifts of queer identity, the thorny nuance of small-town life, the necessity to know one’s own history, and the pain of ultimately being abandoned to it. Swan Song is as tear-jerking as it is funny and Kier puts in a truly understated performance as a bitter aging queen. One of the most emotionally complex films I’ve seen in a long while, and that I can’t wait to revisit time and time again.

Honorable Mentions

Ultrasound and Seobok were some understated sci-fi that definitely left a mark, as were the physically-intense psychological thrillers like Catch the Fair One and The Novice. Kid Candidate took a humorously earnest look at GenZ political action, while Agnes make for head-scratching horror. Ballad of a White Cow and Zahorí were both moving bits of human drama, and Leos Carax made another striking comeback with the idiosyncratic musical Annette. And Pixar made wonderful waves with Luca – arguably one of their best and most affecting films in years.

2021 Films I Have Not Seen

Hooboy! Despite seeing loads of films at all those aforementioned festivals, I sort of missed out on the wider releases. A24’s return to theaters with The Green Knight, Zola, and The Tragedy of Macbeth completely passed me by, as did all of the big Cannes names like Titane, Benedetta, Red Rocket, Drive My Car, and A Hero. Other festival big-hitters I’ll have to wait on, as well, from Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, Mass, and CODA. And of course, the animation geek in me is quite bummed to have missed Flee, Encanto, The Summit of the Gods, The Spine of Night, and Belle.

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