Slant’s Best Films of 2021: The Ballots

From Chuck Bowen’s introduction to Slant’s Top 50 Films of 2020. “good movies require the effort of personal vigilance, and the films below merit the expansion of purview. In troubled times, these daring, highly disparate productions show that a cherished medium isn’t only not dying but may, in fact, just be beginning to get its sea legs. Cinema could be evolving into a form that’s more personal and eccentric than ever, in accordance with the newfound intimacy that arrives from learning that theaters can be lovely but are also essentially beside the point.” Click here to read the feature and see if your favorite films of the year made our list. And see below for a list of our contributors’ individual ballots.

Chris Barsanti

1. The Power of the Dog
2. The Velvet Underground
3. Ema
4. Red Rocket
5. Ascension
6. The Green Knight
7. Flee
8. Zola
9. Final Account
10. Quo Vadis, Aida?

Honorable Mention: Drive My Car, Dune, The French Dispatch, The Killing of Two Lovers, The Last Duel, Licorice Pizza, Passing, Petite Maman, Pig, Summer of Soul

Chuck Bowen

1. Drive My Car
2. Parallel Mothers
3. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
4. Licorice Pizza
5. All Light, Everywhere
6. Zola
7. In the Same Breath
8. The Power of the Dog
9. Procession
10. Come True

Honorable Mention: Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts, The Card Counter, A Cop Movie, A Hero, Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time, Red Rocket, The Swarm, Titane, Two Lottery Tickets, The Woman Who Ran

Pat Brown

1. Memoria
2. Drive My Car
3. The Worst Person in the World
4. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
5. Red Rocket
6. The Souvenir Part II
7. Parallel Mothers
8. Bergman Island
9. Petite Maman
10. All Light, Everywhere

Honorable Mention: Benedetta, The Card Counter, Dune, The French Dispatch, The Last Duel, Shiva Baby, Titane, Undine, The Woman Who Ran, The Velvet Underground

Jake Cole

1. Days
2. Labyrinth of Cinema
3. Memoria
4. Drive My Car
5. The Worst Person in the World
6. The Power of the Dog
7. Siberia
8. The Woman Who Ran
9. Petite Maman
10. Licorice Pizza

Honorable Mention: Annette, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, Benedetta, A Hero, Procession, The Souvenir Part II, Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue, Titane, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Wife of a Spy

Ed Gonzalez

1. Drive My Car
2. All Light, Everywhere
3. The Power of the Dog
4. Licorice Pizza
5. Two Lottery Tickets
6. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
7. Identifying Features
8. In the Same Breath
9. Bergman Island
10. Parallel Mothers

Honorable Mention: Atlantis, Azor, Ema, Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream, Limbo, Passing, El Planeta, The Two Sights, The Velvet Underground, The Woman Who Ran

Christopher Gray

1. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
2. Memoria
3. Procession
4. The Power of the Dog
5. The Worst Person in the World
6. Days
7. Undine
8. Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream
9. El Planeta
10. Azor

Honorable Mention: All Light, Everywhere, The Card Counter, Drive My Car, Dune, The French Dispatch, Passing, The Salt of Tears, This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection, The Woman Who Ran, Zola

Wes Greene

1. Petite Maman
2. The Power of the Dog
3. Shiva Baby
4. Bergman Island
5. The Worst Person in the World
6. The Velvet Underground
7. Red Rocket
8. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
9. There Is No Evil
10. All Light, Everywhere

Honorable Mention: Copshop, Days, The French Dispatch, Isabella, Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream, Passing, Procession, The Souvenir Part II, What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?, The Woman Who Ran

Mark Hanson

1. Memoria
2. Red Rocket
3. The Worst Person in the World
4. The Scary of Sixty-First
5. The Fever
6. All Light, Everywhere
7. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
8. The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin)
9. The Card Counter
10. Heard She Got Married

Honorable Mention: The Beta Test, Broadcast Signal Intrusion, Faya Dayi, Funny Face, Identifying Features, Nina Wu, El Planeta, The Sleeping Negro, Swan Song, Zeros and Ones

Carson Lund

1. The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin)
2. Memoria
3. Licorice Pizza
4. Drive My Car
5. About Endlessness
6. All Light, Everywhere
7. Her Socialist Smile
8. The Souvenir Part II
9. Two Lottery Tickets
10. The Card Counter

Honorable Mention: Annette, Dune, Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream, Labyrinth of Cinema, No Sudden Move, The Power of the Dog, PVT Chat, Slow Machine, The Two Sights, Undine

William Repass

1. Never Gonna Snow Again
2. Titane
3. The Power of the Dog
4. I’m Your Man
5. The Green Knight
6. Bad Tales
7. Lost Course
8. Judas and the Black Messiah
9. Come True
10. Memory House

Honorable Mention: American Sector, Beckett, Charlatan, Dune, The Feast, The Hand of God, The Night, Siberia, Test Pattern, Zola

Steven Scaife

1. Titane
2. Identifying Features
3. Pig
4. Drive My Car
5. Agnes
6. Zola
7. Test Pattern
8. Red Rocket
9. The Power of the Dog
10. Bad Trip

Honorable Mention: All Light, Everywhere, The Disciple, The French Dispatch, Jumbo, Limbo, Malignant, El Planeta, Shiva Baby, Slow Machine, Violation

Diego Semerene

1. The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin)
2. State Funeral
3. This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection
4. There Is No Evil
5. Drive My Car
6. Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream
7. Faya Dayi
8. About Endlessness
9. Flee
10. Benedetta

Honorable Mention: Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, Days, Identifying Features, I’m Your Man, Passing, Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time, Titane, The Two Sights, The Worst Person in the World, Undine

Derek Smith

1. Drive My Car
2. The Disciple
3. Licorice Pizza
4. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
5. All Light, Everywhere
6. The Power of the Dog
7. Parallel Mothers
8. I’m Your Man
9. A Shape of Things to Come
10. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Honorable Mention: Ascension, The Card Counter, Cryptozoo, Faya Dayi, The French Dispatch, Identifying Features, Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream, Limbo, Lost Course, This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection

Keith Watson

1. Memoria
2. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
3. The Power of the Dog
4. The French Dispatch
5. Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream
6. Benedetta
7. The Souvenir Part II
8. Licorice Pizza
9. The Two Sights
10. El Planeta

Honorable Mention: Azor, Ascension, Bergman Island, The Card Counter, Cryptozoo, Dune, France, Labyrinth of Cinema, Test Pattern, The Velvet Underground