The Year in Film: 2021

Best Picture

#1: Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
#2: Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)
#3: Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson)
#4: A Hero (Asghar Farhadi)
#5: Flee (Jonas Poher Rasmussen)
#6: Ema (Pablo Larraín)
#7: The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier)
#8: Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
#9: The Souvenir Part II (Joanna Hogg)
#10: The Green Knight (David Lowery)

Honorable mention: The Tragedy of Macbeth (Joel Coen), Pig (Michael Sarnoski), The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson), Bo Burnham: Inside (Bo Burnham), In & of Itself (Frank Oz), Bergman Island (Mia Hansen-Løve), Petite Maman (Céline Sciamma), Red Rocket (Sean Baker), The Hand of God (Paolo Sorrentino), About Endlessness (Roy Andersson), The Card Counter (Paul Schrader), West Side Story (Steven Spielberg), Malmkrog (Cristi Puiu), Anne at 13,000 Feet. (Kazik Radwanski), The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sangsoo), The Killing of Two Lovers (Robert Machoian), The Humans (Stephen Karam), Two of Us (Filippo Meneghetti), Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro), All Light, Everywhere (Theo Anthony)


Best Director

#1: Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car)
#2: Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza)
#3: Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Memoria)
#4: Asghar Farhadi (A Hero)
#5: Pablo Larraín (Ema)

Honorable mentions: Joanna Hogg (The Souvenir Part II), Joel Coen (The Tragedy of Macbeth), Joachim Trier (The Worst Person in the World), Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy), and David Lowery (The Green Knight)


Best Actor

#1: Hidetoshi Nishijima (Drive My Car)
#2: Anthony Hopkins (The Father)
#3: Willem Dafoe (Siberia)
#4: Nicolas Cage (Pig)
#5: Lakeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah)

Honorable mentions: Joaquin Phoenix (C’mon C’mon), Adam Driver (Annette), Leonardo DiCaprio (Don’t Look Up), Benicio Del Toro (No Sudden Move), and Simon Rex (Red Rocket)


Best Actress

#1: Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World)
#2: Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter)
#3: Vicky Krieps (Bergman Island)
#4: Tilda Swinton (Memoria)
#5: Mariana Di Girólamo (Ema)

Honorable mentions: Frances McDormand (The Tragedy of Macbeth), Jasna Đuričić (Quo Vadis, Aida?), Tōko Miura (Drive My Car), Penélope Cruz (Parallel Mothers), and Juliette Binoche (Who You Think I Am)


Best Supporting Actor

#1: Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog)
#2: Vincent Lindon (Titane)
#3: Masaki Okada (Drive My Car)
#4: André Holland (Passing)
#5: Anders Danielsen Lie (Bergman Island)

Honorable mentions: Benicio Del Toro (The French Dispatch), Richard Jenkins (The Humans), Jeffrey Wright (The French Dispatch), Bradley Cooper (Licorice Pizza), and Peter Sarsgaard (The Lost Daughter)


Best Supporting Actress

#1: Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter)
#2: Kathryn Hunter (The Tragedy of Macbeth)
#3: Aoba Kawai (Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy)
#4: Olivia Colman (The Father)
#5: Adèle Exarchopoulos (Mandibles)

Honorable mentions: Kotone Furukawa (Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy), Fusako Urabe (Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy), Ariana DeBose (West Side Story), Reika Kirishima (Drive My Car), and Ruth Negga (Passing)


Best Original Screenplay

#1: Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
#2: Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson)
#3: A Hero (Asghar Farhadi)
#4: The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt)
#5: The Souvenir Part II (Joanna Hogg)

Honorable mentions: Pig (Michael Sarnoski), Bergman Island (Mia Hansen-Løve), Ema (Guillermo Calderón and Alejandro Moreno), The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson), and Petite Maman (Céline Sciamma)


Best Adapted Screenplay

#1: Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe)
#2: The Green Knight (David Lowery)
#3: CODA (Sian Heder)
#4: Shiva Baby (Emma Seligman)
#5: The Humans (Stephen Karam)

Honorable mentions: The Tragedy of Macbeth (Joel Coen), The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal), Malmkrog (Cristi Puiu), Passing (Rebecca Hall), and West Side Story (Tony Kushner)


Best Cinematography

#1: The Tragedy of Macbeth (Bruno Delbonnel)
#2: West Side Story (Janusz Kamiński)
#3: Ema (Sergio Armstrong)
#4: The Power of the Dog (Ari Wegner)
#5: Dune (Greig Fraser)

Honorable mentions: Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson and Michael Bauman), About Endlessness (Gergely Pálos), The Green Knight (Andrew Droz Palermo), Titane (Ruben Impens), and Notturno (Gianfranco Rosi)


Best Film Editing

#1: West Side Story
#2: Licorice Pizza
#3: Ema
#4: Titane
#5: The Matrix Resurrections

Honorable mentions: The French Dispatch, The Tragedy of Macbeth, The Power of the Dog, The Green Knight, and No Sudden Move


Best Score

#1: The Card Counter (Robert Levon Been, Giancarlo Vulcano)
#2: The French Dispatch (Alexandre Desplat)
#3: Nine Days (Antonio Pinto)
#4: The Matrix Resurrections (Johnny Klimek and Tom Tykwer)
#5: Parallel Mothers (Alberto Iglesias)

Honorable mentions: Who You Think I Am (Ibrahim Maalouf), The Power of the Dog (Jonny Greenwood), Flee (Uno Helmersson), The Green Knight (Daniel Hart), and Dune (Hans Zimmer)


Best Song

#1: “Bezos I” (Bo Burnham: Inside)
#2: “All Eyes on Me” (Bo Burnham: Inside)
#3: “Problematic” (Bo Burnham: Inside)
#4: “30” (Bo Burnham: Inside)
#5: “Comedy” (Bo Burnham: Inside)

Honorable mentions: “White Woman’s Instagram” (Bo Burnham: Inside), “Content” (Bo Burnham: Inside), “FaceTime with My Mom” (Bo Burnham: Inside), “Goodbye” (Bo Burnham: Inside), and “Welcome to the Internet” (Bo Burnham: Inside)

Honorable mentions not from Bo Burnham: Inside: “Destino” (Ema), “Sympathy for the Abyss” (Annette), “Mercy of Man” (The Card Counter), “True Love Always Finds a Way” (Annette), and “Surface Pressure” (Encanto)


Best Production Design

#1: The French Dispatch
#2: The Green Knight
#3: Dune
#4: The Tragedy of Macbeth
#5: West Side Story

Honorable mentions: The Matrix Resurrections, In the Heights, Malmkrog, The Father, and About Endlessness


Best Costume Design

#1: West Side Story
#2: The French Dispatch
#3: The Matrix Resurrections
#4: Spencer
#5: The Green Knight

Honorable mentions: The Tragedy of Macbeth, In the Heights, Dune, Nightmare Alley, and Malmkrog


Best Makeup & Hairstyling

#1: The Green Knight
#2: Dune
#3: Titane
#4: The Eyes of Tammy Faye
#5: The Matrix Resurrections

Honorable mentions: House of Gucci, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Malignant, Army of the Dead, and Pig


Best Sound

#1: The Matrix Resurrections
#2: Ema
#3: Memoria
#4: The Tragedy of Macbeth
#5: The Green Knight

Honorable mentions: Dune, Titane, West Side Story, Licorice Pizza, and Malignant


Best Visual Effects

#1: The Matrix Resurrections
#2: Dune
#3: The Green Knight
#4: The Tragedy of Macbeth
#5: The Suicide Squad

Honorable mentions: Army of the Dead, Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Godzilla vs. Kong, and Fast and the Furious 9


Worst Film of the Year

Separation (William Brent Bell)

Dishonorable mentions: Spiral (Darren Lynn Bousman), Demonic (Neill Blomkamp), The Penny Black, Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin (William Eubank), Cinderella (Kay Cannon), The Misfits (Renny Harlin), Needle in a Timestack (John Ridley), Infiinite (Antoine Fuqua), The Blazing World (Carlson Young), and Flag Day (Sean Penn).