10. Days
One of the greatest, most unique cinematic treats of the past 30 years has been the steady creative development of Tsai Ming-liang and Lee Kang-sheng’s filmmaking partnership. The collaboration between writer-director and actor began with 1992’s Rebels of the Neon God and now enters another decade with Days.
Again, the duo collectively distills their lives into Lee’s constant on-screen role as “Kang.” In Days, we see the two in the character’s physical ailments, daily routines, and psychologies. And over the course of two hours and seven minutes, we patiently watch Kang and a young sex worker boy named Non drift from their still, mundane, lonely lives into each other’s company for a brief but profound moment of carnal and existential respite.
Tsai directs with palpable tenderness; it’s as if our own bodies are being caressed through it. Sensuality and connection blossoms in the unlikely arena of gay prostitution, raising questions about the nature of being alone and the ways we create meaning out of our experiences with others in all circumstances, high or low. In short, this is cinematherapy in its most meditative, engaging form.
9. The Worst Person in the World
Joachim Trier calls this his Eat Pray Love. But if you’re familiar with the Norwegian filmmaker’s work — which includes Thelma, Louder Than Bombs, and Oslo, August 31st — you know cheesy Julia Roberts feel-good flicks aren’t necessarily up his alley. But, as it turns out, Trier’s version of the epic, emotional Find Yourself narrative is a gift that will keep giving for a long time.
While The Worst Person in the World comes with its fair share of laying things on thick, none of it is poorly executed or emotionally manipulative. Trier manages every beat with grace, earning the rollercoaster of emotions experienced with Julie, as well as the tears streaming down your face.
This movie could simply and very accurately be described as thus: Renata Reinsve (who took home the Best Actress trophy at Cannes) plays Julie. That’s it. We witness four years in the life of Julie. And that’s what makes it such a triumph. It is as wonderful, sorrowful, electric, and complex as fully lived lives are.
8. Faya Dayi
Be warned. Jessica Beshir’s feature debut might make you levitate. Consider tying your body to the couch temporarily. The hypnotic documentary comes about as close to a literal daydream as a film can, floating across a mosaic of stories about contemporary Sufi Muslims in the Ethiopian highlands of Harar. They are a spiritual people whose culture has major roots in khat, a leaf native to the region that doubles as the religious core of the community and its economic foundation.
With Beshir’s trademark glowing black-and-white cinematography (established across four short films, from 2016-2018), immersive sound design, unforgettable people at the center, and an absolute spell of a score, Faya Dayi is hard to look away from. The world around you dissolves, phones are gone for a couple of hours, and a new world awakens: a blend of sacred, mythical, and realist perspectives.
We learn about the suffering of this place through the hopes of the youth spoken into the vast, echoless fields of khat that expand in all directions. We’re left in awe, having been transported to another dimension — in sadness, knowing the oppression faced, and in hope, the perpetual glow of life somehow having reached through the screen.
7. The Disciple
This will be remembered as a legendary year for music-centric cinema. There’s Peter Jackson’s seminal The Beatles: Get Back, Edgar Wright’s inspiring first documentary, The Sparks Brothers, and Questlove’s earth-shattering filmmaking debut, Summer of Soul. And in the same company, there’s the much lesser seen The Disciple, Chaitanya Tamhane’s tale of musical devotion, aching disappointment, and the “eternal quest” for artistic greatness.
Sharad Nerulkar (Aditya Modak) is a classical Indian vocalist apprentice to his father, a legend in the particular expression. We meet him in relative infancy, but the story spans years, taking us on a painful journey of artistic liberation through the confrontation of truths that are much harder to face than they seem.
If it’s any indication of the career to come from Tamhane, we have a lot to look forward to, both in storytelling chops and visual language. The film’s cinematography leaves us with some of the most stunning palettes, textures, and overall aesthetics of the year.
6. Titane
When it comes to movies about cars impregnating serial killers, well, there weren’t any. And when someone finally made one (demand was high), it won the Palme d’Or. Carnalist French writer-director Julia Ducournau has managed to do the impossible: one-up Raw, her feature film debut about a veterinary school student who goes full cannibal after some vile freshman rituals go to her head.
Titane isn’t necessarily more disturbing. It’s just a different kind, and some will find it harder to get through, a testament to Ducournau’s excellence in the visual pursuit of extreme discomfort. In only two features, she’s proven she has something wildly unique to bring to body horror, and even more to offer in the way she blends disparate things we’d never imagined together — recreational murder, erotic dance, and firefighting, for example.
No doubt we’ll be on the edge of our seats waiting for whatever Ducournau is cooking up next, knowing full well that for better or worse it will be something unique.
Related Topics: 2021 Rewind
