JUST WHAT WE NEEDED, ANOTHER BEST OF 2021 LIST: THE FILMS

The eagle-eyed reader may have noticed I didn’t post a Best Films of 2020 last year. And there’s a good reason for that – in 2020 I only saw two films, as I don’t subscribe to streaming services, the movie theatres were closed for most of the year, and I didn’t fly anywhere (airplanes being a key source of movie-watching for me). And of the two I saw, only one was any good (Les Miserables – not the musical, but the film about police racism and poverty in Paris, which by the way is intense and brilliant).

 

This year I managed to see more films, though not many more – and that was largely due to my trip to the US (25 hours each way) followed by three weeks in hotel quarantine. So I had a little spare time.

 

Despite that, I still didn't get to see that many films, and not that many were good, so yr getting a Top 5 from me this year, and yr lucky to get that.

 

STANDARD DISCLAIMER: If yr favorite movie of 2021 isn’t here, it’s likely because (1) I didn’t get a chance to see it, (2) it hasn’t been released in Hong Kong yet, or (3) I did see it but didn’t like it as much as you did. Also, if some of these seem kind of old, it’s because their release date was 2020 for yr country, but 2021 for Hong Kong. See?

 

TOP FIVE DEF FILMS OF 2021

 

1. The Matrix Resurrections

 

Did we need another Matrix movie? Even as a fan of the original trilogy, I would say “not really” – but we got one anyway, and if we have to have one, I think this is a good one to have. Of course, I may just be relieved that the way they bring back Neo and Trinity is more or less believable (it is), and that – despite the obvious callbacks to the original trilogy in the trailer – the film doesn’t simply repeat the same story. Indeed, the film is extremely self-referential on that score – and this is a Matrix updated for the social media age, which also serves as dead-on (if oversimplified) sociopolitical critique I’ve come to expect from this series. It’s by no means perfect – as with the other films, some bits work better if you don’t think about them too much, and this time around the action scenes aren’t as easy to follow as Lana Wachowski drops the tightly controlled anime framing in favor of standard hand-held closeups. But overall I liked this a lot better than I thought I would. I loved it, actually. Caveat emptor: if you didn’t like the original trilogy (or the talky bits in the sequels), you probably won’t like this. And this is really for fans only – if you haven’t seen the trilogy, it’s unlikely this film will make any sense.

 

2. Nomadland

 

Based on Jessica Bruder’s non-fiction book about older American workers who lost their livelihoods after the 2008 recession and became transient gig-economy nomads, living in RVs and vans, the film follows Fern, an unemployed widow who hits the road in her van to find work wherever it may be. Frances McDormand is excellent as usual, every line on her face reflecting Fern’s ongoing struggle with the loss of her husband, trying to find work and being treated as a homeless vagrant. That, plus writer/director Chloe Zhao’s decision to blend pro actors with real nomads tells the film’s story perhaps more convincingly than a straight documentary would have. Zhao also wisely avoids melodrama and political polemics – to the apparent dismay of some critics who feel the film glosses over how Amazon treats its workers and should have taken the opportunity to make Big Statements about late-stage capitalism. But then it would have been a movie less focused on its characters, who aren't living van life to make a statement – they’re doing it because harsh circumstances and gritty socioeconomic realities made it their best available option, and because the community that formed around them gives them more support than “normal” society does. That’s the real heart of the film, and what ultimately makes it work for me.

 

3. Memories To Choke On, Drinks To Wash Them Down

 

This indie HK film from writer/directors Leung Ming Kai and Kate Reilly is an anthology of four stories – three fictional + one documentary – that are linked by the themes of memory and change. Storywise, it’s a mixed bag, but in terms of acting and direction, it’s a very well-crafted film. And arguably the stories themselves matter less than the film’s composite portrait / metaphor of a city in transition, with many people trying to preserve its local identity and history while being dragged into an uncertain future by economic and political forces that have no use for either. That said, Leung and Reilly wisely avoid obvious melodrama and overt political statements, opting to focus on the daily reality of life in HK amid ongoing sociopolitical crises (indeed, it’s not until the end of the third segment that HK’s political turmoil is directly referred to at all). Some may feel the documentary is out of place, but I think it emphasizes that the first three segments are grounded in the same reality of local HK culture that has always had to constantly respond and adapt to external changes being thrust upon it. It also quietly acknowledges that the 2019 protests were a real-life example of this. It might be too slow and anti-climactic for some people, and unsatisfyingly neutral for others. But few films manage to reflect the variety of modern HK life (as well as its landscape) this accurately.

 

4. Cockroach

 

This documentary from Chinese artist Ai Weiwei covers the 2019 Hong Kong protests, from the first huge march in June to the PolyU siege in November. It eschews an obvious narrative in favor of a “you are there” street level view of the protests and their descent into violence, although it does offer a modicum of context via interviews with pro-Demo figures, frontline protesters, movement supporters and even a few police officers. But it’s far from comprehensive, and thus requires a deeper knowledge of specific events. That said, its greatest success is portraying the protesters as they were – not evil, violent anarchist terrorists organized and trained by the CIA (as the govt would have us now believe), but a spontaneous, leaderless movement of ordinary people pushed to desperation by a brutal police force beating and tear-gassing them (and anyone who got in their way) for demanding the future they had been promised. There’s little doubt whose side Ai is on – and this occasionally works to the film’s detriment – but it’s a strikingly accurate portrayal of the movement. If you want to know what happened and how, you’ll have to do your own research. If you want to know what it was like to live in HK during that time (whether on the front lines or watching from home), this should give you a good idea.

 

5. Free Guy

 

In which Ryan Reynolds is Guy, a bank teller who has no idea he’s a non-player character (NPC) in a multiplayer shooter game called Free City. That changes after a random encounter with a cool player named Molotov Girl, and Guy starts to question his routine life. There’s a lot of familiar tropes here, from The Truman Show to The Lego Movie, though tone-wise it leans more towards the latter. But it’s actually a rather inspired take on what it must be like to live as a bystander in the worlds that videogame heroes (and villains) inhabit, where 24/7 badass hyperviolence is just a normal part of the environment – it’s also a not-so-subtle dig at videogames where killing NPCs is encouraged and rewarded. It’s a little cheesy in places, and if you’re one of those people who can’t stand Ryan Reynolds, this won’t change your mind. But it’s an awful lot of fun to watch.

 

HONORABLE MENTIONS

 

No Time To Die

 

James Bond #25 and the last one to feature Daniel Craig, It also completes the somewhat meandering story arc that began with Casino Royale in rather surprising ways (to include perhaps the boldest ending in Bond history). It also conforms to the apparent pattern of Craig-era Bond films alternating between excellent and average – this is the third best of the series, hampered mainly by running way too long and relying on yet another “Bond quits MI6 again” trope. Also, it’s a drag that Moneypenny is sidelined even more this time despite her established field experience. But it looks as fantastic and epic as a Bond film should, and it cements the Craig era as the one in which Bond became a believable three-dimensional character. Whoever gets the role next will have a high bar to clear.

 

Dune

 

Or, more accurately, Dune Part 1, as director Denis Villeneuve opted to split his adaptation of Frank Herbert’s SF classic into two films – which is probably wise, given the epic scope of the story and the notoriously failed attempt by David Lynch to cram the whole thing into one film. I’m one of those people who never got into the book (I tried it once and lasted maybe 50 pages), so I came into this with a relatively open mind. That said, the story itself is a familiar template – exploitative empires, warring houses fighting for control of the universe’s most valuable resource, the plucky resistance, a secret religious society working behind the scenes, a young teenage boy who will rise to end the war, etc. On the downside, it tends to drag in places, and it’s a little too serious for its own good. The best thing about Villeneuve’s take is the visuals – Dune doesn’t just look and sound fantastic, it really captures the epic scope of the story and feels like something that is taking place tens of thousands of years in the future.

 

THE OTHER HK PROTEST DOCUMENTARY I SAW IN 2021

 

Do Not Split

 

This short documentary from Norwegian documentarian Anders Hammer about the 2019 protests in Hong Kong was nominated for an Oscar this year, prompting Beijing to ban live broadcasts of the Oscars in mainland China and HK. The film is limited in scope, starting from September 2019 (when Hammer started filming) to July 2020, when the National Security Law was passed. September is also when violence was starting to become a regular feature of protests in response to the escalating police brutality against protesters and innocent bystanders alike – consequently, the film’s main problem is that it can give the misleading impression that the protesters were violent all the time, which isn’t true. Instead of providing context, Hammer stays focused on the street-level reality of the events in front of him. That said, the film’s main theme is how the protest movement had wide public support despite the hardcore protesters vandalizing China-owned shops and street furniture, largely because they were more appalled by the indiscriminate and disproportionate violence dished out by the police with the blessing of the increasingly authoritarian HK govt. It’s an intense film that works within its own parameters, but viewers should bear in mind that it’s just a portion of a much larger story.

 

THE OTHER VIDEOGAME MOVIE I SAW IN 2021

 

Boss Level

 

In this case, the videogame angle is aesthetic window dressing for a story in which Frank Grillo is a badass stuck in a time loop in which multiple badass assassins are out to kill him, and he constantly has to figure out how to survive past a certain time of day with each new reset. So basically it’s Edge Of Tomorrow without the aliens. There’s nothing especially original here, with most of the creativity going into cartoonishly nasty OTT ultraviolence. But it’s reasonably well written for what it is, and Grillo does convey the changes his character goes through as he finds out what’s going on. Still, Free Guy was more fun.

 

BIGGEST LETDOWN OF 2021

 

Godzilla vs Kong

 

Just like it says, and I have to say, I was disappointed. Sure, we’re just here to see giant monsters punch each other, and for me there’s the novelty value of watching yet another Hollywood film destroy Hong Kong at night with no respect for basic geography. But it pales in comparison to the other two Monsterverse films I’ve seen – Godzilla had a more engaging visual style, and Kong: Skull Island had more interesting (if one-dimensional) human characters to fill up the time when Kong was offscreen.

 

THE MOVIE THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A LOT BETTER THAN IT WAS

 

Chaos Walking

 

The setting for this SF film is a colony planet where all contact has been lost. All the women have been killed by indigenous lifeforms, while all of the surviving men have somehow developed nearly uncontrollable telepathy that broadcasts their every thought. The story follows Todd Hewitt (Tom Holland), a second-generation colonist who has never seen a woman before. So naturally he’s the one who discovers Viola (Daisey Ridley), whose ship crashed after being sent to investigate what happened to the colony. It doesn’t quite go down the obvious route from there, but the truths that are eventually uncovered as Todd helps Viola escape danger are mostly predictable. Which might be okay if the film took a deeper dive into the consequences of everyone being able to see and hear what you’re thinking, but alas.

 

THE MOVIE I DIDN’T LIKE THAT EVERYONE ELSE DID

 

Undine

 

This German film from writer/director Christian Petzold made a lot of Best of 2021 lists. It’s ostensibly a modern take on the mythical folktale of the undine – irresistible water nymphs who fall in love with men so they can live among humans, but must return to the water if their lover betrays them (but not before killing him first). In this case, Undine is a woman who gives lectures on Berlin architecture at the Märkisches Museum. The film opens with her current boyfriend Johannes breaking up with her, but before she can kill him, she meets Christoph, an industrial diver, and immediately falls for him instead. Their romance takes up most of the film, and it’s not until Johannes re-enters the picture two-thirds of the way in that things take a dark turn – little of which makes any kind of sense if you don't know the undine myth, because Petzold keeps the mythical angle as vague as possible, playing it as a standard romantic tragedy with a weird supernatural twist at the end. Even when you know Undine’s secret, it’s still essentially a straight doomed-romance film (albeit a well-acted and directed one). It’s okay, but not really my thing. If nothing else, I learned a lot about Berlin urban development.

 

THE MOVIE I THOUGHT CAME OUT IN 2021 BUT ACTUALLY CAME OUT YEARS AGO BUT I LIKED IT LOT

 

1480 Radio Pirates

 

This came out in 2014 in New Zealand (as 3 Mile Limit), but apparently got a new release in 2021 for streaming services. It’s loosely based on the true story of Radio Hauraki, New Zealand’s first pirate radio station, set up offshore in the mid-60s by a music journalist because the govt’s New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation refused to play rock’n’roll. It’s a simple Little Guy vs Big Govt story, but one I’m sympathetic to in terms of both radio and rock music. It’s also interesting that director Craig Newland opted to record new 60s-sounding songs rather than license existing ones – and for the most part you’d swear you were hearing forgotten 45s (only the sound quality gives it away). Anyway, it’s not without flaws, but it’s very watchable.

 

Pieces of eight,

 

This is dF