Chlotrudis Awards members were invited to share their Top movie lists of 2021. See what various members chose as their top films of the year. See how many of their favorites made the final ballot. See if your tastes coincide with any particular Chlotrudis member. If you’re a member, send in your Top films of the year and we’ll include it here.

 

Peg Aloi’s Top Films of 2021 (in no particular order)

Undine
Undine
  • Saint Maud
  • The Hand of God
  • Undine
  • The Power of the Dog
  • Cryptozoo
  • The Lost Daughter
  • Mayday
  • Spencer
  • The Worst Person in the World
  • The Humans
  • The Tragedy of Macbeth
  • Munich: The Edge of War
  • Pig
  • The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
  • The French Dispatch
  • C’mon C’mon
  • Procession
  • Flee
  • The Beta Test
  • Petit Maman
  • The Dig
  • Titane
  • The Green Knight
  • The Souvenir Part II
  • Queen of the North

And there are so many more I still haven’t seen!

 

Philip Bahr’s Top 21 of 2021 (in alphabetical order)

Wojnarowicz: F**k You F*ggot F**ker
Wojnarowicz: F**k You F*ggot F**ker
  • A Boy Called Christmas
  • The Codebreaker
  • Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself
  • Elizabeth is Missing
  • The Go-Go’s
  • Hating Peter Tatchell
  • Helter Skelter: An American Myth
  • Mayor Pete
  • Nomadland
  • Pink: All I Know So Far –
  • Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It
  • Single All the Way
  • Sophie: A Murder in West Cork
  • Sublet
  • Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Couldn’t Be Televised)
  • Swan Song
  • The Trial of the Chicago 7
  • Tina
  • Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts  
  • The United States vs. Billie Holiday
  • Wojnarowicz: F**k You F*ggot F**ker

 

Julie Blumenthal’s Top 21 of 2021

The Killing of Two Lovers
The Killing of Two Lovers | Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Oscar Ignacio Jiminez
  1. The Killing of Two Lovers
  2. Never Gonna Snow Again
  3. Undine
  4. The Father
  5. A Hero
  6. The Lost Daughter
  7. Language Lessons
  8. Shiva Baby
  9. Baby Done
  10. Swan Song (dir. Stephens)
  11. El Planeta
  12. Nine Days
  13. Pig
  14. Playing with Sharks
  15. Rocks
  16. Some Kind of Heaven
  17. Stray
  18. Sugar Daddy
  19. The Truffle Hunters
  20. The Velvet Underground
  21. Enemies of the State

Also worth watching, but difficult: The Power of the Dog and Test Pattern

 

Thom Bowser’s Top 10 Films of 2021

Nomadland
Nomadland
  1. Nomadland
  2. Family Romance, LLC
  3. Promising Young Woman
  4. Annette
  5. The Father
  6. Never Gonna Snow Again
  7. Helmut Newton: The Bad & the Beautiful
  8. Feedback
  9. In the Earth
  10. Ham on Rye

 

 

Michael Colford’s Top 40 of 2021

My list is long, and you might think, come on, 50 movies? That must be every movie you saw this year! Well, in fact, if I include non-Chlotrudis eligible films, I saw close to 150 films in 2021! So I think I can recommend 50 of those as definitely worth a look!

Limbo
Limbo
  1. Limbo
  2. Drive My Car
  3. Days
  4. A Hero
  5. Red Post on Escher Street
  6. The Fever
  7. The Power of the Dog
  8. I Carry You With Me
  9. Sweat
  10. Never Gonna Snow Again
  11. Test Pattern
  12. Atlantis
  13. Quo Vadis, Aida?
  14. Nomadland
  15. No Man of God
  16. The Lost Daughter
  17. An Old Lady
  18. Undine
  19. The Killing of Two Lovers
  20. Shiva Baby
  21. This is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection
  22. Les Nôtres
  23. Identifying Features
  24. Passing
  25. Nine Days
  26. Wojnarowicz: F**k You F*ggot F**ker
  27. The Velvet Underground

    Sweat
    Sweat
  28. Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time
  29. Dimland
  30. The World to Come
  31. Rose Plays Julie
  32. Asia
  33. Holler
  34. Los Lobos
  35. Pieces of a Woman
  36. The Outside Story
  37. Two of Us
  38. Mass
  39. Adrienne
  40. I’m Your Man
  41. Playing with Sharks: The Valerie Johnston Story
  42. Rocks
  43. Twilight’s Kiss
  44. True Mothers
  45. The Man Who Sold His Skin
  46. No Future
  47. The Trouble with Being Born
  48. Lapsis
  49. Eyimofe (This Is My Desire)
  50. Language Lessons

Also recommended: Sweet Thing, Summer of 85, Keep An Eye Out, The Perfect Candidate, Ayar, I Was a Simple Man, Fish & Men, Perfumes, Red Moon Tide, Cowboys, Beans

 

Chris Kriofske’s Top 20 of 2021

Quo Vadis, Aida?
Quo Vadis, Aida?
  1. Quo Vadis, Aida?
  2. The Power of the Dog
  3. The Velvet Underground
  4. Shiva Baby
  5. Limbo
  6. Red Post on Escher Street
  7. Days
  8. The Truffle Hunters
  9. Titane
  10. A Hero
  11. The Killing of Two Lovers
  12. Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Couldn’t Be Televised)
  13. Some Kind of Heaven
  14. Never Gonna Snow Again
  15. The Lost Daughter
  16. Test Pattern
  17. Zola
  18. This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection
  19. The Green Knight
  20. Annette

Also Recommended: CODA, The Dig, Dune, Eyimofe (This Is My Desire), Holler, I Carry You With Me, Judas and the Black Messiah, Language Lessons, Licorice Pizza, Luzzu, No Ordinary Man, Passing, Playing With Sharks, Preparations To Be Together For An Unknown Period Of Time, Spring Blossom, Sweat, Two Of Us

 

Doug Merenda’s Top Films of 2021 (in no particular order)

A Hero
A Hero
  • Free Guy
  • A Hero
  • Huda’s Salon
  • Mass
  • Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
  • The Worst Person in the World

Others I liked, but not as much:

  • Belfast
  • The Card Counter
  • C’mon C’mon
  • CODA
  • The Green Knight
  • King Richard
  • The Lost Daughter
  • The Mauritanian
  • Pig
  • Red Rocket
  • Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
  • Together Together

 

Vicki Oleskey’s Top 16 of 2021 (alphabetical order)

  • I Carry You With Me
    I Carry You With Me

    Attica

  • A Hero
  • C’mon Cmon
  • CODA
  • The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
  • The Killing of Two Lovers
  • The Man Who Sold His Skin
  • I Carry You with Me
  • Limbo
  • Language Lessons
  • Mass
  • Not Going Quietly
  • Sweet Thing
  • The Rescue
  • Summer of Soul(…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
  • The Truffle Hunters

 

 

Jeff Pike’s Top 20 of 2021 (alphabetical order)

Never Gonna Snow Again
Never Gonna Snow Again
  • Baby Done
  • Censor
  • Concrete Cowboy
  • Days of the Bagnold Summer
  • The Dig
  • Gunda
  • I Care a Lot
  • Jumbo
  • Lapsis
  • Never Gonna Snow Again
  • Night of the Kings
  • The Oak Room
  • Pig
  • The Power of the Dog
  • Rider of Justice
  • Rose Plays Julie
  • Shadow in the Cloud
  • Shiva Baby
  • Sisters with Transistors
  • Summer of Soul(…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Honorable Mention: Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

 

Brett Reliford’s Top Films of 2021 (alphabetical order)

The Green Knight
The Green Knight
  1. The Green Knight
  2. Titane
  3. Drive My Car
  4. The Killing of Two Lovers
  5. Nine Days
  6. A Hero
  7. The Power of the Dog
  8. This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection

Honorable Mention:Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time — for best and worst title of a movie of the year at the same time, along with a plot that’s super satisfying and frustrating at the same time (form follows function, I guess)

 

Diane Young‘s Top 16 Films of 2021!

Flee
Flee
  1. Quo Vadis, Aida?
  2. The Killing of Two Lovers
  3. Flee
  4. Shiva Baby
  5. The Estate
  6. The Fever
  7. luzzu
  8. Days
  9. Roadrunner
  10. The Power of the Dog
  11. About Endlessness
  12. Limbo
  13. Red Post on Escher Street
  14. No Man of God
  15. Spoor
  16. Language Lessons