I've seen my share of non-Filipino films this year (a mix of films from film festivals and whatever I could scrounge up on streaming), but to be honest I'm not going to diverge a lot from popular consensus - so if you are looking for edgy, out of the box lists, this isn't the place to go, I think. Also, most of these films are going to be Asian films (particularly films from Japan), because look at the description of this blog, good sir or madam.
Here are some of my
FAVORITE mostly japanese non-filipino MOVIES OF 2021
starting with no. 15:
15. The Power of the Dog (dir. Jane Campion) - there's a weird power to masculine authority that holds everyone in its sway, even if that power is a complete fabrication. While its plot is pretty straightforward, The Power of the Dog's characters contain multitudes.
14. Compartment no. 6 (dir. Juho Kuosmanen) - If there's one genre of film that I'm a sucker for, its the not-really-romance genre where two strangers meet in a state of transition and form a unique connection with each other. Compartment no. 6, Cannes' 2021 Grand Prix is IMO one of the most interesting examples of that genre.
13. The Con-Heartist (dir. Mez Tharatorn) - the most mainstream film in this list. I've always been impressed with the best Thai mainstream films: they're funny, they use the genre well and the actors are pretty decent. This film, a budget comedy version of 2017's breakout Bad Genius, is supremely entertaining in its own right - perhaps one of the most entertaining films I've watched this year.
12. The Falls (dir. Chung Mong-hong) - Much like his critically lauded A Sun, Chung Mong-hong's latest film is about families, moving on from painful traumas, and the fact that the process of healing never stops, and doesn't excuse one from an uncertain future.
11. Ride or Die (dir. Ryuichi Hiroki) - This film has its share of detractors (including a number of prudes who remain fixated on the film's sex scenes) but it's been half a year and this film keeps on haunting me. More than anything else, it's a story of two profoundly broken people who have an equally broken relationship with each other.
10. Rebuild of Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 Thrice Upon A Time (dir. Hideaki Anno) - saying goodbye is never easy, and for all its flaws, Hideaki Anno's grand finale to Evangelion manages to say goodbye so perfectly. If I were not as objective as I'm trying to be right now this would be number 1, easily.
9. Aloners (dir. Hong Seung-eun) - the 2010s and early 2020s have seen a world that, is more connected than ever before thanks to the internet yet is equal respects just as disconnected, its people occupying little isolated modern caves that lie isolated from anyone else. Aloners captures that world perfectly, a haunting portrait of loneliness and isolation in modern times.
8. Yuni (dir. Kamila Andini) - I've been seeing more and more films about women (and by women) coming from Indonesia these past few years, for better or worse, perhaps either a coming to terms or a call to change. It's eerie how much the story of Kamila Andini's Yuni feels like it could have come from the Philippines, as if we share the same traits despite our many cultural differences.
7. Memoria (dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul) - Memoria is a lovely, weird meditation on trauma, the creation and re-creation of memory, and cinema itself. It's not going to be for everyone, but when it clicks, it's magical.
6. We Couldn't Become Adults (dir. Yoshihiro Mori) - another film that's not going to be for everyone, but is totally my jam. Yoshihiro Mori's latest film perfectly captures a snapshot album of a city in flux, and the people who live in it that are swept along the tides, leaving behind a life filled with regrets.
5. It's A Summer Film! (dir. Soushi Matsumoto) - many films have been made about filmmaking, and Soushi Matsumoto's high school sci-fi comedy continues that proud tradition. It's a love story where cinema itself is the object of affection, a loving tribute to the people who love, make, and watch moving pictures.
4. Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (dir. Junta Yamaguchi) - one other way to express one's love if cinema is to create something that pushes the boundaries of what the craft can do. Yamaguchi's one-take marvel isn't just a gimmick made into a film - it's a film about creating your own future and not letting either the past or future dictate your present.
3. The Worst Person in the World (dir. Joachim Trier) - much like no. 6, Trier manages to capture the ephemeral, transitory nature of youth and how it passes us in the blink of an eye. It also sports one of the best performances of the year in Renate Reinsve.
2. Petite Maman (dir. Celine Sciamma) - a far cry from the smoldering flames of Celine Sciamma's Portait of a Lady on Fire yet no less powerful, Petite Maman is one of the director's most tender films, a warm and quiet examination of grief, love and motherhood.
1. (Tie) Drive My Car / Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi) - For the longest time these two films occupied the #1 and #2 films on my list. I had a very difficult time choosing one or the other; ultimately I decided, why not both. A remarkable achievement for a director with an already remarkable body of work, Drive My Car and Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is a showcase of Ryusuke Hamaguchi's different strengths. The former is an epic yet deeply personal exploration of grief, letting go, and the nature of performance itself. The latter is a collection of smaller, equally intimate stories of chance and second-chance that play out in wonderful, almost magical ways.
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Thanks for joining me for another year (mostly virtually) at the movies. If the fates are kind, let's see each other again next year. Keep safe and take care.
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