The Best of 2021: 41st Shadows Awards

It's been another strange year, with more lockdowns, uncertain film releasing schedules and on-off film festivals. As always, these are my favourites from the movies I actually watched in 2021, regardless of when they were released (some weren't). As in the past two years, I was reluctant to choose this particular film as my best, simply because everyone else seems to be naming it too. But it's the one I haven't been able to get out of my head since I saw it on a big screen in October.

What follows here are my top 10s in the main categories. There is rather a whole lot more ON THE WEBSITE. 

BEST FILM: 

1. 
   The Power of the Dog
2. Benediction
3. Quo Vadis, Aida?
4. Judas and the Black Messiah 
5. Flee
6. Petite Maman 
7. Night of the Kings 
8. Tick, Tick... Boom! 
9. Drive My Car 
10. Dune

DIRECTOR: 

1. 
   Jane Campion - The Power of the Dog
2. Jasmila Zbanic - Quo Vadis, Aida?
3. Celine Sciamma - Petite Maman
4. Terence Davies - Benediction
5. Laura Wandel - Playground
6. Denis Villeneuve - Dune
7. Philippe Lacote - Night of the Kings
8. Shaka King - Judas and the Black Messiah
9. Ryusuke Hamaguchi - Drive My Car
10. Kaouther Ben Hania - The Man Who Sold His Skin

SCREENWRITER:

1. 
   Terence Davies - Benediction
2. Celine Sciamma - Petite Maman
3. Jane Campion - The Power of the Dog
4. Jasmila Zbanic - Quo Vadis, Aida?
5. Asghar Farhadi - A Hero
6. Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe - Drive My Car
7. Pedro Almodovar - Parallel Mothers
8. Marley Morrison - Sweetheart
9. Ramin Bahrani - The White Tiger
10. Sian Heder - Coda

ACTRESS: 

1. 
   Penelope Cruz - Parallel Mothers
2. Jasna Djuricic - Quo Vadis, Aida?
3. Olivia Colman - The Lost Daughter, Mothering Sunday
4. Cate Blanchett - Nightmare Alley, Don't Look Up
5. Nell Barlow - Sweetheart
6. Maya Vanderbeque - Playground
7. Jennifer Hudson - Respect, Monster
8. Tilda Swinton - Memoria, The French Dispatch, The Souvenir: Part II
9. Julia Vysotskaya - Dear Comrades
10. Renate Reinsve - The Worst Person in the World

ACTOR:

1. 
   Andrew Garfield - Tick Tick... Boom, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Mainstream, Spider-Man: No Way Home
2. Benedict Cumberbatch - The Power of the Dog, The Courier, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, Spider-Man: No Way Home
3. LaKeith Stanfield - Judas and the Black Messiah, The Harder They Fall
4. Jack Lowden - Benediction
5. Kone Bakary - Night of the Kings
6. Javier Bardem - The Good Boss, Being the Ricardos, Dune
7. Dev Patel - The Green Knight
8. Franz Rogowski - Great Freedom, Undine
9. Woody Norman - C'mon C'mon
10. Adarsh Gourav - The White Tiger

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: 

1. 
   Jessie Buckley - The Lost Daughter, The Courier
2. Rita Moreno - West Side Story
3. Dianne Wiest - I Care a Lot
4. Ariana DeBose - West Side Story
5. Dominique Fishback - Judas and the Black Messiah
6. Milena Smit - Parallel Mothers
7. Millicent Simmonds - A Quiet Place Part II
8. Jo Hartley - Sweetheart
9. Ruth Negga - Passing
10. Emma Thompson - Cruella

SUPPORTING ACTOR: 

1. 
   Daniel Kaluuya - Judas and the Black Messiah
2. Kodi Smit-McPhee - The Power of the Dog
3. Ray Liotta - The Many Saints of Newark
4. Andre Holland - Passing
5. Anders Danielsen Lie - The Worst Person in the World
6. Theodore Pellerin - Underground
7. Noah Jupe - A Quiet Place Part II, No Sudden Move
8. Rajkummar Rao - The White Tiger
9. Sope Dirisu - Mothering Sunday, Silent Night
10. Richard E Grant - Everybody's Talking About Jamie

WORST FILM: 

1. 
   Space Jam: A New Legacy 
2. The Reckoning 
3. Joe Bell 
4. Tom and Jerry 
5. Red Notice
6. The Birthday Cake 
7. Hide and Seek 
8. Those Who Wish Me Dead
9. Voyagers 
10. Cry Macho 

N O N - F I L M   D I V I S I O N

TV SERIES: 

1. 
   It's a Sin (BBC)
2. The Underground Railroad (Prime)
3. Ted Lasso (Apple)
4. Mare of Easttown (HBO)
5. Brand New Cherry Flavor (Netflix)
6. Call My Agent (Netflix)
7. The White Lotus (HBO)
8. Shameless (Showtime)
9. Succession (HBO)
10. Young Rock (NBC)

SINGLES: 

1. 
   Montero (Call Me By Your Name) - Lil Nas X
2. Caroline - Arlo Parks
3. Energy - Pa Salieu & Mahalia
4. Love Is Back - Celeste
5. Todo de Ti - Rauw Alejandro
6. 3, 2, 1 - 24kGoldn
7. Don't Be Late - Michael Kiwanuka
8. Waiting on a War - Foo Fighters
9. Apricots - Bicep
10. Overpass Graffiti - Ed Sheeran

Out on a limb: Oscar picks & predictions

I've never been particularly good at guessing how Oscar voters will cast their ballots, but I have to give it a go each year anyway. And I've seen all of the films, so at least I'm qualified, eh? That said, here are who I think will win, who I want to win and who could possible upset the field. As usual, I will be hoping for lots of upsets and surprises. There's nothing worse than a predicable Academy Awards ceremony. And thankfully, this year's strangely over-extended awards season and offbeat releasing schedules make it one of the least predictable line-ups in years...

PICTURE
Will / should win: Nomadland
Dark horse: Minari

INTERNATIONAL FILM
Will win: Another Round
Should win: Quo Vadis, Aida?

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Will / should win: Soul
Dark horse: WolfWalkers

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Will win: My Octopus Teacher
Should win: Collective
Dark horse: Crip Camp

DIRECTING
Will / should win: Nomadland - Chloe Zhao
Dark horse: Promising Young Woman - Emerald Fennell

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Will / should win: Promising Young Woman - Emerald Fennell
Dark horse: Minari - Lee Isaac Chung

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Will / should win: Nomadland - Chloe Zhao
Dark horse: The Father - Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Will win: Carey Mulligan - Promising Young Woman
Should win: Frances McDormand - Nomadland
Dark horse: Viola Davis - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Will win: Riz Ahmed - Sound of Metal
Should win: Chadwick Boseman - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Dark horse: Anthony Hopkins - The Father

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Will win: Yuh-Jung Youn - Minari
Should win: Maria Bakalova - Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Dark horse: Amanda Seyfried - Mank

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Will / should win: Daniel Kaluuya - Judas and the Black Messiah
Dark horse: Paul Raci - Sound of Metal

ORIGINAL SCORE
Will / should win: Soul - Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste

ORIGINAL SONG
Will win: Speak Now, One Night in Miami - Leslie Odom Jr, Sam Ashworth
Should win: Husavik,  Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga - Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus, Rickard Goransson
Dark horse: Io Si (Seen), The Life Ahead - Diane Warren, Laura Pausini

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Will / should win: Nomadland - Joshua James Richards

FILM EDITING
Will win: Sound of Metal - Mikkel EG Nielsen
Should win: Nomadland - Chloe Zhao
Dark horse: The Trial of the Chicago 7 - Alan Baumgarten

PRODUCTION DESIGN
Will / should win: Mank -  Donald Graham Burt, Jan Pascale

COSTUME DESIGN
Will / should win: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom - Ann Roth

VISUAL EFFECTS
Will / should win: Tenet - Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley, Scott Fisher

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Will win: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom - Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal, Jamika Wilson
Should win: Pinocchio - Mark Coulier, Dalia Colli, Francesco Pegoretti

SOUND
Will / should win: Sound Of Metal - Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortes, Phillip Bladh

Critical Week: Reject oppression

It's been a busy week for me, as I chair the London Film Critics, and we announced our nominations on Tuesday.  Meanwhile, I keep watching movies in lockdown, all send virtually through a variety of streaming systems, usually with my name and/or email address watermarked across the screen (which can sometimes be distracting). There were a few heavy-hitters this week, including the great Daniel Kaluuya in the ripping true drama Judas and the Black Messiah, about the political machinations within the Chicago chapter of the Black Panthers in 1968. Oscar powerhouses Denzel Washington, Rami Malek and Jared Leto lend their considerable skills to the rather straightforward serial killer thriller The Little Things. And John David Washington and Zendaya have an extended tense conversation in the stylish and fascinating stage-like drama Malcolm & Marie.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
MLK/FBI • Blithe Spirit
Boys Feels: High Tide 
ALL REVIEWS >

Smaller films included the warm comedy-drama Love Sarah, starring Celia Imrie and a lot of delicious baked goods. The superb Shahab Hosseini stars in The Night, about an immigrant family that checks into a freak-out hotel. The surreal Greek drama Apples is about a world inflicted by a pandemic that causes amnesia, and the story is packed with clever insight. There were two award-worthy docs: The Truffle Hunters is the utterly delightful story of the old Italians who guard their old world profession, while MLK/FBI is a blood-boiling look at how J Edgar Hoover ruthlessly harassed Martin Luther King and smeared his name in the 1960s. Finally, there was a collection of four short films in Boys Feels: High Tide - each of them is an astute look at youthful yearning.

This coming week I'll be watching Anthony Mackie in Outside the Wire, the Indian biopic The White Tiger, Nahuel Perez Biscayart in Persian Lessons, the Danish thriller The Exception and still more awards contenders.