Metacritic Best Movies for 2021
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums and video games.
It provides a Metascore, an average score out of 100 possible points based on published reviews.
These are Metacritic's top #35 movies released in 2021.
Which is your favorite title?
Source: Metacritic
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It provides a Metascore, an average score out of 100 possible points based on published reviews.
These are Metacritic's top #35 movies released in 2021.
Which is your favorite title?
Source: Metacritic
Cast your Vote in the Live Poll
Join the Discussion Here in the IMDb Poll Community Forum
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35 titles
- DirectorJasmila ZbanicStarsJasna DjuricicIzudin BajrovicBoris LerAida is a translator for the UN in the small town of Srebrenica. When the Serbian army takes over the town, her family is among the thousands of citizens looking for shelter in the UN camp.Score: 97
- 20211h 58mPG-138.0 (14K)96MetascoreDirectorQuestloveStarsDorinda DrakeBarbara Bland-AcostaDarryl LewisDocumentary about the legendary 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival which celebrated African-American music and culture and promoted Black pride and unity.Score: 96
- DirectorSarah GavronStarsBukky BakrayKosar AliD'angelou Osei KissieduA young teenage girl finds herself struggling to take care of herself and her younger brother after being abandoned by their single mother with no choice but to live out on the streets.Score: 96
- DirectorCéline SciammaStarsJoséphine SanzGabrielle SanzNina MeurisseNelly has just lost her grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother's childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods. One day she meets a girl her age building a tree-house.Score: 94
- DirectorApichatpong WeerasethakulStarsTilda SwintonAgnes BrekkeDaniel Giménez CachoA woman from Scotland, while traveling in Colombia, begins to notice strange sounds. Soon she begins to think about their appearance.Score: 92
- DirectorLemohang Jeremiah MoseseStarsMary TwalaJerry MofokengMakhaola NdebeleWhen her village is threatened with forced resettlement due to reservoir construction, an 80-year-old widow finds a new will to live and ignites the spirit of resilience within her community.Score: 91
- DirectorJonas Poher RasmussenStarsDaniel KarimyarFardin MijdzadehMilad EskandariFLEE tells the extraordinary true story of a man, Amin, on the verge of marriage which compels him to reveal his hidden past for the first time.Score: 91
- DirectorRyûsuke HamaguchiStarsHidetoshi NishijimaTôko MiuraReika KirishimaA renowned stage actor and director learns to cope with a big personal loss when he receives an offer to direct a production of Uncle Vanya in Hiroshima.Score: 90
- DirectorRobert GreeneStarsJoe EldredMike ForemanEd GavaganA group of survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests battle for justice.Score: 90
- DirectorChris McKimStarsAlan BarrowsBarry BlindermanBonoA controversial artist blazes a trail for other gay image makers in New York 's 1980s scene, only to perish at the end of the decade from the AIDS virus.Score: 90
- DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsAlana HaimCooper HoffmanSean PennThe story of Alana Kane and Gary Valentine growing up, running around and going through the treacherous navigation of first love in the San Fernando Valley, 1973.Score: 89
- DirectorJoanna HoggStarsTilda SwintonHonor Swinton ByrneJames Spencer AshworthIn the aftermath of her tumultuous relationship, Julie begins to untangle her fraught love for him in making her graduation film, sorting fact from his elaborately constructed fiction.Score: 89
- DirectorJoel CoenStarsDenzel WashingtonFrances McDormandAlex HassellA Scottish lord becomes convinced by a trio of witches that he will become the next King of Scotland, and his ambitious wife supports him in his plans of seizing power.Score: 89
- DirectorJane CampionStarsBenedict CumberbatchKirsten DunstJesse PlemonsCharismatic rancher Phil Burbank inspires fear and awe in those around him. When his brother brings home a new wife and her son, Phil torments them until he finds himself exposed to the possibility of love.Score: 89
- DirectorAndreas FontanaStarsFabrizio RongioneStéphanie CléauCarmen IriondoYvan De Wiel, a private banker from Geneva, goes to Argentina in the midst of a dictatorship to replace his partner, the object of the most worrying rumours, who disappeared overnight.Score: 88
- DirectorTraci CurryStanley NelsonStarsArthur HarrisonCarlos RocheTyrone LarkinsThis unnervingly vivid dive into the 1971 uprising from Emmy® winning director Stanley Nelson sheds new light on the enduring violence and racism of the prison system and highlights the urgent, ongoing need for reform 50 years later.Score: 88
- DirectorFlorian ZellerStarsAnthony HopkinsOlivia ColmanMark GatissA man refuses all assistance from his daughter as he ages. As he tries to make sense of his changing circumstances, he begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind and even the fabric of his reality.Score: 88
- DirectorPedro AlmodóvarStarsTilda SwintonAgustín AlmodóvarMiguel AlmodóvarA woman watches time passing next to the suitcases of her ex-lover (who is supposed to come pick them up, but never arrives) and a restless dog who doesn't understand that his master has abandoned him. Two living beings facing abandonment.Score: 88
- DirectorTsai Ming-liangStarsKang-sheng LeeAnong HoungheuangsyKang lives alone in a big house, Non in a small apartment in town. They meet, and then part, their days flowing on as before.Score: 87
- DirectorTodd HaynesStarsJohn WatersMary WoronovBarbara WaltersThe Velvet Underground explores the multiple threads that converged to bring together one of the most influential bands in rock and roll.Score: 87
- DirectorTom HurwitzRosalynde LeBlancStarsArthur AvilesJohari BriggsSean CurranCan You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters is a feature documentary that traces the history and legacy of one of the most important works of art to come out of the age of AIDS - Bill T. Jones' tour de force ballet "D-Man in the Waters". In 1989, "D-Man in the Waters" gave physical manifestation to the fear, anger, grief, and hope for salvation that the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company felt as they were embattled by the AIDS pandemic. As a group of young dancers reconstructs the dance, they learn about this oft forgotten history and deepen their understanding of the power of art in a time of plague. Bill T. Jones is arguably the most socially, politically and emotionally compelling choreographer alive today. Thirty years ago, he embedded motifs of risk and sacrifice, love, loss and resurrection in the choreography for "D-Man in the Waters". Through an extraordinary series of interviews, archival material, and uniquely powerful cinematography of movement, this 90-minute, lyrical documentary uses the story of this dance to illustrate the triumph of the human spirit in art and in the community. Today, by learning the dance, a new generation reinvigorates the spirit of a community fighting to survive.Score: 87
- DirectorRoy AnderssonStarsJessica LouthanderTatiana DelaunayAnders HellströmRoy Andersson adds to his cinematic oeuvre with a reflection on human life in all its beauty and cruelty, its splendour and banality.Score: 87
- DirectorMaria SødahlStarsAndrea Bræin HovigStellan SkarsgårdElli Rhiannon Müller OsborneThe relationship between artist-partners Tomas and Anja is put to the test after Anja gets a life-threatening diagnosis.Score: 87
- DirectorPedro AlmodóvarStarsPenélope CruzMilena SmitIsrael ElejaldeThe story of two mothers who bond in unexpected way after giving birth the same day.Score: 87
- DirectorRyûsuke HamaguchiStarsKotone FurukawaAyumu NakajimaHyunriAn unexpected love triangle, a failed seduction trap and an encounter that results from a misunderstanding, told in three movements to depict three female characters and trace the trajectories between their choices and regrets.Score: 87