Nat’s Top 10 Movies for 2021

The gritty crime thriller is still my favourite genre, taking out the number one spot for 2021.

This year has also been about soundtrack and not just music but the use of silence, drawing the audience in.

I’ve included movies with high exposure and many hidden gems that push the boundaries of cinema or simply warm the heart.  Enjoy!

10. High Ground

It’s bringing the land into the story that makes this film unique.

I am Gutjuk, meaning hawk.

The totem of the hawk a constant presence, a forever watchful eye.  High above, everything.

9. Alien On Stage

A light-hearted good fun documentary that delivers.

8.  White Lie

An absorbing psychological thriller.

7. Black Box (Boîte Noire)

A finely tuned and balanced suspense-thriller that had me hanging on every turn.

6. The Worst Person In The World

A journey that ended up in places unexpected – sexy, clever, sad and poetic.

If you’re not usually a fan of romance, this is one of the good ones.

5. Little Joe

It’s clever.  But the tone of film isn’t about being clever; it’s just different.  And interesting, with a subtle flavour of the disconcerting.

4. Dune

I was awed by this film, with mouth dropping open at the scenery, the use of light, the pattern of rock, the flowing yellow fabric of Lady Jessica’s dress in the desert wind, the explosive bombs dropping from spaceships, desecrating the landscape below and the story of betrayal, political play and intrigue.

3. A Quiet Place II

There’s that absolute silence that again invites the audience to lean in, to then jump (there are so many jumps!) with explosive action, the audience gasping and twittering as the monsters prowl, purr and claw people apart.

Jumping forward to Day 474.  It gets tense.

2. Those Who Wish Me Dead

Edge-of-your-seat suspense hits from the opening scene.

 

1. Deliver Us From Evil (Daman Ak-ehseo Guhasoseo)

If you’re a fan of a gritty crime-thriller, you’re in for a treat.

White Lie

Directed and Written by: Yoah Lewis, Calvin ThomasWhite Lie

Produced by: Yonah Lewis, Calvin Thomas, Katie Nolan, Karen Harnisch, Lindsay Tapscott

Starring: Kacey Rohl, Amber Anderson, Martin Donovan and Connor Jessup.

TIFF-nominated

White lie is the story of a girl who fakes having cancer.  A story that sounds familiar, the unfortunate truth the basis of the film – see article: directors (Yoah Lewis, Calvin Thomas) on the real scams behind their film here.

I was bracing myself, wondering if I could be in the mood to watch, White Lies, but from the opening scene of Katherine (Kacey Rohl) with a ‘K’, shaving her head, I was absorbed.

Immediately we know something’s not right.

She’s on posters, she’s on the cover of a magazine, she’s the lead of a dance group.

People give her money.

People watch her and smile.

She’s the centre of attention.

Everything is going fine for Katherine, until she needs to produce her medical records.

I could not look away from the amazing performance of Kacey Rohl as the character Katherine lies to cover lies, to cover herself and see just how far this girl will go to keep her secret.

Does her girlfriend (Amber Anderson) know?  I wonder as pillow talk turns to articles and donations.

Does her father (Martin Donovan) know?

How far can she take it?

That’s what kept me watching.  Waiting to see the unravelling.  Wondering what would drive someone to lie about having cancer.  Wondering if that’s all it takes to fool people: a young, sad girl holding her nerve, allowing people to see what they want to see.

Not able to believe someone could lie but the suspicion once raised a trauma of seeing and not seeing.

Another story for the media.  Another Facebook Page.  Another sad story to believe and charity to donate to.

But rather than get bogged down in the sensationalism, the film directs a clinical eye to record the misdeeds of lie and cover-up, the seamless unfeeling fantasy underlined with the warped scratch of strings, the soundtrack the indication of a broken mind because watching Katherine, she seems fine.

But she’s not OK because she will never see the wrong in what she’s doing.

It’s like the audience is allowed a window to see the truth while those around her are thoroughly fooled.  So instead of an unsettling fear like I expected, the film became a fascination.

Instead of another warning about social media, White Lie is an absorbing psychological thriller.  A film simply told so the complication of an unsound mind becomes a watch that’s both subtle and revealing.

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