Rowan Sullivan, Author at FilmRoot

The 2022 Oscar Shorts – Get to Know All 15 Nominees

By Rowan Sullivan & Sebastian Torrelio

Watching the 2022 Oscar shorts is the quickest and easiest way to get closer to watching all of the Oscar contenders. The short films also typically contain a more diverse selection of films than the feature nominees. This year’s nominees come from four continents and range from a creepy Chilean animation to a documentary set in Afghanistan. So if you’re looking for something to say at the Academy Awards on the 27th, check these short films out at cinemas near you.

The Animated 2022 Oscar Shorts

Affairs of the Art (U.K./Canada)

In over three decades since the conception of Beryl, the leading lady of Quinn’s exasperating comic piece Affairs of the Art, the pace and nature of animation, feminism, and sexually-driven dramaticism have all shifted drastically. Quinn’s nominated short is another document of Beryl’s mental misadventures, an abstract cartoon of imaginative family constructs that threaten to break any semblance of sane reality with every passing narration.

Quinn’s latest relies on its draftsmanship, a force beyond reckoning that compiles some of the most interesting shots of characterization among any ensemble cast in this year’s Oscar nominee pool, feature-length or otherwise. It’s a shame that Affairs is so bogged down by its frenetic involvement in personal mind-wandering that any sort of meaningful plot elements remain impossible to grasp through 16 minutes of running time. It is best to marvel and/or gawk at the restless spirit of Beryl’s peers than to make any grander sense of the screwball antics at show. -ST

Bestia (Chile)

Even with context, the Chilean Bestia is a difficult piece to wrangle into short summary. An allegory for militant upheavel caused during the country’s multi-decade era of dictatorship in the 20th century, it follows the porcelain Ingrid Olderöck, an officer ingrained in systems of torture, interrogation and suggested sexual assault, as she grapples with the damage that a nation’s collective political anguish has caused to her own mental state.

Bestia boasts an extremely delicate take on modern psychological horror, the composition and editing of Ingrid’s memory-driven story treated with a very fine balance between shock, abstraction, and historical signifiers. Covarrubias’ short, the most immediately praise-worthy of this year’s animated showcase, dives incredibly deep into a realm of traumatic pain at the cost of its audience’s understanding of the haunting historical subtext at hand, and still manages to come out all the better for the risks at hand. -ST

Boxballet (Russia)

Striking most for its character design, Dyakov’s BoxBallet is a premise of opposites-attracting in the most bluntly conventional manner – a large, brutish-looking boxer, face plump with bruises and broken features, develops a meaningful crush on a local ballet dancer, fragile and swanlike in every respect, as if ripped from a fairy tale book herself so paper-thin in stature. Together, they form a bond of complementary artforms in a world of machismo expectations.

There is something not all too unfamiliar about Dyakov’s short, exploring the nature of public imagery and introspective self-shaming in a form that some Pixar-esque western animation studios have done more progressively (or, anthropomorphically) in the last decade. BoxBallet is, for what can be taken at face value, the most broadly conventional of this year’s animated lineup – which is not to say that, the politics of its host nation aside, it should not lose points for the simplicity of a pleasant, embraceable artstyle and common message to morality. -ST

Robin Robin (U.K.)

A most obviously cute response to the fish-out-of-water tale, Robin Robin is a bird-out-of-sky charmer by the stop-motion institution Aardman Animations: a quaint Christmas anecdote of a young bird mistakenly raised among a family of mice, who shares their common habits of food-stealing and house-sneaking. Through discovery and predatory villainy, namely the softly sinister tabby cat voiced spectacularly by Gillian Anderson, Robin learns about self-identity while also confronting his place in a hostile, though emotionally-accepting environment.

The clever coerciveness of Robin Robin lies primarily in its artstyle, a step beyond even what Aardman has mastered with their claymation features. As if specifically targeted for a newer, younger generation, the stock characters are fully-feltlike creations, pulled directly from a young child’s playpen as if safe for a baby to teethe on. Everything about this particular world is crafted out of durability and softness, two perfect qualities to shape a holiday short out of, anticipating the seasonal return rate this piece will surely receive the studio for years to come, Oscar-win or otherwise. -ST

The Windshield Wiper (Spain)

A rotoscoped anthology of the musings that come with smoking endlessly in a noisy cafe, The Windshield Wiper attempts to dissect the idea of love through several seemingly unrelated vignettes, an extended and existential interpretation of love in the age of technology that silently asks questions about the relationships we fail to attain within an unforgiving society that aggrandizes the disconnected, however hollow-eyed and arrogantly elevated their lifestyle might be.

It’s genuinely difficult to decipher what Alberto Mielgo is going for here – by diving headfirst into the elder tradition of hyperlink storytelling, he’s created a more-than-interesting collage of socio-economic thoughts to ponder. Not unlike a college student’s Tumblr page, however, the cohesiveness of the tech-era message behind The Windshield Wiper takes a backseat to the visual reliance of computer-generated vibes. Any Oscar showcase is welcome to include such a brief level of fantastical randomness among its more traditional fare, but without a clearer direction its hard to see this piece ever penetrating the most frontal layer of any voting body’s minds. -ST

The Documentary 2022 Oscar Shorts

Audible (U.S.)

Audible follows high school athlete Amaree McKenstry and his close friends at Maryland School for the Deaf as they come to the end of their senior year. He’s preparing for the final few football matches whilst they’re all dealing with the trauma of losing a close friend and preparing for life after school.

Audible is told almost entirely from the perspective of Amaree and his fellow students, and therefore almost entirely in sign language (bar a few appearances from hearing people). The heartfelt one-on-one interviews make it an intimate window into the experience of deaf kids on the cusp of adulthood. There are also plenty of well-shot sequences, particularly those of the high school football matches. However, the short tries to cover too much, from dealing with grief to repairing father-son relationships, which means it doesn’t really touch on any one issue very deeply. As a result the film feels more like a quick snapshot of life as a deaf student instead of offering something deeper. -RS

Lead Me Home (U.S.)

500,000 Americans experience homelessness every night. Lead Me Home captures the experience from a range of perspectives; from real-life stories of those experiencing homelessness across three cities on the West Coast (Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle) as well as clips of the unsympathetic.

Lead Me Home does a good job of personalizing the experience of homelessness and humanizing those marginalized because of it. However, it fails to explore the wider issue. Instead of looking at the causes or possible solutions, it just presents the issue as if the audience wasn’t already aware of it. Perhaps the filmmakers didn’t want to politicize the issue by refusing to point a finger anywhere. However in refusing to point a finger, the filmmakers present homelessness as something that exists naturally in all societies rather than an issue that could possibly be solved. -RS

The Queen of Basketball (U.S.)

As an Olympics Gold Medalist, that won 3 national trophies at a collegiate level before being drafted to the NBA, you might think that Luisa Harris would be a household name. However, unfortunately she’s not.

Ben Proudfoot’s The Queen of Basketball does her accomplishments justice. Just like his short from last year, A Concerto is a Conversation, The Queen of Basketball feels incredibly warm thanks to the close one-on-one interviews with Luisa and her infectious laughing. It also has a similar celebratory tone – not just recapping Luisa’s incredible athletic accomplishments but also celebrating her happiness in her humble family life. Ultimately, there’s nothing to fault with this film. It’s well shot, features a beautifully warm subject in Luisa, and is brought together well with the editing to make it feel neither too long nor too fits the running time perfectly. -RS

Three Songs for Benazir (Afghanistan)

Three Songs for Benazir is the only Documentary short contender produced outside the U.S. It documents the story of Shaista, a newly married man living in a displacement camp in Kabul. He struggles to balance his dreams of being the first from his tribe to join the Afghan National Army with his family responsibilities and illiteracy.

Three Songs for Benazir feels like the most ‘real’ documentary of the nominees. It doesn’t feature any one-on-one interviews or direct talking to the camera and there is no interference from the director. Instead, it follows Shaista observationally, catching what feel like more everyday moments in his life living in and around the displacement camp. We follow him as he watches planes in the sky, tries to sign up for the army, and sing a lot (both to himself and others). Whilst it only gives a small glimpse into his life with Benazir, it all feels ‘real’ and authentic, and not shown for show. -RS

When We Were Bullies (U.S.)

After bumping into an old elementary school classmate in his 60s, filmmaker Jay Rosenblatt is compelled to track down his fifth grade class and teacher to examine their memory of and complicity in a bullying incident 50 years ago.

When We Were Bullies is a very self-indulgent short film. In short, the filmmaker decides to make a film to relieve himself of the guilt he still feels from bullying a classmate 50 years ago. He never considers how the film might make his victim (and all other victims of bullying) feel, going so far as to call this out directly in the voiceover (“I didn’t consider how the film will make you feel”). Worse, he doesn’t even care, as covered when he says “The film isn’t really about you, it was about us (the bullies).” It reminded me a bit of ‘white fragility’ in the way the filmmaker centralizes his own guilt, over the actual victims suffering. As a result, it just feels incredibly narrow-sighted, self-centered, and oblivious to what really would be a ‘progressive’ way of examining his guilt today. Plus the animations of his elementary class’ photos are too repetitive. Take his elementary school teacher’s advice and consider avoiding this film. – RS

The Live Action 2022 Oscar Shorts

Ala Kachuu – Take and Run (Switzerland)

19 year old Sezim moves to the Kyrgyz capital to continue her studies when she’s kidnapped by a group of young men and taken into the barren countryside. There, she’s forced to marry a stranger. If she refuses the marriage, she is threatened with social stigmatization and exclusion. Torn between her desire for freedom and the constraints of Kyrgyz culture, Sezim desperately seeks a way out.

Ala Kachuu is your typical foreign language entry into the Academy Awards shorts competition. Its purpose is to show that something bad happens every day somewhere in the world that you never knew of. In this case, most viewers probably haven’t heard of Kyrgyzstan, or its fiercely patriarchal society, but on seeing it, you’ll probably become pretty angry about a culture you knew next to nothing about. Luckily, this one isn’t 100% misery porn, as the lead never loses hope of changing her life. It also captures the city and countryside well and builds tension effectively as Sezim plots her escape. – RS

On My Mind (Denmark)

One morning, gloomy Henrik enters a bar and spots a karaoke machine. He has to sing a song to his wife and it has to be right now.

On My Mind is a heavily sentimental film with a twist that is pretty obvious from the start. The grumpy bar-owner kick-starts a pantomime situation, by refusing to let Henrik sing. There’s a bit of ‘will he-won’t he’ before Henrik finally reveals the emotional burden he’s obviously carrying. The reveal feels manipulative, because we’re expecting it and it’s being held back from us deliberately to provoke emotion. So when it lands, it’s sad, but equally frustrating, hindering the intended payoff. – RS

Please Hold (U.S.)

In an America that has become fully automated, Mateo, a young Latino man is arrested by a police drone without explanation. He’s locked up in a detention center fully manned by bots and the familiar call center AI we’ve all had trouble with. To get out, he has to navigate the computerized bureaucracy of the privatized American justice system, in search of an actual human being to set things right.

If you’ve ever been caught in the bureaucracy of the state, you’ll be able to sympathize with Mateo’s misfortune. Like Black Mirror, Please Hold taps into the collective unease of the modern world by looking at the intended and unintended consequences of new technologies – in this case a fully automated society and growing police state. However, it does it with a little more humor, and without a complete lack of hope, making it a more easy-going watch. Plus it has a satirized version of Microsoft’s annoying paperclip helper. Please Hold manages to lightly criticize the carceral system without feeling completely tone-deaf like last year’s Two Distant Strangers. -RS

The Dress (Poland)

Julia toils away at a rundown motel in rural Poland as a maid. In the monotony of life, she starts fantasizing about a truck driver that occasionally visits and the possibility of ending her loneliness.

The Dress may just be the most depressing short of the Live-Action section. As whilst the protagonists of Ala Kachuu and On My Mind have hope or achieve some form of closure, Julia is stuck in an endless limbo of work and prejudice. Just when you think life might be looking up for her as she comes out of her shell, her hopes are completely shot, bringing her self-esteem crashing down. I’m hoping the Academy picked this short because of the lead performance and well-constructed dreary aesthetic and not for the misery porn factor common in a lot of the Academy Award nominees. -RS

The Long Goodbye (U.K.)

Riz and his family are in the middle of preparing a wedding celebration when a white supremacist group arrives in their neighborhood.

This short was released back in 2020 alongside Riz Ahmed’s ‘The Long Goodbye’ hip hop album. Like the music, the short goes hard on post-Brexit Britain and the rise of the far-right movements. It’s quick, and builds intimacy, and later chaos, through rapid cutting, fast-paced dialogue, and movement. It’s designed to feel authentic and it succeeds in selling it to an audience perhaps familiar with British white supremacist hate groups from films such as This is England, the Small Axe series, or Blinded by the Light. It concludes powerfully with spoken word to make this year’s most powerful protest entry. -RS

Cargo – Presenting the Dark Side of The Bahamas

Cargo Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

In Kareem Mortimer’s Cargo a faltering fisherman turns to crime to pay for his mounting debt. This thriller presents a very different view of the Bahamas than the clear oceans the tourist board presents but is slowed down by a number of characters and clichéd subplots. However, if you’re a fan of slow thrillers or want to see the dark side of the Caribbean, this is worth a watch.

From: The Bahamas, North America
Watch: Trailer, Tubi, IMDb
Next: Sin Nombre, Maria Full of Grace, The Load

Cargo – The Breakdown

When you think of The Bahamas, you think of pristine beaches and crystal clear sea. It’s what the tourist board promotes to potential visitors year round. The picturesque islands are also what we’ve seen in films shot in The Bahamas such as the James Bond franchise. However, whilst the beaches are visible in Kareem Mortimer’s Cargo, the film focuses on the daily strife the locals and immigrants face. There’s no sign of tourists or an easy life.

It follows Kevin, a fisherman living in the city with his wife and aging mother. He’s had a privileged upbringing at a private boarding school, so he pays for his son to have the same privilege. However, the fees of the school, alongside the need to bring in support at home to take care of his mother dealing with dementia, pushes him into an insurmountable mountain of debt. Instead of pulling his son out of private school (and kicking his gambling habit), he assumes a life of crime to get his way out. Problem is, as per other ‘resorting to crime’ film plots, Kevin gets sucked in by the money, becomes a different person and gets a few more problems to add to those he started with. In this case it’s new girlfriends and dependents.

One thing that stands out with Kevin is that he’s white in a country that is 90% Black. Alongside the other white characters in this film – the School Bursar, Banker, and opportunistic Crime Lord – Kevin appears to live a privileged life. He has a nice house, sends his kid to private school, and has a car. In contrast, the main Black characters live in makeshift houses, struggle to get their kids an education, and use public transport. Even though his fishing isn’t bringing in enough money to pay his bills, he still finds himself in a better position than the Black characters of the movie. His failures are a sign of the total lack of opportunity in The Bahamas as it shows that both the privileged and unprivileged are struggling to get by.

Whilst Cargo highlights the inequality and lack of opportunity in The Bahamas well, Kevin’s slow spiral from friendly fisherman to “the devil” features too many subplots and characters. The three women in his life each come with their own story, slowing down the pace of the movie when it could do with a bit more energy. The clichéd conclusions of one of them feels like the over dramatic teen-orientated PSA’s that encourage you to not do drugs. The human-trafficking parts of the film are gripping, but are unfortunately never the film’s focus. This is all about Kevin and his ever increasing subplots.

What to Watch Next

Whilst Cargo focuses on the trafficker, there are a lot of great movies that focus on the people being trafficked. Some notable examples are:

Sin Nombre – that takes place on the infamous “la Bestia” train
Maria Full of Grace – follows a Colombian girl used as a drug mule
Flee – tracks the memories of an Afghan fleeing to Europe

You could also try The Load from Serbia, which follows a Serbian truck driver delivering secret cargo to Belgrade from Kosovo.

A Caribbean Dream – Shakespearian Comedy in Barbados

A Caribbean Dream Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

If you’re looking for a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream set in the tropics you’ve come to the right place. Shakirah Bourne’s A Caribbean Dream captures the magic of the original with mischievous fairies and pantomime humor and adds its own touch with the lush setting and Bajan music. The acting and editing is B-movie level, but if you’re not expecting anything exceptional, you’ll have a good time in its short run time.

From: Barbados, North America
Watch: Trailer, Hoopla, IMDb
Next: Romeo + Juliet, 10 Things I Hate About You, Clueless

A Caribbean Dream – The Breakdown

A Caribbean Dream reminded me a bit of an English pantomine. The acting isn’t high quality, neither are the makeup or effects. However, this is fine if you go into the film expecting B-movie quality. Like when you watch a B-movie action or horror – you expect cheesiness so you can laugh with it – do the same for this one, after all, this is how Shakespearean plays were performed in Elizabethan times.

A Caribbean Dream borrows a lot from its source material. If you’re familiar with Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream you’ll recognize most of the lines in this film. It uses the original ‘older’ English verse more than contemporary Bajan language. You’ll also recognize all of the main characters from the original as they’ve all been copied into this adaptation along with the silly comedy.

Despite the old verse, the film does bring the 16th Century text up to the present. Situating it in Barbados’ tropical setting works well as the lush green rainforests match the fairy magic. It’s also nice to hear Bajan carnival music to break up the long pieces of Shakespearian dialogue.

Overall, the adaptation works fairly well. The problems with the script stem mostly from the film’s faith to the original. It doesn’t work especially well with the short run time, which makes it feel like you’re watching the play on fast-forward, or the many characters, as there’s not much time for creative development. So, if you’re unfamiliar with the original text you might get a bit lost with all the different people and fairies. The faith to the original text also feels unnatural in the modern context, especially as some scenes feature regular Bajan conversation. It would have been nice to see more of a break with the original text to make the film more distinct. It feels like the director was afraid of doing the Shakespeare a disservice and held back from making something truly unique.

What to Watch Next

If you’re looking for more Shakespearian film adaptations you’ve got plenty of choice. Romeo + Juliet and 10 Things I Hate About You are two that are contemporary to when they were filmed (like A Caribbean Dream). You also have a bunch of Midsummer Night Dream adaptations to check out. Or you could try Clueless, an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma.

Best International Films of 2021 – From India to Cameroon

Cinemas were open for most of 2021 which meant two things for us:

That we could watch films on the big screen
That we also missed a lot of films on the big screen to look after an extra family member and play it safer with the quarantine

Therefore, most of the inclusions on this list are thanks to the ever improving international slates of streaming services like Mubi, Netflix, and Hoopla, as well as the accessibility of a lot of festival films this year. 2022 is looking like it will be a repeat, with streaming services continuing to diversify their international releases and festivals (see Sundance and Rotterdam) sticking to a digital only schedule to prevent the spread of the ever evolving COVID virus. However, before we get into 2022, here’s 30 of the best international films of 2021. Some names you’ll recognize, some you may not, but the good thing about pretty much all of them is that they’re mostly available to watch or have 2022 release dates.

30 Best International Films of 2021

(In a fairly flexible order)

30. Tote Abuelo (Mexico)

In her debut feature, Maria returns to her ancestral home in Chiapas to reconnect with her estranged grandfather. The slow pace of the documentary matches both the slow straw-hat making process, as well as Maria’s patient questioning that slowly unlocks her grandfather’s stories. Tote Abuelo is a humble, heart-warming documentary that depicts the passing of family history (positive and negative) from one member to another.

29. The Pink Cloud (Brazil)

If there’s ever a movie that perfectly envisions the pandemic and quarantine, it’s The Pink Cloud. Made before COVID times, it follows Giovanna and Yago as their one night stand turns into a lifetime stuck together indoors as a poisonous cloud descends on the world. It’s probably one of the best portrayals of a relationship in lockdown.

Read the full review here.

28. The Dog WHo WOuldn’t Be Quiet (Argentina)

Dogs are everywhere. Before the pandemic, ownership seemed to be rising. Everyone either had a dog or knew someone who did, whether it was a neighbor or a colleague who brought their dog into work. Now, since the onset of the pandemic, they’ve become even more popular. It’s within this context that The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be Quiet is set, a perfectly relevant, quietly funny Argentinian satire along the lines of Martin Rejtman.

Read the full review here.

27. Paris, 13th District

If you’re a secret fan of love triangles but actually an art-house film snob, Paris 13th District is for you. You have your art-house credentials, with Jacques Audiard directing and Celine Sciamma writing, as well as a smooth black and white film. But you also have a light, free-flowing script with lots of sex that doesn’t slow down, making it an easy watch for anyone wanting to tune out.

Read the full review here.

26. Zinder (Niger)

In the city of Zinder, Niger, in the heart of the Sahel, young people form gangs to deal with the lack of work and prospects. These groups called “Palais” come from the Kara Kara district, historically home to lepers and outcasts. Zinder-born director and activist Aicha Macky returns to her hometown to tell the story of this disenfranchised youth. It’s an intimate tribute to the youth of her country which offers a hopeful portrayal of those marked by the neighborhood they were born into.

Read the full review here.

25. Hive (Kosovo)

In Hive, a struggling widow starts making Ajvar to get by. Setting an example for self sufficiency, the town’s widows flock to her to share their grief and start healing. However their independence faces backlash from the patriarchy. This drama features an inspirational story about a group of entrepreneurial women fighting the odds to overcome the patriarchy and the trauma from the Kosovo war.

Read the full review here.

24. Bendskins (Cameroon)

Bendskins fits Wanuri Kahui’s ‘Afro-Bubblegum’ movement perfectly. The three stories of motorbike taxi drivers in Cameroon are fun, frivolous, and fierce. They depict ‘normal’ modern African experiences instead of the typical stories of poverty, disease, or war. It also features a bunch of homages to some of the most iconic African films such as Touki Bouki and Quartier Mozart. So if you’re looking for an easy-going dramedy set in Yaounde, check out Bendskins.

23. Writing With Fire (India)

If you’re looking for an inspirational documentary that features a group of trailblazing women in India, watch Writing with Fire. It follows a group of Dalit women – Dalits being the lowest caste in the Indian caste system – that start a newspaper in Uttar Pradesh, one of India’s largest and most politically important states. The newspaper, Khabar Lahariya, stands out from others both because its written only by women and because of the emphasis on seeking out the truth no matter the stakes. It’s a great documentary for anyone interested in learning a bit about the current state of India and how to run a newspaper. It’s no surprise it’s on the Academy Award’s Best Documentary shortlist.

Read the full review here.

22. Beginning (Georgia)

If you’re looking for a provocative transcendental film that captures a mother’s existential crisis you’ve come to the right place. Beginning uses slow pacing and a classic film look to shock Yana’s humble existence within a Jehovah’s Witness community in rural Georgia to the core. As her peace is shockingly disrupted, she’s forced to reevaluate her life as a mother as part of her remote community.

Read the full review here.

21. Son of Monarchs (Mexico)

A Mexican biologist living in New York returns to his hometown after the death of his grandmother. Unlike the urban jungle of New York, his hometown in Michoacán is surrounded by the Monarch Butterflies he studies. His isolation abroad forces him to contemplate his new identity, displayed on screen in vivid magical scenes and memories. Son of Monarchs is a brilliant character study of a lonely scientist abroad conveyed through his symbolic relationship with butterflies.

Read the full review here.

20. Riders of Justice (Denmark)

If you’re looking for a satire of Liam Neeson’s Taken franchise, look no further than Riders of Justice. It features Mads Mikkelsen as a soldier that returns home to console his daughter after his wife dies in a train crash. He gets embroiled in a revenge plot with a bunch of misfits that convince him the crash was planned. It humorously explores the one-dimensional male-leads in the slew of 21st Century revenge movies with the help of a group of nerds.

19. Taming The Garden (Georgia)

Taming the Garden is a slow documentary about a billionaire’s project to create a garden of the grandest trees in his country. Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire, and former Prime Minister of Georgia, is the invisible villain of this film, as we follow his construction teams uproot trees from around the country to be transported across the seas to his home. The focus is not on his garden though, but the sublime images of the trees being transported; the huge efforts of the construction teams and the locals caught in-between.

Read the full review here.

18. Softie (Kenya)

If you’re looking for an observational documentary that follows a political activist trying to change a corrupt system by running for government whilst showing the effects this has on their family, Softie is the film for you. Boniface “Softie” Mwangi was drawn to political activism during his time photographing the post election violence in 2007. Now, he’s running for office in a regional Kenyan election. To succeed, he has to radically change a democracy tainted by corruption, violence, and mistrust.

Read the full review here.

17. About Endlessness (Sweden)

In a collection of stylized vignettes, Roy Andersson captures the banal endlessness of humanity. The scenes vary from the everyday, such as a woman waiting at a train station thinking she’s been forgotten, to the brutally unforgiving, such as a man about to face a firing squad. It bundles historical scenes with others that could fit in our lives. In just under 80 minutes, these vignettes capture the absurdity of life.

16. Just Don’T Think I’ll Scream (France)

This is what happens when you lock a filmmaker in a room with a bunch of films and not much else. Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream is the documentary diary of Frank Beauvais, who moved to the country in search of love, but instead became lost in a kind of mid-life crisis. He documented his experiences in a voice-over supported by an incredible puzzle of images from the 4-5 films he watched per day during the 6 months he was alone for.

15. Days (Taiwan)

Slow film isn’t for everyone, but Tsai Ming-Liang’s Days is a great film to meditatively watch. It forces you to watch an excessive amount of dead time as characters go about their chores (you’ll never flash wash a salad again) and literally stare into the horizon. The reward for your patience is an erotic ending with a memorable musical conclusion.

14. Azor (Argentina)

Azor is Heart of Darkness style journey into the underworld of Swiss Banking in Argentina. Instead of a physical jungle, Yvan has to navigate the corrupt upper echelons of Argentinian society to find his missing colleague. Azor is one of the best written films of 2021, interpreted brilliantly by debut filmmaker Andreas Fontana.

13. El Planeta (spain)

Spanish language films are a gold mine for deadpan humor and El Planeta is no different. It follows a mother-daughter double team grifting their way through life in a contemporary Spain with apparently little opportunity (even the successful people have made it abroad). Watch for the muted laughs, kooky clothing, and to see a triple-threat debut director.

12. Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (Hungary)

After setting a date with a Hungarian neurosurgeon in Budapest, Marta flies home after twenty years in the United States to meet him. She goes all in on their relationship but is met with confusion as the ‘love of her life’ ghosts her; both standing her up at her date and claiming that they’ve never met. The film converts Marta’s uneasiness into images as she, the other characters, and the audience all question her memory and what is real.

11. Faya Dayi (Ethiopia)

Faya Dayi is a trip of an Ethiopian documentary. It’s a fully immersive sensory experience into the highlands of Harar, Ethiopia with the help of Khat. The style accentuates our senses, making us feel like we’re there, but dulls our understanding of the plot (which is left vague). Instead of a linear, easy to follow narrative, we’re given a handful of strands to grasp at, until we give up trying to follow them and surrender to the meditative, poetic style. Watch this film in a dark room with a good sound system or headphones and drift along with it.

Read the full review here.

10. All Hands on Deck (France)

In All Hands on Deck, Felix persuades a friend to road-trip with him from Paris to the sunny South of France to surprise his dream girl who he shared a great date with a week earlier. The summer-time vibes set the foundation for the warm dramedy, which is taken to even warmer heights with the buddy-movie tropes, karaoke, and laid-back comedy. It’s a film that goes with the flow and will make you happy – a perfect movie to feel the summer whatever time of year.

9. Ascension (China)

No film can avoid a point of view, but Ascension avoids obvious political bias by observationally shooting a wide range of images of Chinese society without commentary. From workers toiling away in factories to influencers planning their next social media post, Ascension captures a selective cross-section that illuminates the growing class divides in China and the widening distance between the country and Communism.

8.What Do We See When We Look At The Sky (Georgia)

What Do We See When We Look at the Sky is an enchanting summer romance along the quirky lines of La Flor, Whistler, and Amelie. After a chance encounter in the Georgian town of Kutaisi, pharmacist Lisa and footballer Giorgi set a plan for a date by the riverfront. However, as their appearance is magically transformed the next day, they lose both their job skills and their ability to recognize each other. As with true love, even with the change, they’re never far from each other in their wandering. If you’re looking for a slow dreamy romance by the river front, try this one.

7. The New Girl (Argentina)

The New Girl is an engaging coming of age story, as well as a worker protest movie like Made in Bangladesh and Salt of the Earth. It follows a transient migrating to an industrial region of Argentina to live and work with her brother. It highlights the privilege of crime – contrasting her experience stealing out of need vs. her brother’s smuggling to get rich. Plus there’s a union at the heart of the narrative to add to the anti-capitalist thread of the movie. It packs a lot into its relatively short run time (only 79 minute).

Read the full review here.

6. The Hand of God (Italy)

Paolo Sorrentino has a gift at making Italian city life look amazing and full of mad stories. This time, instead of Rome (see The Great Beauty), he dives into his own memories growing up in Napoli. The spontaneity and life of The Hand of God channels the spirit of Fellini whilst the richness colors and expansive shots of the city show Sorrentino’s mark. It’s a beautifully shot, lightly tragic, autobiography set in 1980’s Napoli.

5. Wheel of Fortune & Fantasy/Drive My Car (Japan)

Ryusuke Hamaguchi had not one, but two of the best films of 2021. Wheel of Fortune & Fantasy had the more intriguing stories (split into three parts), but Drive My Car had the benefit of time to fully build out another brilliant Haruki Murakami film adaptation (also see Burning). Both films are film drama at its best – you just get to pick if you’d rather short stories imbued with unlikely coincidences or a long brooding drama to fully immerse yourself in.

4. Landfall (Puerto Rico)

Landfall is a political documentary imbued with anger at the current state of Puerto Rico. It captures life in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, choosing to depict the current post-Hurricane tragedies instead of the actual Hurricane, and setting them within the history of U.S. imperialism. In doing so, Landfall presents a searing critique of disaster capitalism (see Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine) and the U.S. stranglehold on Puerto Rico and its ineffectual politicians.

Read the full review here.

3. Pebbles (India)

In Pebbles one angry father takes his young son out of school to visit his mother’s village. However, when they find out his mother has already left, they begin a long walk home under the burning sun. It’s simple storyline is hard to look away from as the camera brilliantly captures both the inhospitable landscape as well as the tension between the unpredictably violent father and his cautious son. So, if you’re looking for a film which compacts pure cinematic energy with a hot and arid environment in 75 minutes, you need to watch this film.

2. Sugar Daddy (Canada)

Musical Dramas Ema and Sound of Metal were amongst our favorite films from last year and Sugar Daddy felt more explosive than both of them. It follows a struggling artist that turns to a paid dating service to fund her music career. The standout is the lead actor, Kelly McCormack (who’s also the writer and producer behind the project), who gives one incredible performance. The music, craziness, and spiral of the lead make this film captivating. The only thing that we’d change is the misleading title.

Watch Sugar Daddy on Hoopla or Amazon Prime.

1. The Disciple (India)

The Disciple is our favorite film of 2021. It follows a struggling Indian classical musician in training with an aging guru from a rare musical lineage. His journey is presented as a leap of faith in his existential search for meaning. It’s presented patiently with long musical takes cut with some memorable nighttime shots of Sharad biking home listening to his prized philosophical musings from his enigmatic hero. This film is a must watch as long as you’re ready to spare a bit of time to fully immerse yourself in Indian classical music.

Watch The Disciple on Netflix.

HONORABLE MENTIONS FOR BEST INTERNATIONAL FILMS OF 2021:

I’m Your Man (Germany), Nayattu (India), A Cop Movie (Mexico), Aurora (Costa Rica), Identifying Features (Mexico), Liborio (Dominican Republic), State Funeral (Ukraine), The Last Shelter (Mali), The Woman Who Ran (South Korea), Hit the Road (Iran)

If you think we’ve missed a film from a list that you think is one of the best international films of 2021, please get in touch on Twitter or by email.

Beginning – A Mother’s Existential Crisis in a Targeted Outsider Community

Beginning Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

From: Georgia, Asia
Watch: Trailer, JustWatch, Mubi
Next: Fire Will Come, Loveless, Taming the Garden

Beginning – The Breakdown

Beginning follows Yana, a failed TV actress that has been ‘saved’ from the entertainment industry by her religious husband. She’s taken on some of the responsibilities that are expected of a mother in a Georgian Jehovah’s Witness community but always looks like an outsider within an outcast community. As religious extremists infringe on their world and corrupt, power hungry detectives stalk the group, Yana’s small bubble begins to collapse with shocking consequences.

The most noticeable feature of Beginning is the film’s look. It’s grounded in the foundations of transcendental film, using takes that linger longer than you expect. These long takes force you to watch minute of ‘dead time’ in which the character’s aren’t doing much. It’s also shot on 35mm at a 1:33 aspect ratio, which eschews width and the modern look of digital film for the narrower and grainier classic film. The character this adds to the film heightens the dramatic long takes by eliminating the distractions of a widescreen aspect ratio whilst giving the film a more epic, classical look. The long takes and film style both set up the shocking images that are scattered through the film (such as the church on fire). Within the context of the high amount of ‘dead time’ and narrower, grainier film, these images are even more of a surprise. They look more powerful, like a piece of classical art in an empty museum. Beginning practices serenity to make these few chaotic moments feel even more disruptive.

The film’s style mimics Yana’s inner self. Her life is mostly peaceful; working with the kids in the community and raising her son. This is emphasized in the many moments of peace on screen – such as a very long shot of her lying, eyes shut in the woods. However, these serene moments are punctuated by moments of chaos that cast doubt on her otherwise serene life, signifying her existential crisis. Despite her family ties, she appears more and more uncomfortable with her life as an outsider living within an outsider community. The uncertainty surrounding the terrorist attacks isolates the community even further from Georgian society whilst the suspicious detective isolates her even more from her family. She’s questioned by her husband and feels more distant from her son as he grows to resemble him. In her existential crisis, the chaotic moments, emphasized by the film’s style, offer her a twisted olive branch to free herself from both the community and her family.

What to Watch Next

If you’re looking for more brooding films that patiently unravel, check out Oliver Laxe’s Fire Will Come. It features the return of a notorious arsonist to his small hometown in Galicia where he is treated with scorn whilst he tries to adapt to his new life. You could also try Loveless by Andrey Zvyagintsev, a slow burn thriller that captures another mother uncertain about motherhood and her role within her family.

Or for more great films from Georgia, try Taming the Garden. It’s a slow paced documentary that highlights the wealth inequality in the country through a billionaires tree theft.