A passion project as self-assured as it is provocative, “The Harder They Fall” boldly dares to be a stylized revisionist western doubling as an audacious statement on the cultural identity of an American historical period commonly defined by a more Caucasian ownership.
Every shot is perfectly calculated to the visual storytelling of a charged and perfectly paced narrative as meditative on the nature of self-identity and the impact of redemption as it is efficiently stylish in its action and editing.
It’s almost fanfiction-esque use of obscure historical figures of the old West however, carries it beyond remixing apparently disparate elements expected of the more entertaining angle of genre revisionism and into the territory of daring its audience to open their minds to a world of marginalized history. It’s a very real whitewashed history that the movie doesn’t claim to realistically represent but acknowledges and reveres, challenging perceptions of the genre’s makeup and the nature of the old American West itself.
As an act of cultural reclamation masquerading as a revisionist Western, “The Harder They Fall” is a magnificent gateway to a lost history from a complex and historically misunderstood era of America. Setting its subtext aside, it’s still just a damn good Western to boot.
The assassination of Fred Hampton is a tragic reminder that those carrying the authority of law to uphold order and peace in our society are forged through institutions that rarely have our best interest at heart beyond being a means of their own self gratification.
“Judas and the Black Messiah” takes the cake for one of the most depressing major features I’ve sat through this year. From the no-win scenario of a set up that Bill O’Neal finds himself in playing FBI informant to the disturbingly inescapable relatability of his stress in unwillingly executing an increasingly despicable plan to tear down a community of civil protestors that dared to not be afraid of the boot heel grinding them into the ground.
It’s tragedy is exacerbated by how relevant the story is to the modern day as the clarity of institutions and their incentives to keep social inequality as the norm to their immediate benefit becomes increasingly visible in the internet age but director Shaka King weaves a narrative both timely and timeless that is a master class in crime storytelling, perfectly paced, packed with award worthy performances from top to bottom and insightful as a cautionary tale of the destructive nature of profiling and complacency to and from corrupt authority in ways society still hasn’t learned to tackle properly.
3. The Last Duel
Old man Ridley did no favors for his image this year by throwing a tantrum over the damn kids on his lawn not being able to pay attention to the world beyond smart phone screens, around the time that his second rate tellanovella about the controversies of the Gucci brand was making theatrical rounds.
It’s a shame that he made his inability to anticipate and adapt to more efficient modern day release methods a public display of his detachment to shifting societal sensibilities when the film that’s performance frustrated him so is so progressively brilliant, masterfully crafted and spectacular of a production that I almost wanna give him a pass for said laughable comments.
“The Last Duel” is a title as deceptive in its intent as the narrative that it initially presents beyond its opening credits.
Under the pretense of presenting the unfolding of the last judicial trial by combat in the recorded history of medieval France, the movie’s narrative spans a knight and squire’s deteriorating friendship following the Caroline War in an epic capturing the scope of wartime combat between knights clashing blades and armor, the dramatic existential dread of shifting social standing from wartime to an era of peace in a political structure thriving on nepotism, and paints a picture of the deluded reality of 2 men ready to kill themselves over the fate of a woman victimized by their callousness and entitlement that neither truly love despite their protests to soothe their own egos.
Behind the incredible editing and lavish productions sunken into the historical set pieces that make the film up, the chivalry and codes of honor of the figures in this tale are the ultimate deconstruction of the entitled and privileged monsters that are created by institutions unamended by change and constructed by more primitive ways of thinking more pertinent to a more modern and democratic globalist society than we care to admit.
I’m not going to let Scott off the hook for his old man moment any time soon but if I put out one of the best features of the back half of my already acclaimed career only to watch it bomb thanks to a viral plague upending the film going landscape as it was shooting, I just might be a little salty too.
2. Dune
I feel like there’s very little that can be said of “Dune” at this point that either hasn’t already been said or doesn’t ostensibly speak for itself.
In a culmination of everything that director Denis Villanueva has learned and practiced in his craft to nigh perfection, he’s not only made the definitive adaptation of a mature science fiction literary classic once deemed impossible to translate, but managed to do it in a capacity so effortless that it nearly boggles the mind that it hadn’t been pulled off properly in the preceding decades.
His ability to make the most of his budget to the penny to manipulate absolutely breathtaking cinematography and direct his actors to the pitch perfect note of delivery between conveying imperative narrative information with a solemn but nevertheless palpable sense of emotion amidst a grand landscape of nearly unfathomable size yet intuitive makeup have tied together a wondrously imagined and unflinchingly focused narrative that may be watershed moment for genre fiction in film of unpredictable magnitude comparable to “Star Wars” and Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” before it.
Although the decision to bisect the narrative of the source material leaves a lingering uncertainty to payoff, the result is nevertheless a pitch perfect launch to a story using the nature of speculative fiction to study the mutability of human nature through a disconnect of our own cosmic origins as we know them to be, the power of faith, the dangers of weaponized fanaticism, and the question of just how responsible we are for all aspects of our fate, both positive and negative, in the face of an unpredictable future.
There’s really no way to mince words on this movie’s successful accomplishments. “Dune” has been a long influential literary masterwork and in only adeptly executing half of the story, it’s on its way to being a cinematic masterpiece dwarfing the likes of that which it inspired within the medium of film.
1. Josee, the Tiger and the Fish
I won’t pretend that there aren’t entries on this list that are more groundbreaking, progressive, or even downright unique but I don’t think I’ve ever been as charmed by a movie in 2021, nor lamented how limited its release was so that I could immediately revisit it ASAP.
“Josee, the Tiger and the Fish” is one of those anomalies of a romantic drama that manages to distill all of the storytelling charm of watching 2 unlikely characters fall into an unexpected relationship with one another before asking, “What if we tackled the challenges of maintaining human connections like human beings instead of ciphers for trite voyeuristic drama?”
Tsuneo and paraplegic Kumiko’s romance is a simple yet beautiful slow burn between 2 people that find unlikely companionship in one another as his new job as her caretaker and adaptation to her more forceful personality provides her an opportunity to see and learn more about a world she yearns and is capable of being a part of in rebellion of her sheltered upbringing as he sees his home and its beauty through her newfound experiences again for the first time, making his desire to leave the country to attend a foreign university to attain his dream career as a marine biologist, all the more difficult to dedicate to.
The growth that they bring out of each other effects not just them but their relationships and ultimately inform the decisions that they have to make that could easily put a strain on their newfound happiness.
Issues such as career trajectory, interpersonal friendships, and geographical distance are often substantial hurdles in romance stories, similar to how they can be life altering factors in real life but in a rare display thoughtfulness and maturity, “Josee, the Tiger and the Fish” actually tackle these issues, along with a few other relationship hurdles, head on, unflinchingly, and without the immature sense of impending doom regarding the prospect of changes in life and lifestyle that dramas tend to antagonize that arguably communicates an unhealthy acceptance of arrested development.
Human anxiety can be found more than palpably throughout the movie as its protagonist couple has to face adjustment and sacrifice in different capacities as their lives face curveball after curveball but there willingness to actually communicate with one another while keeping their expectations for the future realistic while doing their damndest to keep their feelings in check only make you want to root for them more as they move towards a conclusion that satisfyingly pays off all of the struggle without copping out on the themes of growing up ever present across every frame.
I opened this list with a suggestion of an anime film for those that are already used to navigating the territory of high concept genre franchise storytelling that want to try something a bit different. While that film or series may not quite be everybody’s cup of tea, here I absolutely implore you to please watch “Josee, the Tiger and the Fish.”
Watch it if you’re a fan of anime. Watch it if you don’t even dabble in animation. It’s a charming, beautiful, thoughtful, occasionally subversive, absolute delight of a film that would be more worth of clean sweeping Sundance awards than anything I’ve seen in the last few years.
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