Cinema · 2021 Ranked

Best Films of 2021, Ranked by IQ Score

The year auteur cinema rediscovered theatrical scale (Dune) alongside personal-memoir prestige. Ranked.

18 titles · ranked by IQ Score

1. 1
   

   Belfast

   Masterclass biography, comedy, drama

   A boy navigates growing up during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Educational about the conflict and childhood trauma. Cognitive engagement from the period detail and the perspective. Entertainment from the coming-of-a…

   167/200
2. 2
   

   Drive My Car

   Masterclass drama

   A theater director and a widow form a bond while rehearsing Chekhov. Educational about theater and grief. Cognitive engagement from the slow-burn narrative. Entertainment from the character intimacy.

   166/200
3. 3
   

   Dune

   Masterclass sci-fi, adventure, drama

   A desert planet with valuable spice becomes a geopolitical battleground. Educational elements about ecology, feudalism, and religious fundamentalism. Cognitive engagement from the political intrigue and the protagonist's…

   165/200
4. 4
   

   The Power of the Dog

   Masterclass drama, western

   A rancher psychologically manipulates a widow and her son. Educational about toxic masculinity and repression. Cognitive engagement from the unreliable perspective. Entertainment from the psychological thriller.

   165/200
5. 5
   

   Memoria

   Masterclass drama, international, experimental

   Apichatpong Weerasethakul's 2021 Cannes Jury Prize-winning film — his first English-language work, anchored by Tilda Swinton as a Scottish woman in Colombia hearing a mysterious sound. The structural commitment to lettin…

   165/200
6. 6
   

   tick, tick... BOOM!

   Masterclass drama, musical, biography

   Lin-Manuel Miranda's 2021 directorial debut anchored by Andrew Garfield (Oscar-nominated) as Jonathan Larson, the future Rent composer in his pre-Rent struggling-musical-theater-composer period. The structural commitment…

   164/200
7. 7
   

   The Tragedy of Macbeth

   Masterclass drama, shakespeare

   Joel Coen's 2021 Shakespeare adaptation anchored by Denzel Washington (Oscar-nominated) and Frances McDormand. The structural commitment to letting Bruno Delbonnel's black-and-white expressionist cinematography render ca…

   164/200
8. 8
   

   Parallel Mothers

   Masterclass drama, mystery, historical

   Almodóvar's 2021 Penélope Cruz vehicle whose dual structural premise — two women giving birth in adjacent hospital beds while a parallel historical investigation unearths Civil War-era mass graves — is the catalog's most…

   163/200
9. 9
   

   The Lost Daughter

   Masterclass drama

   Maggie Gyllenhaal's 2021 directorial debut anchored by Olivia Colman (Oscar-nominated). The structural commitment to letting motherhood-regret cognitive material be the actual subject — at register the genre typically so…

   163/200
10. 10
    

    After Yang

    Masterclass drama, sci-fi, philosophical

    Kogonada's 2021 A24 science-fiction-meditation film anchored by Colin Farrell as a father trying to repair a malfunctioning android sibling-companion (the title character Yang) his daughter has been raised alongside. The…

    162/200
11. 11
    

    The French Dispatch

    Masterclass comedy, drama, anthology

    Wes Anderson's 2021 New Yorker-coded anthology film set in fictional Ennui-sur-Blasé. The structural commitment — four short-story segments framed by a fictional magazine's contents — is the catalog's most-disciplined fo…

    161/200
12. 12
    

    Annette

    Stimulating drama, musical

    Leos Carax's 2021 Sparks-songbook musical anchored by Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard. The structural commitment to letting the entire film be sung — and the canonical wooden-baby-Annette puppet — is the catalog's most-…

    159/200
13. 13
    

    Licorice Pizza

    Stimulating comedy, drama

    Positions 1970s San Fernando Valley childhood romance across episodic encounters, requiring viewers to feel temporal scale and character development.

    145/200
14. 14
    

    West Side Story

    Stimulating drama, musical, romance

    Reimagines musical form across Puerto Rican gang narrative in 1950s Manhattan, demanding viewers process period authenticity and contemporary resonance.

    145/200
15. 15
    

    Spencer

    Stimulating drama, history

    A weekend at Sandringham as Princess Diana decides to end her marriage. Pablo Larrain's follow-up to Jackie — formally similar approach with Kristen Stewart's transformative performance. Educational about the Royal Famil…

    138/200
16. 16
    

    The Worst Person in the World

    Stimulating comedy, drama

    Follows a woman's romantic and professional indecision across Oslo, examining how self-sabotage and ambivalence persist despite privilege and charm.

    131/200
17. 17
    

    CODA

    Stimulating comedy, drama, family

    Centers deaf parents within hearing family narrative, using musical integration and performance as metaphor for code-switching and identity between worlds.

    131/200
18. 18
    

    Spider-Man: No Way Home

    Competent action, adventure, sci-fi

    Jon Watts's multiverse crossover simultaneously indulges nostalgia through villains and predecessors while examining consequences and responsibility through portal paradox. The exploration of legacy, responsibility, and…

    128/200