The 20 Best Movies of 2021 So Far
Which films have impressed critics the most during the first half of the year? Above, we rank the best-reviewed movies first released in North American theaters (or debuting directly on digital/VOD/streaming outlets) between January 1, 2021 and June 30, 2021. Films are ranked by Metascore and must have at least 7 reviews from professional critics to be eligible.
Additional content by Keith Kimbell.
The recipient of six Academy Award nominations including best picture, the debut film from award-winning playwright Florian Zeller centers on an 80-year-old man (Anthony Hopkins) who is slipping into dementia and a daughter (Olivia Colman) doing her best to care for him despite his protests. The tearjerker received stellar reviews at Sundance a year ago, with critics singling out Hopkins for delivering one of the best performances of his career. Academy voters agreed, giving him the Oscar (the second of his career) and awarding another to Zeller and his co-screenwriter, Christopher Hampton for their screenplay, adapted from Zeller's own 2012 play.
“Yes, The Father is a familiar story and a universal one. Yet Zeller has been uniquely inventive in the way he evokes the unreliability of memory and the subjectivity of experience in the senile – and the healthy.” —Kate Taylor, The Globe and Mail