Zhivago beauty, all while shouting out to (among others) Charlie Chaplin and Sergio Leone. Be it early shots from the perspective of its parachuting-through-trees protagonists, or a snowy attempt to infiltrate a metropolitan gala, Zhang blends Hitchcockian suspense with Dr. This quartet splits up into couples to achieve their covert aim, only to be immediately and constantly beset by encounters with comrades who may be double (or triple?) agents. Zhang Yimou ( Hero, House of Flying Daggers) brings glamorous style to familiar spy-movie clichés in Cliff Walkers, a knotty 1930s-set espionage saga in which four Chinese communist agents sneak into Japan-occupied Manchuria to smuggle out the sole survivor of a torture camp. Decades after their original losses, their pain doesn’t appear to have dimmed, and Hurwitz and LeBlanc’s documentary illustrates how grief, survival and swimming-against-the-current resolve can be core catalysts for lasting creativity. The young performers’ attempts to make their adaptation of D-Man in the Waters speak to today is a pressing concern during rehearsals, and also factors into Jones’ visit to LeBlanc’s studio, where he provides casting pointers and background on the origins of the show, which Jones and original troupe members discuss with insightful poignancy. Jones and D-Man in the Waters is both a historic tribute to that work and an examination of its continuing relevance, which comes to the fore via former Jones collaborator LeBlanc’s staging of the number with a group of students at California’s Loyola Marymount University. Director Tom Hurwitz and Rosalynde LeBlanc’s documentary Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones’ D-Man in the Waters, a famed 1989 piece that was inspired by the fatal battles of both his partner Arnie Zane and company star Demian “D-Man” Acquavella with AIDS. At least, that was the case with dancer and choreographer Bill T. Timeless art is often born out of highly particular experiences. Crafted with jarring edits and split screens for maximum disorientation, the ensuing mayhem is stunning, scary and considerably gross, heralding the arrival of a uniquely out-there horror voice. That’s just the beginning of the ordeal writer/director Devereux Milburn has in store for his protagonists, who are joined at their dinner by a dazed-looking man with a bandaged head, and who soon discover that Karen has devious plans for them–some of it having to do with her daughter. Though Riley and Sam are vegans, they’re compelled to chow down on some of Karen’s home-cooked beef and bread, the latter of which is especially dicey given that this region is notorious for having lost crops and cattle to a poisonous spore. On a New England camping trip, the couple have a run-in with an unfriendly landowner who evicts them from their sleeping spot, forcing them to embark on a nocturnal trek through the woods that leads to the home of Karen (Barbara Kingsley). While no list can be definitive, and no unanimous consensus can be achieved, we’re confident you won’t find a more eclectic and electric group of gems than those we’ve chosen as the Best Movies of 2021.ĭon’t eat anything of unknown origins–a warning that goes unheeded by oft-bickering Riley (Malin Barr) and Sam (Sawyer Spielberg, son of Steven) in Honeydew. Rather than restrict ourselves to a select few triumphs, however, we here at Esquire continue to believe that more is always merrier, and that especially this year, it’s only right to celebrate the numerous diverse domestic and international works that chilled, thrilled, amused, excited and inspired us. No matter where they premiered (or were seen), offerings from illustrious auteurs and promising newcomers were everywhere, led by the latest from Joel Coen, Joachim Trier, Roy Andersson, Paul Thomas Anderson and Ryusuke Hamaguchi, whose dramas comprise our top five. Between the theatrical business’ state of flux, and the bumpy track record of movies that opted to debut day-and-date at the multiplex and at home–not to mention the sheer confusion caused by all these shifting paradigms–it’s a minor miracle that, as we get set to turn the calendar to 2022, the country’s cinematic state of affairs is as stable as it presently is.Ĭredit for that resilience goes in large part to the insatiable appetite of American cinephiles, as well as the abundance of terrific features that, over the past twelve months, have graced screens both big and small. So too is the movie industry, which has been on quite a rollercoaster ride courtesy of COVID-19 and our up-and-down efforts to contain it. 2021 is in the books, and despite the chaos, we’re still standing.
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