The Cahiers du Cinéma never cared about hive-mind or “groupthink,” they live in their own passionate world of moviegoing. The past year has been a rough, but rejuvenating one for the oldest and most prestigious film magazine in the world. Right as the pandemic was starting, back in March, their writing team quit due to new ownership. The new team has handled the changes admirably my well.

Regardless, after six months of absence, they reformed, some of the writers came back, others left for good, and they managed to even squeeze in their annual tradition of producing the most eclectic top 10 around. This year’s Cahiers list of the best films of 2021 is topped by Kelly Reichardt’s “First Cow.”

Notice how the two French films that won Cannes (“Titane”) and Venice (“Happening”) are absent.

Of course, given the French nature of the publication, a whopping six films from the Cannes Film Festival made the list including the likes of Verhoeven, Dumont, Carax and Weerasethakul.

The only film I have not seen from their top ten is Guillaume Brac’s “A L’abordage” which just shot up on my must-see list for the year. It currently has no release date, but the studio behind it were gracious enough to offer me a private link which I will watch tonight.

Cahiers du Cinéma’s top 10 of 2021:

1. First Cow (Kelly Reichardt)

2. Annette (Leos Carax)

3. Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)

4. Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)

5. France (Bruno Dumont)

6. The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson)

7. A L’abordage (Guillaume Brac)

8. The Girl and the Spider (Ramon and Silvan Zürcher)

9. The Card Counter (Paul Schrader)

10. Benedetta (Paul Verhoeven)

[Source]

Past top 10s: 2010s, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011]