2021’s best movies so far: from Disney’s Cruella to In the Heights and Billie Eilish documentary The World’s a Little Blurry

Jul 10, 2021

In the Heights, Cruella, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar: three of our favourite movies so far this year. Photo: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Disney Enterprises Inc., Lionsgate

Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M Chu’s upbeat In the Heights is in cinemas, while Sundance’s feel-good hit CODA and the Billie Eilish doc will hit Apple TV+

Sorry, F9 didn’t make the cut – but Edgar Wright’s barmy music doc The Sparks Brothers and Netflix’s family animation The Mitchells vs. the Machines both did

We’re midway through a topsy-turvy year that started out in quarantine and is just now starting to get back to normal.

It’s going to be a while before Hollywood fully recovers, and this weekend’s grosses for F9: The Fast Saga – starring former WWE strongman John Cena – should give us an indication of how things look for the box office going forward. Smaller films and independents still have a more difficult path, and are likely to continue to be released on streaming services rather than relying on theatrical release models.

But that’s the business, what about the movies themselves? As we hit the midpoint of 2021, it’s a good time to take stock of the year’s best movies to date.

Here are 10 films from the first half of the year that are well worth your time.

The Sparks Brothers

Now in US cinemas, Edgar Wright’s weird, wild and wonderful documentary tells the story of the band Sparks, who have been making music since the early 70s and have influenced too many bands to name. Yet they continue to exist in their own world and are obscured from the mainstream, and the film is so baffling that at times it plays like a mockumentary. How could they have done this much while completely flying under the radar? That’s what’s so amazing about this tale. It’s almost too good to be true.

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo wrote and star in this insane comedy, which is like a riff on a riff of an inside joke, that keeps going because the two people telling it can’t stop laughing. These things usually go one of two ways: the insularity becomes insufferable, or the comic fumes become intoxicating. This one, thankfully, follows the latter path. It’s a cult film just waiting for its cult to discover it.

I Carry You with Me

Writer-director Heidi Ewing does something truly special with this immigrant love story, about an aspiring chef (Armando Espitia) and a teacher (Christian Vazquez) who come to New York without documentation. As such, they are unable to return home to Mexico, or they risk not being allowed back. It’s a narrative film with a real-life documentary twist that packs a wallop of an emotional punch.